Might aswell make a log. After telling myself for some time sex was the only exercise I need, I’ve finally decided to change. Part of it was a friend told me if I lost weight he’d get me into modeling, but a bigger part of that is I don’t want to look like shit anymore. That shit hurts my self-esteem.
My current goal is to lose enough weight so my muscles stop looking soft and I could see my 6pack for the first time lol. And of course gain some muscle.
Once I feel lean enough then I will focus on gaining good muscle with my routine without ever getting that soft again.
I decided my routine would be
mon-chest tri
tues-back bicep
wed-shoulders legs
thur/fri/sat- repeat
sun- rest
I still don’t know when I should do cardio. maybe after legs?
If (as it seems) you’re just starting on a cut–no cardio. It’s a trump card to be played when you need it later on, when (note: not if) weight loss stalls. Just lift weights, and tighten up your diet.
So I did yesterday workout today thinking it was wednesday. I’ll just have to do chest tmw.
Machine side lateral- 4 sets 75x10
High face pull- 4 sets 90x10 I don’t know what this exercise is called. Its a face pull except im half kneeling and the cable is at the top pin and I pull to the top of my head. Feels really good.
Pull-through- 4 sets 80x10
Goblet squat- 40x10
Was trying to do more for shoulders but those 8 sets worked me pretty good.
If you’re new to weight training, forget the body part splits. Go full body. I can’t link it on my phone but look for “The new old-school circuit training”. Follow the progression as laid out. It will give you a better start than the session you listed above. I’m guessing that was a shoulder session but you threw in squats and pullthroughs which confuses me. Anyway, the full body program, and proper calories and macros will go a long way. Lots of information regarding diet in the forums and on the site.
It’s probably not ideal. Lifting imparts a significant stress on the body, and fasted levels of insulin + stress = cortisol release. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone that impedes muscle growth (in fact, it can induce muscle breakdown) and promotes fat storage. Does that mean people who lift fasted are doomed to be small and fat? No, but it does mean they probably aren’t optimizing their hormonal milieu.
So, not surprisingly, you’d like to keep cortisol levels as low as possible. Happily, cortisol suppression doesn’t require you eat a full meal prior to lifting if you don’t want to. You could simply start sipping on a mixture of simple carbs (I prefer cyclic dextrans, but you could just use Kool Aid or Gatorade in a pinch) and protein/amino acids (I prefer hydrolyzed protein, but cheaper alternatives can be used). Biotest’s Plazma is a good option, although some people find it to be cost-prohibitive. (Let me say here that I have no financial relationship of any sort with Biotest.)
tl;dr Either eat a small carbs + protein meal, or sip on a carbs + protein drink before (and during) your lifting session.
Don’t get too lost in the weeds, your body will adapt to what you tell it to, sure there are optimal ways to do things, but we don’t live in a perfect world. Find a training program you like and will stick with, eat ‘good for you’ food 85% of the time and then mess with the smaller stuff later.
Example: I do a pseudo (I say pseudo, because I don’t really fast, I just don’t eat much the first half of the day) fast.
I wake at 310a, caffeinate, lift at 345a, have a light shake whenever (may be right after, may be a couple hours) I get hungry after my workout, sometimes have a granola bar mid morning, sometimes not (depends on the day) and then eat a big meal at about 1pm, eat normally til I go to bed between 8-9pm, try to finish the day with some carbs. It has been working pretty awesome for me.
I tell you this simply to say that, while not optimal, things can and will work with consistency.
I wake up @ 4:30am at gym by 5 and personally my go to everyday is a banana and one scoop protein blended. Digests quickly and give you the energy you need to not feel drained all workout. I workout fasted when I do cardio 1-2 days a week
Got pulled over by a girl today to tell me I looked perfect… and she motioned to my body. I guess I look alright with a tight shirt and a chest pump lol.
I found my best progress doing push/pull/legs or upper/lower splits. I’d also try to focus more on free weights, specifically heavy compunds like rows, squat, bench, overhead press. There’s a learning period technique wise but it’s worth the investment. Work large muscle groups with big movements to get a time efficient workout in.
Also, as others have said, don’t get caught up in the fine details. Learn the compound movements, eat relatively well, and chase getting stronger and your body will adapt
If your goals are primarily physique-related (as opposed to developing strength), then yes, I would suggest focusing on the contraction.
I think FROM is not necessary for every movement. Instead, for each exercise find the ROM that allows you to maximize the feeling of muscle contraction, and limit the movement to stay in that range. I would endorse finishing a muscle off with an exercise that allows it to be stretched deeply; eg, DB presses for chest. Either that, or end a bodypart by thoroughly stretching the muscle worked. (Note that I’m not a fan of stretching muscles early in a workout–the risk of injury is unacceptably high, IMO.)
Soreness is an unreliable metric for evaluating the effectiveness of a workout. If you did 3-4 hard work-sets for each of 3-4 Chest exercises, you did enough.
db incline- 3 sets 45x12
db flat- 3 sets 60x8
hammer strength decline press- 3 sets 140x10
dips- 2 sets bw 8 reps
low to high cable fly- 3 sets 10x8
calf raise machine- 1 set of 8 reps with a 10 second hold at bottom
Hanging leg raise- 1 set 10 reps
im going to change flat bench for a machine press for burnout and take out the decline press. no reason to do those if im already doing incline and dips so i will focus on those 2 harder.
In terms of physique, most guys’ upper chests lag way behind their lowers. This is unfortunate, because absent a well-developed upper chest, a thick lower chest looks saggy, and makes the shoulders appear narrow.
The reason for this widespread imbalance is, most guys have inverted priorities with respect to Chest work–they do lots of flat/decline bench work, and only toss in a little incline work at the end as an afterthought. Don’t be like those guys. Devote 75% of your Chest workout to upper-chest work, and do it first.
Also, 1 set of 10 leg raises isn’t going to cut it. In my experience, abs need volume. Need to get this up to 4x20 leg raises and 4x20 crunches. Minimum.
