[camaro of solar]

Ok in the past I have always been "the fat kid". Never really mattered too much what I did or didn't do. It wasn't until recently that I have actually felt fat. All my life ive still played soccer, some football, JROTC Fitness SpecOPS, basketball, etc. But the past 2 years in college Ive gotten in a bad rutt due to a few girlfriends that I stayed in the bed with more than doing anything outside. I always have seemed to gain strength fast any time I work at the gym (especially lower back and lats). Longest consecutive term of working out was about a year of 4 days a week liftng and some bike/jogging. What I want to do is turn this fat into some muscle. At the moment I am not too concerned with being cut and defined so much as hardening up this blubber. I need some help picking out a diet and work out regiment to go by. I am open to anything! I want this gone and I want to harden up. I am also into SCUBA diving so loosing this fat will help wonders.

my main starter questions would be "Where is a good place to find a diet that will be conductive to muscle gain and fat loss?" I know that sounds pretty generic, but is there any place that has a typical run down of a good diet for this? like ive seen 100's of books on the Atkin's diet, southbeach, etc. but not sure if either of those is what I am looking for. I dont care if its even a liquid only diet at this point.

"What is a good exercise regiment?" Ive read on here that cardio everyday can actually burn up muscle building potential, does this remain true for someone who is obese?

what suppliments are good to assist with the a diet and exercise plan that I may choose to help me loose weight and gain some muscle?

Also when it comes to lifting weights, where is somewhere that I can read up on tips on how to maximize what I am doing and get the best results for each work out I do.

info on me:
6'3"
310lbs (50lbs less than I was in August)
24 years old

sorry for the epic post, just want people to know I am serious and not just dabbling around. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[bigrabbit]

Great to see you have yourself some motivation, i will come back and answer this later but have a look at other threads as well

[camaro of solar]

still reading and learning

[camaro of solar]

started my new life today.
30 Mins of Bike at mid resistence level
lat pull downs 1st set was 130 2nd 145 3rd 130.
Seated Chest press @ 130lbs for 4 sets.
Seated Fly @ 130 for 3 sets.
Seated Row @ 200 for 4 sets.
Standing Curls @ 30lbs for 3 sets.
Stretched out after wards and got a little dizzy, again due to lack of fuel.
****each set is atleast 8 but i try for 10-14 if I can
I wanted to do more, but I was just totally out of energy due to not having eaten. If there something that I can eat or drink after doing my cardio to quickly fuel up for lifting? I would really like to get everything done at one session at the gym due to my school/work/study schedule.

Also for next Monday, what would be some good exercises to add to what I have? What about Wed when I plan on going again what should I do? I was thinking the Bikes, Leg Press, Lat Fly, reverse lat fly (duno what this is called?), Not sure of the name but you put your arms up in an L shape on either side and Close them together to meet in front of you works armpits and shoulders a little, Another one i don't know name of that you start with both hands behind you head and pull forward towards your naval. How does this sound? and what should I possibly add to this?

[crader]

I would recommend your cardio after you lift.

[camaro of solar]

Originally Posted by crader

I would recommend your cardio after you lift.

if I do cardio after lifting what should i do to warm up for lifting? Just do some good stretches?

[crader]

Originally Posted by camaro of solar

if I do cardio after lifting what should i do to warm up for lifting? Just do some good stretches?

Some stretching, some light weight , higher rep starting work.

[SilentBob187]

Originally Posted by camaro of solar

if I do cardio after lifting what should i do to warm up for lifting? Just do some good stretches?

Maybe 5 minutes of cardio preworkout to get the blood moving. Also warm up sets; high rep, low weight. Post workout stretch out the muscle groups you used for that workout and throw in 15 to 30 minutes of cardio.

That's awsome that you're already down 50lb. Good luck though man.

[EasyEJL]

you should really look at existing workout routines. Ones that completely spell out all the exercises to do on which days. Most of the bigger well known ones come from professionals, so they are well structured. You probably should look at GBC (german body composition), madcow 5x5, Body For Life, and maybe SAIS. As far as diets go, surprisingly south beach is pretty decent for loss of fat while gaining muscle, and easy since they sell the frozen stuff everywhere.

[camaro of solar]

I will look into the southbeach diet. I have head its similar to the Atkin's Diet which I have done well with in the past.

As for the GBC. I was looking around and I think I will give it a go. (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ryanm18.htm) is where I found a run down on it. I just have a few questions about it. My first one is on the Rep tempo, I am no sure I understand this. Does this mean like 4negative and 1 positive is 4 secs to do pulls and 1 sec to do pushes? If his is right, 1 sec seems to be pretty fast for a rep as I usually spend about 4secs when doing something like a bench press as i have been told that you should try to go a little slow. Also should I just sit and do all the sets of one movment before moving to the next, or should I do one of each and return to the top until all the sets are completed?

thanks everyone for the info so far!

[EasyEJL]

Originally Posted by camaro of solar

My first one is on the Rep tempo, I am no sure I understand this. Does this mean like 4negative and 1 positive is 4 secs to do pulls and 1 sec to do pushes? If his is right, 1 sec seems to be pretty fast for a rep as I usually spend about 4secs when doing something like a bench press as i have been told that you should try to go a little slow. Also should I just sit and do all the sets of one movment before moving to the next, or should I do one of each and return to the top until all the sets are completed?

thanks everyone for the info so far!

yes, its slow down, and fast out. With GBC in particular, your goal is more around the body recomposition, so lower gains of muscle while loosing fat. really slow positives only have their place when you are using a TUT style (Time Under Tension). For that particular one, yes, a 3 sets of one exercise with the stated rest time inbetween sets is what you should do. the original GBC style is here (that one is somewhat modified)

http://www.trulyhuge.com/news/tips63j.htm

Either is fine, its more important that you follow a specific workout than necessarily what it is (assuming its a specific workout created by a professional that is).

[camaro of solar]

excellent EasyEJL thanks a ton for the link and your help! time to nerd up and read this thing!

[camaro of solar]

ok so i read over that and it looks good. I just have 3 problems.

1) I cant do a pull up. I'm embarrassed to say that, but we are talking 310lbs of unconditioned person here. What can I do instead of the pull ups?
2) I dont think I could do 1 set of the Swiss Ball Push Ups much less 4 rather quickly. what would be another exercise I could do in place of this?
3) What is the exercise called "Good Mornings"?


note:
I know my gym doesn't have the counterweighted pull up machine like my old gym did.

[camaro of solar]

another side note, this program seems to neglect working the abs. What would be a good program to ad in with this? or would it be ill advised to add this in with this particular work out?

[EasyEJL]

Originally Posted by camaro of solar

ok so i read over that and it looks good. I just have 3 problems.

1) I cant do a pull up. I'm embarrassed to say that, but we are talking 310lbs of unconditioned person here. What can I do instead of the pull ups?
2) I dont think I could do 1 set of the Swiss Ball Push Ups much less 4 rather quickly. what would be another exercise I could do in place of this?
3) What is the exercise called "Good Mornings"?

No need to be embarrassed about that, I could probably only do 1 or 2 unassisted. You can use the wide grip lat pulldowns as a replacement for it. not quite the same, but close enough.

you can do flat pushups, or even pushups on your knees to begin with if necessary.

good mornings look like this



really start low weightwise. like 20lb barbell if your gym has straight barbells like that.

as far as abs go, this workout routine is built around forcing lactic acid buildup so as to force more fat buring with the growth hormone release that comes after. working the abs doesn't add significant amounts of that partially because its a relatively small group of muscles, and partially because of the types of ab exercises you would normally do. Really this routine (like all others) isn't meant to do for the rest of your life but for 6-12 weeks, and then switch to something different. so don't worry, you'll hit the abs later. If you want to, you can throw in some situps or other ab work either on the off days or after these workouts.