Need Help With Training Program

[Stebo2103]

Hi, this is my first post so please forgive me if its in the wrong board.

My head is spinning with all the different programs and techniques that are available and i'm having trouble deciding which is the best for me.

My ultimate goal is to lose some weight (beer belly), increase fitness/stamina and tone my muscles to gain strength as I want to get back into playing rugby.

I'm 26 years old (with the body of a 40 year old!) 6'5" and around 19stone (270lbs).

i think firstly i need to lose weight around my middle as when i excercise i end up with slight pains in my lower back. I know that this is due to excess wieght, lack of abdominal strengh and lower back strength so i think this should be addressed first. I have been considering the cabbage soup diet as i have heard some success stories however if i intend to train in the gym i'm not sure if this is suitable as i would like to try and lose weight and build muscle at the same time. I have started running locally and walking further when travelling to work, i also work next door to a gym which i will be using from this week onwards.

Should i be consdidering using supplements? I work with some lads who weight train and they drink stuff in milkshakes but i'm unaware of what it actually does. One guy is using it to bulk up but i'm already overweight so i dont think i need anything like that, however if i'm going to try the cabbage soup diet i will need certain nutrients that this diet apparently dosent provide for me.

Efficiancy is crucial here as i could do with seeing results as quickly as possible.

If anybody knows of any set plans or links to any websites that could guide me i would be extremely grateful!

Thanks in advance

 

[FitFreak1]

First, avoid anything called "The xxx Diet"
Those diets are good at one thing, setting yourself up for disaster, unless you want to eat cabbage soup every day for the rest of your life.
You need to change your lifestyle, get into good eating habits, and get yourself up and moving about.
Don't look for quick results, it took time to gain the weight, its going to take time to get it off, quick results are not going to be the healthiest in the long run.
Don't start with supplements until you get a good diet and exercise regiment down. The shakes are going to be either protein shakes or bulk-up shakes. Use protein shakes only if you can't get enough protein in throughout the day, but they are handy in a pinch, especially if you're on the go alot cause they're really portable.
Check out the P90X system if you want a nice training guide and meal plan in one set. Men's Health also has a lot of these types of plans, not as detailed, but you could probably find them on-line for free from their site.

 

[Goldfish]

As above, anything called the ____ Diet is bad news. Personally, I'd even go so far as to say that any (or at least most) food with "Diet" on the packaging is bad news.

I'd suggest you start out with pilates to get your core working. This will reduce lower back issues, setting you up to be better equipped to handle more intensive exercise down the track, which will help you get closer to your goals.

Getting active for at least 10 minutes at a time, 3 times a day is really good metabolically. At the gym, other than pilates, start out with some light cardio.

After about a month of training, you should be able to progress from pilates and light cardio to more intensive exercises. Progress on to a full-body resistance training program focusing on compound movements (this is ideal both for muscle gain and for fat loss), and up the cardio to interval training. After a couple months, increase the intensity again to do HIIT (high intensity interval training - there's a section on these forums all about it, I think it's under running and cycling but I'm not certain).