Stuck in a rut

Appleguy

Right been successfully going to the gym. Started off by doing about a month of walking 5k in the park then started going to the gym. Ive been getting down 4 times a week sometimes 5. Couple of questions now i'm stuck in a rut (not making any progress with weight loss)

I have lost a stone and probably a couple of pounds. But now the weight is not going anywhere.

In every session in the gym i do:

10 mins Bike
30 mins Cross Trainer
10 mins walking/running (i walk when i get too tired to continue)
1000 or 2000m on rowing machine.

Couple of curls on the abs machine.
Couple of leg lift things on that machine
Couple of turns on that turny machine that exercises your sides.
Apologies i dont know their technical names.

Goal is another 3 - 4 stone. I've been eating well but i'm gonna cut out the booze and take away for 8 weeks to see if i can make a difference with that.

Can anybody suggest how i can start cutting away at that extra weight?

Cheers in advance

neilmct.com

Appleguy wrote: »

R

I have lost a stone and probably a couple of pounds. But now the weight is not going anywhere.

IGNORE THE SCALES AND FOCUS ON THE CLOTHES

In every session in the gym i do:

10 mins Bike

OK

30 mins Cross Trainer

BAD FOR BACK - ID LEAVE ANY FIXED PIVOT CARDIO LIKE THIS

10 mins walking/running (i walk when i get too tired to continue)

RUNNING CAN BE HARD ON THE JOINTS IF CARRYING A LOT OF WEIGHT - EVEN IF LIGHT U ARE PUTTING 4X BODYWEIGHT THROUGH JOINTS EACH TIME U IMPACT GROUND - ID KEEP GYM BASED CARDIO TO BARE MINIMUM

1000 or 2000m on rowing machine.

OK

Couple of curls on the abs machine.

BAD FOR BACK - DONT BOTHER FLEXING SPINE IN SAGITAL PLANE IE CRUNCHES ETC - MOST PEOPLE ARE TIHT ENOUGH WITHOUT COMPOUNDING THE PROBLEM HERE

Couple of leg lift things on that machine

MACHINES = CRAP - U NEED FREE WEIGHTS

Couple of turns on that turny machine that exercises your sides.

POINTLESS

Apologies i dont know their technical names.

NO PROBS

Goal is another 3 - 4 stone. I've been eating well but i'm gonna cut out the booze and take away for 8 weeks to see if i can make a difference with that.

Can anybody suggest how i can start cutting away at that extra weight?

YOU NEED A BETTER DIET AND A BETTER GYM ROUTINE - U NEED A STRUCTURED PLAN WITH PROGRESSION AND VARIETY

THE LONGER U TRAIN THE SMARTER U NEED TO BE - A FEW LIFTS ON THIS THAT AND THE OTHER WONT REALLY CUT IT FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME

Cheers in advance

Some ideas to get ball rolling

corkcomp

neilmct.com wrote: »

Some ideas to get ball rolling

man, at times you take the anti cardio propaganda a little too far ... 30 minutes on the cross trainer isnt going to do any harm to most people ... agreed weights = great results but cardio added in = even better results and improved level of fitness ....

Appleguy

neilmct.com wrote: »

Some ideas to get ball rolling

Ok that's fair enough. But you have cut my routine down to about 20 minutes from about an hour and a half.

What exactly do i do with the free weights if i'm to leave the machines aside?

How do i loose weight without running or the crosstrainer. I work up a good sweat from the both of these

Hanley

corkcomp wrote: »

man, at times you take the anti cardio propaganda a little too far ... 30 minutes on the cross trainer isnt going to do any harm to most people ... agreed weights = great results but cardio added in = even better results and improved level of fitness ....

Pendulum Effect, tbh.

HatField

The fastest and most efficient way of burning almost pure fat is right when you wake up. The glycogen (carbohydrate) stores in your body have been fully depleted after a good nights rest, so basically after nothing but a glass of water, the moment you start your cardio work first thing in the morning your body rushes into the stored fat in your body for energy, instead of the carbs it would use usually during the day.

So - wake up, drink water, warmup, run.

And youll be shedding the pounds easy!


ps. also doable if you havent eaten for at least 3-4 hours.

Hanley

HatField wrote: »

The fastest and most efficient way of burning almost pure fat is right when you wake up. The glycogen (carbohydrate) stores in your body have been fully depleted after a good nights rest, so basically after nothing but a glass of water, the moment you start your cardio work first thing in the morning your body rushes into the stored fat in your body for energy, instead of the carbs it would use usually during the day.

So - wake up, drink water, warmup, run.

And youll be shedding the pounds easy!


ps. also doable if you havent eaten for at least 3-4 hours.

You can fully deplete glycogen stores in 3-4 hours??

Are you sure it's a good idea to do relatively high intensity cardio like running when you're most likely already in a catabolic state?

Remmy

HatField wrote: »

The fastest and most efficient way of burning almost pure fat is right when you wake up. The glycogen (carbohydrate) stores in your body have been fully depleted after a good nights rest, so basically after nothing but a glass of water, the moment you start your cardio work first thing in the morning your body rushes into the stored fat in your body for energy, instead of the carbs it would use usually during the day.

So - wake up, drink water, warmup, run.

And youll be shedding the pounds easy!


ps. also doable if you havent eaten for at least 3-4 hours.

Have you ever done this before?It's a pretty good way to either hurl or pass out.If thats your thing..

Appleguy

HatField wrote: »

So - wake up, drink water, warmup, run.

And youll be shedding the pounds easy!


ps. also doable if you havent eaten for at least 3-4 hours.

I have mild asthma and cant run for any length of time. My max would be jogging at a medium pace for about 5 - 6 minutes before i have to walk for 2 to get my breadth back.

itsallaboutheL

Appleguy wrote: »

I have mild asthma and cant run for any length of time.

Terrible excuse is terrible.

Hanley

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

Terrible excuse is terrible.

*ahem*

neilmct.com

corkcomp wrote: »

man, at times you take the anti cardio propaganda a little too far ... 30 minutes on the cross trainer isnt going to do any harm to most people ... agreed weights = great results but cardio added in = even better results and improved level of fitness ....

he is already doing loads of cardio - in 30 min i could do a leg routine or the bulk of my upper.

just think it could be time spent elsewhere foam rolling etc

i am not anti cardio but i believe there are better ways to do it ie hill sprints on grass etc rather than gym based stuff that leads to plateaus

neilmct.com

HatField wrote: »

The fastest and most efficient way of burning almost pure fat is right when you wake up. The glycogen (carbohydrate) stores in your body have been fully depleted after a good nights rest, so basically after nothing but a glass of water, the moment you start your cardio work first thing in the morning your body rushes into the stored fat in your body for energy, instead of the carbs it would use usually during the day.

So - wake up, drink water, warmup, run.

And youll be shedding the pounds easy!


ps. also doable if you havent eaten for at least 3-4 hours.

from Alwyn cosgroves site -

http://www.alwyncosgrove.com/shakemyhead.html

2) FASTED CARDIO
Are you ****ing kidding me? Seriously, are you ****ing kidding me? Why are we even talking about this?
Let's take two twins, both 200lbs, both doing the same training program, taking the same supplements, and following the same nutrition plan in the hopes of getting lean.
One difference, though: one of them eats 2 eggs and does 30 minutes of cardio three days per week. The other does 30 minutes of cardio, three days per week and THEN eats 2 eggs.
So what's the magical difference in terms of fat loss after six months? Drum roll please...
I'll tell you — no ****ing difference.
However, whenever you bring up this question we get a ton of responses saying, "This is exactly the information I needed!". Oh **** off. The reason you are still fat is because you couldn't decide to do cardio on an empty stomach or not?
30 minutes of steady state cardio will burn about 300 calories. Three times per week – 900 calories. Add that up for 26 weeks and we get a whopping: 23,400 calories.
Or 6.6 lbs of fat.
In six months.
If doing it fasted, burned 30% more (which it doesn't), you're looking at another 2lbs of fat in that same six month period.
Or an additional 0.07 pounds per week.
And for those of you who say – I do fasted cardio but I have a small scoop of protein first, then you're NOT DOING IT FASTED THEN, ARE YOU?
Fat people finish marathons all the time. Aerobic training doesn't do a hell of a lot for real world fat loss. Even if you're hungry.

celestial

Man at least we went a good long while without a mention of that fasted cardio nonsense on here!!!

Appleguy

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

Terrible excuse is terrible.

I'm not making excuses i tried running for almost a month and got no better at it and ended up with a chest infection that i still haven't managed to shake.

Get fit fine but theres no point going out running for three weeks and spending the next three gasping for air because your lungs are full of ****e.

Colm_OReilly

What exactly is your diet? Be honest.

With weights, learn how to deadlift, squat, press, bench. If there's an assisted pull up/dip machine start using that too.

It might be worthwhile to spend some time with a trainer to learn these movements. The ones in the gym are predominantly low-skilled, so look for a good one.

corkcomp

the fasted cardio story is crap TBH .. however, you WILL burn more fat if insulin (not glycogen!) levels are low, so doing cardio a few hours after eating or even first thing in the morning is not a bad thing .... If you feel ok doing cardio first thing in the morning then its fine IMO .. if you dont then eat something first

sfag

Appleguy wrote: »

I'm not making excuses i tried running for almost a month and got no better at it and ended up with a chest infection that i still haven't managed to shake.

.

If running doesent suit you then walk fast. Its not so hard. Just a bit boring - bring podcasts. 45 mins.

sfag

I'm puzzled re the comments on the fasted cardio.

Scientific terms aside....
Surely if your stomach is empty and you do cardio the the body is going to take energy from fat and muscle - and hopefully more fat than muscle.

If you do cardio, or any activity with food in there then it will take energy from the food - no?

Since the object of food is to fuel activity throughout the day then surely going unfueled will aid fat loss ?

corkcomp

sfag wrote: »

I'm puzzled re the comments on the fasted cardio.

Scientific terms aside....
Surely if your stomach is empty and you do cardio the the body is going to take energy from fat and muscle - and hopefully more fat than muscle.

If you do cardio, or any activity with food in there then it will take energy from the food - no?

Since the object of food is to fuel activity throughout the day then surely going unfueled will aid fat loss ?

why would the body not utilise stored blood sugar and glycogen? People can store enough glycogen for well over an hour and a half of intense exercise and most people wont be waking up to depleted glycogen stores ... using the word "food" is also simplistic, say I have a banana before a run and burn off 700cal on the run, but the banana is 100, so maybe I burn the sugar from the banana as well as fat ... However, if I had a boiled egg pre run my body would not be able to break this down fast enough

metamorphosis

From a running perspective, amadeus( i think) alerted that there is enough glycogen in a body for 17-20 miles. So even in the morning, there is still stored glycogen that will be utilised. Glycogen levels will be lower though

kevpants

Appleguy wrote: »

I'm not making excuses i tried running for almost a month and got no better at it and ended up with a chest infection that i still haven't managed to shake.

I started doing power cleans a few weeks ago then I got a tax bill form the revenue. Damn power cleans.

Lol. I'm not making excuses.

HatField

Hanley wrote: »

You can fully deplete glycogen stores in 3-4 hours??

Are you sure it's a good idea to do relatively high intensity cardio like running when you're most likely already in a catabolic state?

Glycogen stores will be depleted just enough to encourage fat usage as energy, you would only enter a highly catabolic state after high intensity cardio (which i did not say, i said run/jog)

Also, ive been doing this for a few years now and i havent of yet felt faint or lightheaded.

Just my opinion based on facts, hope this helped guys.

HatField

sfag wrote: »

I'm puzzled re the comments on the fasted cardio.

Scientific terms aside....
Surely if your stomach is empty and you do cardio the the body is going to take energy from fat and muscle - and hopefully more fat than muscle.

If you do cardio, or any activity with food in there then it will take energy from the food - no?

Since the object of food is to fuel activity throughout the day then surely going unfueled will aid fat loss ?

Exactly, your body stores the energy as glycogen, the less glycogen the more your body requires energy from somewhere else.

And your body wont 'burn' muscle as such, it would only catabolize it to a high degree after maybe a very high level of cardio exercise so dont even worry about that, unless your training at high intensity levels on a day to day basis for a marathon or whatever then I personally guarantee youll be fine!