What is the best weightlifting program for weightloss?

deimosphoebos
deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
edited November 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey FitFam. What do you find works best for shredding weight when weightlifting in the gym. Right now I'm doing the following, and have been at it for about a month, it seems to work.

Warm Up :

5-10 min on the treadmill, rower, or bike. Sometimes I do Tabata, or just increase my speed to a sprint and then slow down. As long as I get my heartrate up above 150 i'm happy.

Workout:

45-60 min (Alternate between Chest Day, Leg Day, Shoulder/Bicep/Tricep Day, and Back Day)
Week 1 my sets are reps of 10,
Week 2 my sets are reps of 8,
Week 3 my sets are reps of 6,
Week 4 my sets are reps of 4,
Then I rotate back to Week 1

Chest Day is:
Bench 8 x reps 60 second rest
4 other chest exercises with 4 x reps and 30 second rest

Leg Day is:
Squat 8 x reps 60 second rest
4 other leg exercises with 4 x reps and 30 second rest

Shoulder/Bicep/Tricep Day
3-4 exercises each, not as intense as the other 3 days

Back Day
Deadlift 8 x reps 60 second rest
4 other back exercises with 4 x reps and 30 second rest

Cool Down:
Sometimes none, depending on the time I have.
Or 10-20 minutes on the treadmill, run outside, bike, or swim at a relaxed pace

Let me know what you guys think, or what works for you. I am halfway to my goal, about 40 lbs lost, another 40 to go.

Replies

  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    I guess I'll be the first smart *kitten* to say calorie deficit? :wink:
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    Congrats on your loss so far, by the way! Making the halfway point feels awesome.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I guess I'll be the first smart *kitten* to say calorie deficit? :wink:

    You are. But I'll be the first to say the OP should be working with a proven program from here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you
  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I guess I'll be the first smart *kitten* to say calorie deficit? :wink:

    Lol, well yea of course. This is to supplement my calorie deficit. The issue is, I am now eating ''more'' because of the relatively intensive training regiment, while still maintaining a deficit. I am looking to optimize my time in the gym to supplement the food I eat. :-)
  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    StevefromMichigan wrote: »
    I think it depends on your goals. If you are trying to maximize hypertrophy, i.e. maximize muscle growth, you might want to consider reducing the number of sets, and increasing the amount of weight lifted for each exercise. Eight sets of 10 reps, or 80 total reps on one exercise is a lot. Most programs will call for 3 sets of 10, 3 sets of 6, 5 sets of 5, etc. using much heavier weights.

    Having followed your progress a bit, I think you are at the point where you will want to be less focused on high repetition/fat burning and start transitioning to heavier weights/hypertrophy where 80 reps will be difficult, if not impossible to do.

    You can still continue to cut fat with your calorie deficits and cardio, but use your strength training to maximize muscle growth.

    Anyway, just my two cents :)

    I've been reading up on the 5x5 StrongLifts program, and that looks kindof interesting. Have you tried that?
  • jamacianredhair
    jamacianredhair Posts: 230 Member
    I just pick up heavy *kitten* and then put it down. After a week or so I grab heavier *kitten* and put it down.

    I've tried strong lifts and enjoyed it, but I get bored easily I'm not on a program at the moment. I pick a muscle group for that day and do whatever I'm in the mood for. I have changed my sets to drop sets and LOVE it! As long as I'm progressively gaining strength I'm happy, so I guess I'm saying experiment until you find what makes you happy. If your not happy doing it you won't want to do it, and if you don't do it well...
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    deimosphoebos wrote: »
    StevefromMichigan wrote: »
    I think it depends on your goals. If you are trying to maximize hypertrophy, i.e. maximize muscle growth, you might want to consider reducing the number of sets, and increasing the amount of weight lifted for each exercise. Eight sets of 10 reps, or 80 total reps on one exercise is a lot. Most programs will call for 3 sets of 10, 3 sets of 6, 5 sets of 5, etc. using much heavier weights.

    Having followed your progress a bit, I think you are at the point where you will want to be less focused on high repetition/fat burning and start transitioning to heavier weights/hypertrophy where 80 reps will be difficult, if not impossible to do.

    You can still continue to cut fat with your calorie deficits and cardio, but use your strength training to maximize muscle growth.

    Anyway, just my two cents :)

    I've been reading up on the 5x5 StrongLifts program, and that looks kindof interesting. Have you tried that?

    I have not, but I have heard good things about it. Unfortunately, I have a nagging wrist injury that never healed 100%, so I tend to be more of a 3 sets of 10 guy, which enables me to use slightly lighter weights.
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    Whatever program you choose, the general theory is that if you complete the last set, whether it's the 5th set of 5x5, or third set of 10, then you up the weight the next time you do that exercise. Most of the time, you should not be completing the last set. If you are, the weight is too light.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    In general, if your primary goal is maximizing calorie burn, then something like metabolic resistance training is probably going to give you the best bang for your buck.

    However, I’ll say the same thing I do with cardio—start off with following a good training program to increase strength, and let diet do most of the work on the deficit.

    I think that any alternate program ppl want to try will get better results if you build up a solid strength base first.
  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    Azdak wrote: »
    In general, if your primary goal is maximizing calorie burn, then something like metabolic resistance training is probably going to give you the best bang for your buck.

    However, I’ll say the same thing I do with cardio—start off with following a good training program to increase strength, and let diet do most of the work on the deficit.

    I think that any alternate program ppl want to try will get better results if you build up a solid strength base first.

    I do enjoy something called a Spartacus workout, used by actors to train for the Spartacus series. But this is really intensive, when you push it to your maximum capacity, and I have only ever been able to do 2 of these workouts in a week. I think it is what you call metabolic resistance training.
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    That was an awesome series, particularly the first season. It's too bad Andy Whitfield passed so early on. It was still good, but never quite the same, without him. Crixus was a beast, though!
  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    Oh yea. And the wife loved it...especially the um...animated scenes. Everything you could ask for on TV ;-)
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    :)
  • melissa6771
    melissa6771 Posts: 894 Member
    Look up 5x25 back to fit by bill Phillips. It's the circuit training I posted about today on my wall. It used to be on bodybuilding.com for free but I noticed this week they are now charging for that site. I think you can find it on his transformation site. Some of it is here... I'm really pissed about bodybuilding.com. Ugh... check out bodyforlife.com too, that's his older workout, also good.

    https://billphillipsnews.com/category/workout-programs/
  • deimosphoebos
    deimosphoebos Posts: 117 Member
    Thanks Melissa, yea that looks really cool.
  • z3dreamer
    z3dreamer Posts: 26 Member
    IMHO your workout will give you a great sculpted body and If it motivates you to keep working out, it is the perfect plan. However, at 60 years old, I tend to injure myself when I do too much strength training. At my age, I need/want more cardio and want more leg days. I have about 75% of my routine cardio and leg. Very little upper body. Although I have had no surgery or major injuries, I begin to feel bad things in joints when I do weight training. Just remember: "Friends don't let friends skip leg day."

    I am also a big HIIT advocate on the rowing machine or on the track. Many days, I like to bust that stair master.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    edited February 2018
    OP, FWIW, your lifting program is way too busy and complicated for me.

    While I lost 40# while lifting, I never lifted to lose weight. I lifted to get stronger and to maintain my LBM while eating at a deficit.

    I just ate less (CICO) to lose the weight but lifting was important to minimizing LBM loss while eating at a deficit and it was important to gaining "some" LBM and recomping while eating at maintenance.

    I've done Stronglifts (SL) and Starting Strength (SS) in the past. They were the main reasons why I got stronger in a relatively short period of time.

    I've since reached all of my strength, weight and BF goals, and I am no longer trying to lose weight or get stronger, although I am still losing some weight.

    What lifting that I am still doing (which is a variation of SL and SS) is simply designed to maintain my strength at current levels, since I am no longer focused on trying to lift progressively more and more weight anymore.

    PS: A side benefit of lifting is that you'll be able to see the fruit of that labor in the 6-pack and muscular definition that is revealed AFTER you've lost enough weight and BF achieved via CICO.
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