Shedding pounds and toning?

imdahman · 06-09-2006, 09:37 PM

I'll be starting the gym really soon, rolling BJJ and picking up striking later when I'm in better shape. I was just hoping to get some advice on working out and losing these pounds.

I don't want to 'bulk up', but rather I want to shed a lot of this body fat and get toned. As it stands right now, I'm 5'10" and about 230lbs? So yeah... overweight and looking to lose it, haha.

Should I just spend a lot of time on a bike and building up cardio? Will that help me loose a lot of pounds? I guess to tone, I need to do longer reps with lighter weights right? Some basic bicep curls and what not?

Are there possibly any supplements or whatever that'll speed up the fat burning process?

GSPALLTHEWAY · 06-09-2006, 10:06 PM

try this one... this will be perfect for you to lose weight, and get in great shape for BJJ....
as stated in my other post its called CRT circuit resistence training...
find your max 1 rep on a variety of machines that you will use... then take about 50 to 60% of that....
do 2 or 3 muscle groups a session... 4 sets on each muscle group... just do about 10 to 12 reps, take a short 30 second break, then do another!! after that switch to the next group... youll only be there about 40 min total but its an amazing workout both cardio and to tone up for figthing... rich franklin is huge into it and im getting there too....
do that like 3 days a week? mix in as much time on a stationary bike as you can, in about a month youll see amazing results...

oh and of course you prolly know about all the diet stuff.... just be reasonable, follow that plan and youll be doing great
goodluck!

imdahman · 06-09-2006, 10:17 PM

Wow, that's kinda intimidating actually, lol. But thanks for that, I think I'll do that, but start very slow for myself since I'm so out of shape and I don't want hurt myself.

As for diet, I actually know nothing about what's right to eat etc, other then laymans (eat your veggies, etc). I've heard it's good to eat in the morning when you get up, to get your metabolism going, then eat lunch a few hours later... but I don't know what to eat and what foods give you what proteins, etc. So any help on diets and what to eat would be great.

BTW, I don't know yet if I'm willing to give up delicious meaty foods... no matter how bad they may be for me, lol

GSPALLTHEWAY · 06-09-2006, 10:19 PM

lol i hear ya man... thats so hard to resist!! but yea give that a shot.. if its too hard just adjust it for yourself and take a little longer breaks... just remember the point is to move from place to place as fast as you can handle because that helps your cardio a ton.... no need to do 4 to 6 reps of huge weights with what your trying to accomplish... you get real into CRT the foods you eat will matter less and less (still important though)

Ring_Raider_07 · 06-09-2006, 10:24 PM

A few things you need to do;

1. Cut down on calories. 2000 a day max.

2. Work one muscle group a day.

3. High reps with low weight.

This will get you started. It will turn a lot of that fat into muscle. Then, you can start doing more strength training.

You need a LOT of cardio. Sprints, long distance running, sprints, ect. Also, do some jump rope to work your footwork for striking, which is very important. Even more so than strength.

As for suppliments, don't waste money on fat burners. If you're going to buy anything, WHEY PROTIEN. Also, soy protien and a multi-vitamin are recommended. Take the whey right after you lift. Soy a few hours before and in the morning or before bed.

I hope this helps.

imdahman · 06-09-2006, 10:25 PM

Where can I find this CRT routine? What exercises and machines should I be using? What is the amount of weight I should be using at each 'stop' How many stations are there to this CRT?

GSPALLTHEWAY · 06-09-2006, 10:31 PM

well that is all up to you and what you can handle... when the guy above said 2000 calories a day max (that also depends on you) if you cut 500 to 1000 a day (even if your at like 4000) youll start to do alot better...

lets see, with CRT id say start with 2 muscle groups.. i did back and biceps today.... pick 4 exercises you like to do for each... then do about 10 to 12 sets on each... quick rest, goto the next one... for the amount of weight??? say you can bench 200lbs (just can example) do between 100 to 120lbs .... that is true for any of the exercises... find your one rep max and take 50 to 60 % of it... this is a great program for anyone in your situation and even more advanced serious athletes (although at that point you get next to no rest and higher weights) give it a shot, youll get cardio and alot more muscular endurance (and some strength) and see great results

imdahman · 06-09-2006, 10:56 PM

OKay, let me see if I got this right...

Say, I decide to do what you did, biceps and back and I have 4 exercises for each and get to it, is this what it looks like:

bicep exercise 1: 10 reps
rest 30 seconds
back exercise 1: 10 reps
rest 30 seconds:
bicep exercise 2: 10 reps
rest 30 seconds
back exercise 2: 10 reps
rest 30 seconds
bicep exercise 3: 10 reps
rest 30 seconds
back exercise 3: 10 reps
rest 30 seconds
bicep exercise 4: 10 reps
rest 30 seconds
back exercise 4: 10 reps
done.

Would that constitue a 'circuit?' Would I then take another break (10minutes?) and do the circuit again and change around the order (if i wanted). This would be all I do for the day right? Another day I'd work quads and calfs, etc and follow the same pattern right?

I don't even know how many calories I take in, is there a website that tells you how many calories are in foods?

I think the plan right now (with this in mind), is that I'll do arms one day, chest and stomach day 2, and legs day 3. I'm thinking Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I'll sit on a staionary bike and ride for a while on the days inbetween, Tuesdays & Thursdays, and take the weekend off

Of course, this would be ideal, I probably won't be able to keep this up until I'm in better shape a month or so down the line - but I'll try to start with something like this but take it really slow.

EDIT: Oh, and if someone could point me to a website showing all the different kinds of workout exercises for the different parts of the body that would be awesome too

SmashingMachine · 06-09-2006, 11:40 PM

GSPAlltheway has the right idea. You need to do some form of high-intensity circuit training with little to no rest between sets, and 2 mins tops between circuits. He also said shaving 500 or so calories off...another great idea. I've been doing this for about a month and a half and have shaved 30 pounds off of my weight. www.menshealth.com has a lot of great ideas on fat busting work-outs and hordes of diet information. Plus, under the "tools" icon, they have calorie calculators, protein calculators, etc. to help take the guess work out of it. Good luck man. By the way, drink lots of water too...like 80-100 ounces a day.

imdahman · 06-10-2006, 12:14 AM

Wow, I just check out menshealth.com and the site is really good for telling me about calories, protein, etc. It's a bit crazy to be watching all that since I'm not really used to it yet. I just want to be able to have some freedom in eating and maybe indulge once a week or so. This is a good tool though, I'll definitely be using it to get in shape, thanks for the link!

How does my CRT look? Is it the right way to do it? Any and all advice is always great.

GSPALLTHEWAY · 06-10-2006, 08:02 AM

you got the right idea imdahman... you can even rest 45 sec in between at first, then the rest will just get shorter and shorter as you get better... that plan seemed correct though for sure... just remember it starts out at about 50% of your max rep... so if you can bicep curl 50lbs youd start with a 25lbs dumbell... (this will slowly go up as you get better) dont feel the need to put alot of weight on at first, this will all come and go up (fast)

as far as diet... just in a given day write down everything you ate.... pick the one thats the must unneeded (an extra snack when your already full) lol i have plenty of those, and cut it out.... thatll get ya started...

sitnspin · 06-10-2006, 08:43 AM

Here comes a LONG post!

I believe in working the entire body when I'm in the weight room, so I don't restrict myself to two muscle groups. I absolutely agree that circuit-training is the way to go and that you should keep a good pace up, because it adds a cardio element to your weight training. Both Rich Franklin and Randy Couture employ circuit-training for most of the body, and their examples are good enough for me.

Ring Raider's right about staying away from fat burner/blocker pills. They're not particularly good for you, and they do nothing to correct the habits that made you fat in the first place. Change your diet, change your lifestyle, and lose fat the proper way.

It's also a sad reality that none of that can be temporary. A lot of people view a diet as something that lasts a few months, or until they hit their target weight, then they can relax and eat what they want. Nope -- you have to revise the way you approach your meals, and stick to it.

I don't count calories or worry about minimizing carbs, etc. I just stick to a few basic rules (when I'm dedicated -- I fall off and slide backwards just like anyone).

1. Stay away from the white starches: White flour, white sugar, white rice, regular potatoes, pasta, etc. It all turns into sugar in your body, and you might as well be eating ice cream. Minimalize your bread and pasta intake anyway, but in general you want the dark whole grains. Brown rice is better because it's higher in fibre and at least has some nutritional value (white rice has none). If possible, scrap all of this stuff in favour of a breakfast that includes an all-natural whole grain cereal with no added sugar or salt.

2. Eliminate high fructose corn syrup from your diet entirely. This stuff is the devil. There's a ridiculous amount of sugar and calories packed into it, and it gets used in a lot of processed foods, particularly sodas and junk foods. America is majorly overweight because of high fructose corn syrup.

3. More fruits and vegetables! They provide vitamins and fibre and energy and they fill you up while being in low in fat. Learn to love your green vegetables like spinach and broccoli. Watch the sauces and dressings.

4. Protein is important because when you tax your muscles, they build up faster if they have protein to feed on, and when you do a lot of cardio your body will feed off your muscles almost as quickly as your fat, so taking in a lot of protein prevents the breakdown of muscle tissue. They say one gram per pound of body weight per day, but I have no idea what I take in. Usually about 50 grams from a protein shake, plus whatever I get from eggs, cheese, tofu, nuts, etc.

5. To keep your metabolism high and working, you want to eat steadily throughout the day. A meal every 2-3 hours you're awake, but keep in mind that we're not talking about a full dinner-sized meal. An apple and an orange and some almonds between lunch and dinner is fine. Randy Couture snacks on almonds and walnuts throughout the day, because they have protein, iron, fibre, and omega-3 fatty acids, and if you're exercising regularly you shouldn't worry about the fat they contain.

6. Supplements. Everyone has different opinions. Billy Rush -- conditioning, flexibility and nutrition coach to a lot of top MMA guys, is currently of the mindset that you can get everything you need from your food, and he only has his guys taking a multi-vitamin beyond that. I'm personally a bit of a supplement whore. I've mixed and matched and tried stuff and dropped stuff for a long time, and here's where I'm at now:

- First thing when I get up, I take a serving of Vege-Greens, which is a high-potency greens concentrate, by a company called Progressive. One scoop in water contains the equivalent of all your required servings of fruits & vegetables for the day, and it has a lot of good seaweeds and grasses and berries that have great nutritional value that you wouldn't normally get. This stuff is amazing. When I first went on it, after about two days I felt incredible. High energy, better mood, better sleep pattern, and my immune system is a lot stronger. It also cleans out your digestive tract, which is never a bad thing.

- 30 minutes later, I have breakfast and with it I take a multi-vitamin and three 1200 mg capsules of omega 3-6-9, which are your essential fatty acids.

- At some point during the day I take a tbsp of liquid glucosamine, which, when you've been on it for a while, aids in joint recovery and reduces soreness in my knees (I'm 34 and I've been running off and on since I was in high school, so I've battered them pretty good).

- 30 minutes before I workout, whether it's cardio, weights, or both, I take Xyience, NOX-CG3. I realize a lot of people will tell you it's overpriced crap and you don't need it. I'm not going to argue and I'm not a spokesman for them, and YES it's overpriced. But I bought my first can of it a couple months ago and found that I got great results. The nitric oxide gives me an initial energy burst, the creatine helps me develop strength and muscle mass, and the glutamine aids in recovery, so I'm not as tired and sore the next day. It feels like no matter how hard I train, I come back to it fresh the next day.

ALSO, I've just discovered something interesting, and maybe guys who've been taking creatine for a long time already knew this. I'm currently off the Xyience, because my plan is to go a month on, a week off. When I was on it, I was getting bigger arms and chest and shoulders, to the extent that friends were noticing and commenting. Now that I'm off and still training, I've quickly dropped some residual puffiness that came with it and now I look more cut and defined, and it's been noticeable just in a few days too.

7. You want to work up slowly in terms of cardio. You can't immediately kill yourself every day, just sweat for 20 minutes on the treadmill or bike or eliptical, and as you get used to it, step it up in length and intensity. Mix up your forms of cardio, because the body can get used to anything and it'll become less effective. Eventually, when you can keep a good pace for 30 or 40 minutes, you'll want to add in sprints. Sprints tax your heart and burn more calories than any running long distance at a slower pace. Do a 1 mile warm-up jog, then rest for a few minutes. Run HARD (maximum effort, like your life depends on it) for 10 seconds. Stop and rest for 10 seconds. Repeat that five more times, and that's it. You're done your cardio for the day. Don't do this every day, though. I like to alternate days where I run 3 miles at a decent clip and days that I just do the sprints, and I take one day a week off where I don't run.

7. Speaking of days off, yes -- you can absolutely cheat on all of this. If you're eating this clean and you're training hard, I absolutely think you can enjoy a day where you eat pizza and have some ice cream for dessert, and have butter on your popcorn at the movies. The difference is that you're only doing it one day a week instead of most of the week, so you'll still be making mad progress.

8. Drink upwards of a gallon of water a day, over the course of the whole day. A lot of the fatigue we feel mid-afternoon comes from not enough water, so we tend to reach for coffee (which only ends up dehydrating you further, plus that caffeine rush is followed by a bigger crash) and junk food. Plus, the water aids in digestion and flushes the crap out of your system.

GSPALLTHEWAY · 06-10-2006, 03:39 PM

sitnspin i wasnt telling him to restrict himself to just 2 muscle groups! i was just using those as an example for a day..

thats all good info though.... however the carbs in bread and pasta can be burned off if you do enough.. gotta have some carbs

imdahman · 06-10-2006, 06:32 PM

Cool, thanks for all the advice yo!

So, for the circuit training, I could theoretically do my entire body if I wanted to? I'm definitely not going to do that right away but mabye when I'm in really good shape I'll do that.

Oh yeah, a thing about the max rep etc; to find this max rep how hard should it be to do this one lift? Should I be able to do a smooth lift? Really struggle to get the curl? Then I find the 50% mark...

Also, do I change this weight for different weight groups or keep it constant? Say my 50% is 30lbs found by doing a bicep curl; do I use that for arms, legs, chest and stomach? Or am I supposed to find the max rep for my biceps, triceps, abs, chest, quads, etc?

Good nutritional advice, I will keep it all in mind. Is Exyience an energy supplement or bulking up supplement? I don't want to bulk up too much, I want to tone. Right now I'm leaning towards the whey protein and whatnot 'cause it'll probably be cheaper and achieve the same results. Man, white rice is like my main source of food (I'm asian), it'll be hard to avoid, lol - I guess I'll have to eat less and less servings.

GSPALLTHEWAY · 06-10-2006, 06:43 PM

you find your max for EACH exercise your giong to do.... it doesnt have to be exact... its jsut a general idea. you dont have to kill yourself to find out exact #s, you can play around with it alittle... just remember the idea is to be working hard and fast with little rest, dont have to use a ton of weight tho.. and yes you can do as much in a day as your body can handle... since your not doing super heavy weights, your muscles will heal a little faster then normal...

imdahman · 06-10-2006, 06:53 PM

Okay, that's good to know. Here's another question!

Is it a good idea to be doing this circuit training before the BJJ class? I mean, I just realized that my plan is to do this circuit training before I do the BJJ class and won't I be exhausted? If my schedule holds, I'll be doing CRT at about 6pm until I'm done (estimated 30mins or close to it), then the BJJ is at 8pm. With this job, and the time that the gym is open, I can't do CRT any earlier and dong it after the class only gives me a half hour (class is 8-9:30, gym closes 10pm).

EDIT: Sidenote... why can't I have an animated gif as my avatar? Am I not a high enough level?

sitnspin · 06-11-2006, 01:24 AM

I definitely wouldn't do the circuit training before your first couple of BJJ classes. Hold off and save your energy for the class and when you've done it a couple of times, see how you feel about adding the workout. I'd bet that the class will involve a pretty strenuous workout with push-ups and squats and stuff, which will be enough of a workout in itself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gspalltheway

sitnspin i wasnt telling him to restrict himself to just 2 muscle groups! i was just using those as an example for a day..

thats all good info though.... however the carbs in bread and pasta can be burned off if you do enough.. gotta have some carbs

I agree about the carbs. For an active person, they're fuel. Those no-carb diets are for people who want to lose weight while they sit around. But there are carbs with different levels of glucose, and it's better to eat less of the ones in the highest category.

I found this to be a very useful and informative site on the subject:

http://www.infinitnutrition.com/inf/...B3B3C0D75B2BD3

imdahman · 06-11-2006, 01:36 AM

Okay, so no CRT before my BJJ classes to begin with; So I guess I'll just do them on Tuesday, Thursday & Friday for right now and concentrating on those muscle groups I mentioned earlier....

Or maybe I'll do CRT on two days, doing the upper body one day, lower body the other day. Maybe I'll jump on a bike before the BJJ classes to do that cardio biking I need to do, as well as on certain days off where there is no class.

Ray433 · 06-11-2006, 01:41 PM

Hey, as a dude who has recently finished dropping 30 pounds of unhealthy weight I figured I toss in my 2 cents.
Sitnspins advice was killer (as it always seems to be) However when just starting it may seem overwhelming.
when I started to get in shape I did some simple things to start, mainly, no snacking on garbage, more water, diet soda, more vegetables, and at the time I let myself have dessert with meals.
Then as you progress and realize you really want to see those changes, cut out all garbage food, the greens supplement that sitnspin mentioned is a great thing for your diet. Then look into eating the high protein food people talk about like chicken and tuna and steak, it's all delicious so it's not that hard.
And keep reading and finding things to motivate yourself. I found that watching UFC and TUF got me in the gym alot because I would see the dudes training and think ****, I need to get into better shape.
It's all a mental game as much as anything, you have to WANT to eat better for yourself, you have to want to look better for yourself (and ladies).
And once you have made the mental commitments, everything else will be so much easier, you won't want to eat crap, because that would be counter productive to all the great gains you will be making. And to help, once used to eating right, your stomach will let you know pretty fast when you've eaten some crap food.
Only downside to any of this is the cash you are gonna have to spend on new clothes chief.

sitnspin · 06-11-2006, 03:12 PM

Awesome post, Ray, and you're right -- any changes you make are a step in the right direction, and you have to start somewhere.

Good point also about how when you get into these habits and start making progress, your body becomes its own watchdog. If I've eaten clean for two days and busted my hump at the gym and I feel incredible, an ice cream bar suddenly looks like poison that will screw it all up.

But if you EAT that ice cream bar, don't worry about it. Eat light and healthy after that and focus on your next workout, and you're still on the right track.