OT: Weight training workout

[superjohn]

what's a 5x5 vs 6-12? confused by the shorthand notation

5 sets of 5 reps on your big strength mass building lifts like bench press, deadlift, squat, and military press. 8-12 reps is the typical rep range most people use.

 

[sledog]

Thanks. Trainer thought I should try more reps, so I've been doing 20x - 2 sets for last month.

 

[DaddyChoc]

My brother-in-law is doing a keto diet, but I don't think he's lifting at all (not even sure how much exercise he's doing; I'll have to get an update the next time I see him). He's definitely losing weight pretty quickly.

I've been doing Keto for the past 2 months and lost 30lbs... It's an east diet to follow and as you said "no exercise" but I do wear a Fitbit so I can get 4000 steps and 10 floors a day, atleast.

I stopped using the MyFitnessApp cause my meals are too plain and simple, same foods over and over... Im not tracking that.

I gave up a lot of junk food, mostly snacks, never was big on fast food, to stay right on this diet. I do eat sugar-free Reese's Cups mimis and also I make my own Keto Chocolate Chip cooies with almond flour and sugar-free chocolate chips

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It's been about three months since I started dieting and regularly going to the gym. My gym workouts have consisted of three days of weight training, two days of high-intensity interval training and ab workouts, and two rest days. I've seen a pretty good change in my body; down 15 pounds overall, but I've definitely put on a good amount of muscle as I've pushed myself pretty hard as far as lifting goes. My weight training regiment is a mix of using the machines, dumbells, and the rack to do squats. I've increased the amount I can lift by a pretty good amount so far, and I'm constantly upping the amount of weight I lift in each exercise so I am pushing myself to the limit on each workout.

Here's my problem: I've plateaued. I still feel like I'm pushing myself hard in my workouts, but I don't feel sore at all the days after I lift. I realized this after I spent an afternoon raking leaves on Saturday, and I've been sore for the past 3 days from working my muscles in a different way than I had been at the gym. So it's definitely time to mix up my workout. I want to keep pushing myself and my muscles hard, since putting on muscle is definitely the best way to lose weight -- and I still have 40+ pounds I want to lose. Does anyone have a good total body workout that is different enough from regular weight training (bench press, squats, etc.) that will kick my weight loss back into high gear? Any and all suggestions are welcome; I would be happy to pick-and-choose ideas that will work best for me.

There is a lot of good advice in this thread, but I would add that you need to come up with a workout regimen that is sustainable. You mentioned you are 31. You are one girlfriend/wife/promotion away from most of this advice becoming completely unrealistic. And if a kid or two is anywhere in your future (I am assuming that you don't have kids based on how much time you are working out), then you can throw all of this advice in the garbage. You need to have a workout plan that works around your life, not the other way around, or you won't stick with it.

Watch what you eat, eat more green stuff than you do, and remember that almost nothing healthy comes out of a bag. If you just get all the bags of food out of your house, you will lose weight. Also, however hungry you think you are after 8 pm, you can wait until morning to eat.

I have a workout roughly similar to Superjohn's. Beach muscles are fun, but I am a huge proponent of core workouts. Mix a lot of legs in there. Glutes and quads are big muscles, and they can burn a lot of calories if they are worked out. Core and balance workouts will serve you well as you get older.

As you get older, your joints also get a vote on how you should exercise. It only takes one rep with bad form when you have 2 plates plus on either end of the barbell, and your shoulder or elbow will never be the same. I think 30-35 years of age is kind of the gray area of maxing out weight in workouts. If you want to make one last push to bench 250 or 300, go for it, but you are taking a chance. I would strongly advise against workouts that include maxing weight for anyone over 35. Switch to weights that you can do more reps with. If you can't do 6 reps with perfect form at a weight, you are lifting too much. I would make that 8 reps for anyone over 35.

I have plenty of ex-jock friends that played software or basketball or whatever into their late 30's before they blew out a shoulder, elbow, back, achilles or knee, and now they weigh 250+ and look like John Goodman. They either pushed it too hard, or were too heavy, or didn't adjust their activity to their age. Your joints will fail before your muscles will, so "how it feels" isn't always a great indicator of whether you are pushing too hard. The shoulder, elbow and back are show stoppers, because it is really hard to exercise if you can't use one of your arms or of your core fails when you try to push it, and elbows and shoulders don't heal very well.

 

[storrsroars]

I like caloric restriction only because it's a good intro and a good habit to have. it's also 100% proven if your only goal is weight loss. getting an idea of how many calories certain foods have so you can keep it in the back of your head is invaluable. it also doesn't ruin your energy. plus, if you plateau (which you really shouldn't due to physics) or want to start eating clean it's a much easier transition

I know a lot of y'all posting there are 20-40 ish. When you get older (I'm 62), calorie restriction is the best tool, coupled with non-strenuous exercise.

I can't remember if it was mau or you who turned me onto the myfitness app, but it works wonders when I use the thing right. I'm really trying to establish some lifelong habits, which I didn't do the first time around even though I lost weight (which I put back). I won't do free weights except light weight mucho reps stuff, I don't get to the gym often enough to establish a routine, but I do walk the dog 2 or more miles each day and do a lot of yard work. adds up.

Anyway, after weaning myself off a few things (mostly crunchy salty snacks) and actually measuring stuff, I'm currently sitting around 2000-2100 cals/day (my maintenance would be 3500) and I'm quite comfortable. I can't imagine doing what ADub is doing. A half cup of chili with a tablespoon of grated cheese is actually satisfying if I eat it with a smaller spoon in twice the number of bites instead of shoveling down a full cup with abandon. I can eat a cup of spaghetti and broccoli rabe and olive oil and stay under 140g carbs if I make it up elsewhere. I've switched from 80% red meat to 1/3 each of red meat/chicken/fish.

I have the "benefit" of being unemployed at the moment so I can cook instead of ordering out for crap. Breakfast and lunch are both under 400 cals each and usually around 300. That leaves 1400 for dinner and snacks which is a piece of cake (not literally). It was surprising to me that if I actually removed 7 tortilla chips from the bag and set them out, then loaded up with fresh salsa, I was perfectly fine with that and don't need to mindlessly munch half a bag. And watermelon is almost free calories.

I started mid-March at 283. Down 14 lbs in six weeks. I'm going for 190-200 lbs by next spring. At that point my maintenance will be 2750 cals, which I believe will seem like gluttony.

 

[JMick]

I can't remember if it was mau or you who turned me onto the myfitness app, but it works wonders when I use the thing right. I'm really trying to establish some lifelong habits, which I didn't do the first time around even though I lost weight (which I put back)

Congrats on the weight loss. The best thing about caloric restriction is that it really can be a lifestyle change. Keto, Carnivore and other diets are great but it's so much harder to maintain that for long periods of time. It's not nearly as hard to stay under 2000 calories/day for a year or more once you get a rough idea of how calorie dense different foods are. I've heard people have very good results switching between Keto & calorie counting on a monthly basis, too, but a keto diet is too expensive for me.