Workout Advice?

S

sooner

0
Hello all,

I have a couple of workout questions for the board. I have been working out consistently for a couple of months and am just kind of winging it right now. Overall goal is simply to lose fat and gain muscle without burning myself out. I work out 4X-5X per week always 60 minutes of cardio and 30-45 minutes of weight training. I am a 5'8 male, started out at 230 and am at 200 now while having doubled all the weights I can do. I'm pretty sure I'll hit a plateau soon and need to make sure I'm doing things right.

1. For my 60 minutes of cardio I mix up the type (treadmill, elliptical, swimming, and stair stepper). Is it better to do all the cardio at once or split up into 20 or 30 minute sessions? Is it better to do weights before, after or in between cardio sessions?

2. Because I do the cardio and usually mix it up, I almost never bother weight training on my legs, they always feel pretty worn out. Is this stupid?

3. I have heard with weights it's better to focus on particular areas on particular days and totally burn the muscles out. I hate doing this from a motivation standpoint (if I'm really sore the next day I don't seem to go again). Is it a huge mistake to do all my upper body and core every day but not burn out any muscles? Or just a bit less effective?

4. I am OK on my eating, but not great. If I want to lose fat and gain muscle (both are equally important to me where I am at) would it be beneficial or detrimental to take a protein supplement like I see so many gym rats taking?

5. It really feels good to me to spend 20-30 minutes in the dry sauna after my workout, I sweat a ridiculous amount. Is this bad, good, or irrelevant?
 
Excellent, thanks for the advice!

Derwyddon said:
Soreness is not an indicator of a good workout.
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This brings up another question. I've always heard that the most effective way to build muscle is to completely wear out the muscle (i.e. do the right combo of weight/sets/reps until you can't do much more) and then let it rebuild. Is this true, and if so, how do you do this without being sore lol:)

Derwyddon said:
No suppliment will do anything for you if your diet is not in check. Diet is your number one tool to fat loss and muscle gain.
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Let me clarify my question on this. Suppose I'm happy with my nutrition efforts at this point (in other words I am eating healthy consistently, but not perfectly) , and am getting around 2200 calories and 100g of protein per day. Since I'm working out around 10 hours per week I assume taking a protein supplement (Muscle Milk or the like) would help me build muscle faster, but will it make it really difficult for me to keep reducing body fat %? At this stage I still have a fair amount of fat to lose as well as muscle to gain.
 
Going to failure every workout is not necessary and on a long term basis may even be detrimental. It tends to lead to CNS (central nervous system) fatigue, which leads to hormonal imbalances, which can cause fatigue, fat storage and other bad things.

You should determine your macro-nutrient percentages (carb/fat/protien). Most people use fitday.com for that. For muscle gain you should aim for about 1 gram of protien per pound of LBM (lean body mass) and eat other items to fill out your desired macronutrient profile.
 
Let me clarify my question on this. Suppose I'm happy with my nutrition efforts at this point (in other words I am eating healthy consistently, but not perfectly) , and am getting around 2200 calories and 100g of protein per day. Since I'm working out around 10 hours per week I assume taking a protein supplement (Muscle Milk or the like) would help me build muscle faster, but will it make it really difficult for me to keep reducing body fat %? At this stage I still have a fair amount of fat to lose as well as muscle to gain.
Click to expand...

I find that the Muscle Milk is very beneficial when it comes to cutting fat. If your workload is high (meaning you are going to failure a lot) the higher fat will help as well.

Remember that you body needs quality fats. If meats are your primary source you will need a supplement. Flax seed oil will work as well.

This brings up another question. I've always heard that the most effective way to build muscle is to completely wear out the muscle (i.e. do the right combo of weight/sets/reps until you can't do much more) and then let it rebuild. Is this true, and if so, how do you do this without being sore lol
Click to expand...

The best results that I have may clients get as well as myself is almost never going to failure. Maybe 1 set per week. If you are training not to failure you will be able to handle a much higher workload as well as have better strength results. This will also keep you from overtraining and getting injured. Technique breaks down when you are close to failure.
 
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