Workout Question

[A790]

This is a quesiton only for the people that KNOW what they're talking about.

I currently eat right around 5000 calories a day, and have been gaining weight steadily for the last 2.5 months. I started off at 195, and am now 205.

My question is that if I cut down my calorie intake (to lets say 4000 calories) and keep working out as I am, will I lean out a bit? I don't have the time to do a TON of cardio, so I try and keep fairly active and then suppliment with a good workout.

I've been focusing on my shoulders/pecs/arms for a while now, and I want to really cut my abs back to what they were when I was 185 or so (see attached pic).

Is a combination of a lower calorie intake, ab excersizes, and current arm/pec/shoulder workout program going to lean me out enough to do that, or am I going to have to try and find time to do the cardio?

Thanks in advance!

[CCM Pro]

Here's the problem...you cannot spot reduce fat so if you want to lean out then yes you need to up your cardio (preferably lower intensity/longer duration)...you will lean down that way but everywhere not just abs...so beef up the abs workout to show those muscles.

Just a key note...stress cause cortisol release which loves to store fat in the midesction.

[pinoyhero]

I must say that you'll need cardio man, you can get pretty far with large changes to the diet, maybe not solely caloric intake but really leaning out your fat and carb intake and adding a solid regiment of water.

[A790]

Here's what I currently do:

Workout (mon/wed/fri):

2 x 40lbs arm curl, 8 reps each set.
2 x 30lbs arm curl, 10 repts each set
2 x 40lbs flys, 12 reps each set
1 x 30lbs arm curl negatives, 12 reps each set
3 x 65lbs forearm curl, 12 reps each set.

I usualyl consume about a litre of water when working out.

Work (tues/thurs/sat):
4 x 120lb leg squats, 18 reps
4 x 120lb calf extensions, 18 reps
Ab dips, crunches, and the ab wheel.

Each workout is about 45 mins or so.

I do a fair amount of walking/stairs throughout the day.

I was really hoping that if I just lowered my intake it would work out, but I guess I'mg oing to have to start cardio. Dammit.

[hockeybronx]

The common fat association is: "you'll lose fat last, where you gained it first". Some people even though they are in incredible shape still have a small amount of fat on their stomach, or butt, or thighs, or under their chin or whatever.

If you want to lean-up a bit, then my advice is to increase your cardio if possible, drink more water, and increase the intensity of your workouts even just a bit.

The fact is that ab exercises don't give you a six-pack. They will strengthen your core muscles, but the layer of fat will still be there. EVERYBODY has a theoretical 8-pack, that's the nature of the muscle group, but the fat is covering it all up.

[the_ace]

i have a question too,
how much calories should i burn everyday on my elleptic machine in order to loose weight fast??

[1-Cent]

Gimme a few weeks, I'll have a legal and effective fat spot reduction method in the form of a cream ;)

List of other requests is long though, but I'll get to it, seems to be a market for spot reduction, theres only two effective ways it can be done, the other besides mine is very costly and involves up to 4 quite unpleasant injections in the site everyday. So I think the cream method will be more popular alternative lol

Say its bs all ya want, when its ready to go you'll change your mind :drool:

Feel free to ask about estimated time on MSN, I'll give updates later on, as i said, probably a month out.

[5hift]

Originally posted by A790
Here's what I currently do:

Workout (mon/wed/fri):

2 x 40lbs arm curl, 8 reps each set.
2 x 30lbs arm curl, 10 repts each set
2 x 40lbs flys, 12 reps each set
1 x 30lbs arm curl negatives, 12 reps each set
3 x 65lbs forearm curl, 12 reps each set.

I usualyl consume about a litre of water when working out.

Work (tues/thurs/sat):
4 x 120lb leg squats, 18 reps
4 x 120lb calf extensions, 18 reps
Ab dips, crunches, and the ab wheel.

Each workout is about 45 mins or so.

I do a fair amount of walking/stairs throughout the day.

I was really hoping that if I just lowered my intake it would work out, but I guess I'mg oing to have to start cardio. Dammit.

Man you dont have to do any cardio and you can have the most efficient cut, you just have to know what your doing.

First off, without trying to offend you, your workout is what a highschool curl jockey would be doing. I dont see a single compound exercise in the list and they should be at the top of your list (Deads, Squats, Bench). You have way too many curls in there as well. I know everyone equates tons of curls to big biceps, but in reality a proper deadlift or chinup works the bicep much harder. Secondly, working out 6 days a week is too much even if your cutting.

Back to the whole point of this thread, your cut: All you need to do is find out your maintenence caloric intake (how many calories you need each day in order to maintain the same weight). The easiest way to do this I find is join a free site such www.fitday.com. You enter in what you eat each day for a week and it figures out how many calories you've consumed as well as break it down to %of carbs, protien etc. So if after that initial test week, your weight is the same, cut off 500 calories per day but keep working out and doing all that healthy stuff. If your weight is going up that first week, obviously you would have to cut even more than 500 cals from your daily consumption. Monitoring your calories this closely might seem overboard, but it prevents you from having to make any other crazy changes, as well as doing cardio til you puke.

Join a forum such as www.wannabebig.com as well. Besides a few guys like Wildcat, 1-Cent and HockeyBronx, no one here has the slightest idea of what they are talking about. You'll find a forum full tons of articles and stickies as well as really good workouts to follow ranging from newb workouts to olympic powerlifting workouts. There is actually a few articles specifically about cutting and it goes into much better detail of what I was trying to explain to you.

[Wildcat]

get a trainer.

[1-Cent]

Originally posted by Wildcat
get a trainer.

Like Leah? :rofl:

[~Leah~]

Originally posted by 1-Cent


Like Leah? :rofl:

Oh it's on bitch.

[1-Cent]

If it's already on you need to start playing harder to get :bigpimp:


Originally posted by ~Leah~


Oh it's on bitch.

[antoniobeyond]

4000 cals a day is still alot. There are a tremendous amount of variables to consider, so your question isn't quite that simple. What is the breakdown for your cabs/day? U really need to include legs and back in your training split.

[Wildcat]

AHAHAAHAHA :rofl:

[1-Cent]

If you do the same routine and eat less carbs and fats... then yes, you will lean out. How drastic the muscle loss is depends on how drastic you drop your caloric intake. My advice is to drop it like 250 cals every week until one month goes by and you've dropped 1000 cals a day, if you drop it all at once you'll just reach a new level of homeostasis after a week or two, this way we extend the process of continual weight loss... it takes long and results are not immediate but it saves more muscle if thats what you want. Optimally you only want to drop 1-2lbs per week, then you're almost assured its almost all fat (cant be entirely). This probably sounds slow and tedious but the faster you go the higher the muscle:fat loss ratio will be.

[beecue]

yea i have a problem with my stomach too ... since i started working out like 4-5 months ago ... i have lost like 20 pounds .. but my stomach has lots of fat ... i guess it could be stress and not doing a lot of cardio

[1-Cent]

Thats genetics then, everyone stores fat in slightly different places and some more concentrated. To off set it the only thing would be to gain more muscle, lean out and itll be less noticable as you grow... maybe you'll make a good guinea pig for my spot reduction cream lol


Originally posted by beecue
yea i have a problem with my stomach too ... since i started working out like 4-5 months ago ... i have lost like 20 pounds .. but my stomach has lots of fat ... i guess it could be stress and not doing a lot of cardio

[nhlfan]

Originally posted by 5hift


Man you dont have to do any cardio and you can have the most efficient cut, you just have to know what your doing.

First off, without trying to offend you, your workout is what a highschool curl jockey would be doing. I dont see a single compound exercise in the list and they should be at the top of your list (Deads, Squats, Bench). You have way too many curls in there as well. I know everyone equates tons of curls to big biceps, but in reality a proper deadlift or chinup works the bicep much harder. Secondly, working out 6 days a week is too much even if your cutting.

Back to the whole point of this thread, your cut: All you need to do is find out your maintenence caloric intake (how many calories you need each day in order to maintain the same weight). The easiest way to do this I find is join a free site such www.fitday.com. You enter in what you eat each day for a week and it figures out how many calories you've consumed as well as break it down to %of carbs, protien etc. So if after that initial test week, your weight is the same, cut off 500 calories per day but keep working out and doing all that healthy stuff. If your weight is going up that first week, obviously you would have to cut even more than 500 cals from your daily consumption. Monitoring your calories this closely might seem overboard, but it prevents you from having to make any other crazy changes, as well as doing cardio til you puke.

Join a forum such as www.wannabebig.com as well. Besides a few guys like Wildcat, 1-Cent and HockeyBronx, no one here has the slightest idea of what they are talking about. You'll find a forum full tons of articles and stickies as well as really good workouts to follow ranging from newb workouts to olympic powerlifting workouts. There is actually a few articles specifically about cutting and it goes into much better detail of what I was trying to explain to you.


thank fucking god

[beecue]

Originally posted by 1-Cent
Thats genetics then, everyone stores fat in slightly different places and some more concentrated. To off set it the only thing would be to gain more muscle, lean out and itll be less noticable as you grow... maybe you'll make a good guinea pig for my spot reduction cream lol



rofl ... ok i guess i will work out harder and join a real gym in the spring lol

[1-Cent]

well if ur not working out consistantly then the problem is pretty much found bro lol



Originally posted by beecue


rofl ... ok i guess i will work out harder and join a real gym in the spring lol

[beecue]

Originally posted by 1-Cent
well if ur not working out consistantly then the problem is pretty much found bro lol




i am ... its just i use a crappy home style gym that the my building has ... and i go to an ok gym on fridays ... im sure if i was at golds 5 days a week .. i would gain way more

[ProjectR]

i realize that's its probably alot of tedious work (not too sure though) but how you guys even start counting calories? i'm thinking that i read every label of what i'm eating and go from there? sometimes i eat out and i don't want to ask the waiter/waitress "how much carlories is in the pho?" haha :D

[the_fornicator]

Originally posted by A790
Here's what I currently do:

Workout (mon/wed/fri):

2 x 40lbs arm curl, 8 reps each set.
2 x 30lbs arm curl, 10 repts each set
2 x 40lbs flys, 12 reps each set
1 x 30lbs arm curl negatives, 12 reps each set
3 x 65lbs forearm curl, 12 reps each set.

I usualyl consume about a litre of water when working out.

Work (tues/thurs/sat):
4 x 120lb leg squats, 18 reps
4 x 120lb calf extensions, 18 reps
Ab dips, crunches, and the ab wheel.

Each workout is about 45 mins or so.

I do a fair amount of walking/stairs throughout the day.

I was really hoping that if I just lowered my intake it would work out, but I guess I'mg oing to have to start cardio. Dammit.

ditto to what 5hift said.

this workout routine is all show and no go, my friend.

you've been getting by purely on genetics. work your large muscle groups (you only got 3 of them -back, chest, legs) and that'll burn more calories off ya.

even that shit out too. I don't see any back exercises in there whatsoever. heed my advice, if you continue to work chest without some sort of balancing act (i.e back), you're gonna end up with some major back and neck pains (slouching shoulders, etc.). you're also concentrating too much on your abs which means you're gonna eventually end up with some lower back problems if you keep it up.

working out is about balance.

[antoniobeyond]

Um deadlifts don't do fuck all for biceps. Other back exercises such as pulldowns and rows however do.

[1-Bar]

your back and legs comprize of ~70% the muscle in your body. Increase those and you'll increase your caloric expendature.....

[A790]

So, after reading some posts in here, I've modified my routine.

Now...

Mon/Wed/Fri:

10 minutes light cardio (teadmill or something) warm up.
Benchpress (free weights)
Flys
Curls
Two other arm/shoulder excersizes who's names escape me.
Pull-ups
25 minute run at 6.5 mph.


Tues/Thurs/Sat

10 minute light cardio warm up.
Leg Press
Calf Extensions
Squats
Weighted lunges
45 minute run at 6 mph.

What should I be adding to my routine? I'm looking for a good overall workout.

Today (Tuesday) I burned 390 calories on the cardio, plus whatever on the weights. I'd like to keep my caloric intake the same, and just modify the workout a bit.

Thanks for all your input.

- Cameron Martel (http://www.cameronmartel.com/)

[antoniobeyond]

Originally posted by 1-Bar
your back and legs comprize of ~70% the muscle in your body. Increase those and you'll increase your caloric expendature.....

Exactly what I said. That and u'll look like a huge pussy with only chest and biceps.

[antoniobeyond]

You ate my brains u rat bastard.

[1-Bar]

^^haha....damm right I did!!

[sleeperstang93]

3500 calories = 1 lb of fat


Originally posted by the_ace
i have a question too,
how much calories should i burn everyday on my elleptic machine in order to loose weight fast??