Hello my name is Ted. I am 28 years old. 6'4" 270lbs, almost all of my weight it in my gut, the rest of my body is fairly decent.
Recently I lost 20 lbs this summer by dieting alone going low carb. Fruit and nuts in the morning, Salad for lunch, greek yogurt for afternoon snack, and for dinner I usually have some sort of meat with Veggies. My job is somewhat physical I am on my feet 40 hours a week hand stacking, not too strenuous, but it is a little physical. I basically haven't worked out on a regular basis since high school. My current goal is to loose weight, and then get a nice lean muscular physique not to big, but not too small. I also feel that my arms and shoulders are a little small for my body so I would like to build them up a little bit to be more proportional.
I have lost no weight since I started working out, but I feel much stronger, my muscles seem like they are a little bigger and tighter, and I have much more endurance, and generally feel way better. I was thinking that maybe I am burning fat and putting on muscle so maybe my body weight is evening out because of that, but I feel that I may be wrong.
At the beginning of this month I got a gym membership I have been working out everyday for 30 min a day, and from what I am reading about exercising I have been doing many things wrong. At 1st I was doing about 5 min of cardio at the beginning, but I heard that this can cause you to lose muscle, but I don't know if 5 min of HIIT would really do that or not, so now I do about 5-10 min at the end of a full body work out. My work out starts out and ends with a 5 min stretch that is not part of the 30 min routine. I start out light doing some really easy arm and leg exercises for about 5-10 min, then I work abs and back for a few min, I finish off by doing some super sets 2-4 sets 10 reps of fairly heavy weights then I hit a cardio machine for 5-10 min doing HIIT 1-2 min going easy/walking then 30sec - 1 min of intense cardio rinse and repeat.
I also read recently that my muscles should rest 1-2 days I have definitely been breaking this rule obviously doing full body every day for the past 24 days. However there has been maybe 4 days where I felt very tired and burnt out so I went to the gym and did a very very light routine for 30 min the kind where you don't need to take a shower afterwards, but instead just wipe a little sweat off your forehead.
I know I am breaking many rules, but I don't know if that is really applicable to me, I am going fairly light here, for the most part I feel great like I am not getting burned out too bad. Since I am in such bad shape it is really tough for me to do nothing but arms for one day, or cardio for one day etc... It is much easier for me to just do full body, but I feel like I can power through it and take it easy.
With all that being said I am considering changing it up and doing something like this, each one 30 min a day.
Monday: Arms
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesdays: Legs
Thursday: Cardio
Friday: All body
Sat/Sun: Rest with maybe a short 30-60 min walk
I am also considering doing full body mon,wed,fri with cardio on tue and thur.
I know most people are more specific for there targeting, but I don't really know that much on targeting certain muscles yet, so I figure I would do something a little simpler by going with just arms and legs. I also don't feel like I am in good enough shape to do nothing but back and abs for 30 min straight. I go to planet fitness and they are a budget gym, so it is kind of hard to do more advanced routines there, really not a ton of equipment to pick from.
Anyways sorry for the long post, but I could use your advise on anything here diet included. Or should I just keep on doing what I am doing?
Recently I lost 20 lbs this summer by dieting alone going low carb. Fruit and nuts in the morning, Salad for lunch, greek yogurt for afternoon snack, and for dinner I usually have some sort of meat with Veggies. My job is somewhat physical I am on my feet 40 hours a week hand stacking, not too strenuous, but it is a little physical. I basically haven't worked out on a regular basis since high school. My current goal is to loose weight, and then get a nice lean muscular physique not to big, but not too small. I also feel that my arms and shoulders are a little small for my body so I would like to build them up a little bit to be more proportional.
I have lost no weight since I started working out, but I feel much stronger, my muscles seem like they are a little bigger and tighter, and I have much more endurance, and generally feel way better. I was thinking that maybe I am burning fat and putting on muscle so maybe my body weight is evening out because of that, but I feel that I may be wrong.
At the beginning of this month I got a gym membership I have been working out everyday for 30 min a day, and from what I am reading about exercising I have been doing many things wrong. At 1st I was doing about 5 min of cardio at the beginning, but I heard that this can cause you to lose muscle, but I don't know if 5 min of HIIT would really do that or not, so now I do about 5-10 min at the end of a full body work out. My work out starts out and ends with a 5 min stretch that is not part of the 30 min routine. I start out light doing some really easy arm and leg exercises for about 5-10 min, then I work abs and back for a few min, I finish off by doing some super sets 2-4 sets 10 reps of fairly heavy weights then I hit a cardio machine for 5-10 min doing HIIT 1-2 min going easy/walking then 30sec - 1 min of intense cardio rinse and repeat.
I also read recently that my muscles should rest 1-2 days I have definitely been breaking this rule obviously doing full body every day for the past 24 days. However there has been maybe 4 days where I felt very tired and burnt out so I went to the gym and did a very very light routine for 30 min the kind where you don't need to take a shower afterwards, but instead just wipe a little sweat off your forehead.
I know I am breaking many rules, but I don't know if that is really applicable to me, I am going fairly light here, for the most part I feel great like I am not getting burned out too bad. Since I am in such bad shape it is really tough for me to do nothing but arms for one day, or cardio for one day etc... It is much easier for me to just do full body, but I feel like I can power through it and take it easy.
With all that being said I am considering changing it up and doing something like this, each one 30 min a day.
Monday: Arms
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesdays: Legs
Thursday: Cardio
Friday: All body
Sat/Sun: Rest with maybe a short 30-60 min walk
I am also considering doing full body mon,wed,fri with cardio on tue and thur.
I know most people are more specific for there targeting, but I don't really know that much on targeting certain muscles yet, so I figure I would do something a little simpler by going with just arms and legs. I also don't feel like I am in good enough shape to do nothing but back and abs for 30 min straight. I go to planet fitness and they are a budget gym, so it is kind of hard to do more advanced routines there, really not a ton of equipment to pick from.
Anyways sorry for the long post, but I could use your advise on anything here diet included. Or should I just keep on doing what I am doing?
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