Does Workout Routine Sound Balanced?

[chopinfan88]

Hey Everyone,

name is Jonathan. I am new to ShapeFit, and am looking forward to all the resources it has to offer. I am almost 27 years old, and I currently weigh 350 pounds. I have always been a heavy person, but the majority of weight has been gained during the past few years. At heaviest I was 392 pounds. weight has gone up and down to some degree, but now I am ready to get it down for good. I feel motivated, and have eliminated much of the temptation that hindered success in the past.

I joined 24 Hour Fitness a month ago and have been working out 6 days a week, an hour each workout. For the first 3 weeks I did mostly elliptical for the entire workout. This caused me to slightly injure knees, and forced me to find a better workout routine. I started swimming laps in the pool last week, and find it to be a great workout. I swim for about 45 minutes, but now I have heard that the pool is not considered to be a balanced workout. I understand that I should also be incorporating strength training into workouts, and plan to do so soon.

Would a weekly workout routine of 6 days of swimming and strength training every other day (3 days a week) be considered balanced? Also, how much swimming should I be doing each workout?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Boss Man]

Hi Jonathan, good to talk to you

This might work for you as it's done 3x a week every other day.

Squats, 2 sets, 10 reps

Lunges, 2 sets, 10 reps

Deadlifts, 2 sets, 10 reps

Bent over Rows, 2 sets, 10 reps

Bench press, 2 sets, 10 reps

Shrugs, 2 sets, 10 reps

Planks 30 seconds.

As for the swimming, I'd suggest 30 minutes day 2x a week, so your schedule could look something like this.

Day 1. Weights

Day 2. Swimming

Day 3. Weights

Day 4. Day off

Day 5. Swimming

Day 6. Weights

Day 7. Day off

This gives you a couple of days of rest in the week for recovery purposes and stops you training too many consecutive days, however if you felt like it you could include a mild minute walk on one or both off days.

In terms of the weight lifted, you're looking at the second smallest barbell on rows and squats and 20kg olympic bar on deadlifts.

The third smallest dumbbells on lunges and bench press and the second smallest dumbbells on shrugs.

Planks would be increased by 5 seconds a week until you're hitting the 90 second mark and weights increased a bit every 1-2 weeks, until you're hitting around 90%-95% of failure lifting, the point where you simply cannot move the weight any more at the end of a set.

The reason you don't hit failure as it's pointless and wastes more energy causes more fatigue and may lead in time to over training / going stale and frankly 1/2 - 1 less rep on every set won't cause a massive issue in terms of your rate of progress.

In terms of the diet what foods do you eat and at what times do you eat those foods?

This is going to be a challenging undertaking, but I am sure you can do it and I'm proud of you for taking positive action, because we both know it was needed and it's not about blame, shame, criticism or castigation for your past living, but about endorsing and supporting your future living and your future physical wants, so GOOD LUCK and please keep us posted yeah .

[chopinfan88]

Hi Boss Man,

Thanks for the workout advice. I greatly appreciate it. Right now I am concentrating on eating better, although I'm sure diet isn't perfect. I have cut out all junk foods and sweets completely, and I only drink water. For breakfast I eat a Yoplait fat free yogurt and a fruit. For lunch I'll eat something light, such as a salad or light chicken noodle soup. Then for dinner I'll have a turkey breast sandwich or a chicken breast cooked on the George Foreman grill. In between these meals I'll have some type of light snack, such as a fruit or hand full of raw almonds.

It may not be the best diet, but it's far better than what I was eating before. I am also working on other healthy meal ideas, since I'm sure I'll get tired of eating the same things everyday. Any nutritional advice you can provide would be awesome

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Boss Man]

Hi Boss Man,
For breakfast I eat a Yoplait fat free yogurt and a fruit.

(I'd switch this for something like bowl of cereal and some scrambled eggs, or some baked beans on toast, or an oat granola, some chicken and a few nuts as examples, then you could use the yoghurt and fruit option as a mid-morning snack.)

For lunch I'll eat something light, such as a salad or light chicken noodle soup.

(Fine)

Then for dinner I'll have a turkey breast sandwich or a chicken breast cooked on the George Foreman grill.

(You could add one or more other things in with the chicken, like grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, rice, vegetables, parsley, peas, beans, lentils and corn and then include a snack about 2-3 hours after that.)

In between these meals I'll have some type of light snack, such as a fruit or hand full of raw almonds.

(Have the almonds and fruit together mid-afternoon)