Couple of Questions, please help

T

ThreeSidedDice

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Hello all, I'm new to the forums and dieting/excersicing. So anyway, I'm really trying to lose some weight just because I'm not hapy at my weight right now (169 at 5'6") I just had my physical the other day and I'm not unhealthy, I run around with my friends I play basketball, I ran track alst year and stuff, I just want to slim down :). Anyway, I went to the gym today and I worked out my upper body. I did lat pull downs, rows, tricep extensions, and the pec dec (no one was around to spot me on the bench press, I only put up 125 anyway :-/) Then I did 15 minutes of cardio and I ran to and from the gym, approximately 3/4 mile.

So I have a few questions.

1. The gym is only open til 10:30 so I figured I would do abs or bicep curls until I got home, because I have free weights here and i can work out my abs at home, only think is I forgot. Now is it better to work everything out at once or is it alright if I do the curls and abs later?

2. What would you suggest as a good ab work out and how many reps and how many times a week. I used to do 4 sets of 20 reps of crunches mon-thurs, but from what I read here it's bad to do it that often. Please suggest anything, links/videos with different ab excersices and information.

3. I like to do three reps on the machines normally increasing in weight. Today however, I realized that I was doing three sets, but I couldn't increase the weight simply cause i couldn't accomplish my next set at a higher weight. Now should I leave it at a stead weight or is it better to increase the weight (so I would start at a lower weight). Also I do reps of 12-10-8, is this good should I increase it or lower it? My goal is to lose weight I can tone later.

4. Am I forgetting any major muscle groups? I do tricep extension(tricept), lat pull downs (lats), row (back), curls(biceps), crunches(abs), pecdec/push-up(chest), leg press (quads), leg extensions(not too sure), and leg curls (hamstring). Is there anything I should add to my routine.

5. I do all the upper body on one day and lower body next day and then repeat. Is one days rest enough? Is there anything I should change about this?

6. Is it ok to do cardio on the same days I work out my leg? Also I use an elliptecal machine or bike, how much cardio should I do?

7. I already don't eat much candy and I rarely if ever drink soday, but I do seem to eat a lot of bread. Is that bad? How should I alter my diet? I'm a vegeterian, but not a healthy one. I eat some chips and large quantities although I"m going to try to stop that and relpace it with vegetables and fruits, any ones I should particularly avoid?

Ok, this is all I can think of now, I know it's a lot and long, but if anyone reads thourhg it I would really appreciate any help I could get at all. Thank you so much and good luck to you as I know we all have goals :). Have a good day.
 
a lotta questions, so i may be brief...others will also chime in i'm sure.

1. best to do it all at once. working out puts your body in an 'exercise' mode, which is stressful. do it too often and you'll feel like crap until you rest a few days.

2. 4 sets should be enough, but don't forget the lower abs, and obliques. and i would do abs 3 days a week, with a day off in between. they are muscles and need to recover too.

3. I think you mean sets. 3 sets per exercise is a good starting point. However if you think that losing weight, and toning aren't the same exact thing...heh, yer in a for a surprise. No rep count 'tones' a muscle. your genetics, and the size fo the muscle determine its shape. you can't sculpt a muscle...you simply increase its size, and then shed bodyfat to show it off. rep counts over 12 don't tone...they simply build endurance. great for a marathon runner...useless for gaining strength, size.

4. way too much isolation. stick to bench press, pull ups, barbell rows, squats, deadlifts and military press. compound exercises...they work multiple muscle groups. until you're more advanced, you need very litte isolation exercise.

5. full body workouts, 3x a week, with a day off in between each, 2 days off at the end, then repeat.

6. best to split cardio to the days you don't lift weights. ALWAYS do cardio after weights if you must do them on the same days.

7. vegetarian...i hate that word. humans were made to eat meat, veggies, fruits, whole grains like oats. the less processing a food has, the better.
do you eat dairy? eggs? cottage cheese, milk and eggs are good ways to get protein on a vegetarian diet.
but if you don't eat those, I can't promise you'll ever develop much lean muscle mass. you need about 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass every day to build a strong body with decent muscle development. Soy protein isn't the best, and won't take you as far as chicken, fish and lean beef.
 
Umm thanks for answerl.....I hope more people chime in too :p. You offered a lot of good information though. How should I work out hte abs, like what excersices should I do and also what's a full body workout? I also don't know what barbell rows are? O, and the only day I won't work out are prolly sun maybe sat, so I should only do my cardio those days? Thanks for all the help so far though.
 
ThreeSidedDice said:
Umm thanks for answerl.....I hope more people chime in too :p. You offered a lot of good information though. How should I work out hte abs, like what excersices should I do and also what's a full body workout? I also don't know what barbell rows are? O, and the only day I won't work out are prolly sun maybe sat, so I should only do my cardio those days? Thanks for all the help so far though.
Click to expand...

First off, a full-body workout should be performed no more than 3 days a week. if you do more, you will be overtraining and will see little to no gains.

this is a barbell row http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html

as far as ab exercises, i suggest a stability ball. there are all kinds of exercises you can do with one of them. if thats not possible there are plenty you can do without. weighted crunches or planks are good choices. but remember, your abs are a muscle too and are subject to overtraining as well. so dont beat them too hard.

I personally find it easier to hit my abs on cardio days because my full body workouts usually get close to the hour mark and i dont want to risk catabolism.
 
stick to bench press, pull ups, barbell rows, squats, deadlifts and military press. compound exercises. So, should I do each one of those 3x a week and then on my off days cardio and abs? I really want to do it right this time because I'm going to stick with it, so sorry for all the questions. Also what other compound excersices are there?
 
those are the primary compound exercises. if it feels like its hitting more than one muscle group, it probably is, and is a compound exercise.

if only one joint moves, its probably an isolation exercise.

And yes, you'd do 4-5 compound exercises and 1-2 isolation exercises as your workout, and do it 3 times a week. 30 mins of cardio is fine on the other days. and its fine to take a day off.
 
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