Newbie needs advice for weight loss/toning

A

alexpb22

0
I need some advice re a programme for weight loss/toning up.

I have been exercising regular for about a year now and have done weights for the last few months at home.

I recently joined a gym and have been going about 5 times a week (during my lunch).

I then went to see the sports trainer who gave me a programme of 5 days a week, 20 mins cardio and then various weight routines which consist of one set each- Lat pull downs, chest press, back, legs. I don't think I'm doing enough but only have an hour for lunch including travel there and back.

Is there a better routine I could be doing i.e cardio/weights swapped on a daily basis or anything else?
I only want to tone up and lose weight not get bulked.

Any advice would be welcome
 
For all body composition goals, strength training > cardio. There's about 10,000 different ways to skin this cat, so it's probably a bad idea for me to give you a great big pile of options. But do a strength-based program built around squats, presses and pulls, and you'll be off to a good start. You could do fullbody 2-3 times per week, or upper/lower split 3-4 sessions per week (upper and lower each 1.5-2 times per week), with cardio on the other training days. Focus on goof form first and foremost, and once you've got technique down-packed, start pushing for more weight on the bar as often as possible. Make sure you've got a decent amount of protein in your diet and you're eating an appropriate amount of calories, and generally eat healthy (fruit, veg, dairy, nuts, eggs, meat, not necessarily in that order), and you'll be on your way to a leaner, healthier you.
 
Even the rest time between sets makes all the difference

Hi Alex,
Goldfish has a good point:
"But do a strength-based program built around squats, presses and pulls, and you'll be off to a good start."

And as trainersroom says "maintain your daily routine"

Basically, it is important to choose a program and try and stick to it. It does sound like you might not have an awful lot of time in your lunch break. When I used to try and cram stuff into my lunch break, I found it nearly impossible.

You could always workout at home as well as (or even instead of) the gym. It all depends on how far your gym is from your home.

As for your actual workouts, if you want to carve off the fat and tone up... instead of bulking up or building power, it does actually matters how long you rest between sets. It sounds like you will probably be needing to rest for no longer than a minute between sets (although maybe a bit longer for squats).

Example: Have you ever watched Weight Lifting at the Olympics for example? Weight lifters don't look anything like body builders or track and field athletes, do they? Their bodies don't have muscle definition. They are trained for a short explosion of power. The rest periods between their exertions are very long. So, don't rest for too long between sets, and if that means that you won't be able to do quite so many reps in your second set, so be it - that's OK.

If you do decide to do some home training, there is a home workout system that is supposed to transform your body in just 90 days... it's called P90X. Apparently, it does also include a nutrition guide.

Good luck :sport:
 
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^ I don't think using Olympic weightlifters really supports your argument, because it's only in the top weight class that you see the fatties lifting megaweights...because they don't have any weight restrictions, so they don't need to cut excess bodyfat to stay in their weight class; they can just keep on bulking, putting on more muscle and fat as far as their genetic potential will allow them, so that they can lift as much weight as humanly possible.

In stark contrast, when you look at the lifters outside of the top weight class, they're almost always very lean, because they can't afford to have much weight that isn't fat.

Of course, there may be some metabolic advantages to short rest periods, but I wouldn't know one way or the other. Every time I learn about some great metabolic advantage from some specific protocol that goes beyond "lift heavy, then come back next time and lift heavier," there's a study waiting right around the corner that will say the metabolic benefits of that protocol are overrated/irrelevant/non-existent. I don't say this to discredit short rest periods, just to say that I'm cautious with any claims about the fine details. Certainly shorter rest periods increase the cardiovascular factor of a session, and improve time-efficiency, but that's all I'd say about them with confidence.
 
Back to the OP's question. Weight loss is going to come from solid diet plan with a negative calorie balance.

With regards to your training, if I were in your situation with your goals I would set out a Mon, Wed, Fri FBW (full body workout) routine with cardio on Tue, Thu.

I'm a great believer that to get fat to stay off for good you need to build muscle to raise your basal metabolic rate. By just hammering the cardio you're only getting a short term energy expenditure increase. So cardio and weights, slight emphasis on weights. Doing one set of each exercise like you're doing now isn't really enough.

Also, you need to read the stickies on here about how to create a plan (weight training section). You need to incorporate vertical and horizontal presses and pulls and some variation of squats and deadlifts as a base to any routine.
 
I'm not sure if u r a guy or a girl so advice wld b a little different depending, but you don't really have to worry about bulking as such unless u r lifting really heavy weights and are eating very large calorie levels in order to support maximum muscle growth. If you are not doing this, and i am guessing you're not, then interchanging high intensity cardio and weights is perfect for fat loss and toning.

With training it is definitely about quality not quantity. You don't necessarily have to workout for a long time as long as your sessions are short but intense. With the cardio i would be doing interval training if you are using the cardio equipment at the gym. Interval training is alternating extremely high intensity intervals with slightly lower intensity active recovery intervals. Because you only have limited time you could do a 30-60 second sprint, followed by 30 second walk as your active recovery (using the treadmill). You can pretty much do this sort of interval training on any cardio equipment. The key is to really push yourself during the high intensity segments so that you are literally gasping for air by the end of them and only just recovering on the lower intensity before you HIIT it again! This is by far the best way to burn fat and increase your metabolism. 20 minutes of this kind of training is definitely sufficient.

In terms of weights you should be doing some kind of split so that you work different muscle groups each day. There are many different kinds of splits, but a good one would be a 4 day split such as:
Day1: Chest and Back
Day 2: Shoulders, calves and core
Day 3: Biceps and Triceps
Day 4: Legs and core
There are many different combinations of these, but the main key is to rest each muscle group long enough that it isn't still hurting next time you train it. You can just Google 4 day or 5 day split and there'll b heaps of examples. Free weights are superior to using the machines too, cause you have to use core stability and proper posture to execute the moves, which means you are recruiting more muscle fibers.
Apart from all that, nutrition is key! Don't let anyone kid you into thinking that it isn't. Most body builders will tell you nutrition is a huge 80-90% of your success. You need to be eating to complement your exercise routine, otherwise you could be cannibalizing your own muscle, which totally defeats the purpose. Bodybuilding dot com has some awesome diet plans for you to have a look at if you need help.
 
lol! I just did exactly the same. Well at least i know to look out for the date from now on :)
 
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