Loosing weight and building muscle..

JCCarroll1968

I am looking for some help and suggestions. I am 43 years old and over the last month I started my journey to get into shape. I was slightly overweight 5'10 (203) and am looking to get into shape where I can be proud of what I look like. I am currently on low carb high protein diet. My goal is to get rid of my gut (no more beer for me) and to build up my arms and chest. When I started this I was looking to just loose some the gut but now I want to take it to the next level but I am finding it hard to get into the bulking up part. I am happy thus far with the lose of weight and have lost some inches but just can't seem to get into the bulking up part. I have a gym membership and currently have lots of free time to exercise, but just can't seem to bring myself to use the weights after 60 min of treadmill. I am looking for suggestions as to what I could do to get that part of my journey started. Should I do machines or free weights? I am very self conscience which I think has a lot to do with my lack of starting. Thanks for the help. (I am also looking to gets some friends here to help me with some motivation.)

GoldspursX3

Free weights brother. Some good programs to start your training

Stronglifts.com

or

Starting Strength.

I personally use Stronglifts and they have a nice app for tracking my progress so I don't lose track. Free weight compound exercises are going to work out so much more than a machine. They force you to engage your core muscles and stabilizer muscles. Make sure you know how to the exercises correctly before hand though. Youtube has a bunch of videos on this. The only exercises I do for strength training are:

Squats
Dead lifts
Overhead Press
Barbell Rows
Bench Press
Dips
Pull ups

Also, don't worry about impressing the meat head next to you. Start low and work your way up. You're not going to squat 300 lbs your first time in the gym.

js370

What he said. I also do stronglifts. Great workout. What ever you decide on, I would only suggest doing cardio after strength training. First few minutes you'll feel tired, but it goes away and you'll be able to go faster and last longer. Just don't do to much or you'll start burning muscle too.

gmpearson

First, I suggest reading the book titled "Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights" as it gives a lot of insight to fitness and nutrition, and is based on hundreds of actual studies, not opinions.

Second, mix up your routines. Yes, if you are not quite used to exercising yet, doing 60 minutes of cardio will leave you fatigued and your weight training will suffer. Likewise, if you lift for 60 minutes and try to do cardio, your cardio will suffer. Try doing your cardio on one day, lift heavy on the next, cardio the next, and so on. This gives your body time to recoup from the weights and it also keeps your body guessing as to what is coming next. The benefit of this is that your body will continue to burn calories as you move through the week.

As an example, I am a runner but want some upper body bulk too (hard to do, since it is a battle of cardio vs weights). I run 5x per week, 25 or so miles per week. I lift heavy 2-3 times a week, focusing mostly on arms and core. A typical week might look like this:

Sun: Run 4 miles
Mon: Complete Rest
Tue: Run 1 mile on TM, lift for 45 min, run 2-3 miles on TM or indoor track (speed training)
Wed: Run 6-7 miles
Thu: Run 1 mile on TM, lift for 45 min, run 2-3 miles on TM or track
Fri: Rest or run 3-4 miles
Sat: Lift for 45 min, swim for 60 min, or Run 3-4 miles

To bulk up, you will have to lift heavy. As GoldspursX3 stated, start easy and then move up. Remember, the process of lifting weights is that you are actually tearing your muscle fibers, and the strength and bulk is made as the body repairs those fibers. The protein that you eat is crucial to this repair process.

The other piece of advice is that you will start building muscle definition day 1. However, if your body composition consists of belly fat or upper body fat, those muscles will be hidden until some of that comes off. Both the cardio and the weights will help burn this off, in addition to a balanced diet or good nutrition habits.

Lastly, give it time. You will not have abs of steel in a couple of weeks, or maybe even a couple of months. Some people see body definition after 3 months if their starting point is relatively lean (body fat less than 20%). Others it will take 6 months, as they have to work off some of the body mass and become leaner.

Don't give up! Stick with it, exercise like crazy. In the world of exercise and fitness, almost always more is better (you will see this in the book I mentioned).

Greg

JCCarroll1968

Thank you all for your posts. Much appreciated. I hope they keep coming. Thank you especially to Greg who tackled my next question regarding "Which comes first" I have also been going to the gym sometime twice a day. Do you recommend maybe weights in one work out and cardio the second? I am on the TM but am not at a running pace but would say I am at a brisk walk and have added incline to get more of a calorie burn in the same 60 minutes. I do get about a 500 calorie per burn and on the second trip about a 400 burn.

Spanaval

Totally not responding to your question, but don't neglect the legs. Toothpicks for legs is SO not attractive, regardless of how the upper body looks.

gmpearson

Thank you all for your posts. Much appreciated. I hope they keep coming. Thank you especially to Greg who tackled my next question regarding "Which comes first" I have also been going to the gym sometime twice a day. Do you recommend maybe weights in one work out and cardio the second? I am on the TM but am not at a running pace but would say I am at a brisk walk and have added incline to get more of a calorie burn in the same 60 minutes. I do get about a 500 calorie per burn and on the second trip about a 400 burn.

If you go to the gym more than once a day, definitely break the sessions up with one focused on cardio, the other on weights. Give your body time to recover and rebuild glycogen stores and refuel. I would recommend at least 8 hours in between sessions.

Walking with an incline (or running with an incline) is great! Keep doing it. If you start running, the 1-2% incline simulates running outside closely.

Good calorie burn! My runs are usually 400, with the exception of my longer run which is around 800-900. My run/weight/run sessions push close to 1000.

Also, another personal preference, I eat back a good portion of my exercise calories (highly debated topic on MFP). I treat food as fuel, but I also am at a place where I am not trying to lose weight, and instead I am maintaining and training for races. My BF% is at 13.5%, which is great for 42. I worked hard to get it there, and it makes a world of difference!

Greg

acman145acp

I'm far from an expert but yes you can loose weight and build muscle i'm doing it.

This is how i started....
Started "dieting" 2 months 3 weeks ago.
Started doing cardio 2 months ago 7 days a week. Was doing an hr on stationary bike but splitting it between bike and elliptical now.
Started lifting free weights 4 weeks ago 5x5 strong lifts program
http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/
Free app for that to keep track also.
I started lifting the bar just like the program calls for because i've never lifted weights before.

Don't worry about what people think in the gym you go to. You paid your money just like they did take full advantage of it.

I've gone from 255 down to 205 and see an amazing difference in myself both muscle i didn't have before and cardio.
I'm not close to actually lifting heavy yet and i still see / feel the muscle development.

Everyone i talk to who has done what "we" are trying to do says eat high protein low carb so that's what i stick with almost always as far as food.