Finally Registered

[DallasWJ]

Hello,
I've been visiting the site since early September, when I decided to start lifting for the first time in a long time. Here are my stats, followed by a couple of newbie questions:
Age: 44
Weight: 260 lbs. (down from 309 on 1/1/09, and a high of 332 last year)
BMI: Not sure, need to get calipers, but definitely still obese
Height: 6'2"
Fitness Goal: reach 199 lbs., build some muscle/look better and achieve a better overall level of fitness.
Current Routine: Modified version of Shaun's 3-day muscle building split routine (adapted to the equipment I have in my basement); an hour a day on the treadmill 5-6 days/week with a target heartrate of 114-117 (trying to avoid overdoing cardio, but keep up the fat burning).
Training Experience: Began lifting in September with 12-week beginner's training routine. Moved to Shaun's routine after 3 weeks. Have been doing that since then, increasing reps to 16 on an exercise, then raising the weight and dropping reps to 10 to begin building again. No significant prior lifting experience.
Diet: Using Diet and Exercise Assistant on my Palm to achieve a daily calorie deficit of about 1,000 calories. Usually eat 1,800 - 2,200 calories per day, depending upon calories burned in workout.

I've been reading about the effect of too much cardio training on muscle development. Does that include all aerobic exercise activity? Or only activity that falls in the 60-80% of calculated maximum heart rate? Is the amount of treadmill walking that I'm doing right now (at a low level of cardiovascular intensity) diminishing my gains from lifting? (I do see a difference from September to now, and others are beginning to notice small gains. I'm definitely stronger than I was, as I have charted how my lifting has progressed. But, I wonder if I'm shorting myself of gaining size, and thereby increasing my metabolism).

Since fat loss is a primary goal of mine for now, should I be that worried about the questions in the preceding paragraph? Or, should I just stay the course with the hour a day of treadmill time, and live with the more modest gains until I've lost the rest of the weight?

I moved to Shaun's 3-day muscle building split because it allowed me to work all muscle groups and keep my lifting time to about 1 - 1 1/2 hours per session, 3 days per week. Is that workout appropriate, given my goals? Is once a week per muscle group really often enough?

Thanks to all those who make this site so informative and useful. It's been a great help as I've started taking control of my physique!

Dallas

[5kgLifter]

welcome

[SIASY]

Welcome to M&S

[Scrutiny]

Welcome to the forum mate

[navymuscle]

Originally Posted by DallasWJ

Hello,
I've been visiting the site since early September, when I decided to start lifting for the first time in a long time. Here are my stats, followed by a couple of newbie questions:
Age: 44
Weight: 260 lbs. (down from 309 on 1/1/09, and a high of 332 last year)
BMI: Not sure, need to get calipers, but definitely still obese
Height: 6'2"
Fitness Goal: reach 199 lbs., build some muscle/look better and achieve a better overall level of fitness.
Current Routine: Modified version of Shaun's 3-day muscle building split routine (adapted to the equipment I have in my basement); an hour a day on the treadmill 5-6 days/week with a target heartrate of 114-117 (trying to avoid overdoing cardio, but keep up the fat burning).
Training Experience: Began lifting in September with 12-week beginner's training routine. Moved to Shaun's routine after 3 weeks. Have been doing that since then, increasing reps to 16 on an exercise, then raising the weight and dropping reps to 10 to begin building again. No significant prior lifting experience.
Diet: Using Diet and Exercise Assistant on my Palm to achieve a daily calorie deficit of about 1,000 calories. Usually eat 1,800 - 2,200 calories per day, depending upon calories burned in workout.

I've been reading about the effect of too much cardio training on muscle development. Does that include all aerobic exercise activity? Or only activity that falls in the 60-80% of calculated maximum heart rate? Is the amount of treadmill walking that I'm doing right now (at a low level of cardiovascular intensity) diminishing my gains from lifting? (I do see a difference from September to now, and others are beginning to notice small gains. I'm definitely stronger than I was, as I have charted how my lifting has progressed. But, I wonder if I'm shorting myself of gaining size, and thereby increasing my metabolism).

Since fat loss is a primary goal of mine for now, should I be that worried about the questions in the preceding paragraph? Or, should I just stay the course with the hour a day of treadmill time, and live with the more modest gains until I've lost the rest of the weight?

I moved to Shaun's 3-day muscle building split because it allowed me to work all muscle groups and keep my lifting time to about 1 - 1 1/2 hours per session, 3 days per week. Is that workout appropriate, given my goals? Is once a week per muscle group really often enough?

Thanks to all those who make this site so informative and useful. It's been a great help as I've started taking control of my physique!

Dallas

Well first of all welcome to the family! Congrats on your weight loss so far! A few things that will hopefully help you. The first thing that caught my eye, was you said you were doing the 12 weeks beginner workout, great place to start! but why did you stop after 3 weeks? Secondly your calories seem a little low, 1800 sounds like your robbing your body of nutrients. You dont want to starve yourself. here's a link that will help you calculate your daily calories. Since your trying to loose weight, do that -500. Also, how is your diet in general? If you feel like your not seeing results, but working hard in the gym, it could either be 1 or 2 things. 1, your general diet is poor or 2. your not using proper technique in the gym. those a just a few things in mind to keep a good focus on your goals.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/too...alculator.html

Next, you said your primary goal is fat loss, but your doing a muscle building workout. It's very very hard to build muscle and loose weight at the same time. Your cardio is very good for the goal of weight loss, but if your trying to bulid muscle, its a bit much. To bid muscle and maintain decent cardio, only do about 20 minutes of LIT cardio 3 days a week. But your doing great if your goal is weight loss. Here is a link for fat loss & toning workouts that will help you better reach your goal.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/tone.html

good luck and keep up the great work!

[DallasWJ]

Thanks, NavyMuscle, and thanks to everyone for the welcomes. The reason for the early departure from the 12 week beginner workout was a compromise that I had to reach with one of my training partners who wanted to go a different direction. Ironically, he has sinced dropped out, so it's just me and the other guy left, and we would have been happy on the 12 week program.
I appreciate the links. That was good information about nutrition and some alternative weight training programs. We're going to look at whether or not we want to shake things up in the new year. I guess I'm o.k. with more modest gains in size until I drop some more fat. And I do see some difference from when we started in September. Maybe I'm just being too impatient.
This site has been great. The videos to show how to do exercises, all the great advice on these forums, and the various workout routines are great. Thanks to everyone who contributes to this!

[GaPeach]

welcome to the site!

[Blaster]

Welcome!