OK...let's see if I can get most of the variables in here. I am looking to take it to the next level. I have been living cleaner since my last physical in June had me at 307 (I am almost 5'11"). I started dropping calories and walking a bit, and then on August 20, I took up weight watchers online in earnest. I can't tell you exactly the proportions of what I eat, but I am doing 40 "points" a day. I do a protein shake (Shaklee Cinch) with a banana and half a cup of All Bran and skim milk after my cardio in the morning. Lunch time I am usually doing a chicken breast or tuna wrap and a couple pieces of fruit. Dinner is about two quarts of salad, two steamed veggies and 6 - 8 ounces of grilled meat...mostly chicken, but I mix it up with turkey breast and fish and the occasional steak or lean pork chop. (I am eating with a family so one meat every day just won't work). In the evening, I usually have a yogurt, maybe a few pretzels and on nights I workout, I have just started to add another Cinch shake after I lift.

Water - never less than 1.5 gallons...a little more on workout days.

Supplements - I am taking a multi (Shaklee Vita-Lea), Glucosamine (750 mg) and Chondroitin (600 mg) twice a day, a saw palmetto complex, a time relase C with rose hips, Omega Guard (fish oil - total Omega 3 = 1000 mg) and every third day or so, I am doing 3 Metamucil caps twice a day.

Exercise so far - since August 20, I have done at least a half an hour a day at least five days a week. Mostly, it has been on the treadmill, but we also have an elliptical and a tread-stepper (man that thing still kicks my butt. I can do 45 minutes on the treadmill at 3.4 mph or so pretty easily, but 20 minutes on the stepper and I am ready to die...). Some days I go and ride my bike. We have a nice five mile loop I can do in the neighborhood. I also have been doing some basic exercises...I do at least 50 crunches every day...and throw in some push-ups and leg lifts. I also stretch with an exercise ball and lately, I been tivoing and doing Total Body Shaping with Gilad from FitTV(I can hear you laughing, but it really is a great workout for me. I break a sweat and it seems a nice blend of stretching and cardio...God knows, if he got to look how he looks doing what he does on his show, sign me up....and he always has some cute girls to motivate me...so laugh if you must.)

I am liking the results. Aug 20, my first weigh in was 297.5. This past Monday, I was 276.5. I have been doing a steady 1.9 pounds per week. I like the weight loss, but I am really ready to start defining and ramping up the weights.

OK, I know that is a lot to digest...here is the new part. It is time to add weights. and I have a plan I have just started. We have a Smith system with a bench with the leg curl attachment and an Olympic free-bar. I have a set of adjustable dumbbells...the kind with the screw on ends...we also have a dip tower. (I also have a motivated 15 year old, football playing son...he is why we have a pretty nice home gym.)

Ultimately, I am looking for opinions on the weight plan. I used a 60% of max lift formula to come up the the weights.

Max lift:
Bench - 155
Incline - 145
Decline - 140
Squat - 245


You can see what I am doing in the PDF, I hope. The way I have the spreadsheet set up, the weight is per side of the bar. I don't like to do math...so I wanted to just be able to look at my chart and put plates on each side of the Smith bar. (i.e. - if I want to lift 95 pounds, I call it 30 pounds. That makes it 60 pounds of plates and 35 for the bar to get to 95.) I don't know if that is a conventional way to list weights, but it works nicely for me.

I guess I am just looking for advice on the balance of exercises. After the first month, I will re-evaluate and try to do a month 2 that has a little more diversity and variety. Right now, I am just trying to concentrate on form and working with a few exercises and major muscle groups. I hope I won't get bored in my first month out.

I will also keep doing my cardio at least 5 times a week, but I wonder if the crunches are ok and how often? I have leg lifts and dips built into my plan...but I was going to keep on with the crunches.

Does anyone think this too ambitious? Not ambitious enough?

Any other thoughts or things I am flat out missing?

Feel free to ask anything I have missed.

Thanks in advance for the help. I value you very much both the motivation and knowledge I have gained from this forum.

Jay

i'm a relatively new in this as well, but what worked for me at the beginning, and it still does is doing 3-4 compound exercises and 1-2 isolated per workout. in the spreadsheet i got confused by the number of different exercises you plan to do, and i don't think that variety is needed in each and every workout. it's kind of confusing, at least for me. i think i'd have to walk around the gym with the list in order not to forget it all.:)
another thing that got my attention: you eat straight away after morning cardio? well, i've never done it on an empty stomach, but it's said that if you don't eat at least one hour after cardio, its effects (fat melting so to say) are prolonged. when i do cardio after lifting i have a banana or a shake between the two. it prevents binging after a heavy workout. EDIT: but it's always in the afternoon, and after lunch, so...
hope you get smarter answers from others;)
good luck!

If you are relatively new with weight, you may find the routine a bit too ambitious and very lengthy. All those lifts on the same day isn't neccesary to see some good improvements over a short amount of time.

My recommendation would be to actually move to a full-body routine 2-3 days a week and keep it simple to squats, add in something like a stiff legged deadlift or goodmornings, calf raises, bench, row, pullups, dips and crunches. To keep it from getting boring you can use variants of each exercise on different days. This article is an example of what I'm talking about
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=508031

But if you want to stick with a upper lower split, twice a week.. I'd probably cut down to only about 6 exercises each day to keep you from wearing yourself out too soon.

Nice link you posted. :tu: Compound exercises, different rep schemes, and antagonist exercise pairings all good stuff.

I agree with the others in that your orginal volume is too high. You don't need 30 sets per workout, 120 sets per week.

OK, over complicated. I really thought it was pretty straight forward, but in reading the sites sent to me, I can see a simpler approach does make tons of sense. I do keep the print out with me as I work to read from. I just assumed everyone did that. :)

I'll read some more and see how I can make it easier on me.

Thank you very much,
Jay

you eat straight away after morning cardio?

No, I don't always make it a full hour after cardio, but I do read the paper, check email and shower before breakfast. Alway at least 1/2 an hour.

Great advice...thanks,

Jay

OK, over complicated. I really thought it was pretty straight forward, but in reading the sites sent to me, I can see a simpler approach does make tons of sense. I do keep the print out with me as I work to read from. I just assumed everyone did that. :)


actually, yes i did when i was just starting:confused: what is also useful is to write down the weight you lift, the number of sets and reps you managed to do, so that you can follow your progress in terms of strength too, not only fat lost:)
have fun:)

OK, over complicated. I really thought it was pretty straight forward, but in reading the sites sent to me, I can see a simpler approach does make tons of sense. I do keep the print out with me as I work to read from. I just assumed everyone did that. :)

I'll read some more and see how I can make it easier on me.

Thank you very much,
Jay

Hey Jay. Great job on the progress so far. I think you are going to find that you're a. doing way to many sets per day/week b. spending way too much time at the gym.

My opinion would be start out with something simple. Some compound lifts and maybe 1-2 isolated lifts. After you get into the routine of making time to go the gym everyday then start adding/replacing/modifying your lifts.

I think your mind is definately in the right place but those workouts are going to kick your ass and unmotivate you real fast unless you start a little slower. I know some people like to hit the ground running (myself included) but for lifting I think it's better to start a little slower. :bb:

Here is the workout plan I started with and modified. I guess it's the "framework" for my own plan.

http://www.freedomfly.net/workouts/workout1.htm

P.S I also keep a list of my workouts written out on paper. I think many other people do this too. I write down the number of sets and the weight to track my progress.

Good luck :gl:

As a follow up to the link FBChick gave me, I found this:

http://www.t-nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=615935

it is spreadsheets to set up all of the Chad Waterbury plans. Great Stuff.

Jay