I know best is a relative term since best depends on body type and just whatnot but I am just trying to burn a lot of fat off me. I am overweight and am no longer ashamed because I know its a stick in the sand at this time. It's just my starting point and not the finishing. Anyways, I was wondering exactly what routine (generally speaking of course) would be the best method for weight training? I am not looking to get big but just healthy. I was planning on doing elliptical for roughly 30 minutes to start then weight training and maybe another 30 minutes of elliptical at the end but it's that middle I am unsure of. What do you think would be the best? I start tomorrow but don't plan to get into weight training after a few sessions. I want to get used to going to the gym a little bit and then hit the weights. Let me know guys! Any input would be nice (and none of that hey fatty stuff...CONSTRUCTIVE input please).
I went from 240 to 170 doing the following:
1) control your eating. Nothing is absolutely more important than your caloric intake. If you look at the calories in food and the calories you burn in exercise you will note a huge disparity between the two (with intake being far larger). You will need to replace and revamp most of your diet. Lots of fresh vegetables. Lots of fresh fruit. Go whole grain for pastas and breads. Also, pick a weight and multiple that by 10-the resulting number is the number of calories you can AVERAGE (emphasis added) per day for any 7-day period. Also, pick a single splurge day for every week-this is the day you can break your diet somewhat. Also, buy a kitchen scale-I like electronic ones-this will help you measure portions. Be prepared to feel hungry for the first week or two.
2) Drink lots of water-many times when you feel hungry you're actually thirsty.
3) Minimum 3 days per week at the gym with weight training. I used low weight high reps-3 sets of 15 and emphasized different body parts each time with 10 minutes of cardio to warm-up and 20 minutes of cardio at the end. However, I ended up spending 1.5 hours at the gym with this plan. If you have obligations, this may be untenable--in which case you should try to 4-5 shorter sessions and do cardio only for 2-3 of those sessions.
There were many times where I didn't complete an exercise routine in a week however I still lost weight because I kept to my eating plan.
I will further note that long-distance runners tend to do a lot of weight training rather than cardio. I've gained weight since my son was born (was back up to 192). I restarted exercise using a super-setted circuit training. In four weeks, I dropped 6 pounds. The plan is a four-week cycle with different emphases each week (chest, back, arms, legs), but all muscles are exercised every session. There are three sessions per week: session A is 2 sets of 15 at low weight (this trains the muscle fibers that focus on endurance); session B is 3 sets of 10 at moderate weight (this is an in-between focus that trains both the endurance fibers and the fast-twitch strength fibers-but at 70% efficiency for both); and , session C is 4 sets of 6 at high weights (this is pure fast-twitch strength training). There is no cardio with this excepting a warm-up run for 5-10 minutes depending on time.
Also record your training sessions. It helps to be able to see your progress on paper. Set smaller intermediate goals-this will help you feel like you're moving along instead of slogging and getting nowhere.
Moreover, figure out for yourself what led to being overweight. Possibly schedule some time with a therapist who focuses on rogerian therapy (this is a psychological therapy for people who are otherwise in good mental health to help them develop further). Go to the APA's website (
www.apa.org) for help in finding one near you.
