Thread: Cardio dillemas.. need advice.

Well for a start, its highly unlikely and even impossible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Both heavily rely on diet management, either eating more calories than you use, or eating less calories than you use.

Secondly, dont put cardio on your rest days - they are rest days. Try and keep as many rest days as you have workout days. Maybe make one rest day a cardio day, but you grow outside the gym. How do you expect to improve if you're not letting up with the training?

I would also move your delts onto chest + tri day, making it effectively a push/pull/legs split. That is what that is, a split - not a program.

What are you doing in terms of every other variable? Sets? Reps? Exercises? Rest intervals? Intensity? How is your cardio set up? High intensity? Steady state? For how long? On what equipment?

There is a lot more information that will determine whether this will work. Its not just a case of listing days and bodyparts. A split means nothing without a program to go with it.

Have you read the stickied topic at the top of the training forum?

i see, am very thankful to know that.. yah i've read most of the sticky threads here including the guides and the basics but still on the process of search and study.

As for my other variables - i settled every exercises to 3 sets with variations of 6 - 12 reps. (eg. bench press 1st set - 20lbs, 12 reps, 2nd set - 25lbs, 8-10 reps, 3rd - set 30 lbs 6 reps) i really don't know if this applies to all exercise.

rest intervals is from 30-120 seconds. my cardio is the stationary bike. it was supposed to be 45 minutes of moderate intensity on my rest days but now you informed me this I'll shift my splits as to what you've said.

here is my original program(i thought) but now its a split:

LEGS:
not yet settled am still looking for exercises

Tuesday
chest:
bench BB press
inclined BB press
DB bench press
DB flyes
TRICEP:
tricep pull down
tricep extension
one hand tricep extension

Wednesday:
supposed to be cardio day but i'll change this to rest day

Thursday:
Back:
lateral pulldown
seated row
straight arm pulldown
deadlift

bicep:
hammer curls
unilateral DB curls
preacher curls

Friday:
supposed to be cardio day changed to rest day

Satudrday:
Military press
DB shoulder press
Lateral raise
Front Raise

Sunday:
Rest day

This split was like the idea of the usual traditions(LOL) of programs(what I used to know, what they know.hehe) here. I have 2nd thoughts of following the split that they gave me so I consulted here for more information and for better track.

hope you can modify this to a better splits.. my goal is a mesomorph type but with little bulk muscles.. =) thank you very much for attending my needs. very much appreciated Gazhole.

Were you doing steady state exercise primarily for the cardiovascular benefit or to help you lose fat ? If the latter then cutting it out altogether is a wise move as it's not a very efficient way to lose fat, and could possibly delay recovery and growth from your lifting days.

I really don't like the looks of your routine - far too much volume for my liking - but thats partly a personal thing - I like to keep my workouts hard and brief, and the harder you go the less volume you can do. All that pyramiding is a waste of time IMO, but some would beg to differ.

Good Luck with your training.

Originally Posted by Protheus

Were you doing steady state exercise primarily for the cardiovascular benefit or to help you lose fat ? If the latter then cutting it out altogether is a wise move as it's not a very efficient way to lose fat, and could possibly delay recovery and growth from your lifting days.

I really don't like the looks of your routine - far too much volume for my liking - but thats partly a personal thing - I like to keep my workouts hard and brief, and the harder you go the less volume you can do. All that pyramiding is a waste of time IMO, but some would beg to differ.

Good Luck with your training.

i do cardios for me to lose my fat.. I need more knowledge with regards to this.=( awww really? i really am desperate to change my routines.. though i just got started.. hope somebody can help me with this to meet my goals.. thanks a lot! huhuhu HelP hELp HeLP.. i don't want to loose track..

Theres a lot of exercises in there that you dont need. You could cut most of them out. You need to stick more to compound movements rather than isolation, isolation movements are far too small to really provide enough stimulus for growth.

Try something like this:


PUSH
Bench Press
Overhead Press
Pushups
Dips
Tricep Extensions


PULL
Bent Over Rows
Pullups
Dumbell Bench Rows
Lat Pulldowns
Curls


LEGS
Deadlifts
Squats
Lunges
Good Mornings
Calve Raises


WEEK 1 = 2x20 (0:45 RI)
WEEK 2 = 3x12 (1:15 RI)
WEEK 3 = 4x8 (1:30 RI)


Voila. Simple, effective, and you'll be done a lot faster aswell.

Dont over-complicate things when they don't need to be complicated. After each session do 20-30 minutes steady state, or 5-10 minutes HIIT depending on how you feel.

This is a pretty simple program that was put together simply of the basic principles in the stickied topics.

Thanks a lot Gazhole.. I'll work on this routines you provided.. but i think ill look for an alternative compound exercise for DIPS and Pull ups since i can't manage to execute those exercises yet.oops!

and one more thing.. i just want to clarify on WEEK 1 = 2 x 20 (0:45RI). what does 2x20 mean? did you mean: do two sets of 20 reps?

I've modified your routine a little, and heres how it goes:

PUSH

Bench Press
Overhead press
push up
Lateral Raise
Tricep extensions


PULL
Bent Over Rows
Seated Rows
Lat Pulldown
Barbell curls
Preacher Curls


LEGS

Squats
Deadlifts
Lunges
Calve raises
goodmornings

how is it? thank you so much! very much appreciated..

This is a reasonably good article on fat that explains why steady state cardio is a poor way of shedding it:

Ultimate Exercise - Body Fat: Hard Facts About Soft Tissue

As for your routine you will get many different opinions on what to do.

Personally I like to do a twice weekly whole body routine and use mainly compound exercises so a basic routine might look like:

1. Squat or leg press
2. Stiff legged or regular deadlift
3. Close grip supinated pulldown
4. Dips
5. Dumbell or barbell row
6. BB or DB incline press
7. Military or DB shoulder press
8. Calf raise.

Thats right ! No direct arm work.

A warm up set followed by 2 HARD working sets (ie. using 70-85% of your 1RM and going close to momentary failure) would do it for me, but everyone has their own opinion and with experience you learn what works best for you.
I like a minimal approach - not in terms of effort but in the amount of time I spend in the gym getting the job done ie. stimulating growth.

Originally Posted by jollybert

Thanks a lot Gazhole.. I'll work on this routines you provided.. but i think ill look for an alternative compound exercise for DIPS and Pull ups since i can't manage to execute those exercises yet.oops!

and one more thing.. i just want to clarify on WEEK 1 = 2 x 20 (0:45RI). what does 2x20 mean? did you mean: do two sets of 20 reps?

Some gyms have a weight assisted dipping/chinning station - are you familiar enough with the machines at yours to say that it doesn't ? (sorry, but I don't know if you only just joined or not etc.)

Originally Posted by Protheus

Some gyms have a weight assisted dipping/chinning station - are you familiar enough with the machines at yours to say that it doesn't ? (sorry, but I don't know if you only just joined or not etc.)

thanks for sharing your routines protheus.. il check on it.. anyway, about the machine that you are mentioning, sad to say but I'm not familiar with it but for sure I'll be, only if those machine mentioned are available here.

When I started lifting years ago I was at a high percentage of body fat, I had a workout close to what you have right now, a bit different, it did not do what I expected it to.

I would not try to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time, you setting yourself up to lose doing it like this. I would pack the muscle on first and then worry about the fat lose. When you pack the muscle on the new gain of muscle will start eating up the fat, so you'll get a jump start on losing fat anyway.

One thing I did not see was your diet, you should post this. When your putting on muscle you diet is different then when your trying to lose weight. Your diet AND workout routine should be talored to work with eachother, in sync. bodybuilding is 80% diet, the other 20% goes to actual exercise and visualization.

Hope it helped some.
Jered