Cut and Tone?

[paisano522]

I am pretty new to this, and have learned that losing weight and gaining muscle doesn't work well. I started at a gym 2 weeks ago. I am 32, 5'7" and was 192 lbs. Yea, got lazy after the new baby. I been working out 3 weeks with some healthier eating and now am at 187 lbs. I want to see some muscle, but not want to bulk up too big, but do so a little. I am not positive what the term toning means, but I am assuming it to mean show the muscle you have. My main goal is to cut the fat to lose a pant size or two, but want to have somewhat visible muscle. Can I do both at the same time or should I work on getting to the goal weight/size first before working with the weights for muscle? I am doing what I consider a beginner workout. I haven't been focusing on weights, as my legs have naturally bigger muscles, I wish I had that problem with my upper body.

I am currently doing this workout 3X a week in this order all are 3 reps of 10:
Incline press (machine)
Iso Row machine
100 crunches
Chest Fly machine
Lat pull down
Shoulder Press
75 side crunches on each side
Bicep Curl with barbel
Tricep pull down
Shoulder extension
Ab Plank 3 X 1 min
Bicep curl with dumbell standing
Tricep Dip

After this, I get on the elliptical for about 40 min to burn 450-500 cal.

On 1 or 2 off days I will come only to the elliptical to burn 1000 cal, takes about 1 1/4 hours.

Any suggestions on what I should do? Should I cut down on the weights first to maybe just one exercise for each muscle group? Any help is greatly appreciated so I can start my workouts on the right track.

[BarryT]

First off, legs are half of your whole body and contain the largest muscles of your body so you need to train them.

Toning is cutting fat...which is what you are interested in. The way to do that is to eat approximately 500 calories below your BMR (see the site's BMR calculator) and to perform low intensity cardio. The best times to do your cardio is in the AM before eating or after weight lifting.

I would take a look at some of the beginner routines on this site. Seeing you've been into it for a couple weeks, try one of the beginner routines for about 8 weeks.

Diet is the biggest part of your success / failure. I'd sugget reading as much as you can on the diet and nutrition articles that are available to you on this site.

Good luck.

[Jarvis]

First of all you should read through the workouts section and pick out a beginners routine to do for a few months. It's good that you're doing your cardio after your workout, that's a great way to cut fat.

One glaring issue with your workout: no leg work.

Start reading a ton; you're at the very beginning of (hopefully) a long and successful journey. Read articles, read other threads, read everything. Sort out our diet, work hard, and you'll get results. Good luck!

[paisano522]

Thanks. I just read a stick from Expat which made a lot of sense. I will start adding the leg work as well for the basic beginner workout until March, of when apparently I should start the split workout. Learned so much in just researching a week. Thanks for your help so far Barry & Jarvis.
I want to cut until I get the fat down, then will bulk later on when the old clothes fit.

[GaPeach]

I'd definitely start with the beginner workout (like they said) if you are really just starting. Then move to one of the toning workouts that they have listed on this site. That combined with a good diet (500 cals below BMR) will help you on your way!

[paisano522]

Just want to say thanks again. I been working out now for about 2 months. I am following a 5 day split routine now, and incoporating my forgotten legs. The day after I worked out I could barely walk, but now am in full swing of the workouts, with 45 min LIT after each.
Monday is Chest/Tri, Tues is Back & my basketball night, Wed is Shoulders, Thurs is Biceps/calves, and friday is legs. I do it over 5 days so I get myself to the gym more often to do the cardio. Have the negative 500 cal's pretty easy.

Lost 10 lbs. Was 192, now am 182. People notice a thinner face. Goal is to get under 170, then build some muscle, but thanks to those who posted answers to my questions previously to help me on my way. The progress makes me more motivated to continue.

[Jarvis]

Keep it up!

One note: in my opinion a whole workout devoted to biceps and calves is not needed. Both are small muscles, even if they are important to you. Being that you are running a 5day split though, it would work, especially if that bicep/calf workout is not very long? A few sets of each of those, you could probably be moving on to cardio after 20-25mins of lifting.

[paisano522]

Yes, it is very short, I don't do more than 2 exercises of 3 sets for biceps and 1 exercise of 3 sets for calves, then off to the elliptical. It is about 10-15 minutes of lifting that day.