Always Looking for New Ideas.

[FriendlyCanadian]

So I'm really sick right now.. moody.. grumpy.. (mostly due to this damn cold)

ANYHOW! I'm entirely new to these forums.

Background: I'm 22 years old now, I've been heavy/fat my entire life, the closest I came to achieving my goals was back in my youth when I was 16 years of age, I lost 30 lbs in a month, training incredibly hard, I was trying to win 25,000 at the time, which was alot of money. anyhow after that first month I had a chemical imbalance in my brain and I became depressed dropped out of school yadi.. ya.

Fast forward.. (no real clean eating or healthy lifestyle)

did get the school I needed to enter university in the fall, so I'm happy about that.

I decide that this year was going to be my year, and that I was going take over the only thing I can have entire control over, being my body.

I started off at the weight of 264.5 Lbs, no exercise for years.. horrible diet.

talked to my old trainer (the one that helped me lose 30 lbs in a month)

he set up a plan for me, it was a little lacking but it was some direction.

I lost 16 or so lbs in march, doing next to no cardio and lifting weights only 3 x a week ( BORING) for the first two weeks, the last two I amped up to about 5 times a week, and that has been a bit more interesting.

Here is My diet, which is great, and I cheat a bit, not going to lie.

Breakfast 2 eggs, 2 eggwhites, 2 pieces of whole wheat bread.

2 scoops vanilla whey, 1 cup skim milk, 1 banana or a cup of frozen blueberries.

1 whole wheat tortilla wrap generally filled with a can of tuna.

two meals consist of either 8 oz of chicken, fish, pork, or 6 oz of steak, and either 3 cups of pasta or 1.5 cup of jasmine rice, or a sweat potatoe.

My trainer is more of a nutritionist and less of a trainer now, so I'm always looking for new ideas and new workouts.

he started believing in this crazy fullbody once a week workout..

when I lost 30 lbs in a month, he had me going to the gym 5 days a week doing supersets with everything busting my balls, and doing an hour of cardio every morning aswell too.

I'm not going to lie, I do not have a workout routine, all I can say is that I workout every body part at least once a week, I work everything to failure, for a good solid pump, I mix it up alot, high reps, high weights low reps, drop sets.. holds.

My Current stats to date are 5'10 244 lbs so I'm down 20+ since when I started, which is awesome.

My goal is 44 more lbs before september (when I start university)

No negative Nancies, please, I WILL hit my goal.

THE BIG QUESTION!

I'm starting to hit untreaded territory as far as my strength is concerned (upperbody wise) I've always had sort of freakishly strong legs and lowerbody, I do not want to lose weight rapidly at the expense of losing muscles, infact I actually want to get stronger and continue to put muscle on aswell as fatty inches.

so I know the big kick to losing weight rapidly, would be to throw back in the hour of cardio at a fat buring heartrate about 144 or soish, wondering if this would hurt my muscle growth, strength improvements.

Also I've been considering supplementing my workout with creatine and such, but my workout partner advises against it, since I'm trying to lean out.

Sidenote, working on flexibility at the same time, I can almost do the full splits front and back, I'm going to get into some MMA (mixed martial arts) early next year after I've become nice and fit.

Thanks to anyone who read this, and any constructive critism or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Edit: ****

My Main Goals.

to lose the 44 lbs, to increase flexibilty, muscle mass, overall strength, and appearance, to be close to being able to see abs.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know, I really like these forums alot.

 

[beerdrinker]

First of all congrats on getting past what looks like a serious depression and getting on with your life. You sound like you have drive and a direction.

The one thing that really stands out to me is that you say you have no workout routine. You need to have a plan here. Mixing it up all the time like you said is where a lot of guys go wrong. It works OK in the beginning, but that's because anything works OK in the beginning. After that, you need to get yourself on a schedule that manages volume, intensity, and progression. Since it sounds like you still have newbie status in the gym (that's a good thing. Seriously, you can get crazy gains as a beginner), I would look into the Rippetoe 3x5 plan. I had to reevaluate my "intermediate" status, and realize that even though I had been working out for a while, I was really still a beginner. The 3x5 has done well for me.

 

[FriendlyCanadian]

Thanks for the reply.

I HAD a plan, but even pushing myself it wasn't very intense.

It was three times a week, doing 10-12 reps 2 times, per like leg extension, hamstring curls.. etc.. nothing major or interesting.. like squats or deads.. which are amazing full body workouts.. PLUS a two minute rest.. which sort of destroys the intensity factor.

what I started doing with my good friend, who has had alot of great success over the years he's been working out. Is mostly just amping up the intensity.. we usually layout a workout before we start pumping, so that we aren't waiting around to think of what to do next.

My rest is usually when he is doing his reps, and the s.o.b is always faster then me, His cardio is alot better, and he has more muscle endurance.

I hear high reps are good for burning fat, mainly because it keeps the heart rate elevated longer.

I will definately take a look at the workout you're talking about.

Thanks again for the response.

Edit:

I guess the other reason I'm trying to do everything a little differently is to make it alot harder for my muscles to get used to the same workout. I guess I believe that if your workouts are intense, and you work the target muscle to posotive failure then you're on the right track, as long as you keep pushing yourself, I generally find that I fizzle with routines after a while.

Though, then again I am as you say, a "newbie"

 

[MichaelScott]

how long should someone stay on the rippetoe routine, also how much rest betwees sets?

 

[beerdrinker]

how long should someone stay on the rippetoe routine, also how much rest betwees sets?

Same as about any routine...Until it stops working. Depending on your level of training, this could be quite a long time.

Rest between sets isn't so critical with this plan. You aren't trying to keep a steady elevated heart rate or anything. Just enough to be rested enough to perform the next set. Usually, that's 2 to 3 minutes, although I've taken a little longer between my second and third set of squats.

 

[MichaelScott]

Same as about any routine...Until it stops working. Depending on your level of training, this could be quite a long time.

Rest between sets isn't so critical with this plan. You aren't trying to keep a steady elevated heart rate or anything. Just enough to be rested enough to perform the next set. Usually, that's 2 to 3 minutes, although I've taken a little longer between my second and third set of squats.

ok ty