Cardio vs weight lifting for someone out of shape

[rocketman70433]

Okay. I am 100% out of shape. I weigh 265, and most all of it is fat. This is my first week at a gym in almost 2 years. I dont know what my fat% is, but Id like to lose 65 lbs.

While I currently dont have plans of becoming this ripped - Mr America body builder, I would like to have real muscles for once. Id like to look in the mirror, and see a biecep, or some pecs, and maybe even a 6 pack someday. So what should be my plan of attack? This is what Im doing right now:

30 minutes of cardio on a tread mil. I do 2 mins of walking, 2 mins of jogging, 1 min of sprinting, and repeat. Im a sweaty, dizzy mess when Im done.

Then I do 30 minutes of weights. It's on a nautlis circuit. You're supposed to do 10 reps at the max weight you can handle. The instructor said it should be impossible for me to do an 11th rep. Today was my 1st day, and I can feel the soreness in my chest and biceps, and shoulders.

If I do this 6 times a week, what kind of results would I hope to see? Realistcly, when can i hope to see results? Would I see any noticeable musles? Or would the cardio undo any muscle gains? If I focused just on building muscles, would I be able to burn off most of my fat (since muscles consume calories)?

Also, if this helps your response, im about to start the anabolic diet.

 

[Foxxxy]

First you should go to your doctor and get blood work done. He can also tell you your body fat percentage. Try to eat as well as you can and before you lose like 15 lbs i wouldnt do any sprinting. just a slow jog or walking.

 

[grubd]

Heavy dead lift, squat, bench press, over head press, dips, and pull ups (assisted machine if need be). These will help you shead weight the quickest and the basic building blocks of strong muscle development.

 

[rocketman70433]

Heavy dead lift, squat, bench press, over head press, dips, and pull ups (assisted machine if need be). These will help you shead weight the quickest and the basic building blocks of strong muscle development.

So I should ditch the machines in favor of free weights?? I like the machines bc I dont have a spotter, and I can experiment with weight without having to worry about getting killed. lol.

 

[grubd]

Start light and work up with weights you know you can handle. Yes def. use free weights for most of your lifting.

 

[bruce9241]

I'm in the same boat as you. I started at 235 lbs, but I'm short 5'5 so I may even have more body fat than you. Doing heavy weights and eating less calories has helped me lose about 27 pounds so far while at the same time helping me build a bigger back and stronger legs. Always had a strong chest so it didn't improve that much. The heavy lifting really helped so you might want to try doing what grubd recommended.

I'm not big on cardio. I do 20-30 minute walking max maybe once a week and 10 minute walk before stretching just to warm up. I think the caloric deficit was the biggest part in me losing some of the weight.

 

[b fold the truth]

This is my honest opinion, yet not one I'm sure I could do myself.

Month 1:
Light cardio as often as possible (3-6x a week)
Rotator Cuffs, Abs, Back Extensions
Box Squat up to 1 plate a side ONLY
Bench Press up to 1 plate a side ONLY
OHP up to 25 lbs per side ONLY
Deadlift up to 1 plate per side ONLY
Good Morning up to 25 lbs per side ONLY

I'd look to do that in the gym 3 times a week for the first month and then in month 2...I'd start with a more solid routine.

 

[jdbaker82]

This is funny that no one mentioned this yet but you do realize you need to understand your diet 100% before any fat will come off right? What is yours like? Any idea how many calories you are getting per day and what types of food are you eating to get this? Fat/Carb/Protein ratio? Everything else is supplemental to losing weight/fat.