Thank you for the help Steve.

Anytime.....

Hey Steve,

Great thread. Excellent job on all the tips and help you've given.

So, I'm getting back into working out.. I'm 6' and I'm a bit overweight at 255 right now. I want to drop to 190. I'm pretty broke as it stands, but I have my old dumb bell and bench set set up in my basement.

So far I've been doing:

Monday: Squats, Benching, and Curls
Tuesday: Running and ab work out.
Wednesday: Squats, Benching, Curls, light run.
Thursday: Running and squats.
Friday: Running, Benching, Squats and curls.

I don't know what its called, but I bend down, pick up the bar then pull it up to my chest... like a rowing motion I throw that in there.

Any ideas on how to improve upon this? As you can see I'm restricted by the tools available to me (treadmill, bench, and dumbells)... I think I need some more leg workouts, but the only thing I've been doing there is running and squats.

Thanks in advance.

You defintely do not need more squats. It looks like you have 4 days each week in there already which is more than enough. Literally more than enough... as in too much in my time.

You also need a lot more back work in there or you're going to create imbalances. I'd also throw in stuff for your glutes/hams as well as your tris. I'll help outline something for you in a bit.

Before going on.... how many sets and reps are you doing of each?

Steve, what kind of yoga is good for weight-loss & abs?

To be honest, I'm not a fan of yoga. I mean, I guess it's better than nothing but there are much better things to be doing.

And abs is a function of losing fat more than anything else.

Ok, well how do I lose weight w/o losing muscle?

I'm sorry if you've already answer this in your posts, but I'm going blind every minute I stare into this bright computer screen.

Oh, & could you possibly give me links to see how to do these workouts, or describe them to me.

Someone told me I need to lose 15% body fat.

& Sorry, but another thing, I just ate grilled chicked w/ steamed carrots. Is that really healthy?

15% bodyfat?

What are your stats.

And you need to read the stickies.

I usually do 3 sets of 10 benches, 5 sets of 10 curls, and 3 sets of 10 squats, then do all that over. If I run, I only do the 2x10, 5x10, 3x10 then I throw in another 1 or 2 sets of each after running.

What are you hoping to accomplish with this routine?

Hoping to drop 50-60 pounds....

I'd do something like a 3 days per week full body routine, personally. You could alternate between two workouts: A & B

So....

Workout A:

Squats 3x8
Bench 3x8
Row 3x8
Biceps 2x12
Planks 2 for as long as you can up to 60 seconds

Workout B:

Romanian Deadlifts 3x8
Overhead Press 3x8
Pullovers 3x8
Step ups 2x15
French Press 2x12
Saxon Side Bends 2x10

++++++++++++++++++++++

Week 1 would look like this -> ABA

Week 2 would look like this -> BAB

Keep alternating

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Vids of the various exercises above... let me see if I can find some good ones.

Squats -- look at the stickie thread called 'the basic lifts' You should read the entire thing anyhow, but def. check out the squat write up and corresponding vids. It's very important to have good form with this exercise as it can be dangerous if done improperly. You say you are doing them now, but make sure you are doing them correctly.

Bench -- same thing, check out the 'basic lifts' thread

Rows -- YouTube - Dumbbell Row and YouTube - Free Weight Exercises : Free Weight Exercises: Dumbbell Rows

in that second video you can move the weight quicker than that

Biceps -- I don't really care what you do

Planks -- YouTube - Plank It

Romanian Deadlift -- YouTube - Free Weight Exercises: Weight Loss & Strength Training: Free Video Clip Series : Romanian Deadlift: Free Weight Exercises: Weight Loss & Strength Training: Video you can use dbs for this exercise obviously. I also think I have a write up here in the beginning of this very thread discussing this exercise and maybe in the basic lifts thread

Overhead Press - YouTube - Shoulder Exercises: The Overhead Dumbbell Press

Pullovers -- YouTube - 110x5 lb DB Pullovers

Step ups -- YouTube - Weight lifting exercise example - Dumbbell Step Ups

French Press -- Overhead Tricep Extension Exercise

Saxon Side Bends -- Alpine Core Training Beyond The Floor

Holy cow, man. Thanks a lot.

I'm going to try out the first routine tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Would you suggest running in the days between these workouts? I need the cardio because I get winded pretty easy, and I want to change that.

Also, in regards to picking the amount of weight to use, should I pick an amount that I can just barely finish all the sets with? Or do I go with something I have an easier time with. For instance... I know I can do 3x8 bench at 85, but I'd be struggling with the last few reps of the last set....... or should I drop 10 or 15 pounds off of it, so I can still "feel the burn" but its just not as prominent?

Thanks again man... I'm gonna thumb up this thread in stumbleupon...

Edit: I just read over your "Basic Lifts" sticky and I'm going to try and focus more on my form. I'll be moving a full body mirror down to my workout area to check out my squat. It feels like I'm doing it right, but I guess I'll never know until I see myself do it.

You're welcome.

Here's a very serious warning.

Start out very conservatively. You can even slow the movements down to something like 2-3 seconds lowering the weight and 2-3 seconds raising it. Focus solely and entirely on form/execution. Once you are completely comfortable with the movements, then, and only then you can start focusing on progressively challenging the muscle more and more as your body adapts to the loads.

Make sense?

Here's another important lesson. The above weight training program.... or any for that matter, is in place during a diet in order to retain as much muscle as possible. Diet in this instance meaning a nutrition stratagy that leads to a caloric deficit (more energy out than in). When you are dieting, your body has no choice but to 'compromise' for the energetic shortage. (calories are energy) In order for this compensation to occur, the body oxidizes (burns off) existing tissues. This is how weight is lost during a diet.

In an ideal world, this is entirely fat. In the real world, it's a mixture of everything. By lifting weights properly, coupled with a *proper* diet, you'll be able to preserve as much muscle as possible. You provide the stimulus letting your body know, "hey, let's hold on to as much of this 'good stuff' as possible even though we're in a caloric shortage."

I say this b/c many people think weight lifting is going to 'reshape' their bodies while dieting, magically putting muscle where fat once was.... and it doesn't work like this. Management of expectations is critical in order to keep frustation at bay.

So what you're aiming for with your weight lifting program while trying to lose weight is muscle retention/maintenance. What you're hoping for is some simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain which is a very real probability for those new to weight training and/or those carrying a lot of excess body fat.

I guess a good way of putting it would be, weight training is a critical tool in directing how a diet affects your body.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Ok, so that didn't answer your question at all about cardio.

Assuming you're talking about steady state, low/moderate intensity cardio.... then I really don't mind when you do it. If you're talking about high intensity stuff then you need to think about where you are inserting that into your overall programming.

If you want more complete rest days per week, consolidate your training bouts so you're doing cardio on weight training days. If that's the case, I'd stick cardio after the weight training session, or even seperate them so you are doing one in the AM and another in the PM.

Or throw your cardio sessions on off-weight-training days.

How much cardio are you planning on doing?

*SEE ABOVE ABOUT STARTING CONSERVATIVELY*

Once you're comfortable with the execution of each of these movements, you can start focusing more on the weigh lifted rather than the movement itself, although proper form is ALWAYS critical.

During a diet though, you should never be pushing yourself to a point of muscular failure, where you can't finish a set. On that same token, I wouldn't even go one rep short of muscular failure. The reason for this is quite simple: while dieting, your recoverability is reduced. Less energy in = less capacity to handle and sustain high intensity work loads accordingly. It's very easy to overtrain (burn out) by consistently forcing your body to pound through high intensity bouts of training.

In theory, which is tough since you don't know your 'true' one rep maxes in each of these exercises, you want to be hanging around 75-85% of your one rep maxes.

Actually, what I would do if I were you is this: Progressively and slowly add weight each workout you feel comfortable. This assures you are continually supplying a new stimulus to the body and you aren't being over-zealous and chasing weights that you shouldn't be lifting. Progress is the key more so than how much you're lifting.

5-10 lb increases on the big exercises should be manageable.

5 lb increases on the smaller.

Very glad you took the time to read that, and hopefully watched a few of the vids too.

Thanks again. Going to take all of that into account. I've been haphazardly lifting the past two weeks. You probably saved me from a pull or strain with your information.

Another question though.

If I were to find a weight for lifting that I'm comfortable with, would it be better to add more sets to that weight later on, or add more weight and keep the sets the same?
Or would it be beneficial to do, for example, 3x8 bench at 100 one week, then next week add another set in if I'm comfortable with it, then the week after that add another 10 pounds and go back to the 3x8?

Thanks