If you need help setting up lifting sets...let me know. I am by no means an expert, but I have been lifting...with good results for a while now.

One thought...It might be better for you to work daily, and not push quite as hard. One way to achieve that is to break lifts into 3 sets like I do..legs, arms, core each 2x a week.

What is your goal for lifting? Is it tone, or to gain muscle to burn fat?

I hear you on that damn elliptical machine btw, I think it is Satan.

I'd like that. I use to be really big muscle wise in high school. I got involved with steroids and got really big. When I got smart and quit I just couldn't lift enough to keep it. It seems ever since I have been battling my weight and after two years on my back after a back surgery It just hard to get off. I mess with machines mostly because I just really don't remember free weight routines. Mostly I'm just trying to tone up. I'm using the hell machine because it burns a good amount of calories pretty quickly. I just get bored with the treadmill and such.

my routing is the elliptical but after that I'm pretty tired and I'll go to the weights. I do like 5 reps of 10 sets with light weights of about 50 pounds.
I'm working mostly on the large muscle groups. bicep triceps shoulders whole chest legs calf hamstrings things like that. I just need to get a routine going.

I know exactly what you mean, it's nice to see the numbers fly up from using the machine. The only problem with that is it's only burning the calories you see there...if that makes sense. If it says you burned 574...then that's what you did.

I know gaining weight is the last thing you probably want...but you have to look at it specifically:

Gaining fat = BIG NO NO for all of us in this forum.
Gaining muscle = Very good thing...for one big reason.

I am not saying you have to become Arnold at age 25, or anything like that. What I AM saying is daily maintenance calories for 1 pound of muscle is 35-37 (experts can not decide) calories per day....Without even doing any exercise!! Fat is using less than two calories per day.

So if you can get let's say 10lbs of lean muscle put on...that's another 350 calories per day..just for being alive! I don't consider 10 lbs to be bulking up or getting built...but it sure is a big advantage over the cardio only calorie burn.

My workout routine looks a lot like this...I am working out 6 days a week. With back surgery you will have more limitations than myself, obviously...but we can still figure out a way to divide exercises so you can do more per week if you'd like.

In addition to all of the lifts I ride the bike for 10 before anything else...and hit the elliptical for 20-30 per night after. The reason I ride after...is you need to get all that blood flowing to get into those muscles you just tore apart. Also, in my opinion, lifting is 10x more difficult when your mind and heart are already tired.

Monday Thursday- Bench, Curl, incline *mon*, decline *thurs*, tri-pulls, military, mid and low row

Tuesday Friday - Squat, Dead, leg press, extensions, leg curls, calf raises.

Wed Sat - Abs, torso, lengthy stretching session, back, and more cardio than usual.

For you, I would take out squats...and just do squats w/out weight, or with the bar only for a bit...those back surgeries may not do well on this lift for now.

Anyway, let me know what you think about the lifts that I do, and maybe we can find alternatives if they don't work for you...

Chef

yea I think I can do most of that. My back is mostly healed from the surgeries. The spine is fine but they removed alot of muscle when they were getting rid of the staph infection. I have full range of movement but it gets tight during bends. There is a machine at the gym that has really been helping my back. I don't know what its called but you sit in a chair type seat and it has a bar that goes across the middle of your back and this is tied to to weight stack. you just lean back against the tension. Once I started using the the muscle cramps really slowed down and seems to be getting better.

I don't think I'll grab the free weights but I'll get away from the baby machines and switch to the machines that you load up yourself with free weights. They have just about everything you can do with free weights on the machines and I don't have to worry about not getting the bar off of my chest.

So glad to see others in my weight class on here. I also started off in the 400 lb club, I am currently in the 300 lb club looking forward to getting into that 200 lb club.

I read earlier on one of the post that the eliptical is the devil and I could not agree more with you. When I first started it, I could only do 20 minutes on level 1. I am not up to 1 hour on level 15.

It's a great cardio work out to my other activities I do in the gym.

Welcome New-Man, glad to have you here. I can walk for 3 miles, work with weights, but that damn Elipticle............. it hurts me :-)

Hey new man...... welcome........

hillbillylee
I still use the mean machines (the ones you slap your own weights on) all the time...in fact the only lifts that I do free weight are curls, bench, squat, dead lift, and sometimes incline.

One thing I didn't think of before...do you stretch out (30 second holds per stretch) before lifting? It helps exponentially with strength and muscle gain both.

I would recommend always doing the big muscle groups first (bench, leg press, military, squats ((if you can handle squats))) Anything that works big muscles.

Even if you can not do squats w/ weight due to weirdness on back....you should do some squats in front of a mirror to start working your form. You will want to do them some day...as they are the biggest key to muscle gain in the body (even small amounts of leg muscles is the same to huge amounts in the arms).

Anyway, time to stretch, I'll be back on later.

Solon

OH!!!! And welcome to the club New-Man....jump in on the conversing.

I'm sure you'll fit in great with this group, they've been very nice to me so far!

Chef Soli

Today was a pretty light workout at the gym. I'm trying to go everyday and do at least some cardio. I got a job today at an environmental company and it's a 24 hour on call kinda thing. So my gym schedule is gonna change I'm sure. I go tomorrow for the D.O.T. pre employment physical and that takes about 4 hours or so. anyway tonight was half an hour on the elliptical and that burns about 595 calories. As far as weights I worked on biceps, triceps and back extensions.

Chef I hear ya about stretching; I'm stiff as a board.

I was talking to a trainer tonight and he showed me some lunges that he said would help my back and strengthen my legs. The free weights at my gym are rubber coated with like a handle hole cut in them. He was doing deep lunges while holding them. That way I can start with the super light ones and move up to the 45 pounders. My back is getting stronger I just have to be careful what I do and how much weight I put on it.... He said these would also work for shoulder shrugs.

Hillbilly,

Take a look for a torso-rotator machine as well....It sounds like you belong to a fairly well equipped gym, and they should have one...

It's the machine where you sit...lock your arms under some pads...and use your torso (back and oblique) to turn some weight 90 degrees while keeping your upper body facing forwards.

You may or may not like this one, but great for backs buddy.

Solon

Hey Chef, great info on stretching, I just do some cardio before lifting so it sounds like I need to add some stretching. Can you recommend particular stretching exercises? Or is there a book or a website I should go to? Appreciate your help.

Howie

Actually Howie...I can recommend a GREAT website...

Stretches for Weight Training

This has some decent easy to see graphics that show you how to do each of the stretches...

Some of them you won't be able to do due to our size...however, like the one where you lock your fingers behind you back...grab a tree...the side of a corner, anything...and just do one arm at a time.

(The following is copied from another great site)

The following key points should be remembered whilst stretching:

* Begin with gradual mobility exercises of all the joints, i.e. simply rotate the wrists, bend the arm and roll your shoulders. This will allow the body's natural lubrication (synovial fluid) to protect the surface of your bones at these joints.

* Always warm up the body prior to stretching, as this increases blood flow around the body, which in turn makes the muscles more supple.

* After exercise, slowly bring your heart rate down before you begin stretching in order to avoid blood pooling within your muscles, which can lead to cramp and dizzy spells.

* If you're wet and sweaty, take a bath or shower then stretch, as the hot water will help relax the muscles, and prevent you from catching a chill.

* Never bounce whilst you stretch, unless you are doing specific stretches for certain sports, i.e. ballistic stretching for martial arts.

* Hold the stretch until you feel the muscle loosen off, then repeat for a further 15 seconds.

* Whilst stretching you should feel some slight discomfort, if you don't feel anything, then you may be doing the stretch incorrectly, or simply the muscle has eased off.

* Stop immediately if you feel any severe pain.

* Remember to breathe regularly and rhythmically, do not hold your breath.


I hope this helped boys...

Solon

Hey Everyone, thanks for welcoming me. Well, I had a good week. I weighed in last night at WW and was down 7.2 pounds. I was shocked, but extremely happy.

Chef, i'm amazed at the amount of dead weight lifting you are able to do. I must be truthful, I actually do not even go into that part of the gym for fear of embarressing myself. All the guys in there are ripped and lifting like professional lifters. So I would just be way to embarressed to go in there and put on the 50 lbs that I am able to bench press. (LOL)

I'll check in later and have a great weekend everyone.

Hey new-man...

All of those guys that are in there...had to start somewhere.

If I were you I would get in there and try! If you are embarrassed; get yourself a trainer for the day, to show you the ropes... Those guys will know you are serious, and you'll have nothing to be embarrassed about!

If you don't try...you'll never lift more than those 50 lbs on bench bro.

Just gotta fight for the start.

Solon