Advice for a beginner.

Just discovered this site and joined today, so here is my first post...
 
Firstly, about me. Male, 42yo, 6' tall, 14st 3lb.

I used to go to the gym in my early 30's and weighed upto 14st. I stopped about 6 years ago and went up to about 15st 2lb (never checked BMI).

I actually felt fat and depressed, so decided to join the gym again in Aug/Sept last year (try to go 3-5 times a week).

I have since gone down to my current weight of 14st 3lb, after losing about 3-4lb this week alone (eat VERY healthily, been to the gym 4 times this last week),.

I spend about 60-90 minutes at the gym, but hate repetitive excercise (running, cycling, rowing, cross training etc).

My regime consists of splitting into 2 days...

Both days i will do 1.5 miles on the treadmill (at around 10kph, then a sprint of 13kph until i cant go any further (usually only a minute or so) with a heart rate of about 177bpm, then a walk cool down until about 120bpm. I will then go on the treadmill for about 1 mile on the treadmill keeping my heart rate at about 140bpm. This cardio workout takes about 25 - 30 minutes

After that, on day 1 i will use weights for my chest (cable flys, incline bench weight flys, bench press, seated press machine), biceps (16kg dumb bell curls supported on the back of a bench to stop my arms moving around, 28kg bar curls stood up and 14kg seated curls), stomach (crunches with weights, sit-ups).

Day 2 i will do back (pull downs, rowing/pull backs with weights, bench reverse flys) triceps (cable pull downs, rope pull downs), shoulders (raises pushing weights above head, 10kg flys straigh arms out to the side, 25kg bar raises to chin).

I do chest/biceps on different days to back/triceps as i believe that they also work the opposite muscle group. For instance, chest will work triceps, where back will work biceps.

I will also mix a few other excercises in the mix too (legs, lats, etc), depending on time.

I want/need to increase my bodies cardio, and believe that what i do now is a good starting point for it, but i also want to reduce my fat levels but not sure if i am going the right way or not.
I am the type of person that believes that providing you are using more calories that you are intaking, you will lose fat, but not sure if this is misguided or not. The 'clothes test' is also feeling better (ie. looser). My muscles are noticably harder/more tones too, but i have never really been a fit person.

Would i find it better doing cardio AFTER the weights to burn more fat, or wouldnt it really matter?
As i said, i dont enjoy repetitive excercise, and couldnt use the crosstrainer for an hour like some people do as i would be bored stiff.

Am I doing OK, or are there any tips or recommendations?

The work you have done so far will all go in the bank but you need to get a better programme together alongside making sure your diet is clean.
 
You need balance between all the bodyparts, so legs need to be as big a part of your sessions as the chest.
 
As for the back / biceps and chest / tricep thing, don't stress it. People do it in different ways. For all sorts of reasons it's probably better to train them grouped together (triceps on chest day etc) but it's small stuff really and for a relative beginner won't be a deal breaker either way.
 
You either need to be doing a decent full body programme, where you train the full body every gym day (1 exercise per bodypart every session) or a more structured Pull / Push / Legs. A balanced programme is very important.
 
As for cardio, most people who lift weights do their cardio after the weights. There are all sorts of theories about this being more effective due to depleted muscle glycogen levels and thus the necessity for the body to burn fat, but generally done this way around it allows people to put full effort into the weights - which on here is most people's priorities.
 
Diet wise, as someone trying to lose a few pounds and tone up, they key is trying to keep things clean. Limit the carbohydrate and keep the protein high. Keep the carbs you do have complex (potato, fruits, veg, seeds and grains, porridge etc etc) and avoid having too many carbs late in the day. Protein from clean sources - chicken, fish, turkey, lean beef, fromage frais, cottage cheese etc. You can supplement with protein shaked of required.
 
Try and keep your meals regular but find a good balance on volume. You'll need to keep at least half an eye on calorie intake - try and keep it at around 2300-2400cals a day, this will give you planty of food but still give a small defecit -enough to maintain muscular and lean mass development and keep the body fat dropping.
 
If you train like this and eat clean, you'll make good, steady progress. As you move forward you might want to fine tune training and diet to attain set goals - whether this be weight, bodyfat% or muscle gain.
 
One last thing, try and be active every day. You don't have to blast the gym everyday, just make sure you go for a bit of a walk or somesuch. It keeps the matabolism going, which, alongside diet, is the key to reducing that bodyfat
 
 

Thanks Bollard.
 
I would like a better program i think.
 
I do however believe (self belief i might add) that my diet is a good one. I dont eat hardly any saturated fats, dont drink alcohol (well, may 1 or 2 pints on a weekend at the most) or sweets/chocolate, i eat LOADS of veg and fruit.
Today i have had a protein shake for my breakfast, at 5 am, with (500ml water, also porridge oats in it) and a small latte (1% milk). 10:00 i had a banana, 12:00 a piece of homemade quiche (egg, ham, onion, NO pastry) an apple, pear and kiwi. Tea i had a bowl of homemade broth (ham, veg and pulses) and a fat free yoghurt.
Thats a typical day, so not too bad i think. 
I could do with drinking more water. Up until having my 500ml in my protein shake i probably drank between 1/2 and 1 pint a day and the rest was what was in my food. I now probably drink closer to 1 litre.
 
I will do more for my legs, and i need to do more for my chest as i dont think its getting anywhere, i still cant lift/press anymore than i did 6 months ago, when I feel other body parts are getting much better.
 
I tried to do cardio after weights last night and to be honest i REALLY struggled, but put that down to having just eaten my tea less than an hour earlier. I will give it another go.
 
I struggle with regular meals as i work 12 hour shifts (2x 12 days, 2x 12 nights). 4 on 4 off. I grab my lunch when i can due to the nature of my job.
 
I am active every day though. When at work i have a lot of running around and doing things (but somedays a lot of sitting too), if not at work i am at the gym or taking my Springer Spaniel for a walk in the woods.

Generally it all looks good, just get onto a decent training programme and you'll be fine. There's some great advice in here on the routines section.
 
Diet wise, it looks fairly clean but I'd question if you're eating enough. What you've written does not look like enough food to either lose weight and certainly not to build lean mass. I'd be tempted to get more clean protein in there (preferably from food, not shakes-  but a shake is fine of you struggle to eat). Get snacking on nuts, fromage frais, cottage cheese etc to help get this up. Fish / tinned fish, turkey, chicken, lean beef, eggs etc are all great. Green veg - the greener the better are great complex carbs, alongside beans -  and peas are good for energy and are actually a not too bad source of protein themselves.

Luckily i do eat and like all of them foods.
I was wanting to stay away from saturated fats so laid off the nuts, but may go back to them (love dry roasted peanunts and peanut butter).
Used to eat lots of tuna and couscous so will eat more of that too.
Me and the wife eat LOADS of chicken too.

Chickens are good source of proteins but it has enormous estrogen that you need to make sure to burn it of with workouts if not itgonna to stay there and you will will get man boobs.

kennyborger


Chickens are good source of proteins but it has enormous estrogen that you need to make sure to burn it of with workouts if not itgonna to stay there and you will will get man boobs.

Too late
 
Actually, i am not doing too bad me thinks. I have just stood on the scales and gone down to 14st 2lb, so that is exactly 1st since early dec 2011. Still got a bit to go to get rid of wobbly bits (stomach and chest), but getting there.
 
Been to the gym 3 times this week (Mon, Tue and Fri), and now doing a few sets where i am going til i cant do anymore, dropping down a weight and doing the same (doing this for 3 or 4 weights). I can really feel it, even just as much the next day. Also trained legs more yesterday too.
 
Could still do with a better program, but this self made program appears to be making me slimmer and stronger (isnt that what its all about), but just needs fine tuning i guess.

The estrogen as a food supplement for growth in animals is wider than just chickens - beef, turkey, lamb and even farmed salmon all have producers guilty of feeding estrogen to their stock.
 
It's a much bigger issue in the US, and as far as I know not so much in the UK and Europe, although I'd think that the very cheap meats on the market may well have been fed such substances. The frustrating thing is, it's easy to get out of the food chain even if used. Simply not feeding the animal estrogen for 5-7 days before slaughter is enough to mean that it cannot be passed on to humans via food sources.
 
Of course, eating quality assured meats, or even going as far as organic foods, avoids the risk altogether.