So Rebecca and I joined a gym two weeks ago.
We've been going 6 days a week, taking off Saturday or Sunday, alternating pure cardio days with light cardio + resistance training days.
I've lost 14 pounds since we started this just less than two weeks ago.
It goes like this (all are free weights -- no sissy machines -- except the chinups/dips, still need a machine assist with that). Rebecca is doing the same exact program as me:
Week A:
Monday (A) =
10 minutes cardio (elliptical trainer)
5x5 High Bar Squats
5x5 Pendlay Rows
5x5 Standing military press
As many chinups as we can do
50 abdominal crunches
Tuesday =
20 minutes HIIT
Wednesday (B) =
10 minutes cardio
5x5 HIgh Bar Squats
5x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift
5-8 dips
50 abdominal crunches
Thursday =
20 minutes HIIT
Friday (A) =
10 minutes cardio (elliptical trainer)
5x5 High Bar Squats
5x5 Pendlay Rows
5x5 Standing military press
As many chinups as we can do
50 abdominal crunches
Saturday or Sunday =
20 minutes HIIT
And one day off. Week B has the same exercises but the weight program is B-A-B instead of A-B-A.
Not really dieting in the sense of saying "no" to anything except fast food/horrible junk, and making sure I eat about 3000 calories a day. I've learned a lot preparing for this -- especially that a lot of what I'd heard as "fact" about fitness was hogwash. Like I'd always heard as gospel that if you want "tone" or "definition", do many reps of low weights, and that lots of weight and low reps is for getting big. In fact, definition and tone comes more from your diet than your exercise. You can do all the crunches and bicep curls you want, if you have high body fat %, nobody's going to see it. The only real difference in what gets you big versus what just makes you tight and strong is how much you eat. If you eat more than you need and lift heavy weights you'll get bigger. If you eat slightly less than you need, you'll lose fat but still get stronger. If you starve yourself, you'll be miserable, lose all your muscle, feel like shit, and you might lose a ton of weight and still look like a flabby sack of flesh. Everything I've read from people who really know bodybuilding also says that those non-intimidating, easy isolation machines are a waste of time for almost everyone -- compound exercises (like barbell squats that use 80% of your body's muscles in one exercise) are a lot more efficient.
Anyway, in just a few weeks I've noticed a HUGE improvement in all areas of my life. I feel great, I walk taller, my mind is clearer, I have more energy.. and not to get too personal, but we've even had the best sex of our whole relationship in the last few days -- going a lot longer, a lot harder, and in more interesting positions without 'getting a cramp' or 'going soft'. We had a round on Saturday night that left us panting and looking at each other like "HOLY SHIT". And then we had two more.
So it's been six months since I quit caffeine and smoking, and I hope this will be as successful.
We've been going 6 days a week, taking off Saturday or Sunday, alternating pure cardio days with light cardio + resistance training days.
I've lost 14 pounds since we started this just less than two weeks ago.
It goes like this (all are free weights -- no sissy machines -- except the chinups/dips, still need a machine assist with that). Rebecca is doing the same exact program as me:
Week A:
Monday (A) =
10 minutes cardio (elliptical trainer)
5x5 High Bar Squats
5x5 Pendlay Rows
5x5 Standing military press
As many chinups as we can do
50 abdominal crunches
Tuesday =
20 minutes HIIT
Wednesday (B) =
10 minutes cardio
5x5 HIgh Bar Squats
5x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift
5-8 dips
50 abdominal crunches
Thursday =
20 minutes HIIT
Friday (A) =
10 minutes cardio (elliptical trainer)
5x5 High Bar Squats
5x5 Pendlay Rows
5x5 Standing military press
As many chinups as we can do
50 abdominal crunches
Saturday or Sunday =
20 minutes HIIT
And one day off. Week B has the same exercises but the weight program is B-A-B instead of A-B-A.
Not really dieting in the sense of saying "no" to anything except fast food/horrible junk, and making sure I eat about 3000 calories a day. I've learned a lot preparing for this -- especially that a lot of what I'd heard as "fact" about fitness was hogwash. Like I'd always heard as gospel that if you want "tone" or "definition", do many reps of low weights, and that lots of weight and low reps is for getting big. In fact, definition and tone comes more from your diet than your exercise. You can do all the crunches and bicep curls you want, if you have high body fat %, nobody's going to see it. The only real difference in what gets you big versus what just makes you tight and strong is how much you eat. If you eat more than you need and lift heavy weights you'll get bigger. If you eat slightly less than you need, you'll lose fat but still get stronger. If you starve yourself, you'll be miserable, lose all your muscle, feel like shit, and you might lose a ton of weight and still look like a flabby sack of flesh. Everything I've read from people who really know bodybuilding also says that those non-intimidating, easy isolation machines are a waste of time for almost everyone -- compound exercises (like barbell squats that use 80% of your body's muscles in one exercise) are a lot more efficient.
Anyway, in just a few weeks I've noticed a HUGE improvement in all areas of my life. I feel great, I walk taller, my mind is clearer, I have more energy.. and not to get too personal, but we've even had the best sex of our whole relationship in the last few days -- going a lot longer, a lot harder, and in more interesting positions without 'getting a cramp' or 'going soft'. We had a round on Saturday night that left us panting and looking at each other like "HOLY SHIT". And then we had two more.
So it's been six months since I quit caffeine and smoking, and I hope this will be as successful.
anton:
That's rad you're getting into working out. In the past few months I've been getting into it, and jesus, it's actually fun, isn't it? Awesome, and a little surprising.