need critique on beginner workout

[zachr117]

Goal is too lose 70 lbs total of fat while trying to build a base for muscle building when I start lifting at a gym. Currently at 225lbs (~35% BF) aiming to get to 15% BF before Feb 2014. Then starting march I will go start going to a gym and try to pack on 'dem muscles.

Anyways, plan on eating 1800 calories on cardio days and 2k calories on resistance training days.

** FYI I don't have access to a gym or anything and all I have are dumbbells **

Sunday - HIIT 20 mins / Abs

Monday - Upper Body 4 rounds
* 1 Arm Dumbell Rows (10r)
* Pushups (10r)
* Standing DB press (10r)
* DB Curls (10r each side)
* Tricep Ext. (20r)
* Shrugs (20r)

Tuesday - Lower body / Abs
* DB squat
* DB lunges
* calf raises
* crunches
* toe touches (as best as I can)
* plank

Wednesday - HIIT

Thursday - Upper body (same as before)

Friday - Lower body / abs (same as before)

Thanks guys!

[mikhou]

Why not use a proven beginner's program like Allpro's which is in the stickies?

[zachr117]

Why not use a proven beginner's program like Allpro's which is in the stickies?

because i only have dumbbells otherwise i would

[want2bstrong]

Since your main goal is to lose fat, there is no real need to complicate the routine.
I would just advise doing cardio and pushups/situps/chinups/body weight ATG squats everyday (works your chest/back/triceps/biceps/legs) and do overhead triceps extension and db curls if bigger arms are your goals.
No real need to be doing shrugs/calf raises at this point because they won't even show much with that much amount of fat + you prob don't have heavy enough dbs to work them.

[jgreystoke]

225 @ 35% = 146 lean body mass + 79 fat mass

Say you lose 70lbs:

155 @ 15% = 132 LBM +23 fat mass

So you want to lose 14lbs muscle, and get much, much weaker than you are now? And have smaller muscles than normal size manual workers/active guys who don't even lift?

Does not compute.

Lets pretend that you miraculously(drug the **** out of yourself) lose 70lbs of fat, and don't lose any lean muscle mass at all:

146 LBM + 9 fat mass represents around 6%BF, which despite the nonsense you read, is very unhealthy, and not sustainable. Your strength, mood, etc will fall off a cliff due to vastly lowered test production. Even if you juice it doesn't work well at these extreme BF levels.

What would actually happen(happens to everyone who gets excessively lean), is that you lose a ton of muscle along with the fat.

So it might look more like:

120 LBM + 8 lbs fat mass and around 7%BF.

If you lose 26lbs of muscle, you'll look like Ghandi on your frame. You'll have to ask Granny to open the pickle jar, or move heavy furniture etc(when she is well enough to get out of bed).

If you train for strength for enough reps for big exercises on any rational program, you will get leaner even as you are building muscle(which will greatly boost your metabolism). Say you end up at 200 and 15%:

200 @ 15% = 170lbs LBM + 30lbs fat mass.

You'll have gained a whopping 24lbs of muscle, and lost a whopping 49lbs of fat mass.

You'll be vastly stronger than you are now. And will look like a million dollars by comparison. And you won't have turned into a vag to do it.

Big fat/plump guys can build muscle and lose fat mass at the same time.

Little 130-150lb weaklings can't. And they blame it on their genetics(rather than their ignorance).

Say you get to 180lbs @ 15%, that = 153 lean + 27 fat.

You'll still be much stronger with an extra 7lbs muscle. And you'll look vastly better with vastly less fat.

[Partyrocking]

I disagree. I think you are much better off prioritizing fat loss than gaining muscle at this stage. If you lift heavy during your deficit, you can put on some muscle anyway, but it should not be you're priority while you're >30% bodyfat.

1. Losing fat will have a much bigger effect on body composition than gaining muscle, pound for pound.

Let's say you lose 20lbs, 90% of it fat, which is quite possible if lifting heavy. You'll drop from 35% body fat to 28% bodyfat. If you try and lose 10lbs of fat and gain 10lbs of muscle, then you're at 30.6% body fat. You have some more LBM, but you won't see any of it. If you somehow gained 20lbs of LBM without putting on any fat, you're sitting at 32% bodyfat, again which will be invisible under the fat.

If you focus on losing fat with sustainable deficit, you'll retain most of your LBM and will look a lot better than if you try to recomp at the same weight.

2. Losing fat is easier than gaining muscle. You might gain 1/2lb of muscle a week, but you can easily lose 1-2lbs of fat per week without losing much if any muscle. In 6 months, you could lose 40lbs of fat which will be a lot more noticeable than 12lbs of muscle under all of the existing fat.

3. Gaining muscle doesn't change your metabolism all that much. Each lb of muscle burns about 6 calories. Each lb of fat burns about 3. Lose 20lbs of fat and gain 20lbs of muscle and you only get a 60 cal/day difference.

4. You can get stronger in a deficit. If you just diet and don't keep lifting, you'll end up a weakling, but if you keep adding weight/reps, sets, etc. You'll be stronger, smaller, and in decent shape to go on a lean bulk after.

[jgreystoke]

^^^^^^

To get from 225 to 200, or 225 to 180......


.......he'll have to be on a deficit anyway.

But if he "prioritizes" fat loss vs getting vastly stronger for reps, he is likely to make the same mistake that most such guys do:

Devote most of their energy elsewhere, and treat the weights as an afterthought. Often lose a lot of muscle along with the fat. They get addicted to the "success" on the scale, even as they are becoming weaker and less muscular(lowering metabolism). That is something he doesn't have to do at all.

[nacnacmetz]

Goal is too lose 70 lbs total of fat while trying to build a base for muscle building when I start lifting at a gym. Currently at 225lbs (~35% BF) aiming to get to 15% BF before Feb 2014. Then starting march I will go start going to a gym and try to pack on 'dem muscles.

Anyways, plan on eating 1800 calories on cardio days and 2k calories on resistance training days.

** FYI I don't have access to a gym or anything and all I have are dumbbells **

Sunday - HIIT 20 mins / Abs

Monday - Upper Body 4 rounds
* 1 Arm Dumbell Rows (10r)
* Pushups (10r)
* Standing DB press (10r)
* DB Curls (10r each side)
* Tricep Ext. (20r)
* Shrugs (20r)

Tuesday - Lower body / Abs
* DB squat
* DB lunges
* calf raises
* crunches
* toe touches (as best as I can)
* plank

Wednesday - HIIT

Thursday - Upper body (same as before)

Friday - Lower body / abs (same as before)

Thanks guys!

I don't think you can reach your goal without going to to the gym. I did the same thing for 8 months and hardly made any gains. I've been on allpro's for 3 months and have seen twice the gains already.

[lukeharder]

you need to add cardio to your routine. If you're truly a novice as you are, and with that weight, body recompose might be a better alternative for you. focus first on shedding those fats to your desired weight and then beef up. might take a little longer though but results will show in the scales and in the mirror.