Weightlifting/ Workout

[310_cutty]

Thing is I'm 230/lbs and I'm only 5.5 which IMO is too big for my size even if it were all muscle.

I really don't want to bee swolle, I just want to lose my beer belly (I don't drink beer) and gain some strength.

You see after I got outta high school I stopped playing sports and got a job in an office which kept me on my ass all day.but know that I'm not working I have plenty of time to kill which I want to use in favor of my health.

I think mainly I gotta start watching what I eat but I just don't know where to start.

So I wanted to see if you guys have any links maybe that can guide me through what to eat and what not to.

[Superjay]

nonetheless...all cardio and no weights will cause your body to get used to the cardio and keep the weight.

Workout like you're trying to gain weight. Eat like you're in college (starving mostly) and burn cardio for an hour a day.

figure out what your baseline is for calorie usage during an average day (average over a week) with a nutritionist. Then eat 10-20% less than that. Then add cardio to burn 10% more than you're used to and lift weights to get your body used to burning fats properly, and to bring your hormone levels back to normal...you're in sedentary mode...that means you store fats and burn carbs. you want to burn fats and dispose of carbs.

Your fist stop is a nutritionist. Without that all I can tell you is to cut out carbs (count how much you're eating now, and drop it by 80% for a month)

a good place to start your counts is MyFitnessPal. this is a free app for Android and iPhone/iPod/iPad

[OrionStang]

Well, did some benching today after a pec strain 3 weeks ago.

Flat: 5x10@135, 1x10@155, 1x10@185

Incline: 3x10@135, 1x10@155, 1x10@185

Pec Deck: 3x10@160, 180, 200

Sucks coming from a max of 425 a month ago, but gotta start back somewhere.

A lesson can be learned here. The day I got hurt, my strength was there, but I just could not get loose/warm. Even after 4 pyramiding warmup sets and only 2 heavy work sets. On my third set (330lbs), I got the first 3 reps easily but was uncomfortable, still went for the 4th rep and it sounded like construction paper tearing in half, my right pectoral. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!! I didn't, now i'm starting over.

[btrango]

Does anybody have any kettle bell workouts or any sledge hammer workouts? I have a few that i stick to but i want to expand my routines.

[mbdblue]

got a weird question for you guys...recently I haven't been as "religious" with my workouts. instead of going every-other day, I would go every 2-4 days (mainly due to family things, weddings, going home for the weekend, etc.) but I've seen some FAST visual improvement in my chest and arms. is it possible I was just not letting my muscles heal long enough before? I haven't really been doing much different...possibly throwing in a different exercise every time I lift but thats about it. either way, whatever Im doing is working

also, just out of curiosity, do you guys do more common things like push-ups, pull-ups, dips, etc? I usually do them in 3 sets as a warm up before I go to the gym

[Superjay]

it is possible you weren't giving yourself enough time to recover...rest and food are necessary

and my warm-up is drinking my pre-workout supps...

[OrionStang]

Pullups sometimes at the end of Back day. Dips, hell yes. Pushups, never again, did enough of those in the Army.

[OrionStang]

Pectoral strain rehab week 2: I was able to work up to 250 and did 8 reps. Could probably go higher, but don't want to re- aggravate anything. Followed up with some machine press, DB fly's, and pec deck. Then heavy dip machine and pressdowns. The injury seems to be healing very nicely.

[CaPRiCEx383]

your body will use fat as food...it can easily turn fat to muscle. No need to do twice the work. Start building muscle now.

ahh so It is good to start lifting when you're overweight then? I've been told by many people not to because i needed to lose the weight first, I'm in the same situation as Cutty, 240ish and 5'7 was around 260 a month ago but work helped me lose that quick, Also working got my arms pretty strong so far and I'm not lifting yet. So what would you say i should do? Eat less and start lifting? I want to get into shape asap..

[Superjay]

eat the same and lift. your body will burn its own fat to make muscle and energy. you need to change you mix, most likely. higher protein and fat, lower carbs. I don't care who you are, or what your goals are...carbs are the enemy