When to excercise?

[jgym]

Hello there,

I have several questions please...

I've recently started going to the gym, I am 23 years old, chubby and willing to change.

I've set my mind that, by August I should drop at least 30 to 40 pounds and gain lots of muscles. Good thing I am flexible and my body is firm (to a certain extent).

So I started going to the gym couple of days ago, and since I haven't worked out in a long time, after doing my first session, the next day I felt extremely stiff and I still continue to feel that way. Usually it takes me a week or so.

1) Do you guys recommend I continue exercising but with lower weights? Or should I stop until this stiffness is completely gone?

2) As a chubby person, a lot of people recommend doing a lot of cardio before doing muscles, why? Isn't it true that my muscles, to be built, are going to use the fat I have? So why focus on cardio? I usually do 10 to 15 minutes of walking/jogging.

3) If I go to the gym and do a complete body workout (upper, lower, front back), is that good or should I divide them (and go in different days)? I personally prefer doing them all at the same time to get it off the way!

4) I've been told that it's best to eat proteins as soon as I'm done exercise, and to eat carbs before I go. How true is that?

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!

Cheers!

 

[Trevor M.]

1: Train through the soreness, NOT pain. Your body will never adapt to this new stress if you do not do it on a consistent basis. Soon the delayed soreness will subside. It is best you separate lifting days by at least a day or two.

2: I don't really understand this. Are you saying as you do resistance training, your fat is converting into muscle? No.
I recommend both a mixture of aerobic conditioning, and a strength training together. If done on the same day, always strength train first.


3: Full body program. Big lifts. If weight loss is your goal forget all machine based movements, and isolation movements. Bicep curls will not help someone lose weight.
Always research proper form. Always use proper form.

4: Its best to eat around an hour or two before exercise - biggest meal of the day. Post workout nutrition is not as vital so long as you have had a big meal in that time frame before hand. No simple sugars within an hour of exercise.

 

[jgym]

If weight loss is your goal forget all machine based movements, and isolation movements. Bicep curls will not help someone lose weight.

I am interested in being toned and not losing weight... What I don't understand, how building muscles will not let me lose fat?

I recommend both a mixture of aerobic conditioning, and a strength training together.

What is strength training?

Sorry to sound illiterate, I am new to this...

Thanks for your help though

 

[Big_Idiot]

Toned, basically means losing body fat so that your muscles are visible. Toned is just another word for lean. So to be toned, you would need to lose weight.

If i was you, id just train heavy, be consistent, get a basic workout routine together (starting off with the main compounds).

Eat correctly, to suit your goal. And also add some cardio.

 

[Trevor M.]

I am interested in being toned and not losing weight... What I don't understand, how building muscles will not let me lose fat?


What is strength training?

Sorry to sound illiterate, I am new to this...

Thanks for your help though

Getting "toned" and losing fat are about one and the same. Muscle remains under subcutaneous fat so if one wants to look "toned" one must have a low bodyfat while maintaining a sufficient level of muscle mass.

There is no such thing as a "toning" exercise or routine.

Strength training is another way to say weight lifting, resistance training

Losing fat, in solid quantities, requires one to maintain a consistent hypo-caloric diet. In other words, consume less calories than you are expending on an annual basis.

How do you do this? Eat less. Exercise more. One or the other, or a combination of both.

Weight training can help one lose fat by expanding calorie expenditure. However, the relative intensity of the workout, like all other forms of exercise, dictates how many calories you are going to expend during which time.

If a workout consist of a bunch of high rep, low weight movements. This workout won't likely be "intense" enough to have much of an effect on fat loss because it wouldn't have expended enough calories to matter.