Need plan to start working out, have basic requirements

[neit]

Howdy,

First off let me introduce myself, I've been a lurker for ages and ages and mostly stayed in the programming section, H&F is a bit of a departure. Healthwise, I was the in the best shape during highschool when I was on the football team. In college I let myself go to focus on classes and vidya games (my bad!). I then got a job with a slightly depressing life in a rural area and moved back home (both of which consisted of eating a lot of comfort food, the former for sadness the latter for the big family atmosphere of hearty eating).

However, I have been blessed with an acceptance to med school, and looking in the mirror I figure there's nothing more hypocritical than a fat doctor. Also, I've become much happier and really feel excited and want to get into a healthy lifestyle. I think being away from my family in a much more dynamic area will help me stay away from bad foods.

Physically I'm 5'6 200lbs (fluctuate between 195-205) and currently very sedentary. I found an apartment within 1 mile of campus and plan on biking or walking everyday to classes.

Cardio wise I absolutely hate running. I tried it for 3 weeks and couldn't get into it and my legs kept bothering me. I'd like to think my daily biking and 1-2x/month mountain biking trips would get me to a good start. When I don't feel embarrassed taking my shirt off in public, I want to start swimming at the rec center.

What I'd like help with is a 3 or 4 day weightlifting routine. I don't want to do any lifting fri/sat/sun, I just don't think I'd get it done. I used to do Mon/Wed/Sat workouts during football and MWF during the off season. But now I want to leave the weekends (Fri/Sat/Sun) completely obligation free, and hence the suggestion of a MTuWTh workout plan. Any time I take a weekend trip back home (which may be often), I know an afternoon workout is something I will skip.

I understand the concept of working different groups, but not sure how best to do it with little to no rest days between work out sessions in a given week. If you guys could, please suggest specific exercises with sets and reps. Until I find a partner to work out with, could you also give ways to minimize the need for a spotter via machines/cages/and the like?

Thanks and I appreciate all advice!

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Refer to the fat loss sticky I've posted. I think it'll give you a good idea of what you should do to approach this. If you have questions, PM me and I'll help you out.

 

[brikis98]

As SociallyChallenged said, the fat loss sticky is a good start, especially for weight loss information.

As for exercises, you need to get yourself a healthy, full body routine developed by experts. The most highly recommended one for beginners is Rippetoe Starting Strength (or the very similar Stronglifts 5x5). You can also look into Crossfit if they have a gym in your area. All of them primarily focus around on barbell exercises that you repeat several times per week. For example, Starting Strength is just an A/B style workout:

Workout A
Squat: 3 sets of 5
Bench: 3 sets of 5
Power Cleans: 5 sets of 3

Workout B
Squat: 3 sets of 5
Press: 3 sets of 5
Deadlift: 1 set of 5

Note that the sets do NOT include warmups - you should do several warmup sets (with light weight) before the 3 "working" sets. You alternate the workouts 3 times per week on non-consecutive days. So, two weeks would look like:

Monday: workout A
Wednesday: workout B
Friday: workout A

Monday: workout B
Wednesday: workout A
Friday: workout B

I noticed you wanted to limit your workout to Mon - Thur, which doesn't give you 3 non-consecutive days to work with. This is, in general, a BAD idea when weight training as your body needs the rest in between to properly recover. If you are serious about your health and are serious about committing to weight training, then don't treat this as optional. Dedicate Friday or a weekend day to it and DON'T skip it. Going away on Saturday to visit the folks? Workout in the morning before you leave. Got a lot of homework or studying to do? Consider this the single best study break you can possibly get.

It takes time and effort to learn the exercises, but it is WELL worth the effort. The Starting Strength book will teach you everything you need to know. No, I'm not trying to sell you anything, but this is simply the best reference I've seen for clearly explaining how AND why you do the barbell exercises. It's well written, has terrific illustrations and explains the beginners routine that has been effective for a huge number of people.

The form of strength training discussed in the book (and this post) is the most effective and healthiest way to train your body. The only equipment required is a barbell, weights and a squat rack. The only exercise that needs a spotter is the bench press and you can always just ask someone at the gym (such as the staff person) to give you a spot for the heavy sets. In general, STAY AWAY from any kind of machines/cages/etc. Any sort of machine will not produce results anywhere near the kind you get with barbell training, they do not train the important stabilizer muscles, they lock you into a rigid motion that can lead to injury, and so on. There are tons of articles online describing why free weights are significantly better than machines, and if you need more convincing, just ask.

 

[gramboh]

If you are serious about fixing your body, definitely look into Starting Strength/Stronglifts 5x5. If you have a training background from highschool football, you might be familiar with the exercises which is a good thing, but I highly recommend buying the Starting Strength book, it's cheap (from the website or Amazon) and has very detailed descriptions of correct form and WHY it is correct from an MSK perspective (which you will appreciate as a future physician). You can supplement with cardio (I recommend intervals, you can do them running, rowing or Crossfit style workouts) on off days if you want.

 

[neit]

So I looked around the stickied post and discovered some useful information. By the looks of the rippetoe starter system, there aren't too many exercises and I can be in and out for the weightroom in half an hour or so, which makes it easier to plan my schedule. I'm not too interested in joining an external gym/club, as the one on campus is pretty extensive.

I'll be back with more questions as I run into them

 

[MegaVovaN]

Heh, in the beginning it will take less than 30 minutes, but as weight gets heavy and you will need more rest, it will take between 60 and 80 minutes (speaking from personal experience here).