Back to Fitness - Lose Weight, then Gain Muscle

mrpink6789

Wish I had your willpower regarding alcohol, 2 nights of it this weekend!

marathonic

Well, not sure about the willpower yet. I've only been off it since halloween and it's the first time in years I've not drank in 2 weeks. We'll see though.

Last week was the first time I made the gym six times in one week and I'll be doing the same this weekend if all goes well.

marathonic

Well, today was cardio day.

I done my normal 30 minutes (+5 cooldown) at level 10 and 10kph on the treadmill. I intended to do 10 minutes HIIT on the bike but burned out after 7

Total calories was 538 + 123 = 661.

Regarding the HIIT, I'm going to stick with it. I managed 10 minutes last week so I don't know what happened today. I'm going to get that back to 10 minutes - if it doesn't happen by the end of next week, I'll have no choice but to eat some carbs before my session (at the moment I just have 2 eggs in the morning and a protein shake after).

The slow-steady burns a higher total number of calories so I was tempted to switch back to it but, instead, have decided to stick with the HIIT. I'm doing 1 minute slow, 30 seconds fast now and would be delighted if I could get this up to 45 seconds slow, 45 seconds fast before Christmas.

marathonic

Weights day again. I'm starting to look forward to the weights moreso than the cardio with the progress I've made the past few sessions.

I done 275 calories worth of warm-up/cooldown on the treadmill and then the following:

Leg Extension 55
Leg Curl 50
Lat Pulldown 47.5 (completed all 3 sets)
Shoulder Press 25 (only missed the very last rep)
Triceps Push Down 50
Leg Press 110 (+5kg)
Chest Press 40 (+ 2.5kg : can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Seated Row 35 (can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Abs Machine 45
Fly Machine 37.5
Back Extension 55 (+2.5kg)
Biceps Curl 18.75 (+2.5kg)

Don't have a clue what I'm gonna try increasing for the next session. They were all pretty tough. Maybe just the Fly machine.

marathonic

Well todays session was quite good too. As I said in my previous post, I’m starting to look forward to the weights days moreso than the cardio days with the progress I’ve been making. Therefore, I thought it’s about time I up the ante on the cardio. I’m still sticking to the HIIT. The 10 minutes (+3 cooldown) burns about 220 calories less than the 30 minutes (+5 cooldown) of slow-steady on the bike. From what I’ve read, the HIIT will increase my metabolism for the rest of the day.

I’m not sure what difference that makes in calories. I like to know the difference to keep me motivated so I’m going to give what I think may be a conservative estimate of 70 calories extra burned throughout the day. That gives a difference of 150 calories per cardio session with a reduced gym time of 22 minutes. I think that’s a good trade-off and I also have to take into account that the HIIT should help me raise the speed of my slow-steady on the treadmill too.

The following was what I did today:

30 minutes (+5 cooldown) on treadmill at level 10 (random) and 10.2kph (+0.2kph)
10 minutes (+3 cooldown) on bike at level 12 – 30 second sprints followed by 1 minute slower (6 sprints)

Total calories burned was 552 + 153 = 705.

marathonic

Since post #56 one week ago, I've not made any progress in cutting any of my remaining 5kg bodyweight target. However, I'm in no way demotivated because I've had some good training sessions.

I've increased the weight on most machines (in excess of 40kg combined).

I've also started increasing the treadmill speed (just by 0.2kph today).

Finally, I switched the slow-steady bike to HIIT. The latest session was 6 intervals of 30 seconds sprint followed by 1 minute of cooldown.

The goal is to increase the treadmill speed to 12kph before Christmas. At that point, I'll probably do the treadmill and HIIT on separate days. I'll also do the spin classes on the third cardio day.

I also want to work towards a 45 second/45 second split on the HIIT between now and Christmas.

When I reach my weight goal of 75kg, I'll remove one of the three cardio days. I haven't decided which yet.

I'm also going to look into switching gyms to one with a power rack. I've only been a member of the current gym for 2 months but it's a corporate membership so I need to check out what the minimum period I need to be signed up is.

One thing I'm dreading is the first few weeks of Starting Strength when I get started - what am I going to look like doing warmups if my work-sets on the bench press are <40kg? :eek:

mrpink6789

Take photos of yourself and measurements every few weeks, I found I saw a difference in them even if I didnt see a difference on the scales.

Also don't worry about starting off on nothing on Starting Strength, I started 11 weeks ago squatting the bar, this friday I'm aiming for 100kilos.

marathonic

mrpink6789 wrote: »

Take photos of yourself and measurements every few weeks, I found I saw a difference in them even if I didnt see a difference on the scales.

Also don't worry about starting off on nothing on Starting Strength, I started 11 weeks ago squatting the bar, this friday I'm aiming for 100kilos.

Thanks for the comment mrpink. What weight training had you done before starting this?

mrpink6789

For about 6 months I just concentrated on one exercise per main muscle group, first 3 months on machines then free weights - usuals, bench, bicep/tricep curls, OH dumbell press, calf/leg press, upright rows, think that was it, seems like so long ago. Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5X5 are excellent programs. Don't worry about starting off light, just get the technique right.

marathonic

Weights day again. I'm looking forward to the new year so I can get started on Starting Strength - if it comes to it, I'll even join a new gym despite being under contract in the current one (pay both for a while - hopefully that's not the case).

My current isolation machine routine is increasing my strength so I should be able to stick to the linear progression longer when I do finally get started.

Today, I done 189 calories worth of warm-up/cooldown on the treadmill and then the following:

Leg Extension 57.5 (+2.5kg)
Leg Curl 52.5 (+2.5kg)
Lat Pulldown 50 (+2.5kg : can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Shoulder Press 25 (didn't do well here - possibly due to the lat pulldown being so tough. Only completed half of last set)
Triceps Push Down 52.5 (+2.5kg)
Leg Press 115 (+5kg)
Chest Press 42.5 (+ 2.5kg : can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Seated Row 35 (can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Abs Machine 47.5 (+2.5kg)
Fly Machine 40 (+2.5kg)
Back Extension 57.5 (+2.5kg)
Biceps Curl 21.25 (+2.5kg)

This was the toughest weights session to date. Although I had planned to keep weights the same on Tuesday as they were on Saturday, I ended up increasing a lot of them anyway. However, I'm now planning to stick to the above weights on Saturday. You never know what I'll end up doing though - the only weights that I see any possibility of increasing on Saturday are the leg press and possibly the triceps pushdown.

marathonic

The following was what I did today:

30 minutes (+5 cooldown) on treadmill at level 10 (random) and 10.4kph (+0.2kph)
10 minutes (+3 cooldown) on bike at level 12 – 30 second sprints followed by 1 minute slower (6 sprints)

Total calories burned was 561 + 153 = 714.


The threadmill was tough enough but I should get another 0.4 rise in total next week. The HIIT on the bike was like 10 minutes of absolute hell. I was even trying to cheat by starting to slow down 1 second early for some of the sprints.

marathonic

I missed my Saturday session due to a birthday party on Friday night

The following was what I did today:

30 minutes (+5 cooldown) on treadmill at level 10 (random) and 10.6kph (+0.2kph)
10 minutes (+3 cooldown) on bike at level 12 – 30 second sprints followed by 1 minute slower (6 sprints)

Total calories burned was 565 + 156 = 721.


The HIIT was tough again. One thing though - I managed a bit quicker on the first few sprints but was a little slower on the last few. From what I've read, this means it was a more successful HIIT session.

marathonic

Today, I done 196 calories worth of warm-up/cooldown on the treadmill and then the following:

Leg Extension 60 (+2.5kg : Last couple of reps didn't use full range of motion)
Leg Curl 55 (+2.5kg : can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Lat Pulldown 50 (can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Shoulder Press 25 (can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Triceps Push Down 52.5
Leg Press 120 (+5kg - very tough but completed)
Chest Press 42.5 (can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Seated Row 35 (can't yet complete all 3 sets)
Abs Machine 47.5
Fly Machine 40
Back Extension 60 (+2.5kg)
Biceps Curl 21.25

marathonic

The following was what I did today:

30 minutes (+5 cooldown) on treadmill at level 10 (random) and 10.8kph (+0.2kph)
20 minutes (+5 cooldown) on bike at level 14, Random

Total calories burned was 576 + 268 = 844.

I wasn't fit to make the bike HIIT after the treadmill and, in my opinion, I probably don't need to make it HIIT every session anyway.

My diet so far today has been:

2 eggs
1.5 scoop whey

3 Brazil Nuts
Small Orange
1 Yoghurt

Wholewheat wrap with chicken and green salad

1 Yoghurt
3 Brazil Nuts


Don't know what's for dinner yet - will see when I get home.

marathonic

On Thursday, I done a shorter than normal weights session. I just didn't have the motivation to go on. I think it's because I made the mistake of eating FAR too little. All I ate before the session was a scone and the session was at midday.

The following is what I done:

Leg Extension 60
Leg Curl 55
Lat Pulldown 50
Shoulder Press 25
Triceps Push Down 52.5
Leg Press 120
Chest Press 42.5
Back Extension 60

I couldn't complete the 3 * 12 on them all - although I did manage the Lat Pulldown (with great difficulty). I missed the gym Friday and today - I've got pain in my back (I think the parts called Rhomboids or Anterior Deltoids). This is about half as painful now as it was last night so I'm going to do a cardio session tomorrow and continue with my normal Monday cardio session - so the next weights will be Tuesday.

marathonic

On another note, I'm considering decreasing the reps from 3 * 12 to 3 * 8 in the hope that it'll give a kick start to increasing the weights and will reduce my time spent in the gym. What do you think about this?

marathonic

Missed a few gym sessions but got back today.

The following was what I did today:

30 minutes (+5 cooldown) on treadmill at level 10 (random) and 11kph (+0.2kph)
10 minutes (+3 cooldown) on bike at level 12 – 30 second sprints followed by 1 minute slower (6 sprints)

Total calories burned was 587 + 156 = 743.

I'm noticing my knees getting a bit sore and I'm assuming it's all the running. I'm considering buying Glucosamine but am unsure as to whether it's beneficial - the research seems to be condradictory as to whether this is the case.

marathonic

The following was what I did today:

30 minutes (+5 cooldown) on treadmill at level 10 (random) and 11kph
10 minutes (+3 cooldown) on bike at level 12 – 30 second sprints followed by 1 minute slower (6 sprints)

Total calories burned was 582 + 155 = 737.

Still undecided about Glucosamine but will be reducing my reps on the weights tomorrow from 12 to 8. This'll reduce the time I need to spend in the gym and, hopefully, make it easier to raise the weight.

I've had painful back - dunno whether it's the rhomboid or lats - since last week. It's almost gone now so I'm gonna chance the weights tomorrow and hope for the best.

marathonic

Today was weights day again. I've decided to swap from 3 * 12 to 3 * 8 in the hope that I can increase the weight quicker.

The following is what I done:

Leg Extension 62.5
Leg Curl 57.5
Lat Pulldown 52.5
Shoulder Press 27.5
Triceps Push Down 55
Leg Press 125
Chest Press 45
Back Extension 67.5
Seated Row 37.5
Abs Machine 50
Machine Fly 42.5
Biceps Curl 21

I've increased the weight on every machine and found it easier than the higher reps with slightly lower weight. Will be increasing pretty soon again.

marathonic

Just a 30 minute (+5 cooldown) run on the threadmill at Random, Level 10, 11kph today.

Total Calories: 583

marathonic

The following is what I done today:

Leg Extension 65 (+2.5kg)
Leg Curl 60 (+2.5kg)
Lat Pulldown 55 (+2.5kg)
Shoulder Press 30 (+2.5kg)
Triceps Push Down 60 (+5kg)
Leg Press 125 (+5kg)
Chest Press 50 (+5kg)
Back Extension 70 (+2.5kg)
Seated Row 37.5
Abs Machine 50
Machine Fly 45 (+2.5kg)
Biceps Curl 21

This was a tough workout but I think I like the idea of the extra 5kg - 10kg on each machine as opposed to the increase in reps from 8 to 12 so I'm going to stick to the 8 reps per set for a while now.

marathonic

I haven't been at the gym since Saturday and today (Friday) is the first day back.

The following is what I did:

Leg Extension 65
Leg Curl 60
Lat Pulldown 55
Shoulder Press 30
Triceps Push Down 60
Leg Press 130
Chest Press 50
Back Extension 70
Seated Row 40
Abs Machine 50
Machine Fly 45
Biceps Curl 21

I'm noticing some pain behind my knee caps. It's not too bad but I'd like to figure out what's causing it ASAP. It's either the treadmill or the leg press.

I'm going to switch the treadmill to another cardio machine (maybe try the rower out) for a while to see if it goes away. If that doesn't work, I'll drop 20% off the leg press weight and start slowly working up again.

marathonic

Started the rowing today. I did the 5000 metres in 21:49 which, as far as I can see, is a bit ****. I switched to the rower in an effort to save my knees (see above post). The **** time gives me a reference point to beat.

I'm changing my routine so many times (the cardio part of it anyway). Today. I did the rower (which I'm guessing burned about 300 calories) and my normal HIIT on the bike for another 150 calories.

I'm thinking of switching my cardio routine entirely now as my BF% isn't that high anymore. I weighed in at 79kg today (started at 85kg with less muscle). I'm guessing my BF% is in the mid-teens.

The following are my goals:

• January 31st: Change Cardio Routine, Up weights, drop to 75kg - at which point, I should see Abs
• February 28th: Get started on chin-ups, pull-ups instead of biceps curl and lat pulldown
• Longer Term: Get started on the compound lifts instead of isolation machines

The reason I have the compounds marked as longer term is that my gym just has smith machines or dumbells. I need to figure out the best way to progress there.

marathonic

I'm off work this week so am going to do a lot of road cycling - maybe 2 - 3 hours daily and watch the diet.

The cardio switch I'm considering in the gym is:

• Day 1: 10,000 metre row
• Day 2: 15 minutes HIIT bike
• Day 3: 45 minute spin class

I don't know how long the 10k row will take - probably around 45 minutes based on my 5k time. I'd be looking to drop this to 40 minutes.

I'll start the HIIT with 30 second sprints/60 second slow and work it towards a minute of each.

I haven't been to a spin class in years - and for that one, I left after 10-15 minutes wrecked.

marathonic

Today I did 5k on the rower - again in 21:49. I'd planned to do 10,000 metres but was wrecked and gave up.

I then did 30 minutes (+5 cooldown) on the cross trainer.

The cross trainer calorie counter read 450 and I'd estimate the rower at 300 giving a total of 750.

marathonic

Bless me Boardsie's, for I have sinned. It has been 2-weeks since my last weights session :eek:

I partially blame the snow and partially laziness.

Anyway, on Thursday 22nd, I did:

10,000 mt on the rower in about 47 minutes followed by 10 minutes (+3 cooldown) of HIIT on the bike. The calorie readings were 575 and 150 respectively.

Hopefully, I can get a weights session in when I wake up - in bed now.

marathonic

I've had a bad few weeks, as I'm sure a lot of others have. It's time to get back into it so I've joined the 'The Boards Better Body Super Challenge 2011'.

I did a weights session on Monday 3rd January in which I tried maintaining the same as my last session last month. I found it EXTREMELY difficult and didn't manage to complete all my reps on the final set of some machines. However, I'd say I'll be back to normal pretty quickly.

On Tuesday 4th, I did 10,000 metres on the rower in 46.33.

Didn't do anything on Wednesday or Today. I'm a little sore from the weights session and have had a few personal things that needed sorted.

Back into it PROPERLY tomorrow and I took photos of myself this morning to compare through the year.

marathonic

Was planning on doing 10,000 mt on the rower this morning but all three were in use so I just used the threadmill.

Went at 11kph for a few minutes, 10kph for a while, then 13kph for 2 minutes at varying inclines. The total time was 30 minutes (+5 cooldown) and the machine gave a reading of 557 calories.

I'd like to get my 10,000 metres on the rower down below 45 minutes this month and, eventually, below 40 minutes. The 40 minutes target will be tough but we'll see how I get on.

marathonic

Okay, well yesterday I did 10,000 metres on the rower in 45 minutes 25 seconds and a 15 minute jog at 9kph on the random setting burning about 850 calories total.

Today, I just did 10,000 metres on the rower in 45 minutes 21 seconds (should hit the 45 minute mark soon) burning about 600 calories.

I've also joined my gyms 12,000 calorie-loss challenge where you get some free gear if you complete it. Until I finish that, I'm going to concentrate on cardio (and weight loss ).

Given I've 10,550 calories to go, I'd imagine the challenge should be doable by the end of the month - tough, but doable. Therefore, I'm gonna push myself hard for the next 18 days, after which I can scale back a little and change the routine.

marathonic

I had a weigh in today on a set of those scales that measure bodyfat. I had been using my gyms scales but they seem to be gone now.

The figures given were:

Weight: 12.74
Bodyfat: 19.4
Water: 53.8

The gym scales gave me 12.44 stone - about a 0.3 stone or 1.9kg lighter. That's not good but I'm blaming the scales. I don't think there's any way I've put on almost 2kg during the past week given my diet and cardio - that'd be about a 2,000 calorie a day surplus over maintenance.

As long as the above figures change for the better, I'll be happy and, if the gym put the scales back, I'll see what I weight on them.