help a retired wrestler

[jth24]

i just turned 24 and have been physically fit due to wrestling my entire life after i finished college i totally stopped exercising all together.....i have a couple things im up against and need some advice. i know i was fit and in shape in the past from wrestling but wrestling is a very unhealthy sport with the weight loss situation. right now im not over weight in fact my legs and arms are skinny but i have a gut i want to loose. my ultimate goal is to get my abs back and build some muscle i used to wrestle 133 lbs for my weight class and now weigh 160 but its mostly in my gut. joined the gym today and i plan on doing 4 to 5 days a week cardio every day i go and lifting every other day. one thing i am afraid of is working out to hard as i read this is not only unhealthy but prevents fat lose and muscle gain....im used to just crashing my weight with wrestling so how hard is to hard? A half hour of cardio and half hour of weightlifting doing three sets of ten every other day and off days cardio for an hour sound healthy? i know this is lengthy and i appreciate any advice, but i am not the typical overweight person that ones to loose some pounds im an athlete not used to healthy exercise habits and need some input

 

[Trainer01]

Your gym routine does seem to be quite vigerous especially because you are only just getting back into things. I would suggest to take things slow at first. It will ensure you do not burn out too fast. It is a good idea to do a lot of aerobic work, as this will help you decrease body fat and also increase your metabolism, which means your body will process foods more easily and decrease your bodys ability to store fat. It would be good to do some muscle endurance training as this would help you get back into shapeand tone your arms and legs. So for endurance muscle training, it would be best to push it up to 3 sets of 12 and possibly decrease the lifting load. A great aerobic strengthing exercise is to do leg squats whilst holding free weights above your head. You will notice it is considerably harder than plain leg squats and you will feel it working your aerobic capicity as well.
Hope this helps,
Trainer01