Month 1
Exercise:
The principle behind this regimen is to introduce your body to resistance training. Resistance training requires a taxation of the muscles that many beginners aren't very skilled at. Volume exercise will teach you to tax your body's muscles sooner. We also are going to limit your exercise variety initially so that you get into a routine and don't waste the later benefit of exercise alteration. It also lets you focus your energy not on new exercise techniques, but rather getting to the gym and being consistent.
Monday: off
Tuesday: Upper Body
Wednesday: Lower Body
Thursday: Off
Friday: Upper Body
Saturday: Lower Body
Sunday: Extremities/Cardio
Upper Body Workout: 2 minutes between sets...measured at the end of the set. Each body part should take 15 minutes approximately to exercise.
Chest: Machine press:
1 warm up set (use a reasonably lighter weight)
4 sets to failure.
Shoulders: Seated dumbbell press:
1 warm up set
4 sets to failure.
Back: Seated cable rows:
1 warm up set
4 sets to failure
Triceps: Rope pressdowns:
4 sets to failure
Biceps: Bicep Curls:
4 sets to failure
Lower Body Workout: (3 minute break for leg press. 2 minute break for quads/hamstrings/calves. 1 minute for abs)
Quadriceps/Hamstrings/Glutes: Leg press:
1 warm up set
4 sets to failure
Quads: Machine quadricep extension:
4 sets to failure
Hamstrings: Leg Curls:
or
4 sets to failure
Calves: Calf raises:
4 sets to failure
Lower Abs:
4 sets to failure
Middle Abs:
or
4 sets to failure (dont wrench your neck or throw your body up. if you cant raise anything more than your head, you're done the set. ?)
Sundays: (2 minutes in between sets)
Trapezoids:
4 sets to failure
Forearms:
4 sets to failure
Cardio: You are so lucky, only one cardio session a week! You can choose an elliptical or the bike. The treadmill at your weight is too high impact and I really don't recommend it. We will start with some high intensity interval training. This means that you should find a bike or an elliptical that can keep track of your heart rate by holding onto the handles.
Aim for your recommended max heart rate (there should be something on the side indicating what it should be) for 5 minutes. Then cool down for 5 minutes and try and get down to 70% of your target heart rate. Repeat 4 times for a total of 40 minutes of cardio.
Diet:
Ideally I will want to space your calorie portions out more. But it simply is not necessary at the start. Our goal is to make this simple and easily followed. Here is the diet and afterwards, some explanation.
Meal 1: Breakfast: (approximately 250 calories) Cereal (full cup) with the least fatty milk you can stomach. So skim is best, 1% not bad, 2% worst. Along with this a big glass of milk (16 oz). Choose a reasonable cereal. Special K, cheerios, raisin bran, all-bran, etc. Avoid vector (it has too many calories).
Meal 2: Lunch: (450-600 calories depending on your protein source. Tuna has no carbs and fat, ground beef is going to have a significant portion of fat, and chicken and turkey are in between) A complex carbohydrate portion of around 250 calories along with a meat portion. A complex carbohydrate is one that doesn't break down fast. Whole wheat pasta, brown rice, a flatbread pita. It is not gatorade, a baked potato, or wonder bread! ? For our purposes, a meat portion is equivalent to a chicken breast. Equivalents: a turkey burger or a ground beef burger. A can of tuna or salmon. You're aiming for 30-40 g of protein. You can have this in a wrap, in a sandwich, or as brown rice or pasta on the side. 50 calories worth of condiments. So this can be mayo...it can be bbq sauce, it can be ketchup. I dont really care which, because it doesnt matter. Measure it out once and then get used to approximating it. To drink? Non-calorie drink, be it diet pepsi/coke, crystal light, or ideally, water.
Tip #1: Keep the sauce on the side and dip it in. Youll get more of the sugar/fat on your tongue and it will taste better!
Tip #2: Mustard and hot sauce are freebies. You can use either of these with reckless abandon. They are calorie free essentially. Hot sauce being tabasco and such, not salsa or spicy ketchup! heh.
Meal 3: Supper: Same as meal 3, except you get 100 calorie drink allowance. Generally a 12 oz glass (a regular sized glass) of whatever you want. Gatorade, regular pop, orange juice, grape juice, etc.) (550-700 calories, depending on protein source).
Snacks: 250 calories a day. You can bank your calories up to 3 days. This means you can generally have a chocolate bar a day, or an ice cream cone a day, 2 beers, or a double quarter pounder once every two days. It doesnt matter how you decide to use these calories, they are your sanity calories. The key is...you have to write it down. You write down snacks on a piece of paper and at the end of every week you add it up and see if you are around 1750 calories. Plus/minus 250 calories is no problem. Include all sauces or added condiments you use. (like if you use 3 days of savings to have a large mcdonalds fries (600 calories) you have to include how many packets of ketchup you use)
This is your diet 2 days out of the week (your non-workout days). The calorie average is going to be 1500-1800 for these days.
Your workout days? I'm assuming you are going to be working out after work. Before you go to the gym (like when you are getting ready at home) I want you to have:
Pre-workout meal: (250 calories) 150 calories of carbs: Ideally complex, but don't sweat it if it's gatorade or white rice or half a baked potato. 20 grams of protein. It can be whey protein (like in a shake), or half a chicken breast or half a can of tuna or half a turkey burger. It is essentially half of what you eat for meal 2 or 3.
Post-workout meal: (100-150 calories)...After you are done, i want you to when you get home to immediately have a protein shake or a can of tuna or a chicken breast. Pure protein with little fat...so no ground beef or leftover ribs or pepperoni! 30-40 grams worth...nothing else.
These 5 days will increase your caloric intake 350-400 calories...to bring your daily range to 1850-2200.
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Reasoning:
You're a big dude...and I bet your body will burn calories like nuts at the start. If you have ever watched shows like the biggest loser those guys have NO problem ditching 10 lbs every 2 weeks. I'm sure you are the same. The thing we want to avoid are the mental stresses that come from needlessly restricting your calories. Most of those people aren't having to deal with the daily stressors of life either (especially a job!) Not to mention, when they live every day at 1500 calories, it can affect their ability to build muscle. They look like skinny weaklings after. That is not what we want. You might have 1 or 2 days a week around 1500 calories, but that's all we want to do.
There is some discipline needed here. As you can see most days you will need at least 3-4 protein portions ready to eat everyday. This is where protein powder is SO handy. (a pure whey powder with no carbs or fat). If you use it for your protein source for workouts, it leaves you with having to prepare 2 protein portions. That allows you to cook 8 chicken breasts and have done that cooking for 4 days.
