Weight Training Program- small amount of weight to lose

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I have done Jamie Eason's 12 week trainer before and had great results but I'm looking for a program that will help me build some more muscle while lowering my body fat/toning. I have about 12lbs to lose, and I would love to lower my body fat from 24% to around 20% . Anyone have a program that they can recommend or that they have seen results from? Thanks!
Any tips/advice is also welcome.

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  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,871 Member
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    When you have decided that weight training is your goal, the first thing you have to do is forget about losing weight. Your new goal is gaining weight with muscle gains. I am currently doing New Rules for Women and my results are keeping me going.
  • a_small_thump
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    Would love some advice on this myself, but since you don't seem to be getting any, here's some of what I've found and some info about what I'm doing in a similar situation:

    Trying to lose 10-20 lbs., want to go from about 22% bf (current) to around 15 (I'm a guy, so that's why these numbers are lower compared to yours).

    From what I've found, high reps with lowish weights and lots of repetitions are what you want to do for weight loss. You won't really get bigger muscles eating a caloric deficit, anyhow--at least from what I've read, but I'm far from an authority. So, the goal is to lose fat, but keep the muscles you have. What you might want to do is something like this (this is my current program)

    MWF workouts, usually walk at least a mile T/TH, active most weekend days snowboarding/etc.

    Workouts:

    Split it up however you want. I do legs monday, chest/biceps wednesday, back/shoulders friday. My splits aren't ideal, but they're a decent starting program, I think...

    Monday: Squats/deadlifts/ (alternating every time I do legs), 3 sets of 10 reps most days, sometimes I'll up my weight and do a pyramid of 10, 7, 5 if I feel like it. Then a bunch of leg machines--just shoot for 3 sets of 10+ reps. I try to do at least 15 reps with very low weights on some. Goal is to burn calories and increase muscle endurance, and my legs have toned up a tiny bit as the fat starts to come off, too.

    Wednesday: incline chest flys, incline dumbell/barbell press (alternating, some days I'll do both), preacher curls, dumbell or barbell curls. Again, usually 3 sets of 10 reps, sometimes I'll do pyramids and go from like 15 reps super light weight to 5 reps heavy just for kicks.

    Friday: Chinups/dips, 3 sets as many as you can, use an assist if you have one to do more reps. Shooting for 10-15 assisted, usually less unassisted. Just do what you can! If you can't do chins, pullups are easier, or even just hang with arms flexed. Then lat pulldowns/rows on a machine if you have one at your gym, and shoulder presses. Still 3x10 with a pyramid thrown in if I get bored on all these.

    Finish off with as much cardio as you can stand. I fast walk 10 mins, run 10, then do some intervals until I step off the treadmill, anywhere from 20-45 mins usually. More cardio=bigger deficit and more leeway to eat a bit more, which I like rather than shooting for like 1500 cals/day. I also do situps/planks/hyperextensions every day, shooting for 3 sets of the situps/hyperextensions, as many reps as I can.

    Hope that's of some use to you, it's by no means a perfect routine and I'm still learning, but it has gotten me decent results so far. Down 7 lbs. since January 1st, though I bounce back up for a few days at a time if eating gets sloppy. Eating a lot of protein is good with this too--need protein to build muscle, and it will keep you full. I TRY for 100g/day at 164 lbs.

    Hopefully someone with more knowledge can help you out more/correct me if my program isn't optimal. Good luck!
  • ShiraDarling
    ShiraDarling Posts: 232 Member
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    Thanks for everyone's advice so far. This is the program that I made for myself- if anyone wants to give me their opinion on it. I have done lots of research but I'm still learning! So ya,comments are appreciated.

    DAY 1 LEGS/GLUTES/ABS
    SQUAT ​​​​3 X 8​​​​
    SPLIT SQUAT​​​3 X 8​
    PLIE SQUAT​​​3 X 8​​
    CALF RAISES​​​3 X 20​​
    SINGLE LEG GLUTE BRIDGE​​2 X 20​​
    EXERCISE BALL CRUNCH​​3 X 50​​​
    RUSSIAN TWISTS​(W/ WEIGHT)​3 X 50​​
    PLANK​​​​3 X 60sec

    DAY 2 CHEST/TRI’S/CARDIO
    PUSH UPS (WIDE/NARROW)​​3 X 15
    DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS​​3 X 8​
    FLAT BENCH FLYES​​​3 X 8​
    STANDING DB TRICEP EXTENSION​3 X 8​
    BENCH DIPS​​​3 X 15​​
    TRICEP PUSHDOWN​​3 X 8​
    PEC DEC​​​​3 X 8​
    CARDIO​​​​20-30MIN –JOG/SPRINTS/STEPPER/SPIN​

    DAY 3 BACK/BI’S/ABS
    DB ALTERNATE BICEP CURL​​3 X 8​
    ONE ARM DB ROW​​​3 X 8​
    DEADLIFTS​​​3 X 8​
    ALTERNATE HAMMER CURL​​3 X 8​
    WIDE GRIP LAT PULLDOWN​​3 X 8​
    UNDERHAND CABLE PULLDOWN ​3 X 8​
    BACK EXTENSIONS (W/ WEIGHT)​3 X 20
    EXERCISE BALL CRUNCH​​3 X 50​​​
    RUSSIAN TWISTS​​​3 X 50​​
    PLANK​​​​3 X 60sec​
    CARDIO​​​​20-30MIN –JOG/SPRINTS/STEPPER/SPIN

    DAY 4 LEGS/GLUTES/CARDIO
    SQUAT ​​​​3 X 8​​​​
    SPLIT SQUAT​​​3 X 8​
    PLIE SQUAT​​​3 X 8​​
    CALF RAISES​​​3 X 20​​
    SINGLE LEG GLUTE BRIDGE​​2 X 20​​
    GLUTE KICKBACK​(EACH SIDE)​1 X 50
    CARDIO​​​​20-30MIN

    DAY 5 SHOULDERS/ABS/CARDIO
    STANDING ALTERNATE DB PRESS​3 X 8​
    STANDING DB UPRIGHT ROW​3 X 8​​
    SEATED DB PRESS​​​3 X 8​
    SHOULDER SHRUGS​​3 X 8​
    EXERCISE BALL CRUNCH​​3 X 50​​​
    RUSSIAN TWISTS​(W/ WEIGHT)​3 X 50​​
    PLANK​​​​3 X 60sec​
    CARDIO​​​​20-30 MIN –JOG/SPRINTS/STEPPER/SPIN
  • victoriannsays
    victoriannsays Posts: 568 Member
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    Do you have weights available at home? I see that you are doing mostly body weight exercises which is fine for now, but eventually you are going to want to progressively add weight to your lifts each week. I had only a few pounds to lose myself when I started Stronglifts and the inches were coming off at a fairly good rate. I would suggest something like starting strength/Stronglifts.
  • ShiraDarling
    ShiraDarling Posts: 232 Member
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    I have a gym membership so I do have full access to weights
  • scrappergrl66
    scrappergrl66 Posts: 5 Member
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    I just came across this and hope you don't mind me copying - My weight loss has been up/down and I've been told to add some strength training and have met with the trainer at the gym - but I've been trying to plan my own routine and this looks good. So confussing with this web site and that web site on what to do and what muscle to work on- Im going to look over this and see how it compares to what I have worked out for myself