In the middle of fitness/strength training. Advice needed.

Prime

I tried to look for the generic fitness thread that was (is?) kicking around but no luck.

I need some advise from people who have done this in the past and this forum seems to have a fair few fittness gurus.

Im getting back into training after a major knee injury and repair surgery 2 years back.

Im currently 6’ 1 and 120kg. What I personally considered my perfect weight to be in the past was around 105-110kg while I was active in sports. Doing my current routine I am loosing between 1-2 kg a week, which im happy with as im trying to reach my goal by the end of October.

The problem is in the past i've never tried to loose weight as I was just fit/strong and at the right weight. Just doing my sports kept me so.

I've been doing the following at my local gym for the last 4 weeks:

Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun
- Treadmill, currently at 2 miles in 25min, but my time keeps going down.
-30 min of upper body weight training machines. I lift around 50-55kg on all upper muscle groups do 3 sets of 8 reps.
-15 min of moderate bike riding as an ease down.

Thurs
- Rest

Now I'll explain a few bits to the above:

-I dont do lower leg muscle training as part of my normal routine because...well quite frankly the machines dont go high enough to make it worth it. I can lift the full stack and knock out 3 x 20 reps with ease (used to do rugby or kickboxing or karate 6 days a week). Im happy with my leg power, just working on endurance with the running.

-I don’t want to hulk out my upper body I just want to completely tone what’s already there (maybe a bit of reinforcement.)

-I know how to control my diet and have that fully under control and can adjust it to any suggestions made.

-I can only spend 60-75 at the gym a night.

-I want to hold off on doing sports as a way of getting to my goal because of the knee injury, I want less weight on it before I start throwing kicks and doing sprints.

Finally, heres the problem, I've gotten to the point now were im comfortable with my routine...too comfortable. Does anyone have any suggestions to change things around that will give me the same results? As someone newish to the gym would love to hear some experianced feedback. Open to massive changes to routine if thought needed. Hell even if im just doing it plain wrong let me know.

Dr. Frenchenstein

Do you do the stack machines? honestly doing squats with/without dumbells was always way more strenuous than using a machine. Does your gym have a squat rack/free weights? i'd switch to those, as it's more challenging to stabilize the weight as well as push/pull it. Don't fall into the mindset that freeweights = meathead either. do more reps if all you are looking for is to tone up, but you still want that last rep to be tough.

Prime

Dr. Frenchenstein wrote: »

Do you do the stack machines? honestly doing squats with/without dumbells was always way more strenuous than using a machine. Does your gym have a squat rack/free weights? i'd switch to those, as it's more challenging to stabilize the weight as well as push/pull it. Don't fall into the mindset that freeweights = meathead either. do more reps if all you are looking for is to tone up, but you still want that last rep to be tough.

For legs yeah, only stack machines. I do a cross between free weights and a guided bar for upper body. But again, trying to not stress the knee out. I know my legs are strong. Not trying to work them out much with weights, just running and biking. If thats a poor approach, what would be better?

Crumb

You should see if you have a local olympic lifting club in town. They are often reasonably priced and you will have access to weights / racks for squatting, snatching, and power cleaning. You will become very strong, learn a new skill, and probably pay less for more. As far as endurance is concerned you are likely better off doing interval training rather than distance. 30 seconds full on followed by 30 seconds off for 2 minutes in sets of five on an airdyne, doing burpees, or running hills. Also, I wouldn't really worry about "hulking up." I know plenty of people who are massively strong and don't look ridiculous because that wasn't their goal. 1. Lift heavy 2. interval/tabata 3. ??? 4. Profit.

Prime

Crumb wrote: »

As far as endurance is concerned you are likely better off doing interval training rather than distance. 30 seconds full on followed by 30 seconds off for 2 minutes in sets of five on an airdyne, doing burpees, or running hills. Also, I wouldn't really worry about "hulking up." I know plenty of people who are massively strong and don't look ridiculous because that wasn't their goal. 1. Lift heavy 2. interval/tabata 3. ??? 4. Profit.

Kind of stuck using the gym where I am.

Ok so ditch the 2 mile run and jump on a bike and do short sharp bursts in reps? for 10-12min? Will that produce a similar/better result as the run? If so thats great, I'll give it a shot tonight.

Lift heavy is relative to how long I have to keep lifting, what type of reps should I be aiming for? Eg I currently do 50kg 8 x 3

Crumb

Prime wrote: »

Ok so ditch the 2 mile run and jump on a bike and do short sharp bursts in reps? for 10-12min? Will that produce a similar/better result as the run? If so thats great, I'll give it a shot tonight.

Yes. You will get in better endurance shape much faster by interval training (no more than 15 minutes needed, really), and you get the added benefit of not overusing your recovering knee.

Generally speaking I'm not a big advocate of the "Back, shoulders, chest" mentality of traditional weightlifting. So, you are welcome to take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm much more about building chains of strength from doing the olympic lifts. That being said, you can get a general idea of performance standards from this site: http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.htm

In my case I have established 1 rep maxes in power clean, snatch, bench, and squats. Then it would just be a matter of picking a program (Starting strength, 5-3-1, texas method, et al) and following the rep scheme / % of the max in the program. So, for example, yesterday I did snatches in 3x5 @ 70% of my max, push press 3x3 @ 66%, clean pulls at 80% 3x3, and squats 3x2@ 70%, and 2x2@ 75%.

Crumb

Also, if you are stuck in a gym membership it isn't a big deal. Other people probably have much better advice about how to get the most out of that type of training. I will say that you can do overhead squats using free weights and that the results from that would be much better than trying to just use the leg press machine. For the sprints make sure you are resting 2 minutes between sets. The recovery period is just as important as the intensity period.

schuss

Definitely mix in some core workouts too, just simple stuff like pushups, pullups, ab workout of choice and maybe some variation on those. The problem with machines is they often isolate too much, when you need all those little muscles too. Also look into circuit training, where you jump between machines and the treadmill to keep your HR up.

Peen

For more discussion on weightlifting there's a thread in SE++ here.

Most folks' two cents is going to be stop using machines and switch to free weights pronto. You are not going to hulk anything out without A. a ton of work and B. a ton of time. Not gonna happen. You will get stronger and thicker and all around better.

Dr. Frenchenstein

Squats really work a lot more than just your legs, core, back etc. They are a very good excercise.

Prime

Ok well back home after switching to a intense burst set. Did sprinting, biking, pushups, situps 4 min each back to back with mini breaks and then heavier free weights dropped reps down to 6. Wow, yeah I'm feeling it more then I did with my previous setup. Its a little sloppy timing wise but I think I can tidy it up after I've done it a few days. Cheers for the advise. I'll be back if I come up with any more questions. I'll take a look at the SE thread too.