Having recently made a rather arbitrary decision that im tired of being a blob I made the leap to joining a gym. So after going through the vaugly humiliating pre-joining fitness assessment to confirm my status as a blob, the (im?)personal trainer set me up with this routine: Resistence: 3 sets of 15-20 reps 1) Upright chest press 2) Lat pull down 3) Seated row 4) Step up with shoulder press 5) Tricep push down 6) Bicep curls 7) Leg press 8) Walking lunges (30 walks) Core: 1) Crunches 2x25reps 2) Oblique twist 2xmax reps 3) Prone hold 2x 30sec To give some idea of my currently level of fitness... Im 25, male, about 180cm (6ft i think) and about 125kg of blobbiness. I injured my lower back a few years ago and still get the odd twinge from that, my physio tells me this does not prevent me from any specific weights exercises. Despite all this im not overly sedentry, my job requires walking 5-8 hours a day 5-6 days a week (similar walking to a postie, in hilly suburban/city areas) and I do Tai Chi on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My goal is basically to 'be fitter', mostly by dropping fat. I've started making adjustments to my diet which i realise will be what has the most effect. When setting up my program I made a point of mentioning that I don't want to do too much lower body work as I don't fancy the idea of my legs feeling like hell while im walking all day. Im able to train usually monday/wednesday and either friday or saturday. After going through this routine for a week im left with some questions... - Is there anything specifically missing from this routine? - If there is something missing, is it because the majority of my workout is largely isolation based? - I got the feeling while the trainer was taking me through the routine that part of the reason i was being a machine weights program is the ease on the trainers part in teaching the way to use. Compound weights would seem to take up a lot more of the trainers time in instructing on form. Does this make sense? - My initial thoughts when starting the gym were that isolation machines were a good lead in to compound weights. After a _lot_ of reading it seems most people suggest compound from the beginning. Can anyone suggest a compound routine based on what i've said above? The gym i've signed on with seems to have a decent set of free weight kit, several types of bench, a powercage as well as something that looks like a powercage but the barbell is attached to a fairly heavy gauge chain thing So i suppose my last question is the main one im interested in. I have spent a fair bit of time going over this site in an attempt to make something myself, but am suffering from too much information. As I don't have an experienced training partner to teach me the ins and outs, im hoping that if i grab the trainer by the ears and threaten to sit on him he will take me through whatever compound exercises I ask... I'd be grateful for any help / comments mocking my poor spelling (hell this ran on a lot longer than i thought, thanks to anyone that even reads this all)
Tell him you want to gain some hurtin muscle and lose weight, not be a bodybuilder. If he doesnt change your routine to revolving around squats/bench/deadlift and cardio, find a new trainer.
He'd have to be careful with those two as he mentioned he has a history of lower back problems. While it sounds like he has the all-clear, it might still be a risk. I'm sure given the correct form and sensible training with those two though there may not be a problem - just something to take into consideration.
to start off, this program actually isn't too bad. guys like us would never do such a routine because we're already coordinated and strong enough to lift entirely free weights with the more complex compound exercises. a beginner might be at risk if you make him/her start squatting heavy right from the start. but i'm wondering why there's no cardio here . you should have your trainer show you some freeweight exercises and have you gradually move to more free weights than machines. more compound movements than isolation. if he disagrees, then get a new trainer.
I can't think of a reason why one needs to gradually work into free weights from machines, or gradually work into compound movements from isolation. You're right that you wouldn't want to start someone with heavy squats right from the beginning, but that doesn't mean you start them with leg presses or leg extensions. You just start them with light squats
Its a pretty below par program. Way too much isolation. To answer your questions: You say your goal is to lose weight, yet you dont have any specific cardio training. Weights wont cut the fat off you. Look at other threads in this forum for advice on interval training. I hear you on the lower body thing. I train shootboxing several times a week, and there is NOTHING worse than boxing without any legs. Train squats once a week, that will be enough to build up your strength, while not leaving you sore all week. Big compound exercises are whats missing from this program. You have some, but the tricep and bicep isolation work is pointless and should be dropped. Personally, I'd go with a full bodyworkout done 3 times a week. Friday can be your squat day, as it will give you the weekend to recover before work. Pullups Dumbell Row Dips Bench Standing Military Press Deadlift Squat (once a week) The ab work is fine. Though, I'd add weight progressivly (hold it on your chest). Doing thousands of bodyweight crunches wont do much for your strength levels. Compound exercises do take longer to teach, though any personal trainer should be able to show you how to do most of them. They arent really complicated, just take some getting used to. Make sure you use a light weight when you are learning the form, because when you build up to much heavier weights, slight loose form can seriously injure you. Isolation arent beginner exercises as some people believe. Infact, their only real use is for correcting muscle imballances AFTER you have built up a strong base from the big nasty basics. Beginners progress explodes on a basic compound program. The Powerrack with the chains is called a Smith Machine. Its used for self spotting. If the weight you are using is too heavy, you push your wrists forward and the bar locks in place. Its useful if you are doing heavy squats and dont have a spot. Choose a very basic program and follow it religously for 8 weeks. You will see some incredibly progress. Even the worse program will give you progress as a beginner, and using a good one, like the one above, will keep you going for a long time. Dont worry yourself about learning everything. Only thing will happen is you'll over think everything and will miss the most important part, the actual training.
Thanks a ton for the feedback, NaughtyKnight ill take that list in to the trainer and have him take me through it. In answer to the no cardio thing... I already spend a huge amount of time every day walking on various inclines, and I have relativly little spare time with which to attend the gym. Thus i didn't feel my time there would be well spent humping a cycle for 45 minutes or similar leaving me feeling shattered for work the next day. I was already losing weight just through my daily activities the problem was my diet sucked. Too much KFC, Curry and Nasi Goreng for my own good. This will be the slowest and most difficult change as I find healthy foods I enjoy for lunch that I can prepare within my schedule. mmmm canned tuna That said, I do plan to work in some cardio where possible as I understand the importance of cardiovascular fitness and do not just look at it as a means to burn calories.
You do not need to go to the gym to do cardio. In fact, I wouldnt go even if you could. A nice open park is much more fun to train in. Fresh air, nice running ground etc. Check out rossboxing.com for some great articles about conditioning. All are high intensity interval drills which will push your fitness and shed the fat off you.
thing is, when your body gets used to working cardio you won't be tired throughout the day. if you start off slow it should be fine. thing with daily activities, if you do the same thing everyday, your body adapts to it, and the weight loss from that activity will be slower, so in order to lose additional weight you need to attack your body's internal mechanisms by burning even more calories. in order to lose more you need to do a combination of cardio and weights. of course you want to keep your daily activities, but that alone isn't enough in terms of weight loss.
From what i can glean from the original post i think the routine is fine for a few weeks. If you combine it with a sensible eating plan it will start you getting fitter and lose a bit of fat. There's little point in investing a lot of time and effort learning to do freeweight exercises correctly until you decide that you like lifting weights and have woken up your flabby body. Especially as you might have a dodgy back. There isn't too much legs in there and a few arm curls are okay as long as you don't make a habit of them. I suggest to just go easy on the leg exercises until you get used to them as well as the walking. Wazzabi's advice seems pretty good. Interval running/spinning/rowing would help increase your metabolic rate without taking too much time and correctly learned free-weights can be good for you. I wouldn't rush into the extra cardio and free weights though. Something to think about when you improve your routine after you have worked out a bit. I like him but I would ignore NaughtyNight until you have been training for about a year if I were you ....
Deadmeat The most important thing you need to be focusing on right now is your diet. Exercise selection and energy systems work is secondary to that right now if your main goal is weight loss. Start by implementing the following habits into your diet as soon as you can, and as consistently as you can. If you can successfully and consistently follow these guidelines when you select what to eat everyday, you'll be on your way to significant weight loss. Don't worry about counting calories and macronutrient ratios quite yet. If you go straight from eating terrible to a super precise diet you're going to have a god awful time trying to stick to it. You need to gradually change your habits, and the above is a good way to start that. Try implementing just a couple habits at a time. For starters, cut out your caloric drinks. If you drink soda, juice, lots of milk, etc. just start by cutting that out, and get used to that. Then try breaking your meals down into smaller portions so you eat them throughout the day rather than all at once. You'll start losing weight, and even better, you'll start feeling a lot better throughout the day, no longer suffering through insulin spikes and crashes that come with the typical "junky" diet. Just remember, even with a fantastic weight program and copious amounts of cardio, you're wasting your time if you don't get your diet in order. That's always priority number one.
I'm with Naughty Knight and Socrastein among others. 1) You need squats and deadlifts. Why? Because a) these two exercises will give you the basic muscle groups to improve your strength/endurance (dependind on weight/reps) in all pushing/pulling exercises (which is basically everything your body does). b) These two exercises use the biggest muscle systems in your body and so tax you body a lot: all your available nutrition (post workout shake etc) will go towards fixing your body (and so they have weight burning advantage too). 2) Cardio. Maybe your trainer didn't want to stress your joints too much (he's seen how overweight you are - we don't know) so he didn't want you to do any impact cardio. HIIT, as NK said, is the way forward. If time is a problem, you can do tabatas (4 mins each workout - but don't get carried away: three times a week seems to border on overworking me and I'm reasonably fit). 20 min sessions (NOT tabata - regular HIIT or say, elliptical) before and after your weights routine will strip the weight away. If you don't have time, doing one before has more weight buring benefit than doing one after. 3) John Berardi's advice is good. 4) Your back pain has not gone! Sounds pessimistic but you said yourself it twinges every now and then. As a sometime sufferer of extremely painful herniated discs (regularly until I started squats, dls and the following) believe me: if you just do routines that do not take this into consideration, your back pain will recur AND get worse. Ditch the crunches and do Dr McGill's back exercises. Crunches are not really any great shakes for weight-burning, or strength (and adding weights will mess your back up even more) and other exercises will hit your abs, and they have a lot more potential to damage your lower back than well-taught free-weight squats OR deadlifts. If you watch your form on the squats and dls, they will improve your lower back and general spinal strength and health in leaps and bounds. I repeat, high intensity crunches, where you will not be concentrating on your form are much more damaging (and much less beneficial) than low rep, high weight, good form squats and deadlifts. EDIT: This is a thread on sit-ups, which are worse for you than crunches, but since most fitness trainers I've met don't seem to have any concrete consensus on what kinds of crunches are good for you and which are bad, plus as most people doing crunches wind up with really bad form after 10 or so (...!) some of the same points apply. The link to Dr McGill's exercises is included. I really can't recommend them enough as part of a warm-up/warm-down routine!
