Hello all,

First time poster here.

First of all I'd like to say this site is great and the wealth of information available is so helpful.

I guess let me start off with what I've done/am doing.

About 6 years ago I weighed 250 and began riding a stationary bike. Over the course of about 6 months I dropped to 170 and kept it there until about a year and a half ago. During that time I really didn't work out with weight like I probably should have. My diet was ok I think, I went vegan for 2 years so I think I ate pretty well. During all this I know I lost quite a bit of muscle mass. I went from stocky to being fairly boney. I'm 6'0 and even at 170 I still had a bit of a gut.

Over the last year and a half I've gained about 40 pounds and was at 220, before I started working out about a month ago. I'm down to about 210 now. This time I tried to do some homework so hopefully it will be better.

Right now my diet is at 2000 cals. a day with 6 meals a day. I'm shooting for 50/30/20 as far as Carbs., Protein and Fat. Most days I can get close to the 2000 but I make sure to keep my %s relatively close. We live about 40 miles from the closest GNC so I don't use supplements or anything. I try to get the bulk of my protein from egg whites, chicken and the Body for Life Bars.

My meals generally consist of egg whites, wheat toast and tomatoes in the morning for breakfast. Lean Pockets Ultra, Lean Cuisines or something comparable for lunch and then some sort of salad with chicken or fish for dinner. I use the Body for Life Bars for snacks to help get my protein and my calories up for the day. I need about 150g of protein and doing this gets me relatively close.

My workout schedule is as follows...

We don't have a gym nearby but we do have a YMCA down the street from us so this is where we go to work out.

First thing in the morning I do cardio on the Elliptical or Stationary Bike. I do this every morning, 6 days a week for 45 minutes. Although I tried my first HIIT this morning on the bike and it went pretty good I thought.

As far as weights I've kept it simple at least until I get the hang of what I'm doing. I know this isn't much but here it is. I do 3 sets of 10 of each of the following.

On Mondays and Thursdays I do curls and tricep extensions.
On Tuesdays and Fridays I do Bench Presses, Chest Fly and Crunches.

I've yet to do any legwork as my legs are already solid and actually have some definition to them, as opposed to my upper body.

I know that isn't much but I wasn't sure I needed to do a lot when first starting out.

A few other things to note, the Y is somewhat limited. They have more machines than they do free weights so right now I'm mostly sticking with machines until I have a grasp of the techniques I should be doing as well as just having a better understanding of weightlifting in general.

My goals aren't that ambitious I don't think. I don't really want to bulk up per se but I would like to put on some lean mass and get some definition. I figure if I could get down to around 170-180 then put 10-20 pounds of muscle back on I'd be at a comfortable spot. From what I’ve read the only difference in lean mass and bulking up is how you eat. What that difference is I’ve not yet figured out but I’ll continue to look.

Anyhow, that's where I'm at. If anyone has any suggestions or see if I'm doing anything wrong I'd love to hear it.

Thanks in advance,
Eric

A couple of quick things....
Your total calories seem low. 2000 for a 6' 170lb man seems low, especially with all that cardio.

The other thing is that I would change your carb and protein ratio around. 50% protein, 30, carbs, 20 fat. Actually, 40/30/30 would probably be even better.

The first thing I'd do is find your maintenance calories/day. This will probably take a couple of weeks or more. Then bump that by about 400 per day and see what kind of results this gets you.

Ok, thanks for the quick reply Mark. I'll look up how to check my maintenance calories/day. I originally worked my BMR out using Marcus' post that's stickied. That was before I started doing so much Cardio so yeah, 2000 is probably a bit low. That'll be fun. :lol: I have a hard time getting up to 2000 as is. :D

Work your legs.

Ok, I'll start working those in, thanks GTX.

Stupid Question Time... :blank:

What I listed above, as far as weight training, is all I do. It seems so little I was sort of embarrassed to list it, but anyhow. Even with what little I do, my biceps, triceps and pecs always feel swollen afterwards and even on into the next day. By the third day, which is when I go back to that particular muscle group they feel fine. Is that normal or am I screwing up somewhere?

Ok, I'll start working those in, thanks GTX.

Stupid Question Time... :blank:

What I listed above, as far as weight training, is all I do. It seems so little I was sort of embarrassed to list it, but anyhow. Even with what little I do, my biceps, triceps and pecs always feel swollen afterwards and even on into the next day. By the third day, which is when I go back to that particular muscle group they feel fine. Is that normal or am I screwing up somewhere?

muscle soreness is normal and sometimes muscles will hold more water and feel almost bloated if you've worked them hard enough... my legs always get this way... as long as the soreness is gone when it's time to work that muscle again, you're fine ;)


On Mondays and Thursdays I do curls and tricep extensions.
On Tuesdays and Fridays I do Bench Presses, Chest Fly and Crunches.



okay... I'd change this up just a little bit to add legs, shoulders & back into your workout... you're skipping out on two of the largest muscle groups right now (back & legs)... working those two muscle groups will boost your fat burining capabilities... the more muscle you have the more calories you burn :nod: so you really NEED to work those big muscle groups... I'd switch to a three day cycle if I were you

day 1 - back and biceps
back:
pull downs (cable machine)
low rows (cable machine)
hyper extensions (no weight at the begining... these are hard enough with out adding weight at the begining)
biceps:
regular curls
hammer curls

day 2 - chest, shoulders & triceps
chest:
bench press
flys
shoulders:
side raises
military press
triceps:
kick backs
cable push downs

day 3 - cardio only

day 4 - legs & abs
legs:
squats (unless there is no squat rack, you can use a leg press instead here)
leg extensions (machine)
leg curls (machine)
calf raises
abs:
crunches

there are ton of different excercises you can work into this and there are a ton of different oppinions... this is just an idea for a starting point

at day 5 you could do another cardio only day and then start the cycle over again, or you could go back to day 1 and then do a rest day... try to have two day's on and one day off from lifting so that you give your body enough time to rest and recover... I would take one day off from everything each week... I usually do that on Saturday or Sunday... usually Sunday :D (although I don't have a full day off anymore :o )

I know some of the terms and descriptions of the exercises (and what machines do what at the gym) can be confusing for a beginner. For example, Chameleon mentioned hyper-extensions, which sound painful.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html is a valuable resource. Click on the body part you want to work (right side of the page) and then what type of freeweight/machine you want to use (most of the machines are either listed under "cable" or "lever"). The site even has animated pictures of what the exercise should look like.

I know some of the terms and descriptions of the exercises (and what machines do what at the gym) can be confusing for a beginner. For example, Chameleon mentioned hyper-extensions, which sound painful.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html is a valuable resource. Click on the body part you want to work (right side of the page) and then what type of freeweight/machine you want to use (most of the machines are either listed under "cable" or "lever"). The site even has animated pictures of what the exercise should look like.


eh... hypers aren't bad... especially if your only doing regular 10-12 rep sets... however, I get to do them in 50-100 rep sets... which IS painfull :p

Ok, yeah the bloating is what it feels like and the water retention makes sense. It’s been a month since I’ve had anything but water to drink. I think I’m more proud of that than anything. I used to drink 4 Dr. Peppers a day thinking I needed the caffeine to get through the day. Once I stopped that and started eating better I’ve really felt 100% better. My short-term memory is also a lot better, which is a relief. For a while I thought I was getting old. Once I started noticing some of the improvements I read up on a few things and found out that a lack of water really affects more than anything I would have imagined. Anyhow, I’ll stop rambling. Just logging into this site is really motivational and I get a little chatty. :)

I’ll be sure to work into the 3-day cycle. My quads and calves are already big so I was a little scared to really work those as I didn’t want them to get any bigger but I’ll be sure to start doing that. Between Homer’s post and all the other information floating on these boards I should be able to get going in the right direction.

The only other question I have is would it be ok to do cardio after the weight training? I’ve read that before or after is debatable but I just wanted to make sure I’m not doing anything to hurt myself. Say on day 4 I work the legs and abs. Is it ok to do my 45 minutes of cardio after that? Or should I stick with HIITs or not do any at all?

Thanks Chameleon, that post was a big help,
Eric

Thanks for the link Phillydude, that'll help. I was just about to look up kick backs and hyper extensions. Those two were new to me. :)

Ok, yeah the bloating is what it feels like and the water retention makes sense. It’s been a month since I’ve had anything but water to drink. I think I’m more proud of that than anything. I used to drink 4 Dr. Peppers a day thinking I needed the caffeine to get through the day. Once I stopped that and started eating better I’ve really felt 100% better. My short-term memory is also a lot better, which is a relief. For a while I thought I was getting old. Once I started noticing some of the improvements I read up on a few things and found out that a lack of water really affects more than anything I would have imagined. Anyhow, I’ll stop rambling. Just logging into this site is really motivational and I get a little chatty. :)

I’ll be sure to work into the 3-day cycle. My quads and calves are already big so I was a little scared to really work those as I didn’t want them to get any bigger but I’ll be sure to start doing that. Between Homer’s post and all the other information floating on these boards I should be able to get going in the right direction.

The only other question I have is would it be ok to do cardio after the weight training? I’ve read that before or after is debatable but I just wanted to make sure I’m not doing anything to hurt myself. Say on day 4 I work the legs and abs. Is it ok to do my 45 minutes of cardio after that? Or should I stick with HIITs or not do any at all?

Thanks Chameleon, that post was a big help,
Eric

any time man... any time ;)

if you have enough energy left after you work legs it'd be fine to do some cardio but I wouldn't do HITT I'd do the LISS if you feel you need it... you may not need more than three or four day's of cardio though... so don't overdo it... you'll get better muscle recovery if you don't do cardio right after, and better energy in your workout if you don't do cardio right before you lift... if you can't make two trips to the gym and keep cardio seperate from your lifting by 6 or so hours, then I'd do it after, but keeping it seperate is best... I think you would probably do really well doing the three day split, do cardio on three non-lifting days a week and take one day off... do that for 4-6 weeks and see how you look and feel, then decide if you need more cardio... just a sugestion though... you don't want to overtrain and burn out.. this needs to be something you can stick with :tu:

Ok, gotcha. I'll stick with alternating days then. My fiance and I were going twice a day, once at 6:00am then again about 7:00pm, up until she broke her toe on Friday. I'll give this a go for a month or two and see where I am.

My fiance is making this life-style change too and we are trying to hold each other accountable. We're both keeping food and exercise journals so we can tweak and correct anything we need to as we learn more about what we're doing so hopefully we're off on the right foot. She can be very hard headed and driven in everything she does so I have no doubt she'll be keep me in line. :)

Thanks again,
Eric