Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroTX  Hi friends,
I am new here and I'm going to ask a question that I'm sure has been asked here a million times.... I need to know what to do to effectively meet my goals as fast as possible, within my constraints.
Constraints: 1) some knee issues (weak, easily injured) so many leg workouts cannot be done (or I simply am unwilling to risk injury to do them)...
2) time ... I can work out 3 times a week for 1 hour each session
Goals: Go from 348lbs to 225lbs... gain muscle, especially in upper body. Maintain muscle in legs (carrying around over 300lbs for over 1/2 of my life has made for some very strong legs... they don't need to be bigger, just maintained). I'd really like to have "hefty" arms/shoulders and "look" like a big guy... I'll be big, even when I lose the weight and I don't want to be a sack of flabby skin.
What I've been doing: hitting the weight machines (mostly arms/back) for 25 or so minutes (no specific plan.... doing reps til it hurts and going to the next type of machine).... then doing 30 minutes of constant cardio (usually treadmill... right now about 3.0mph gets me to 128-140 heart rate)...
I don't know what to do to make my workouts really count (to BUILD muscle in my arms/chest/shoulders, to MAINTAIN my leg muscle, and to have the proper cardio heart rate... no idea what any of that is)...
help! If there's anyone here that's knowledgeable, please help. I don't want to waste my time. I want to drop 100lbs this year and the rest (to 225 goal) next year.
Thanks,
Michael |
Well, a few comments.....it's hard to build muscle and lose weight at the same time. Ideally you'd want to focus on one or the other, because optimal muscle building requires you to eat more calories than your body burns, but losing weight requires the opposite. Is there one you prefer to do first over the other? Once you answer that I can help you figure out the rest.
I would also try to get your heart rate up a little more if you can......into the cardiovascular range, but we can go over that later as well.