is this a good beginner excercise routine?

[abcd]

I started excersicing last saturday, this time i'm planning on staying consistent so I can lose weight. I weigh 175 lbs., height: 5'10. This is the excersice routine I have begun:

curls - 10x - 30 lb. each arm
benchpress 10x - 40 lbs.,
and another weight lifitng excerise (don't know the name of it but it has a bar with a chain and you bring the bar down) 60 lbs. - 10x.

I've been excercising daily, but I skip 1 day if I'm sore. I ran a mile on Saturday and another mile a couple days ago. Running gets me tired but i'm gonna try to run/walk 2 miles a week.

Is this a good excersice to lose weight and build some muscle? is this enough to see results in a few months? should I take any supplements or drink shakes? any tips would be appreciated

 

[wiresix]

It all depends on your max for each muscle. If you want to gain muscle size and bulk up you should do around 3 sets of 8 reps, with as much weight as you can do that with. If you're pulling 60 lbs with your triceps, I'm willing to bet you can bench a whole lot more than 40.

REST YOUR MUSLCES for at least one day between working them. It is important they have time to heal. If you don’t do this it's doubtful you will see very good results, and it's possible you could injure your self as well. This is the mistake I made when I first started lifting. I now have a lat that cramps every time I put strain on it. Something you might find helpful, is to cycle your work out. For example, one day you do your chest and arms, the next you do your shoulders and back, and the last you do your stomach and legs. This cycle would repeat every 3 days. This way your still getting the benefits of working out every day, and allowing your muscles time to heal.

Aerobics are very important. Keep at it, and sooner or later it wont make you as tired. Time is more important than distance. It is better to measure your aerobics by the amount of time you keep your heart rate up rather than how far you ran. Simply run till you get too tired, then walk till you can run some more. Repeat this for at least 20 minutes or less if you can’t go that long, but I don’t see why 20 minutes would be too much.

Something else to keep in mind that an extra 10 lbs of muscle burns around 300 calories a day. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I'm pretty sure I read this somewhere.

I'm not exactly a professional, so I hope other, more knowledged people here might correct any bad advice I might have given

best of luck! I'm in the same boat.

 

[abcd]

It all depends on your max for each muscle. If you want to gain muscle size and bulk up you should do around 3 sets of 8 reps, with as much weight as you can do that with.

ok, i'll start doing 3 sets of 8 reps, but is it ok to take a break between each set? I can do 3 sets of 8 reps, but not continously I'd have to take a break in between each set.

If you're pulling 60 lbs with your triceps, I'm willing to bet you can bench a whole lot more than 40.

well, the problem is that the bench I'm working on feels awkward to me, it's not a regular bench press, the handle bars come in at a weird angle so it's closer to your chest, it's hard to explain. So instead of a regular bar that is straight across and your arms are parallel to your shoulders. This has the handles angled inwards, so when you lift the bar, your hands/arms are really far inwards and you're basically lifting outwards. I'm thinking I should change to a regular benchpress because this machine doesnt work with me well, I feel like I have a small knot in my back from the last time. So, if I switch to a regular benchpress, how much weight and how many reps would you suggest?

running/walking - the last 2 times I ran/walked I walked for 10 minutes then ran for 2-3 minutes and walked the rest which came out to about 20 minutes. I guess, I'll keep at that, I didn't know timing was more important, because the first time I did it, I did a mile in about 23 minutes, then the 2nd time I was trying to see how fast I could do it and I did right under 20 minutes.

I'll start resting my muscles as well, it feels easy to me to lift the amount of weights that i'm lifting that I'd rather lift than do aerobics or even situps. I feel like if I don't lift daily then I'm not gonna see results, but if you really do think that I should rest in between, then that's what I'll do. It's kind of weird to me, I feel like lifting 30 lbs (curls) is not hard, but I can't lift more than that because it feels too heavy or I won't be able to do it 10 times. Since you say 8 reps, I'll try 35 lbs of 8 reps each.

Something you might find helpful, is to cycle your work out. For example, one day you do your chest and arms, the next you do your shoulders and back, and the last you do your stomach and legs. This cycle would repeat every 3 days.

I'm so new to this I don't even know what machine does what, obviously curls do your arms, benchpress = chest, triceps = shoulders? and what does your back?

Is it ok if I do 3 sets of 8 reps of curls, triceps and benchpress all in 1 day. then the day inbetween do aerobics and repeat cycle. or do you think this would be too much?, I dont' want to mess up my muscles, but I am pretty weak so I'm trying to figure out what would be a good amount to do. It only takes me about 5 minutes to do 10 curls on each arm, and it feels like I'm not even really excersicing because it's such a short amount of time this is the reason I've been trying to do this daily, but now I'm thinking I shouldnt do it daily because of the strain.

What do you think about protein shakes? should I drink those?

thanks for the tips!!

 

[abcd]

actually I figured out the reason that the benchpress was giving me problems is because the bar is adjustable and it was too low for me, so I raised the bar, but even then 60 lbs is as much as I can bench press 10x. I found out what excercise I was doing with the chain and bar, and I was doing my back because I was sitting down, but then I found out that if I stand up and do it, then it's my triceps, and I was able to do this 8x at 60 lbs.

 

[abcd]

this is the new routine I'm thinking of, tell me what you think:

curls - 8 reps/ 3 sets - 30 lb. each arm
benchpress- 8 reps/ 3 sets - 60 lbs
triceps - 8 reps/ 3 sets - 60 lbs
back - 8 reps/ 3 sets - 60 lbs

next day:
legs - 8 reps - 3 sets - 60 lbs.
run/walk - 20 minutes

repeat cycle


Is it ok if I rest inbetween each routine about 10-20 minutes?
example: do 1 set of curls, 1 set of back, 1 set of triceps, 1 set of benchpress then rest 10-20 minutes and repeat 3 times?

 

[wiresix]

ok, I found what looks like a great sight for info http://www.thepumpingstation.com/ this place should answer most of your questions about different exercises. people say different things, but on their chart (http://www.thepumpingstation.com/beginner.html) it says to do 10-12 reps. look into it for more details.

I quick tip you should know is that 8 reps of as much weight as you can do it with will give you muscle mass. if you want big arms, this is what you do. the higher the reps, for instance, 15-20 will give you more endurance and leaner muscle. this is what I do for my chest, cause I got big ol fat man boobies and I don't want them to look even fatter

although they say to do all your workouts in one day and take an entire day off, I don't really agree with that. I think for your goal, it would be better to work your lifting in with your aerobics daily. weather you run or lift first, depends on what is more important to you. with the regimen you made, I would put your back on the day with your legs, run every day, and throw some sit-ups in the mix as well

about the rests between sets... you should probably stick to one muscle before moving on to the next. although, if you alternate between two exercises (not using the same muscle) without resting, it could be useful in providing a kind of aerobics. an example of this would be: curl, bench, curl, bench, curl, bench. however, by doing that you will probably not have enough energy to concentrate fully on lifting. I feel that about 1-2 minutes or until you can go at it again is good for a rest between sets. you might want input from someone else here on both of those subjects, cause I'm not too certain. however, for the time being you should probably try to keep your rests as short as possible. only rest for any period of time when switching between exercises. even then it shouldn't be more than 5 or so minutes


I don't think you should need to drink protein shakes, especially just staring out. start eating things such as eggs, chicken, and fish. tuna straight from the can is fast and has around 16-20 g of protein. as far as your diet's concerned for loosing weight, check out this post of mine inquiring about the same subject: http://training.fitness.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1220 it has some very good advice


most important above all is that you read around, gather knowledge, and search the web for your self. there is countless information for this sort of stuff, and a novice such as my self is not always accurate. ideally, you should either educate your self on the matter, and make your own personal workout regimen, or see a personal trainer to help you set one up.

hope this has helped set you in the right path. I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results and feeling you'll get from working out with proper technique and a good regimen. there is nothing in the world thats better than knowing and feeling that you are physically healthy and in shape!

good luck!

 

[abcd]

thanks for all the tips man, really appreciate it!