Fitness program

[Landfall]

So i recently enrolled in the Gym and i am just after some advice.
Im about 12 stone there abouts. I'm chunky but not fat and i have the dreaded moobs.

I'm cutting out snacks between meals and fizzy drinks apart from beer.

What i currenty do at the gym is:
3Km on the cross trainer as a warm up.
Various weight machines for: Pectorals, Back, Bicep, Tricep, upper body muscles basicaly.
I then swim for 20-25 minutes and do about 30-40 lengths.

I'm not looking to loose weight, just to tone up about in the chest area.
Any ways to improve on this?

[Bloodlover]

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

bodybuilding.com is an amazing source of information for all fitness goals. I use it all the time for buying supplements and finding workout patterns.

[Radux]

Well, to start, don't work one muscle group more than once every 48 hours. You need time to recover and rebuild the muscle you broke down from working out.

Second, don't spot train. Working one muscle group just because you want a bigger chest won't work. Do exercises that work multiple muscles (like pushups and pullups) opposed to one muscle (like curls only working the bicep).

And eating healthy will tend to give you better results than pure workouts. Most fat loss (not necessarily weight loss, this works for toning too) comes from diet. I'd say it's 75% diet and 25% workouts.

Also I usually recommend interval training, even for lifting. This is especially true if you're just toning (high rep low weight). Resting ~30 seconds or less between sets is what I usually have clients do.

[Landfall]

Well, to start, don't work one muscle group more than once every 48 hours. You need time to recover and rebuild the muscle you broke down from working out.

Second, don't spot train. Working one muscle group just because you want a bigger chest won't work. Do exercises that work multiple muscles (like pushups and pullups) opposed to one muscle (like curls only working the bicep).

And eating healthy will tend to give you better results than pure workouts. Most fat loss (not necessarily weight loss, this works for toning too) comes from diet. I'd say it's 75% diet and 25% workouts.

Also I usually recommend interval training, even for lifting. This is especially true if you're just toning (high rep low weight). Resting ~30 seconds or less between sets is what I usually have clients do.

Cheers.
I'm going to aim to swim most days, i used to swim at a pretty high competitive level but stopped 3/4 years ago.

I used to go to they gym quite alot two years ago and do weight training and ran 4/5 miles on off days for about 3 months but i didnt really notice much of a difference in terms of physique but i didnt alter my eating habits.

I have a calorie tracker on my phone that caluclates net calories for the day, what should i be aiming for and what type of foods should i eat?

[Radux]

Props on swimming. It really hits all muscles. And it's super low stress (outside of your shoulders).

Well. There are 'diets' all over the internet. Some good. Some bad. At your weight (little hard to completely give a definitive answer without your height and how often you actually work out) you'd probably be good around 2,200 calories per day. That's a happy medium between weight loss and infinite maintenance.

As far as what to eat: Protein is your best friend. Try to have some every meal. Same thing with Veggies. Have some with every meal. Some diets will tell you that whole grains are ok. Some will say otherwise. I prefer to not have any. But regardless, it's ok to have some. Just don't rely on it. Fruits are very good too. Health benefits in fruits go from Berries > Melon > Citrus > Others (my opinion). Some places will say to eat 5-6 small meals a day. You can do that if you want. It's not completely necessary if you have a pretty lean body type anyway. But don't get so caught up on a number (calories per day or even a particular weight you want to be). Just worry about getting healthy.

[Ozy]

And eating healthy will tend to give you better results than pure workouts. Most fat loss (not necessarily weight loss, this works for toning too) comes from diet. I'd say it's 75% diet and 25% workouts.

This is really true imo, Diet will make or break you if your looking to lose weight. Dont drink too much alcohol too often either, it will lower your testosterone levels.

Also try to get a friend/family member to do it with you if possible, studies show this will increase your chances of meeting your goal.

[Landfall]

Props on swimming. It really hits all muscles. And it's super low stress (outside of your shoulders).

Well. There are 'diets' all over the internet. Some good. Some bad. At your weight (little hard to completely give a definitive answer without your height and how often you actually work out) you'd probably be good around 2,200 calories per day. That's a happy medium between weight loss and infinite maintenance.

As far as what to eat: Protein is your best friend. Try to have some every meal. Same thing with Veggies. Have some with every meal. Some diets will tell you that whole grains are ok. Some will say otherwise. I prefer to not have any. But regardless, it's ok to have some. Just don't rely on it. Fruits are very good too. Health benefits in fruits go from Berries > Melon > Citrus > Others (my opinion). Some places will say to eat 5-6 small meals a day. You can do that if you want. It's not completely necessary if you have a pretty lean body type anyway. But don't get so caught up on a number (calories per day or even a particular weight you want to be). Just worry about getting healthy.

I'm 5'8 and i try to do something each day.
I walk about 3 miles per day to and from the station and whatnot and at work i cover a fair distance and im lifeting boxes (Supermarkets ftw.)
Then Swim most days if i can, weekends i can't as i work miles away from where i live so i crash a relatives house.
Then Weights everyother day ish with cardio chucked in prior to doing the weights.

Ah, i guess its time to go shopping then (Y)
6 meals a day wouldnt be good as i travel alot on public transport so my eating times can be somewhat eratic.
And i don't currently eat a massive amount of fruit/veg so i guess i'll change that.

Is snack-ing on fruit and stuff between meals okay, as i read somewhere that you should just stick to the main meals for eating.

And with regards to when to work out, is eating prior to working out better so your fueled up or not eating before so your burning your reserves?

[kharig]

http://www.simplyshredded.com/mega-f...ated-2011.html

http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-...ting-diet.html

[Kreww]

If you goto your local vitamin shop or health food store they usually sell packets of vitamins that help repair your muscles plus replenish some key nutrients working out takes out of you. I can't remember the exact vitamins off the top of my head, just started working out again myself so a bit out of the loop again.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/workout.htm
bodybuilding.com is an amazing source of information for all fitness goals. I use it all the time for buying supplements and finding workout patterns.

Thank you for this! I've been searching for a good plan to follow and this site seems to have many.

[XeroDivide]

Landfall, here you go-- here's my current Split

Day 01: Lower Body + Core (upper abdominals) ** if you don't work your legs, you're a fail lol

Day 02: Chest/Triceps + Core (lower abdominals) ** push day

Day 03: Back/Biceps + Core (lower-back & side walls) ** pull day

Day 04: Recovery Day (Cardio)

Day 05: Shoulder/Trapezious + Core (middle-abdominals) ** upperbody push/pull day

Day 06: Cycle Back to Day 01

** essentially its 3 days on, 1 day off

heres a few additional tips to have:

1. use only free-weights-- more pain, better results, potentials will be maxed.

2. 11-15 sets for each muscle group-- for each set, you'd want an 8-11 rep range. In terms of weight, you start heavy and work down weight each set (Drop Sets), or you can add weight each set (Stack Sets)

3. each muscle group with completed sets should take you about 35-40min-- if it takes longer, your rest periods are too long.

that should get you started.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/XeroDivide/ (my personal web page showing my growth from start to now)

[tenchrono]

Get a job at walmart as a cart pusher during the summer. Hello 100 pound weight loss.

[Cocoballs]

Swimming, swimming and more swimming. Swimming is such good excessive for your entire body.

You can't Tone up in just one area generally or lose weight in one area. you lose it all over your body so thats why different workouts that work differeent parts are important. You just lose weight in some places before others.