New Routine

[all4diving]

There's a newbie in the house!

Finally back in the gym after several years off. I'm an X/old/used to be athlete that's 41 6'5" 340lbs and trying to get back into respectable shape. I have a bad back and bad knees as you could imagine. I'm going 3 days on with one off. If anyone has suggestions I will gladly listen as I am not sure if I am allowing enough rest.

Chest/Tri's
Bi's/Back
Legs/Shoulders

4 sets of 10 each body part. Keeping reps up as I don't need any additional size just FAT loss. I workout alone and get this done in about 45 minutes so I don't screw around in the gym. I get in and get out. No time for gossip in the gym. I have always been that way. Actually prefer to workout alone due to time constraints. I have just added the bike to the mix and will work towards 25-30 minutes on days of training. Should I be doing Cardio on leg days or should I take that day off and do Cardio on my "read" day off?

Thanks for your ideas and comments.

all4diving

 

[bludevil]

1st thing, welcome to IM.
Congratulations on your decision to become healthier.
One thing you left out of your post is diet. Your diet is 75% of the fat loss game. If you get your diet in check, then the pounds will come off. Why don't you post your diet in the Nutrition section so we can help you with that.
Regarding your routine, I'd try what you posted. It looks ok for somebody trying to get back into shape. I do have 1 suggestion though, you stated you were doing 4 sets of 10 for each bodypart. 40 reps probably isn't enough for your big muscles, ie chest, back, and legs. On general most people do 70 to 100 reps for those bodyparts and 40 to 60 for arms. Shoulders are somewhere in between. Try doing 3 exercises of 3 sets of 10 for chest/back/legs. 4 exercises of 2 sets of 10 for shoulders and 2 exercises of 3 sets of 10 for arms. That gives you 90 reps for chest, back and legs, 80 reps for shoulders and 60 reps for bi's and tri's. I'd still stick to the same training order ie...chest/tri's, back/bi's and legs/shoulders.
On cardio, I would do 15 to 30 minutes of HIIT cardio on 2 or 3 days a week on your off weightraining days.

 

[all4diving]

bludevil

Sorry. I was not very clear on my workout. I have included my workout below. I alternate exercies in #1 and #2. My diet is something that I have not spent near enough time on and I know its critical. Figured I would start with my routines and then get with the pgm on the nutrition.

Biceps (1)
Standing EZ Bar curl ??? wide
Incline dumbbell curl
Standing Hammers
Preacher machine

Back (1)
Seated close grip machine
Seated row machine
Seated med grip lat pulldowns
Standing lat press downs

Biceps (2)
Standing EZ bar curl ??? narrow
Seated dumbbell curls
Standing cable curls opposite
Concentration curls
Back (2)
Deadlifts with machine
Behind the neck lats
Seated rows
Standing lat press downs

Shoulders (1)
Machine seated military
Machine Lateral raises
Standing cable cross overs
Seated rear delt machine
Upright rows

Legs (1)
Leg Press Wide-out
Leg extensions
Leg inner press machine
Leg curls

Shoulders (2)
Seat Dumbbell press
Front raises
Seated Arnold press
Seated bent over lateral raises
Shrugs

Legs (2)
Leg Press narrow straight
Leg extensions
Leg outer press machine
Leg curls

Chest (1)
Dumbbell Bench
Dumbbell Inclines
Cable Flys
Peck Deck

Tri???s (1)
V-Bar Cable Press
French Curls
Lying one arm dumbbell Tricep extension
Seated overhead barbell Tricep extension

Chest (2)
Dumbbell Bench
Incline machine
Decline Dumbbell bench
Peck Deck

Tri???s (2)
Straight bar cable press
Rope press downs
One arm cable reverse pull downs
Seated dumbbell one arm extensions

 

[bludevil]

So are you saying your doing 4 sets of 10 for each exercise. If so, then your doing to many for bi's and tri's. Cut them down to just 3 exercises.

 

[all4diving]

routine

bludevil

Why too many for arms? Will take your advice and remove one exercise from both routines.

Thanks man

all4diving

 

[DaDaMan1010]

looks good

 

[bludevil]

Re: routine

Originally posted by all4diving
bludevil

Why too many for arms? Will take your advice and remove one exercise from both routines.

Thanks man

all4diving

Your arm muscle's are no where near the size of your chest, back, and leg muscles. You don't need to train them the same amount. If you do, your leading into overtraining. Honestly I would only do 60 to 70 reps. Within your routine, you would be doing 160 reps. That's way to much. Honestly I wouldn't do over 100 reps for any muscle group, but that's just my opinion. Just be sure when doing your workouts that your giving yourself adaquete time to rest each bodypart. On average, a 5 to 7 days are what most people shoot far if you really hit the weights hard. A good way to tell if your overtraining is your not making any progress from week to week. You should be going up in weight or reps week to week.

 

[all4diving]

Bludevil

Thanks for the good advice. Being that I am already big I don't desire any addtional size. I have been back in the gym for about a month and a half and my strengh has come back quickly so I am not really striving to get much stronger either. Really just wanting to tone thus the reason for my 4x10's. Am I off base on this? I will keep the bi's & tri's to 90 reps total with 3 exercises.

With my 3 on 1 day off schedule am I allowing enough time for rest?

all4diving

 

[bludevil]

3 to 1 is ok as far as rest. Since your only doing weights 3 days a week, I'd suggest M / W / F for weights and T / Th / Sat for cardio.
As far as reps goes, give your routine a try, only you can determine if it works for you. Try it for 8 weeks or so and if you feel like your making progress with your weight loss then stay at it, but if you find yourself hitting a plateau then you may want to change it up a bit.