Workout Plan - Help!

kkova811

Ive searched and searched and im just confused. Ive gained back 10lbs ;( and im up to 181lbs. Ive started going to the gym again but I dont know what im doing exactly and after a week of eating decently and going hard at the gym I actually gained a pound. I want to get lean and toned, not put on huge muscle but try for some abs and nice arms. I dont want to be a big muscle head! I had been trying cardio (between 800-1100 calories burned on the treadmill 5 days a week) and then attempting weight machines (i actually like using those because I feel more confident using them).

I want help with how many calories I should be burning in a week, how much cardio I should be doing each day, and a routine for what strength training I should be doing each day. Also, how many calories should I be netting each day for this? A lot of questions I know, I just really hope you guys can help because im excited to be in shape and look good for when I go back to college at the end of August. Thank you all SO MUCH. =D

chrisrollins1

You're right. That's a lot. lol

First things first, your body is not very efficient at burning fat and building muscle at the same time, so you must concentrate on losing the body-fat first, while maintaining or slightly building upon what muscle you already have.

You likely need about 2300 calories to maintain your weight while laying around dormant all day. You need to short yourself about 450 calories a day (via either diet or exercise) to lose about a pound a week.

Eat clean! I'm talking Chicken, eggs, broccoli, fruit, brown rice, whole grains... No processed foods, enriched grains, high-sugar foods, etc. If you had 100 lbs to lose you could be a little more lenient, but the last 10-15 lbs are always the hardest to lose and generally require very strict adherence to diet.

PROTEIN - You need to be eating about 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body-weight. This should be about 35% of your daily caloric intake. (Much higher than the default myfitnesspal trackers recommend). Without enough protein you WILL lose muscle.

20-40 minutes of cardio a day is plenty. Just be sure that if you're lifting on the same day, you do your cardio AFTER you lift.

As for what routine to follow, check out bodybuilding.com. There are links on the left hand column for finding a workout. Also recommended is StrongLifts 5x5 at stronglifts.com. Just know that you don't have to kill yourself with 15 different isolation exercises every day. 3-6 exercises a day is plenty, and you should generally start with a compound exercise such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, etc.

Keep a log! Take it with you to the gym! This will not only help you measure your progress, but it will keep you motivated in your routine.

Good luck!

PtBill

The amount of protein for a sedintary person is as follows. Bodyweight (Lbs) divided by 2.2 then multiply by .8.
And as for the moderate to vigerous people.bodyweight (Lbs) divided by 2.2 multiply that by 1.0-1.2. So a gram of protein per lb is wrong. The max you would want to multiply would be by 1.7 and thats for athlete's and 99 percentile. Anything more is excess protein and will be stored as fat. Science is the deciding factor, not opinion in this matter. As far as everything else you stated is dead on. And programs should be based on the individual ,not general public. But a generalized program will work for most.

-Bill Lyons
-ACE CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER
-ASSOCIATES OF SCIENCE IN PERSONAL TRAINING AND SPORTS MEDICINE
*WORKING ON BAS