Best workout routine, timing and products?

B

bapcaa

0
5'11", 181 lbs, 23, male.
I've been working out 3-5 days a week for the past 2 months. Have seen little result but not satisfied.
I usually start by running on treadmill for 20-50 minutes on increasing pace speed 5.5-7.5 no incline without rest and burn about 350-650 calories with average of 157 bmp to max of 180 bmp. After the treadmill I do weight lifting for about an hour. Over all I burn 800-1400 calories within and hour to 2. Result is not really satisfying me compare to what i do. Using a multivitamin before and protein shake after exercise once a day. Lost about 10 lbs only, muscle appearance isn't noticeably increased. Lately having stiff neck and shoulders more. But extremely like the after feeling of exercise. Trying to eat less but more likely keeping it at the same level i used to. Still have my belly fat but can feel 6 packs behind it when tightened.
I use Polar F11 HRM, measure my ownindex every 3 days in the morning, vo2max changes up and down, sometimes 37-43 sometimes 49 to 53. And my goal is to have a beach body before July.
So final questions are:
What routine will give me the best result?
Am i doing too much and not allowing my body to develop?
Is my heart rate high compare to other people?
Most effective way of working on treadmill? Is elliptical is better than treadmill?
How to get rid of my belly fat easily?
Should i separate cardio and weightlifting into two different days?
What is your average heart rate when walking?
What kind of drink should i use while working out? - plain water doesn't really do good for me, it makes my mouth feel dry and drink too much. tried vitamin water but has too much sugar.

Advise me whatever can help me to achieve my goal, share your personal experience and send me a helpful weblinks and product recommendation
Thank u very much!
 
Wow! I could have written that myself- your workout seems almost the same as mine:

I work out 5 days a week, 1.5 to 2 hours a time (I measure a workout with my Polat F7 and don't stop 'till I hit 1000kcals. I don't for a second thing I am actually burning 1000kcals but it gives me a goal post to aim for). I have an average HR of anywhere from 150 to 160bmp. It peaks at around 188bpm and only goes down to 125 before I push the stop button. I do not allow my pauses (eg to fill water bottle) to be recorded on my hrm.
I also do not include stretching, warming up or cooling down to my workout time- that happens separatly. I don't normally stay on a machine for more then 15 mins- I push it as hard as I can (10% incline at 10km/h for 1 min then 1 min 10% and 6km/h repeat 7-10 times) then move onto another machine like the bike or the stairmaster.. I do end up trippling up on some machines as there are only about 4 different cardio machines in my gym.

I also am annoyed with my results (or lack of) but partly too scared to stop incase I suddenly grow an extra 10 inches around my waist. I have "belly fat" and alot of cellulite, it appears exercise does not stop or decrease cellulite as I never had it when I started the gym 5 years ago, now its on everywhere my waist down and my back is not as slender as I'd like it to be to put it mildly.

Look, I have been thinking alot about my workouts and what on earth is/isn't happening and what to do about it.
From what I understand.....

What you eat matters more then the exercise that you do. Your body is very clever and manages to do something to its metabolism to conserve calories so it always has something in a safty net. Exercising alot makes it worry and when it does it does that calorie conservation thing. I think I read somewhere that no matter how much you exercise it will only really matter towards 20% of your daily caloridic intake. I don't know if there is any truth to that or where the information comes from but you know what, after the past 3 years of around 4500 to 5000kcals a week and a healthy diet (1900kcals) I am starting to believe it!

I also read that when you do alot of cardio or live a stressful life, your body produces a hormone called cortisol. This hormone somehow makes fat lie around your waist. I don't know the specifics on it I just know I have read seen and heard about it by so many different people, different articles, different medics that I know it to be true. Cardio (high heart rate) will produce cortisol as will a stressful lifestyle or big lifetime occurances (like a realtionship breakup or death of a loved one). I guess in that case the best thing to do is to give yourself enough space to chill at times of the week day or whenever and think about ways to do that (eg hatha yoga, massage chatting to friends, shopping...)

Stregnth training is suppsed to be helpful. The idea I think is to create more muscle which in time will burn more calories as its a dense fiber and requires more calories to exist. You do have to keep up stregnth training though, its not something you can build up in a few months and then sit back and watch the effects, the idea I was sugested was to have my workouts 65:35 with the muscle work being the 35. Strength workouts will help your cardio as you will have more stregnth to go faster and so burn more with less effort in my experience. Its also (in my opinion) less gruelling! It also helps to create more definition so when you do lose weight, you have a figure to show off not a highly musclar pair of legs and skinny unproportional arms.

Abs do not work! Now this I know for fact.
OK, maybe saying abs do not work is a bit confusing. Yes you can build a 6-pack (or 4 pack or whatever else you want to call it) but if you have a layer of fat on your stomach which is too thick, the muscle simply wont show. Muscle lays beneath the layer of fat, you have to get rid of this layer of fat to be able to see it. Its made doubly annoying by the cortisol thing I explained above. It makes it an uphill battle (and very stressful!!). Added to that its very easy to do things like sit ups and actually push your belly out as you rise- your not supposed to do this and it will result in you basicly training your belly to pout outwards and give you a firm but sticky-out stomach. I cannot think of anyone who wants that! I would say work on your transverse abs. A personal trainer taught me how to do this properly and it completly changed my outlook on abs. I stopped the hours of classes and sit ups and managed to get a shape back, I've even improved my posture. Pilataes can help with this also but you really gotta have a good teacher to explain to you whats going on. Its not about sucking in, -you must still be able to breathe properly when your doing the exercises, its about HOLDING in. I stopped all abs and noticed no real difference. a few months later I started the transverse abs exercises and noticed the difference almost right away. Its not gotten rid of the layer of fat which sits on the top but it does look alot better.

One other thing I think its worth mentioning is that I cut out dairy. I have alot of bloating and skin issues and had others advise me to try this many times. I took the bull by the horns and cut it out and the difference is quite suprizing. I do now have a stomach which doesn't make me look 6 months gone (had several people say that I looked 6 months gone when asked). Its hard as dairy seems to be in everything from my after workout yogurt to protein bars, chicken/ham and even quorn and flavored rice cakes. Its worth a shot if you do have other symptoms.


If its any help, I am trying something else now, cutting back on the gym. This is very hard as I am scared I will gain loads of weight. I am cutting back 10% which doesn't sound like a big deal but its basicly as I am no longer able to get to the gym for more then 4 days a week (it used to be 5) this means I have cut my overall workout but also added extra onto the days I do workout. I don't know if it will help or make things worse but I will be interested to see. Less workouts mean less high heart rate means less cortisol and maybe less overall body fat? who knows- fingers crossed! I just gotta remember to keep my calories in check.
 
Hello guys

Both your posts are really long. Agree with D, a summary would be nice then one can respond with a quick and concise answer.

But my two cents would be, cardio is a okay, but you have to mix that with a good weight training session. If you want to lose pounds, then give your muscles a good workout. No heavy weights in case of women, keep the weight down but the reps up. Nothing burns fat quicker than a well worked muscle that's got to use up calories to do repair works.

Start slow though, and build up steadily.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top