I'm going to be going to the YMCA almost everyday for a few hours. Need advice!

[pickles11]

Ok so, I weigh 227 pounds and I'm 16 years old. Needless to say, I need to lose some weight. I'm hoping to reach 200 by the end of the summer. I jog for about 20-30 minutes a day and burn around 400-500 calories (according to the machines). I don't know anything about lifting weights or building muscles. I was wondering if you guys can help me come up with a workout routine for beginners. There's so many different machines so i usually end up just doing random stuff.

[Lyriok]

Use machine weights if your just beginning so it can guide you through the motion so that you know how to perform them, Once your confident move on to free weights as they are far superior for gaining muscle mass due to it being a better motion and your stabaliser muscles are now being used (They aren't used on machines)

A strong core/abs improves your overall strength and one thing you should keep in mind is you can't train for abs, Abs aren't made in the gym their made in the kitchen. Its simply just a muscle that is visible due to a low body fat %.

Using weights applys a after burn effect on your body because when lifting weights your tearing your muscle and your body then repairs it so for example you'll burn 1000 calories lifting then an additional 600 due to your body repairing itself.

Machines for cardio don't really matter, Its personal preference. Personally I love running around my area breathing fresh air.

For using weights/muscle training you'll want to be organised. Personally for me its
Legs/abs on Monday
Chest/back Wednesday
Arms/shoulders Friday
Cardio Saturday and Sunday

This way you continue to train while other muscles are still sore and repairing allowing you to get more hours in the gym.

[JP1o]

For me, losing weight I preferred doing intense, balanced circuit training. Good thing about circuit training is they don't need to have/or much equipment involved, 1 minute per station with about 5-6 different stations covering a main muscle group.

Also Fartlek training is a tremendous method of losing weight, also a type of Fartlek training, Tabata Training basically is, Sprint for 20seconds, recover for 10, repeat the cycle for 4 minutes (or 8 cycles) or in your case, drop it down to 2minutes.

For me, both circuit training and high intense Cardio (Fartlek) helped alot.

Good Luck.

[Blueban]

you honestly can do whatever you want since you are young, the biggest (by biggest I mean 98%) factor to losing weight is what you eat and how much.

the average person needs roughly 2000 calories taken in a day, all you have to do is take in a deficit of that, say -400, putting you at 1600 per day, and count it.


obviously you would be best off calculating your exact daily needs, but that would take quite a bit of additional work/research (google helps!)

try looking up "cutting phase workouts" and "finding my calorie deficit"


good luck and have fun!

[Ravock]

Just wanted to say... you don't even remotely burn 400-500 calories on your 20 minute jog. I'm gonna guess and say your 'jog' is more of a walk, probably have your hands on the side bar as well, right? You MIGHT burn 150 calories during your jog. 99% of the time these stupid calorie tracker bullshit machines estimate both calories burned due to exercise and your BMR into a single value. And the calories burned due to exercise are way over estimated. Generally speaking you will burn about 50 calories per mile walking, and 100-150 calories per mile running. And running means like at least a 9 minute mile. Slower than that and you aren't really running.

Anyway.. if you are serious about losing weight, you need to dial in your diet first. It doesn't matter how much you exercise if you are still going out and getting fast food every day and shoving food in your mouth with no regards to the calories you are consuming. So look into a proper calorie consumption first. You need to determine your maintenance calories and then reduce it by 15-20% to start losing weight. Livestrong.com can give you an idea on where to start.

Start tracking your calories once you have a specific goal in mind. There are plenty of websites that provide this service. I personally use Myplate at livestrong.com. Track your calories!!! Do it every day. Do it accurately.

As far as exercise goes, nothing beats running for burning calories. You need to get that heart rate moving. You need to sweat. If you aren't sweating and you could carry on a conversation with someone, then you aren't running. You are dicking around and wasting your time.

If you want to lift weights as well, I say go for it. There are tons of options out there. Most have no science or reasoning behind them, but at the end of the day doing something is better than nothing. I'd personally stick with big compound movements. Stuff like squats, dead lifts, bench press, military press, dips, pullups, and bent over rows. If you want to do additional stuff then go for it, but I would highly recommend those lifts be in any weight lifting routine.

Once you've started all that, and if you are truly following a plan, which means counting calories and exercise, evaluate your weight every 2 weeks. If you are losing weight as expected then stick with your plan. If you aren't losing the weight then re-evaluate your diet (drop calories consumed) or increase your exercise. The process is really simple. It just comes down to weather or not you REALLY want to lose the weight.

[fizzbob]

losing weight and building muscle are 2 separate things. most of what you do to build muscle is anaerobic and if you build muscle under fat, you look fatter than you did

need to pick one and stick to it. if it was easy everyone would do it, make it easy on yourself and just focus on losing weight right now, it's harder than building muscle anyway

what you can do to facilitate both is to learn as much as you can about proper diet. what to eat, what not to eat, why, etc

building muscle is about gaining weight and losing weight, well, isn't. average person will NEVER do both at the same time, they'll just end up fatter and depressed

[Souma]

losing weight and building muscle are 2 separate things. most of what you do to build muscle is anaerobic and if you build muscle under fat, you look fatter than you did

need to pick one and stick to it. if it was easy everyone would do it, make it easy on yourself and just focus on losing weight right now, it's harder than building muscle anyway

what you can do to facilitate both is to learn as much as you can about proper diet. what to eat, what not to eat, why, etc

building muscle is about gaining weight and losing weight, well, isn't. average person will NEVER do both at the same time, they'll just end up fatter and depressed

About the bolded part, I'd say it's the other way around, but that might just be me.

Anyway I think Ravock has some solid points here, although it might sound silly and a lot of effort, counting your calories is the way to go. Combine a calorie deficit with a healthy amount of exercise and you're well on your way to becoming slimmer.

Also, I would suggest not going to the gym every day right away. Your body and your mind probably won't be able to handle it. Start by going 2-3 times a week, ease into it. When you start seeing progress, you'll start enjoying it and that's the moment you will want to visit the gym more often.

Good luck!

[Jackishi]

losing weight and building muscle are 2 separate things. most of what you do to build muscle is anaerobic and if you build muscle under fat, you look fatter than you did

need to pick one and stick to it. if it was easy everyone would do it, make it easy on yourself and just focus on losing weight right now, it's harder than building muscle anyway

what you can do to facilitate both is to learn as much as you can about proper diet. what to eat, what not to eat, why, etc

building muscle is about gaining weight and losing weight, well, isn't. average person will NEVER do both at the same time, they'll just end up fatter and depressed

In a way, fizzbob is kinda right, but kinda off if you look at it at first glance. It's true that you gain weight building muscle, but studies prove that resistance training is much, MUCH better for losing fat and revving your metabolism than Cardio (though you do need both), and in essence, losing fat is what you should be aiming for, not just weight loss. I can tell you to stop drinking water for a day and a half and almost guarantee you'll lose 5 pounds in weight. Guess how good for your body that is? (Get what I mean?)

For losing fat, I'd say compound weight training (you build more muscle with compound exercises, that is, exercises that use more muscle like bench presses and squats than isolation exercises like arm curls) and alternating with cardio like you're doing now, but most importantly, fix up your nutrition like everyone else said here.



Oh, besides Livestrong.com, I suggest Stronglifts.com, too. Has a wealth of information for muscle building and proper form, something machine weights don't really do very well. I cannot stress how much better for you squatting low weights with proper form is than half squatting with 200 lb plates. The former will let you build up to properly lifting to those 200lb hulksters with time. The latter will break your knees.

Most of all, be patient, and be focused. Weight loss isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Good luck! =)


(<---went from 220 to 165 doing the above, but shot up back to 200 when I stopped exercising and stuffing my face with fast food, so we're in the same boat, haha.)

[gb4200]

Just my personal opinion but you don't really need to start lifting heavy weights as a teenager/getting in shape for first time. http://www.gymjunkies.com/home-workout-for-beginner/ is a link to a decent work out you could do without using weights, the main thing about this is your intensity while going through it. If you give it your all, youll be at 200 in no time. Also diet is important, somewhere on that page the guy gives fairly basic but good diet advice.

[saberon]

I'm going to guess, since you weigh 227 pounds, that you have a terrible diet. Now, I know you're post is about what exercises/machines to do, but if you're serious about losing weight, you need to change your diet. Take note that I said change your diet, and not "go on a diet". You need to make permanent changes to the types of foods you eat.

In all honesty, if you were to change your diet properly, you could probably lose at least 27 pounds without having to do any additional exercise.

Eat Healthy, Lose Weight. Simple.