full body training thoughts

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boardsportsrule

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Jun 19, 2003
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Alright, i had shoulder surgery about 5 months ago, been going to the gym every other day for the past 2 months and I'm diggin it. I want to start ramping up, doing more than just shoulder/arm work outs. I do really like the every other day thing i'm doing now, and i find that i can actually get to the gym every other day. If i were to do every day I know i would skip sessions as time went on.

in reading up on the 5X5 program, i found another program, where you do a whole body work out MWF. I'm thinking i could do this. I have barely any classes MWF[at college] and I have been going that often[or more often] already for my shoulder recovery.

So you may be wondering what my question is here... im getting to that now. I am curious as to if this would be a good program for me.

My fitness goal is to lose 20-30 lb's in the next year. {Currently at 225ish, but I have a big frame and it suits me well. People figure me at 180lb's often, it's not in my belly, its all over}

I started towards this goal at the beginning of this school year by changing my eating habits. I have focused on incorperating healthy, low calorie meals to my life. the dorms were hoarded with horribly processed and fried foods. I belive I have this dialed down and I have lost 10 lb's so far(in the past 3 months) by doing this.

Since I can start ramping up my activities I want to ramp up my gym time. I really like the sound of this program and I am hoping to start it next monday (28th) assuming it's a good fit for my goals and I get a routine planned out.

Any ways, with my weight-loss[fat. I am not as concerned about my wieght, but more my fat % which is around 22% now] goals is this a fine routine for me?

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/iovate5.htm

One thing I am a bit confused about is all this reffering to "cutting" and "bulking". I am interested in neither, more just general fitness, so I am not sure if this is the proper routine for me.

Any ways, let me know what you think.

Thanks,

ah on a side note; one site said that in order to gain muscle{bulk} you must intake more calories than you burn. I want to lose weight, thus I am focusing on intaking less calories than i burn, so this is a bit confusing for me. I just assumed that the site was wrong in saying that you cannot make muscles while being on a calorie deficeit, but who knows.

After posting i realized this was pretty long;

Cliffs:
225 lb's, goal weight of 190ish
22% body fat no definate goal %, but just less.
Modified diet ~3 months ago after a shoulder surgery
started gym every other day ~2 months ago for shoulder recovery
finally able to start pushing my shoulders a little and feel I am ready to ramp up my fitness aspect in my life
Contemplating whole body work out 3x per week
wondering if this is a good program to complement my weight loss goals and modified eating habits.
link to said program
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/iovate5.htm


EDIT: upon more reading and research, i discovered i was incorrect. I do in deed want to "cut". Additionally, from what I read, the difference between cutting and bulking is more or less diet, so you could really cut or bulk with any routine, more or less just by modifying your diet. This makes me think that a full body work out would be a good idea for me. I will be figuring out my routine in the next few days. I'm thinking ill make up a book for me to bring to the gym, keep tabs on my numbers etc. so i can see progress and push myself.

If you have any feedback on full body work outs I am all ears.
 
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KoolDrew

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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ah on a side note; one site said that in order to gain muscle{bulk} you must intake more calories than you burn. I want to lose weight, thus I am focusing on intaking less calories than i burn, so this is a bit confusing for me. I just assumed that the site was wrong in saying that you cannot make muscles while being on a calorie deficeit, but who knows.
This is usually the case. Beginners, especially overweight beginners, being the exception. This is why people usually switch between bulking and cutting cycles. Resistance training is still important during both phases, but more so during cutting for maintaining muscle mass as opposed to building it.

As for the routine... I really like the idea of a full body routine, but only when done correctly. Trying to throw every exercise you'd normally do in a split routine into one workout isn't the way to do it. Whenever I do a full body routine it's something similar to the Starting Strength model, and I recommend you start there unless you have previously built up decent strength on the squat, bench, deadlift, etc.
 

brikis98

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2005
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Your bodyweight has much more to do with diet than with exercise, so check out the fat loss sticky for a guide of what to do.

As for exercise, full body routines are an excellent choice, especially if you are relatively new to weight training. However, the particular routine you looks like it has too much volume and focus on isolation exercises. You'll still see results from it, but I'd wager that you'd see better/faster results from a beginner strength training routine. The gold standard for this is the one described in Starting Strength. The routine is known for producing awesome strength gains in beginners and the book is a fantastic guide to all the basic barbell lifts (the Starting Strength Wiki is a good free guide that covers much of the same info, though I still highly recommend buying the book). Alternatively, you can check out the very similar Stronglifts 5x5 routine and website.
 
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