I have seen my routine evolve over the past six weeks, so I thought it would be a good idea for the future to have a record of what I’m actually doing at this point.
I’m still walking extensively to try to burn fat. I walk between 8 and 12 miles a day now, normally. This is a very brisk walk; I really try to walk as fast as I can to expend energy. I usually break this walking up into 2 or 3 sessions throughout the day. Once I’ve got my bodyfat down another 15 pounds or so, I plan to stop doing so much walking so I can focus more on programming and start making some more money, but for now, getting below 190 is my priority. I do enjoy walking, though, and it helps to clear my mind and get the blood flowing, so I can imagine working up to an hour of walking or running into my everyday life from now on.
My weight-lifting session always comes first, because I’ve heard that walking after lifting increases the fat-burning effect.
As for weight-lifting, I stick to certain basic exercises. Recently I’ve increased the weight significantly to 50-lb dumbbells, which encourages me even more to concentrate on basic power-based movements. I stick to an ideal 4-set/10-rep goal with each exercise, but since I don’t spend time adjusting weight, I am happy with 6-12 reps depending on the exercise.
Shoulder press and/or lateral raises. Since I’ve increased my dumbbell weight, I tend to do fewer lateral raises and more shoulder pressing. Variations on these movements: I sometimes do Arnolds on the shoulder press, and if I’m doing lat raises, I often throw in some front raises or bend over to hit the rear delts.
For Biceps, I do standing dumbbell curls, slightly bent over to make sure I am keeping my upper arms down. Variations: I mix in hammer curls and the opposite, twisting in my pinkies.
For Triceps, I do a couple sets of extensions, but now the dumbbells are a bit heavy for that, so I add a couple sets of headbangers, where I can spot myself with the other arm. While I’m doing the headbangers, I mix in a few pullovers combined with leg lifts (or sometimes lock my feet into the other dumbbell to keep myself from tipping over to start hitting my chest and abs.
For Chest, I use a low office chair with the back support removed. It is not as sturdy as a bench, and I don’t have a weight rack, so about 50 pound dumbbells is all I can lift up and feel safe with in that position. I combine flies and presses in whatever way gives me a good burn. I’ve also recently started doing extensive decline or flat pushups (I aim for 100) when this is done, to try to really burn it in.
For Back, I rely mostly on bent-over rows. I vary this movement by reversing the grip. Since the back is such a large muscle group and slightly harder to hit thoroughly, I usually do more sets of this exercise (perhaps 6).
For Legs, I do squats, with my dumbbells to the side. If I feel like I need to hit it harder, I put one leg slightly back (a sort of half-lunge), to focus the weight on one leg. Then I do deadlifts for the hamstrings, really squeezing my glutes at the top. Usually when doing deadlifts and squats, since I don’t have all that much weight here, I end up combining some snatching and shoulder pressing if possible. This really starts to feel like a full-body workout and gets me breathing especially hard.
For Abs, I always go heavy and try to do them basically the same as every other muscle, getting an intense burn within 4 sets of 10 reps or so. I have a dumbbell in my hands with my forearms resting on my forehead, and often put a dumbbell between my feet to either keep my feet down or hit the lower abs a bit. I always vary the movement to hit the sides of my abs, and after I get a full intense burn, I tweak it out with some no-weight bicycle movements (maybe 2 sets of 21), touching my elbows to my knees alternating.
For music, I’m always listening to the most bad@$$ adrenaline pumping music that I can find on YouTube.
As for which parts I work when, I aim for 40 minutes of intense lifting. I am still mostly doing a full-body routine, but as I feel the need to hit certain parts harder, I find myself focusing on upper body or lower body on a given day, and vary my routine according to instinct and which muscles feel they most need a pounding.
That’s pretty much it for exercises.
For pre-workout nutrition, I always make sure I eat first (I usually eat a fiber bar and a can of sardines, or a 6-egg omelette or a shake), drink tea or coffee and take my vitamins, about an hour before getting into it. Directly after the workout, I stumble into the kitchen and suck down a whey protein shake (about 50 grams) and some orange juice and/or triscuits. I don’t usually hit the shower immediately because I feel like I might slip or fall at that point! Within an hour I try to go for a walk. Within 3 hours after that, I eat another good meal high in protein.
My favorite protein foods now are egg whites, sardines, cottage cheese, chicken breast, ground turkey breast. I try to eat those whenever I can instead of protein shakes, but if I don’t feel like cooking or don’t have one, I always get my protein through a shake at least. I use pure whey only pre and post workout. Otherwise throughout the day I use 50/50 whey and casein, and pure casein at night or when I need to feel full.
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