Henry's workout journal

H

halisray

0
Hey guys and gals,


This is my situation:

I am a 20 year old male, weighing in at 215lbs and I am 6 feet tall.

I have been trying to lose weight for the past couple of weeks, working out every day, basically doign whatever I can to get healthy. I just joined this forum a couple weeks ago seeking help, and someone told me to post my journal and he (wesrman) also gave me a few tips to follow.

I am trying to lose at least 10-15lbs, but mainly I want to tone my body up.

Before today I have been doing 45 minute jogs on my elliptical trainer (due to it being Winter, usually id run outside) every single day besides friday and sunday. Every third run I would do HIIT for 15 minutes.

Before running I would usually do about 50 crunches, 50 bicycle kick ab exercises, pushups, squats, and just recently I have been doing burpees.

I was told that I should workout Mon/Wed/Fri, and do cardio on Tues/Sat.

So I would do all my situps and stuff on those three days then do cardio on tuesday and saturday.

My goal is to lose weight and tone ASAP, so I was wondering if I could do my workout every day but I was told that I was not giving my muscles time to relax and grow. So if I cant do it every day, then could I do my workout on Mon/Wed/Fri but then do cardio every day? After I come home from work I find it relieving when I jump on the elliptical and jog for 45 minutes.. Would it be too hard on my body if I did cardio every day?

So basically I would do my workout (situps/pushups/biceps/triceps/squats/etc) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and then do cardio every day? Would that be beneficial for me to lose weight and tone ASAP?

As for my diet, I eat well, I used to snack a lot but I stopped that:

I dropped beer altogether, I occasionally have one, maybe once a week or once every 2 weeks. I also don't eat junk food, no sodas or chips,etc.

Usually I'll have oatmeal for breakfast, or some raisin bran. During work/school I would bring apple/orange/banana for snacks that I would eat every 2/3 hours. And for lunch I would bring a sandwich or leftovers. My portions aren't very big either. For supper I usually have spaghetti, or curry, roast pork, etc. Note that all these dishes have quite a lot of vegetables also.


Thanks for all your help, thanks to wesrman for helping me out, and I hope those who reply will have great input as well.

Cheers,


Henry
 
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This is just a starting workout to get you going. Its basic and simple, yet hard enough to produce results. You dont need fancy exercises to get in shape. All you need is hard work, enough rest for your body to recover and get stronger, and proper diet.

Mon, wed, fri
body weight squats
push ups
pull ups (1 arm rows until you get a pull up bar)
dumbell press
bicep curls
tricep extensions
sit ups or crunches
supermans or stiff leg deadlifts (for lower back)

2 sets of each pushing yourself on each set. If you want you can do burpees at the end of your workout, but keep the entire workout to an hour or so. The burpees will help you burn extra calories.

Tues and Sat do 30-60 mins of cardio. Cardio can be biking, running, burpees (probably the best choice), skipping or a mix of any or all of these. Elliptical is ok ocasionally, but the others are much better imo.

Update this log daily with workouts, thoughts, questions etc and you will progress.

It wont be easy, but it will be worth it.

Good luck. :)
 
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Thanks a lot for your help, the only hitch is that I don't have time on Friday to workout because I have class till about 5 then I go right to work until late at night. so Maybe I'll workout on saturday and squeeze a cardio session into sunday?

Anyways, I'll post back later after I workout this afternoon, thanks a lot.
 
halisray said:
Thanks a lot for your help, the only hitch is that I don't have time on Friday to workout because I have class till about 5 then I go right to work until late at night. so Maybe I'll workout on saturday and squeeze a cardio session into sunday?

Anyways, I'll post back later after I workout this afternoon, thanks a lot.
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it doesnt have to be mon,wed ,fri. it can be tues, thur, sat or sun, tues, thurs etc. As long as you arent using weights 2 days in a row and have rest days its cool.
 
alrighty, great stuff.. looking forward to working out this afternoon, have to run some errands first... looking forward also to seeing the results after a couple of weeks of doing these exercises :D, more than certain that this workout plan will be more beneficial than what I was doing every day.. never knew the body actually had to relax in order for the muscles to grow!

thanks!!!
 
So here it is for the 14th of January,

Warmed up with jumping jacks
- 2 sets of 15 body weight squats (could feel my legs burner half way thru 2nd set)
- 2 sets of 10 pushups (first 10 went okay, once i hit 4-5 on my 2nd set I struggled but I managed to complete the two sets.
- 2 sets of 10 1 arm rows (this was tough, could feel my shoulders burning and could feel it working my back, almost gave up half way in but I stuck to it and i managed to complete both sets)
- 2 sets of 10 dumbbell presses (this was incredibly tough, I finished the first set which was difficult, but for the 2 set I could only complete 6 reps, then I took a break and did the last remaining 4)
- 2 sets of 10 bicep curls (well, this was the hardest to date, I managed to do 10 reps on each arm to begin with, but found it rough when I hit 7th rep on each arm. I went for the 2nd set and I only completed 3 reps on my right arm and 4 reps on my left arm, exhausted)
- 2 sets of 10 triceps extensions (I managed to complete both sets, but into the 2nd set I started out struggling and I barely managed to complete the 9th and 10th rep)
- 2 sets of 25 crunches (i felt the burn half way in on the 1st set and at the beginning of the 2nd set and I barely finished 25 on my 2nd set but I succeeded!!)
- 2 sets of 10s superman (I did this twice, both holding for 10 seconds. Found it different, could feel my lower back and my core work, was good!)
- 2 sets of 10 burpees (the first set was really hard especially near the end, and I tried to do the 2nd set but just collapsed after the 5th rep!!)

Finished off with various stretches!

So this was my first workout with the exercises that wesrman suggested and I realy enjoyed it!! Took me about 1 hour to complete and I am looking forward to the next session!!

Just a question: I posted my diet earlier in my journal and was wondering if it seems okay? I try to eat as healthy as possible!!
for my post workout food (lunch basically) I had a salad with tomatoes, onions, green peppers, a couple olives and fresh lettuce leafs, and on the side a handfull of almonds.

thanks! till next time
 
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After your workout you need to eat protein and simple carbs.

Try a bannana and a big glass of milk, or chicken and rice, or make a protein shake with milk, berries, bannana, eggs, yogurt etc.

Good job on the workout. Tomorrow you will probably want a rest day..lol. And dont push yourself too hard for the next week or two. You dont want to overdo it. Ease into it and increase the intensity as you get used to it.
 
It is Friday morning and time for my 2nd workout! My arms and thighs still feel a little bit sore but I am going to give it a shot!

Warmup with jumping jacks.

- 2 sets of 15 Squats
- 2 sets of 10 pushups (could only do 1 full set and 6 reps from the other set, my body just gave up)
- 2 sets of 10 1 arm rows
- 2 sets of 10 dumbbell presses ( finished the 1st set, got only to the 7th rep on the 2nd set and I stopped, couldnt push anymore)
- 2 sets of 10 biceps curls (wow, so i only finished 1 set on each arm then only reached the 6th rep on the 2nd set on both arms... wow I am tireedddd)
- 2 sets of 10 tricep ext. ( i struggled through the 2nd set, but I managed to complete it)
- 2 sets of 25 crunches (1st set went by okay, struggled a bit, then the 2nd set was real hard but I finished it)
- 2 sets of 10s superman
- 1 set of 10 burpees ( i felt like that was all my body could do)

So I was surprised that I couldn't finish a couple sets throughout my workout, why is this? Maybe because I hadn't fully recovered from my last workout.. well anyways I pushed myself to try to finish those sets, I gave it my all.

Tomorrow I will be doing cardio, and on Sunday I will try to squeeze in another workout.
 
Insteasd of doing a set of 10 and a set of 3 or 4, you can do 2 sets of 7 or 8 or so.

How long are you taking between sets???
 
Nice hard workout! Maybe a little too hard... Every January, I see a lot of peeps start off really hard, get burned out and quit. Watch out for that.
 
g8r80 said:
Nice hard workout! Maybe a little too hard... Every January, I see a lot of peeps start off really hard, get burned out and quit. Watch out for that.
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Thats one of the things im trying to tell him. Rest is key so feel free to skip a cardio session, leave out the burpees at the end of your workout, or tone down the intensity from time to time. Try to go by how you feel and make sure you get lots of good food. :)
 
Ok regarding your PM: you got a pull up bar and a bench. :)

I would alternate heavy (6-8 reps) and a light (8 reps and up)workouts. Keep it 3 days per week.

So keep the workout you have as your light workout and go with this as your heavy workout.
2 sets of each in the 6-8 rep range(except for the crunches which should be higher reps):

Squats with a bar
deadlift
Bench Press
Chin ups
Military press
Crunches
 
okay so like

light workout / cardio / heavy workout / cardio / light workout, etc?

and if i am tired Ill skip the cardio


and all those exercises I can find via youtube right? :D
thanks again man, I can actually feel the difference and I can see it as well.. its crazy... SO HAPPY NO WAY AM I BURNIGN OUT BABY
 
No, the same as now but mon is heavy, wed is light, fri is heavy, then the next mon is light, wed is heavy, fri is light etc. Cardio days are the same.
 
1 minute is probably good, but on heavy day its ok to take up to 2 minutes or so. And yes you can find out how to do each exercise on youtube or elsewhere on the web. Go easy when first starting to do squats and deadlifts. Dont go near failure on these exercises until you have the proper technique down perfectly. If you can get someone to show you the proper way to de them it would help.
 
So today I worked out at a lower intensity due to having a long stress-filled day.

Warm up with Jumping Jacks
2 sets of 12 squats
2 sets of 8 push ups
2 sets of 8 one arm rows
2 sets of 8 dumbbell presses
2 sets of 8 biceps curls
2 sets of 8 triceps ext
2 sets of 8 wrist curls
2 sets of 8 reverse wrist curls (trying these out to workout my forearms/wrists!)
2 sets of 20 crunches
2 sets of 10sec superman
2 sets of 6 burpees

and I am done for today! tomorrow I will jog for 45-ish minutes.. see you again on wednesday!
 
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