Would anyone like to tell me if this routine is effective for beginners?

[MrMythias]

So my friend and I, we're both over 300 lbs. We've stuck to this program for three weeks now, and I've felt some gains in my body, but I'd just like to know if it is a rounded plan. We're working out in our office fitness room. There is a three-sided stack-weight machine that includes a Bench/Incline/Shoulder press, a Lat Pulldown/Tricep Pushdown/Rows set, and a leg curl (that is currently broken). There are dumb bells up to 50 lbs. There are also two ellipticals, three treadmills, and four stationary bikes.

So, we have a three day routine M/W/F, with A days and B days.

A-

Bench Press
Tricep Pushdowns
Side Arm Raises
Crunches
Lunges

B-

Shoulder Press
Lat Pulldowns
Curls
Squats

Aiming for 3x10 on each exercise. We do five minutes on a random cardio machine for a warm up and five for a cool down. We switch off each week as A/B/A and B/A/B.

If we should change anything up, it should be able to be done with the machines that we currently have. We want to work our entire body out over the week, and we're eventually going to do five day weeks. We also want to spend no more than 45 minutes to an hour in the gym (we're both married). Once our spouses have jobs (we both just relocated) we're going to be joining a gym with an actual UFC fighter and others who run classes daily. My personal goal is to get to 180-205 and get into some amateur MMA stuff around here.

Thanks, everyone!

[MrMythias]

Just for a little insight as to why we are not doing Starting Strength like I originally wanted to - No barbells. The fitness room has -no- barbells, which is absurd. So I've tried to research a bit to make sure we're hitting each muscle group right now.

Once we get to an actual gym we'll do Starting Strength with boxing and jiu-jitsu classes on off days as extra cardio. This is just a stop-gap to get us moving and building a foundation in the meantime.

[MrMythias]

I apologize for a bump, but I'm quite curious. Tomorrow is an A day, so any input now would benefit us tomorrow.

We're doing roughing one minute of rest or so between each set. Upping the weight by the smallest increment possible whenever capable.

[Adrian77]

You should be doing this routine: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=147447933 You can use dumbbells until you get to a proper gym.

that program will work on both a cut and a bulk.

You should be focusing on getting your BF% down to about 12% before you consider bulking.

You will gain a bit of strength and muscle mass initially but it will plateau after that until you switch to a bulk. Bulking at a high BF% is very inefficient because you will gain more fat than muscle and you will have to spend a long time cutting which will lose a lot of your gains. So your best bet is to bite the bullet now and get that out of the way now.

You need to be eating 500 calories below your maintenance to lose between 1-2lbs/week. Every 6 weeks have a week where you eat at maintenance for your new level then repeat until you get where you need to be.

Use this website to calculate your calories: www.eatthismuch.com

[Bradeful]

My advice would be to ditch all those machines in there, use that time and do cardio till you can cut down some and then once you can join a real gym assuming this will be a weight gym as well along with mma, then find a plan to maybe get some of that beginners cut and muscle gain going

[MrMythias]

I'm currently eating 1000 calories below my maintenance to lose 2 lbs a week, and I'm tracking my intake through LiveStrong MyPlate. At the moment I can't do anything with barbells as I have no access to barbells.

Should I keep up with weight lifting through the entire cutting phase, not to bulk but maintain? I've also read that having more muscle mass throughout the cutting phase allows you to burn quicker.

You should be doing this routine: You can use dumbbells until you get to a proper gym.

that program will work on both a cut and a bulk.

You should be focusing on getting your BF% down to about 12% before you consider bulking.

You will gain a bit of strength and muscle mass initially but it will plateau after that until you switch to a bulk. Bulking at a high BF% is very inefficient because you will gain more fat than muscle and you will have to spend a long time cutting which will lose a lot of your gains. So your best bet is to bite the bullet now and get that out of the way now.

You need to be eating 500 calories below your maintenance to lose between 1-2lbs/week. Every 6 weeks have a week where you eat at maintenance for your new level then repeat until you get where you need to be.

Use this website to calculate your calories:

[MrMythias]

My advice would be to ditch all those machines in there, use that time and do cardio till you can cut down some and then once you can join a real gym assuming this will be a weight gym as well along with mma, then find a plan to maybe get some of that beginners cut and muscle gain going

So do cardio three times a week instead?

[Bradeful]

So do cardio three times a week instead?

I would think that cardio or maybe a HIIT workout would be better for you, assuming you don't have alot of muscle mass which you want to retain, and also im assuming your a beginner lifter , but I think for cutting would be important to do cardio since you so limited on your workout, or atleast do more than 5 mins of cardio. I think the best option would be something like HIIT or maybe one of the insanity or p90x, hard but they do burn alot of calories which in turn will aid greatly in weight loss. I went from 315 to 225 but I've been lifting for like 4years before that, so I wanted to maintain what I had as much as possible but i also had a big gym with everything in it, but cardio still helped in my weight loss

[batman37]

I would think that cardio or maybe a HIIT workout would be better for you, assuming you don't have alot of muscle mass which you want to retain, and also im assuming your a beginner lifter , but I think for cutting would be important to do cardio since you so limited on your workout, or atleast do more than 5 mins of cardio. I think the best option would be something like HIIT or maybe one of the insanity or p90x, hard but they do burn alot of calories which in turn will aid greatly in weight loss. I went from 315 to 225 but I've been lifting for like 4years before that, so I wanted to maintain what I had as much as possible but i also had a big gym with everything in it, but cardio still helped in my weight loss

This is sound advice.

Low intensity cardio is also under rated. Simply going for a 20 minute walk in the evening or at some point during the day on top of this will work wonders.

[Adrian77]

I'm currently eating 1000 calories below my maintenance to lose 2 lbs a week, and I'm tracking my intake through LiveStrong MyPlate. At the moment I can't do anything with barbells as I have no access to barbells.

Should I keep up with weight lifting through the entire cutting phase, not to bulk but maintain? I've also read that having more muscle mass throughout the cutting phase allows you to burn quicker.

Just use whatever you've got. Barbell is ideal but for your circumstances, dumbells will be fine. It's not perfect but it's more important that you are following a well designed program to maximise your results. You should keep lifting to maintain your mass. At 300lbs, you'd have a lot of muscle under all that fat. You must in order to get around. So the more of that you can preserve the better. HIIT cardio will not preserve muscle mass as well as lifting will. In fact, lifting is the best form of HIIT.

I'd suggest walking, stationary bike or swimming for cardio for where you are at now. You need to look after your joints as much as possible.

You may also find it easier to increase exercise rather than just cut calories down the track. PM me if you have specific questions.

[MrMythias]

We did 25 minutes on elliptical machines today. I averaged 4.5 mph, 380 calories. We tried ellipticals before we did our weight routine, and it was -much- harder. I think we're going to do three days cardio, two days lifting.

Personally, I have an advantage over most guys my size. I used to be a wrestler early in high school, before I gained a bunch of weight, and I've retained a ton of muscle. Most guys my size can't do a single pushup, I can easily do like 20. I'm not saying that's magical, because I know it isn't at all, but for my weight and fitness level that's much better than the average.

I think I'm going to try to add a 20 minute walk like batman (heh, Batman gave me advice. Ninja.) advised. I just moved to a new area though, and it isn't the nicest for sure, so I've gotta look around for a nice park first.

Just use whatever you've got. Barbell is ideal but for your circumstances, dumbells will be fine. It's not perfect but it's more important that you are following a well designed program to maximise your results. You should keep lifting to maintain your mass. At 300lbs, you'd have a lot of muscle under all that fat. You must in order to get around. So the more of that you can preserve the better. HIIT cardio will not preserve muscle mass as well as lifting will. In fact, lifting is the best form of HIIT.

I'd suggest walking, stationary bike or swimming for cardio for where you are at now. You need to look after your joints as much as possible.

You may also find it easier to increase exercise rather than just cut calories down the track. PM me if you have specific questions.

[Adrian77]

We did 25 minutes on elliptical machines today. I averaged 4.5 mph, 380 calories. We tried ellipticals before we did our weight routine, and it was -much- harder. I think we're going to do three days cardio, two days lifting.

Personally, I have an advantage over most guys my size. I used to be a wrestler early in high school, before I gained a bunch of weight, and I've retained a ton of muscle. Most guys my size can't do a single pushup, I can easily do like 20. I'm not saying that's magical, because I know it isn't at all, but for my weight and fitness level that's much better than the average.

I think I'm going to try to add a 20 minute walk like batman (heh, Batman gave me advice. Ninja.) advised. I just moved to a new area though, and it isn't the nicest for sure, so I've gotta look around for a nice park first.

I'd reverse that. Do 3 days lifting and 2 days cardio. Lifting gives you the same cardio workout but it gives you better muscle gain/preservation. It also has better "After-burn", meaning it keeps burning calories after you've stopped.