kingarty

Ok so, i'll save you a long story and say I used to be fat. I lost weight due to a diet and started wrestling. dropped from 185 to 135 in about a year. quit wrestling and because of gym problems and overall depression, went up to about 170. Gained some mass but gained some fat.

Well I took care of my gym membership right before christmas and on 1/1/2007 I started a log. Ill share it with you all:

FAT LOSS PHASE:
1/1/07: 165.2
1/8/07:164
1/15/07:163
1/22/07:162
1/29/07:159.6

2/5/07: 159.6
2/26/07: 159.8 (not bad considering whats gone on the last 3 weeks)

LEAN MASS BUILDING PHASE:
10/12/07: 144.6
10/19/07: 146.8
10/29/07: 149.4
11/8/07: 152.4
12/3/07: 155.0

I've been doing HEAVY cardio and eating right (or more right then I did before.)

Let me give you my workout. Because of school and work and other factors, I only workout late at night. Its better though because I avoid all of the gym traffic.

I also condensed my workout a lot. Instead of picking 2 muscle groups and doing them and alternating every other day, I do upper body in the first half of the week (mon-wed) and lower body (thur-sat) with sun being my only off day from the gym for the whole week.

If I do the bodyparts all on one day (no cardio that day). I can do about 40-70 minutes of cardio on non lifting days and still give my body time to recover. Its worked for 3 weeks and i can feel lighter.

My goal:

A leaner 150lbs and 12-14% bodyfat by July 16 (19th birthday). I started a log and its been working.

Comments? Concerns? Questions? please ask!

kingarty

ill post additional side notes and edit my first post to update on the weight.

wala

First off, I think your doing WAY too many days lifting. Only a sunday off?! Are you an AAS user or something? lol

You need to maybe fit your upper body into one workout, then lower body into another, so maybe do them mon and tue. Then do the same workouts again on a thurs and fri.

As for the cardio, you want to watch how much your doing.. remember not to go too HEAVY, as you put it. The harder you work when doing cardio, the more the % of cals used will NOT come from fat - so basically they'll come from carbs and broken down muscle.. and muscle loss is certainly NOT what you want. (remember that the more muscle your body has, the easier it is to lose fat)

Doing a moderate speed of cardio, such as walking fast paced will burn a few less calories, but the main source of tho's cals will come from your fat stores - so in effect, your losing a higher fat% per time put in.

I think you've set a good goal, very realistic. Not sure how you can feel 'lighter' tho, since in 3 weeks you've lost about 2 - 3 lbs. Its probably a consious thing - but that's not a bad thing if its keeping you motivated.

At your weight, I'd say you want to be losing about 2 - 3 lb per week max - if you do, then it will most likely mean that you are losing ONLY fat and nothing else..

keep up the good work

kingarty

Hey, I really appreciate the fact that you took time to read over it. My lifting plan is still under construction so-to-say. Im open to all suggestions regarding that.

You're very right about the cardio, let me explain to you HOW i do cardio. I usually do the elliptical (sp?) for 25-30 (usually 30) minutes and then walk on the tredmill for 10-15 (usually 15) and the the elliptical again for 5. the first go around on the elliptical i usually am going at a heart rate of around 170 and cool down with the walk to around 125. I figure that I will be working off the carbs off the day from the 30 mins. on the elliptical so when I get to the tredmill for a walk it will be mainly fat carbs that will be going. The last 5 mins on the elliptical is usually at a heart rate of 145. its kinda like my closing out my cardio session. I like to go in the sauna after every workout to sweat everything out.

So the cardio, to me, is being broken down into distinct sections and areas.

Do you believe that working out upper and lower body 2 times a week is more benificial then the way I have it set up now? Im not saying that I know jack about it, but you know more then me for sure so ill take your word for it.

yeah, i lost another 1 lb this week. I don't feel lighter soo to say less weight. But i feel like the stress of weight loss is gone and im more confident that even if I don't do soo hot one particular week, I know I still am motivated.

thanks again!

wala

Good stuff. Just remember that your body wont just use carbs in the first half hour and then fat for the time after that, it uses everything at once. its just the ratio of each energy source that changes. Simple rule is that if your using TOO much energy during cardio, no matter what stage your at (begenning or near the end of session) then chances are your gonna be also breaking down muscle for energy aolng with the fat and carbs. and like i said, muscle loss is not good for anyone - whether your trying to build muscle or not.

As for training upper body twice per week - It can or cannot be beneficial. I've mostly trained chest back and arms once per week over the last 3 years, and it's worked ok for me. At the moment however, I'm doing a 2 day split, so upper twice a week and lower twice a week. That also seems to be working good. I only know what i know from experimenting so I know what works best for me. All the people in the world can tell you what's BEST, but half the time you need to just try different things for yourself and see how it goes.

Malley

Weight training
Do a split like
Upper-Monday
Lower-Weds
Upper-Friday

week 2
Lower-Monday
Upper-Weds
Lower-Friday
And repeat.

Or you could do something like
Monday-Upper Vertical
Tuesday-Lower Pull
Thursday-Upper Horizontal
Friday-Lower Push

Days not mentioned are days off and can be used to get some cardio in. Keep in mind you grow whenever you are eating and resting, not while in the gym. Best of luck.

kingarty

I've lost 5.6 lbs in the month of january.

overall a good month but sofar the first week of feb. hasn't been going so well, got forced into eating. bad situation and my body needs a few days to recalibrate.

overall, i think since in logging it, it will happen for sure. I can see some fat gone in my stomach area aswell.

kingarty

So I just weighed in yesterday and I didn't lose any weight. the upside is i didn't gain any weight either. I think i need to turn up the heat on my diet. I think for 100% effectiveness, I need to have the diet more fine-tuned then it is right now.

Im shooting at around 5-7 lbs a month, that way im keeping the muscle loss to a minimum. Overall, I think it's been a good start. I decided to do the 2 time a week weight training excercise. mon-upper body and then on thursday-lower body. its been going well and gives me ample time to focus on other things.

This is my first ever online journal and would like to thank everybody whos posted in this thread for their comments and support.

trav1809

I dont know if you want to get too wrapped up in your progress on the scales, I always found it to be decieving, especially when you are weight training and doing lots of cardio at the same time. I think the best way to view your progress is with a measuring tape and a mirror. just my two cents.....good progress anyways.

kingarty

I agree. Im not going 100% by the numbers, Im going to what I see in the mirror. numbers aren't clear indicaters anyways.

kingarty

I have before pics. Ill post them afterwards, that way I won't feel like a n00b.

kingarty

Hey everybody, you haven't lost me yet..... let me first start off this post by saying this: No matter how hard you try and no matter how driven you are, everybody has their breaking points. Unfortunately, mine came at an unexpected time. This month started off slow, around mid month i felt like I had everything under control untill a sudden family emergency occured. Due to all of the complications i've had to miss almost all of my lifting days and if I could get into the gym, i would do only cardio to ensure that my metabolism didn't suffer too much.

This month was a big setback in my plans but I feel positive again now. Thank goodness i have somewhat of a strong inner-drive or else I would have given up. I feel as if I have let myself down this month sofar and feel that I need to turn things around fast.

However, due to the recent tragedies that occured in and out of the gym, I have decided on a split to use as my lifting routine and have reduced the number of 50 minute cardio sessions.

I am doing a

Mon-Legs/Back
Tues-Cardio
Wed-Chest/tricep
Thur-Cardio
Friday-Bicep/Shoulder
Sat-VERY light cardio (walking for 20 minutes)
sun-off

I didn't enjoy stuffing a whole upper and lower body workout into only 2 days of the week and felt really bored at the gym while doing them. I also am going to cut down on the intense cardio. It wasn't working for me as well as I planned for it to and I need to focus more on not losing muscle then gaining fat.

I would like to end this post by saying thank you to all who have read my posts and have given me advice. I really appreciate it and you believing in me makes me want to achieve the goal faster so I can show you the progress!

I will also update my weight on monday the 26th.

Malley

If you want to do a bodypart split atleast split it up to where you are using the same movements while using the same muscles to do those movements, ex;

Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
Legs (Obvious)
Pull (Back and Biceps)

wala

Agreed - its basically like killing two birds with one stone