How should I plan for increasing fitness/conditioning

[neilmorgan77]

Over the past few years my weight has increased to the point where I am now developing health issues. It was nice to be bigger and lifting heavier weights, but now the novelty is wearing off and I'd like to sort myself out. The major concern I have is that I seem to have developed asthma related to my weight (has affected me for the last 2 years), but I also miss things that I could do when I was fitter such as running, jumping etc. and would like to be more flexible again. I have a history of knee issues, so I'd rather do low impact cardio if possible.

Ideally, I'd like to manage these issues/goals without losing too much strength on the powerlifts. I feel like my strength training is well planned, and I would like to keep it that way (based around DE and ME days).

My diet has also been dirty, and where possible I'm looking to change this by just reducing how much I eat in total, cutting out too many treats (as I'm a chocoholic), and eating more fruits and vegetables. It's difficult for me to do more with my diet as I'm very reliant on convenience foods because of the hours I work. I'm not saying it's impossible to eat better, but I'm unlikely to stick to a diet which requires me to prepare lots of food in my spare time. Anyway, I'd like advice on training rather than diet.

What is a good plan for extra training? I'd rather have fun doing things like circuits than just grinding out time doing cardio, but welcome any advice or links to good additional training plans.

Would this be a good time to get a personal trainer? I don't normally trust them, especially with strength training as they don't seem to know a lot about it, but for just getting fitter would it be a good move?

[NorthStrong]

Clean up your diet, find a hill near you and run it 3 times a week after training.

[gmanfootballguy]

You could also try some longer distance prowler work

[neilmorgan77]

Clean up your diet, find a hill near you and run it 3 times a week after training.

That sounds like high impact. Exactly what I didn't want.

You could also try some longer distance prowler work

I don't have a prowler, and neither does my gym.

[kingscross]

OP, I wouldn't hire a PT, you be your own PT. If I was to attempt to increase my conditioning in the circumstances you have described :-

* low carb dieting regimen (look up CBL, Carb NIte etc).
* knee-friendly cardio - treadmill, crosstrainer, brisk walking around your neighborhood after training etc
* Higher rep RE work on main lifts and assistance.

[untranslatedZA]

OP, if you want to loose weight then loose weight its a pretty simple procress of just eating less. If you want to add cardio, do cycling / swimming, since cardio is cardio, as long as you are getting your B/PM up it doesnt matter. Also they are both low impact and can generally be done after lifting safely.

[HamburgerTrain]

The easiest way to do this:

-Stop eating $hit
-Shorten your rest intervals
-Don't do any long duration, steady state cardio

In my experience, it takes most people a very long time to build up the amount of GPP required to survive/recover from extra workouts. Start by adding one a week. Do that for no shorter than 3 months before you add in more.

[neilmorgan77]

I agree with changes to my diet and I have been making some. Even if it's not turning into a perfect diet, it is much healthier than it used to be.

As for the cardio, where do I draw the line in terms of time/intensity to avoid losing muscle?

I'm happy with using the treadmill/cross trainer/bicycle in the gym. I will probably only be able to swim occasionally because it's difficult to fit around work and the time I already spend in the gym.

[HamburgerTrain]

I agree with changes to my diet and I have been making some. Even if it's not turning into a perfect diet, it is much healthier than it used to be.

As for the cardio, where do I draw the line in terms of time/intensity to avoid losing muscle?

I'm happy with using the treadmill/cross trainer/bicycle in the gym. I will probably only be able to swim occasionally because it's difficult to fit around work and the time I already spend in the gym.

Unless you are cutting for a figure show or using it to flip for distance, stay off the treadmill. Get a sled and drag that. Or put together some dumbbell/barbell complex's. Or do a crossfit workout (I'm serious). Just make it so the extra session last no more than 20-30mins at first.

[neilmorgan77]

Unless you are cutting for a figure show or using it to flip for distance, stay off the treadmill. Get a sled and drag that. Or put together some dumbbell/barbell complex's. Or do a crossfit workout (I'm serious). Just make it so the extra session last no more than 20-30mins at first.

Dumbbell/barbell complex's sound interesting. I looked them up briefly and will try them, although anything involving an overhead squat just isn't going to work for me right now, as I'm not flexible enough to do it. Do you recommend any specific sets of exercises?

What constitutes a Crossfit workout? I know it's like swearing to even mention Crossfit here, but it's something I'd consider. I thought they trained mostly similar to the barbell complex training you mentioned?

[samsont]

Unless you are cutting for a figure show or using it to flip for distance, stay off the treadmill. Get a sled and drag that. Or put together some dumbbell/barbell complex's. Or do a crossfit workout (I'm serious). Just make it so the extra session last no more than 20-30mins at first.

that sounds good and hardcore, but if you can't drag sled or do anything intense and treadmill is your only option.. use the treadmill. It works. great way to bang out some miles and get some calories burned.

I like sprints, jumping, hills, prowlers, treadmill pushes and I do some of that every week but I have found great results in my conditioning and body composition from adding in atleast 1 mile a day run or walked for past 2 months.

just be active, eat less and be consistent in lifting.

[runtocatch]

Eat better and do higher rep stuff and keep after it the whole time you are in the gym. In other words you should be out of breath the whole entire time you are there pretty much. Don't be like 90% of the douchebags in the gym and do more talkin than training. Get in there and get with it. High rep squats, dumbbell stuff, barbell, whatever it works and stay after. Don't be taking 10 minutes between sets. High rep work is extremely painful so get ready to be hurting.

[Filmbuff81]

If the complexes interest you look into dan john complexes or do the bear complex.

Power clean
Front squat
Push Press
Back squat
Push press

All in a row and do it 7 times and that is 1 round.

You could do that twice per week to start and do 2-3 rounds per session.

That would keep it pretty short and give you a hell of a burn.

[GetHimABodyBag]

Kettlebell complexes/circuits

Battle Ropes (joint friendly for you)

Get a tire, and some webbing, and you pull it forward,backwards, and load it.

[northernlights7]

First of all no, a personal trainer isn't necessary. How much light could they possibly shed on various forms of cardio to make it worth the money? So besides that, the only other way they could contribute is motivation, and if you can find the motivation to be so dedicated to power lifting, you can apply it to cardio / dieting. You just need to want to reach that goal badly enough and you can succeed.

Light impact cardio - biking on a real bike outdoors is my best suggestion. I've had a lot of success in cutting off that. Lap swimming is also good, if you have access to a pool treat them like sprints and that'll gas you like no other, really burning up calories. Also, just make sure you keep off your butt in general. Don't sit around on your couch watching TV or playing video games for hours, go for walks when you can find time.

Your diet is by far the most important factor in your weight loss goals, however. Eating a bunch of McDonald's, Taco Bell, fried foods and other high fat/garbage empty carbs food will kill any diet pretty quickly. Clean up that diet, no crap like sodas, beer and ho ho's, those are just wasted excess calories that serve no purpose. If you want a cheat meal once a week or whatever works for you, try to make it something that at least has high protein like hot wings or a cheeseburger so it serves some function for you along with being fatty and delicious.

In any case, realize that it's almost impossible to drop a ton of weight without losing some strength. Do cardio on non-lifting days to help reduce the toll your cut will take on strength, or at least don't do super intense cardio sessions on lifting days.

Cliffs - lift heavy 3 - 4 days per weak to help maintain strength. Eat clean i.e. get enough protein/good carbs, seriously limit the junk foods. Do cardio on non-lifting days to help minimize strength loss.

[wisdommaster1]

If the complexes interest you look into dan john complexes or do the bear complex.

Power clean
Front squat
Push Press
Back squat
Push press

All in a row and do it 7 times and that is 1 round.

You could do that twice per week to start and do 2-3 rounds per session.

That would keep it pretty short and give you a hell of a burn.

second on the complexes, also for low impact cardio you could hop on a rower, then you could do LISS and HIIT with that without worrying about your knees

[northernlights7]

Eat better and do higher rep stuff and keep after it the whole time you are in the gym. In other words you should be out of breath the whole entire time you are there pretty much. Don't be like 90% of the douchebags in the gym and do more talkin than training. Get in there and get with it. High rep squats, dumbbell stuff, barbell, whatever it works and stay after. Don't be taking 10 minutes between sets. High rep work is extremely painful so get ready to be hurting.

High rep work has its place and serves its purposes, but he mentioned not wanting to minimize strength loss. Doing high rep work could help a lot with weight loss, but you'll lose strength a lot faster that way than if you incorperate at least some heavy lifting in too. (3-6 reps). Whatever you condition your body for is what it will adapt to, as you know full well. Obviously if he say, benches 315 easily for 5 reps now and starts going for 12 reps and doesnt get close to 315 on any sets, he's going to lose a lot of that benching strength if he keeps that up for awhile. Again, what you say is all true, but it seemed that maintaining strength was a focal point of his desired weight loss program, so pushing his limits in terms of low rep work is still going to be very important.

[neilmorgan77]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I'm going to try some complexes, and maybe relatively short cardio sessions (about 15 mins). I'll try it for a while and make adjustments to what I do depending on what seems to be working well.

The only barrier to the complexes at the moment is that I'm not good at snatching, and I cannot overhead squat at all (mostly due to flexibility). I've already looked up various stretches to work on to help with my shoulders and keeping the bar overhead even when leaning forwards. I don't know whether to skip overhead squats when they turn up in the complex until I can do them, or switch to something else?

[chicago]

Unless you are cutting for a figure show or using it to flip for distance, stay off the treadmill. Get a sled and drag that. Or put together some dumbbell/barbell complex's. Or do a crossfit workout (I'm serious). Just make it so the extra session last no more than 20-30mins at first.

This. Although incline sprint work on a treadmill is one of my favorites. When I throw in a few sessions of sprints at an incline mixed with walking on a treadmill I find that the prowler feels a little bit easier the next couple of times. And vice versa. Basically just sprinkle an extra session in every week until you feel like you're feeling weak then scale it back. You'll find the amount that works for you.

[Filmbuff81]

You could sub an exercise.

Or just go down as far as you can and try to go lower next session.

Honestly best way to gain the flexibility and stability to snatch ans overhead squat is to do them.

First time I tried to overhead squat was brutal, but I have no problems reaching depth now.

[neilmorgan77]

You could sub an exercise.

Or just go down as far as you can and try to go lower next session.

Honestly best way to gain the flexibility and stability to snatch ans overhead squat is to do them.

First time I tried to overhead squat was brutal, but I have no problems reaching depth now.

I think I'll do as much as I can and try to improve. At the moment I can just about bend my knees a little on overhead squats, and my snatch is more of a lift with the arms than a proper drive through with the hips. I'm sure they will both get better with practise, and I'll probably benefit from the extra flexibility too. I'm just not looking forward to doing empty bar overhead squats whilst learning to do them.

[runtocatch]

High rep work has its place and serves its purposes, but he mentioned not wanting to minimize strength loss. Doing high rep work could help a lot with weight loss, but you'll lose strength a lot faster that way than if you incorperate at least some heavy lifting in too. (3-6 reps). Whatever you condition your body for is what it will adapt to, as you know full well. Obviously if he say, benches 315 easily for 5 reps now and starts going for 12 reps and doesnt get close to 315 on any sets, he's going to lose a lot of that benching strength if he keeps that up for awhile. Again, what you say is all true, but it seemed that maintaining strength was a focal point of his desired weight loss program, so pushing his limits in terms of low rep work is still going to be very important.

Hence the reason I work up to a heavy set and then do 2 or 3 backoffs with rep ranges between 5 & 25 or whatever. Just depends how I feel and what I want to do that day.

Edit to say I dont always do back offs like that cuz sometimes I will stay kinda heavy on some backoffs and then do maybe some overhead dumbell or something for high reps or some one arm dumbell for high reps. Just depends I guess.

[kingscross]

Lulz at a treadmill is only useful if you are cutting for a figure show. Sounds hardcore as ****.

Meanwhile a WSM competitor doing some conditioning

[northernlights7]

Edit- not sure what happened there, the quote system didn't work right for my post. But I agree with as long as you get a couple heavy sets in while lifting for weight loss that's fine for helping maintain strength.

[Dark Phoenix]

You said you rely on convenience food because of your hours - really, you are just lacking planning. Cook a week in advance. I cook enough chicken to get through five days, I cook eggs in muffin tins, then put them in the fridge and take them to work to eat. Really, I eat the same thing for a week at a time, but it doesn't bother me and it is a lot easier than trying to plan one day at a time.

[jsullivan93]

Everyone's posted some quality stuff. My favorite type of cardio to increase work capacity is sprints on a cycle they're kiler

[Filmbuff81]

I think I'll do as much as I can and try to improve. At the moment I can just about bend my knees a little on overhead squats, and my snatch is more of a lift with the arms than a proper drive through with the hips. I'm sure they will both get better with practise, and I'll probably benefit from the extra flexibility too. I'm just not looking forward to doing empty bar overhead squats whilst learning to do them.

haha that is a pain in the ass.

if you want a good way to gain the flexibility without looking like a douche in the gym.

grab a broomstick or something similar. hold it over head with a snatch grip or narrower if you can and just squat down while supporting yourself with a wall.

good way to stretch out and try to keep the broomstick overhead and even try to get it to touch the wall a bit.

you will open yourself up a lot that way.

plie squats like this as well until you are a little more fliexible without the support of the wall are handy too.

but honestly first few times through some complexes you might be happy to just use a bar. once you start adding weight you are gonna get gassed big time. But they are helpful.

[neilmorgan77]

haha that is a pain in the ass.

if you want a good way to gain the flexibility without looking like a douche in the gym.

grab a broomstick or something similar. hold it over head with a snatch grip or narrower if you can and just squat down while supporting yourself with a wall.

good way to stretch out and try to keep the broomstick overhead and even try to get it to touch the wall a bit.

you will open yourself up a lot that way.

plie squats like this as well until you are a little more fliexible without the support of the wall are handy too.

but honestly first few times through some complexes you might be happy to just use a bar. once you start adding weight you are gonna get gassed big time. But they are helpful.

Thanks for the advice. I tried a complex that didn't have any overhead squats this evening. I just wanted to try it out so did 5 reps per component at 40kg, of rows, cleans, front squats, military press, back squats and good mornings. Even that started getting me breathing, but I feel like I'll soon get used to it and can add some weight to it.

I also tried some overhead squats with an empty bar, and my flexibility is better than last time I tried them. I managed to squat down to roughly parallel, but not right down onto my heels (which I'd probably struggle to do without my arms overhead anyway). So it's possible I'll be able to start doing those other complexes with an empty bar and work from there.

[Filmbuff81]

sweet goodluck. you'll be perfectly fine then.

There's no NEED to go ATG, parallel or just below is fine. Unless you are gonna compete in weightlifting and need to get under some heavy snatches and cleans real fast.