matt31

G'day,
I am currently training 3-4 times a week for about 3.5 months now.Really wanting to get rid of my beer gut and is taking longer than expected...
Does anyone have some suggestions on a simple way to loose fat from the stomach and chest?
This is my current workout plan:
3 sets dumbell press
3 sets lat pulldown
3 sets dumbell curls
3 sets tricep overhead ext.
3 sets shoulder press with dumbells
3 sets bent over flyes
and 2 sets rope crunch
These sets are completed with 10 reps to 7 reps fail.
Maybe there is a way to burn fat alot quicker???of course with the right diet.
Just seems so much invloved to do this,Look forward to reading your suggestions
Cheers

Gazhole

Hey, welcome to the forums.

My advice would be to scrap that program and read the stickies in the training forum and nutrition forum.

The main problem with that program are that you have absolutely no leg training whatsoever. Legs make up half your body weight, so should be given half your time and effort. Not to mention they are the biggest muscles in the body, so will produce the greatest effects.

Theres also too many isolation movements, and not enough pulling going on there for my liking. Its good to get a balance going to avoid injury, create a balanced physique both in terms of aesthetic and function, and also simply to produce more results.

The stickies go into everything into more detail, but basic rules to stick to:

-Most of your program should focus on: Deadlifts, Squats, Bench Press, Rows, Pullups, Dips, Lunges, Good Mornings. Isolation movements like Curls, Tricep Extension, Calve Raises, Flys etc should be the icing on the cake - not the cake itself.

-Stick to freeweights over machines. Machines FORCE your body to adopt an unnatural range of motion which could be damaging if used in excess. Freeweights allow for more natural movement, and work stabilizing muscles which will help your overall posture, functional crossover into the real world, and avoid injury.

-Balance is key. Have the same numbers of Pushing + Pulling movements, and Upper Body + Lower Body movements. Everything is equally important, so everything should have the same amount of attention.

As for diet, its best you read up first and post your questions in the relevant section. Just remember that fat loss doesnt work as a "Spot reduce" mechanism. You cant target isolated areas for fat loss, it is either lost all over the body or not at all. This is done, for the most part, in the kitchen.

For your purposes i think a great way to go about it would be a Fullbody 2 or 3 times a week weight training setup, with a mix of low + high intensity cardio a few times a week aswell. I do my Low intensity cardio for 15-20 minutes after weights, so you wont need to train 7 days a week or anything. Any more than 3 or 4 is overkill IMO.

Ill say it again, though - please read the sticky topics. Youll be far more clued up on what everyone will post here if you do some of your own reading there first.

Hope any of that helps. I know this training and nutrition stuff is a lot to take in and understand at first, but if you stick around and learn from the members, and put the effort in yourself, it soon becomes second nature to you - and the results are more than worth the effort you put in.

http://sdatrainingprograms.blogspot.com - Updated 25/04/08

matt31

Thanks for that reply mate
Cheers