Advice on Workout regimen

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winddancinash
winddancinash Posts: 25 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm having a little bit of trouble working out a good routine for myself. Currently this is what we do at the gym -
Chest & Triceps
Back & Biceps
Rest Day
Shoulders & Abs
Legs
Cardio
Rest

My issue is that I don't think that this particular routine is helping me as far as losing weight is concerned. Should I integrate more cardio into my week? We spend about an hour every day at the gym and I put a lot on whatever muscle group we are working.
Just really looking for some ideas. I'm 25, about 5'5" and about 160lbs. Trying to get back down to about 135-140. It's frustrating for me because right now I don't feel like I'm making any progress.

Replies

  • jeremywm1977
    jeremywm1977 Posts: 657 Member
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    How long have you been doing this? How fast are you expecting results? What is your diet like?
    I don't see anything wrong with the regiment.........more importantly, aside from your expectations, do you have any issues with this program? Is this program sustainable, ala, can you see yourself doing this regularly?

    I'm not sure if the problem is the routine, or the expectations you have for the routine.

    From a weight loss angle, you'll get far better results from building muscle than from doing cardio. Now, when I say "building muscle", I'm not talking bodybuilder style (your diet and genetics will likely determine how you "build"). Will it happen overnight? Of course not, nor should you expect it to.

    Stop looking at the scale only, and buy yourself a measuring tape..............use both, and measure yourself weekly or bi-weekly. I have found in times where my scale doesn't move down, the tape measure around my waist does. I'll take the inches lost over the pounds lost any day.
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,036 Member
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    Exercise makes you fit. It doesn't necessarily make you lose weight. Your food intake is too high despite working out.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
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    Yeah, fat loss is about a calorie deficit, so if you're not losing fat, check your diet. Read the first sticky post in the Diet forum for some common reasons people don't lose weight.

    As far as your 4-day "bro split", that's more for advanced bodybuilders. I would do a full-body workout, or an upper/lower split. Not because it's better for fat loss, it's better from a fitness perspective, for the average person who doesn't want to bulk up.
  • jeremywm1977
    jeremywm1977 Posts: 657 Member
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    Cherimoose wrote: »
    Yeah, fat loss is about a calorie deficit, so if you're not losing fat, check your diet. Read the first sticky post in the Diet forum for some common reasons people don't lose weight.

    As far as your 4-day "bro split", that's more for advanced bodybuilders. I would do a full-body workout, or an upper/lower split. Not because it's better for fat loss, it's better from a fitness perspective, for the average person who doesn't want to bulk up.

    I agree with part of what you said. Yes, fat loss is about a calorie deficit. On the other hand, if you are adding muscle, your body will burn more calories just to keep that muscle alive. In other words, if you are successful at adding muscle, you could possibly eat more calories and still be in a deficit. Now, I am by no means reducing the importance of a good diet.......a good diet is paramount, and even a poor diet can render the strictest lifter obese by body fat standards (trust me, I've seen some guys with huge arms, built pecs......and a fat gut because of a poor diet).

    To disagree in part, bulking up is not going to be accomplished through your workout alone. A muscular body is built through consistently doing strength training and the proper nutrition (plus some addition of protein and/or steroids). Bulking up will not happen unless you are specifically eating and training to do so.
  • aspdenbrae
    aspdenbrae Posts: 49 Member
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    winddancinash wrote: »
    I'm having a little bit of trouble working out a good routine for myself. Currently this is what we do at the gym -
    Chest & Triceps
    Back & Biceps
    Rest Day
    Shoulders & Abs
    Legs
    Cardio
    Rest

    My issue is that I don't think that this particular routine is helping me as far as losing weight is concerned. Should I integrate more cardio into my week? We spend about an hour every day at the gym and I put a lot on whatever muscle group we are working.
    Just really looking for some ideas. I'm 25, about 5'5" and about 160lbs. Trying to get back down to about 135-140. It's frustrating for me because right now I don't feel like I'm making any progress.

    You're only hitting a muscle group once a week?

    Some perspective: A muscle takes 48-72 hours to recover from a workout, but really most likely closer to the 48 hour mark. So for about 2 days the muscle is building, then 5 days after that it's gone catabolic (eating itself) so if you do see gains, they're likely highly diminished returns. It depends what your goals are but as someone else said, inches over pounds is always better. Plus if you have nice muscle definition when you lose the weight you will actually like the way you look.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
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    I'm still trying to figure out all of this myself, but what I'm doing is working an upper/lower body part plus 15-20mins cardio 4-5xs/week.

    I do something like:
    Back/abs, cardio
    Arms/legs
    Rest
    Shoulders/glutes, cardio
    Chest/calves, cardio
    Back/abs again
    Rest


  • sixxpoint
    sixxpoint Posts: 3,529 Member
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    On the topic of lifting, you should be doing a full body routine such as Allpro. Check out the bodybuilding.com forums and look at the stickies in the workout programs section.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    jeremywm1977 wrote: »
    Cherimoose wrote: »
    Yeah, fat loss is about a calorie deficit, so if you're not losing fat, check your diet. Read the first sticky post in the Diet forum for some common reasons people don't lose weight.

    As far as your 4-day "bro split", that's more for advanced bodybuilders. I would do a full-body workout, or an upper/lower split. Not because it's better for fat loss, it's better from a fitness perspective, for the average person who doesn't want to bulk up.

    I agree with part of what you said. Yes, fat loss is about a calorie deficit. On the other hand, if you are adding muscle, your body will burn more calories just to keep that muscle alive. In other words, if you are successful at adding muscle, you could possibly eat more calories and still be in a deficit. Now, I am by no means reducing the importance of a good diet.......a good diet is paramount, and even a poor diet can render the strictest lifter obese by body fat standards (trust me, I've seen some guys with huge arms, built pecs......and a fat gut because of a poor diet).

    To disagree in part, bulking up is not going to be accomplished through your workout alone. A muscular body is built through consistently doing strength training and the proper nutrition (plus some addition of protein and/or steroids). Bulking up will not happen unless you are specifically eating and training to do so.

    ??? The common line here is that you cannot build muscle mass while in a deficit.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
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    sixxpoint wrote: »
    On the topic of lifting, you should be doing a full body routine such as Allpro. Check out the bodybuilding.com forums and look at the stickies in the workout programs section.
    Cherimoose wrote: »
    As far as your 4-day "bro split", that's more for advanced bodybuilders. I would do a full-body workout, or an upper/lower split.

    +1

    To OP and @cnbbnc dump the roll-your-own bro-splits and choose a program built for beginners by a pro. I like AllPro because it's a full-body routine.



  • FrankWhite27330
    FrankWhite27330 Posts: 316 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    jeremywm1977 wrote: »
    Cherimoose wrote: »
    Yeah, fat loss is about a calorie deficit, so if you're not losing fat, check your diet. Read the first sticky post in the Diet forum for some common reasons people don't lose weight.

    As far as your 4-day "bro split", that's more for advanced bodybuilders. I would do a full-body workout, or an upper/lower split. Not because it's better for fat loss, it's better from a fitness perspective, for the average person who doesn't want to bulk up.

    I agree with part of what you said. Yes, fat loss is about a calorie deficit. On the other hand, if you are adding muscle, your body will burn more calories just to keep that muscle alive. In other words, if you are successful at adding muscle, you could possibly eat more calories and still be in a deficit. Now, I am by no means reducing the importance of a good diet.......a good diet is paramount, and even a poor diet can render the strictest lifter obese by body fat standards (trust me, I've seen some guys with huge arms, built pecs......and a fat gut because of a poor diet).

    To disagree in part, bulking up is not going to be accomplished through your workout alone. A muscular body is built through consistently doing strength training and the proper nutrition (plus some addition of protein and/or steroids). Bulking up will not happen unless you are specifically eating and training to do so.

    ??? The common line here is that you cannot build muscle mass while in a deficit.


    Disagree depending on how much you have to lose and how you eat you CAN gain muscle and lose fat

    Muscle BURNS fat simple
  • winddancinash
    winddancinash Posts: 25 Member
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    I'm not expecting to see results overnight, I do understand that these things take time. I was told that if weight loss is the goal, that 2 lbs per week is expected/acceptable. Which is fine.
    Yes, I can keep doing this routine. But like @aspdenbrae said, I'm only working each group once per week and I really don't feel like that's enough. I think that breaking it in to a broader grouping (upper/lower) will produce better results. I think I'll add short cardio sessions more days per week also. I don't want to overdo it but I think adding some will help.
    I'm not relying on the scale. I honestly don't really care how much I weigh, I just want to get my body back into a healthier place. If I put on muscle and trim the fat, great. I'll stay at 160 lbs.
    My diet, while not fantastic, isn't horrible. I've really been trying to think ahead and plan my day and eat better. I've been subbing veggies in for rice/pasta and things of that nature.
    I appreciate the insight. I didn't think I'd get so many answers.
  • aspdenbrae
    aspdenbrae Posts: 49 Member
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    winddancinash wrote: »
    I'm not expecting to see results overnight, I do understand that these things take time. I was told that if weight loss is the goal, that 2 lbs per week is expected/acceptable. Which is fine.
    Yes, I can keep doing this routine. But like @aspdenbrae said, I'm only working each group once per week and I really don't feel like that's enough. I think that breaking it in to a broader grouping (upper/lower) will produce better results. I think I'll add short cardio sessions more days per week also. I don't want to overdo it but I think adding some will help.
    I'm not relying on the scale. I honestly don't really care how much I weigh, I just want to get my body back into a healthier place. If I put on muscle and trim the fat, great. I'll stay at 160 lbs.
    My diet, while not fantastic, isn't horrible. I've really been trying to think ahead and plan my day and eat better. I've been subbing veggies in for rice/pasta and things of that nature.
    I appreciate the insight. I didn't think I'd get so many answers.

    I'm always happy to help! If you don't mind being at a small surplus I'd recommend checking out Jason Blaha's novice program orJonny Candito's linear progression programs. Both are free and will result in large gains. Even if you're just looking for ideas they're good. Otherwise good luck with your fitness journey!
  • jeremywm1977
    jeremywm1977 Posts: 657 Member
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    Looking at your schedule, it appears that your following one that's identical to many schedules I have seen. I have done Jim Stoppani's Shortcut to Size and Jamie Eason's LiveFit from BodyBuilding's website, as well as P90X, and all of these follow this format or some variation of it.

    I know the goal is to give those regions the appropriate rest/recovery it needs to rebuild/heal. You could opt to switch things up and do an upper day, a lower day, a core day, and a cardio day or two, maybe even a stretch/yoga day. Of course the drawback there is that you might not give sufficient attention to certain areas (depending on how long you're working out).

    Just on it's face, there's nothing wrong with your schedule unless you don't like it. If you don't like it, you won't sustain it, and might quit (which obviously you don't want to do).

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