Beginner needs help with program

[mattbau43]

Hello,
I have read many of the posts on this website. There is a lot of great information and a lot of helpful/knowledgeable people.

I would like your assistance in choosing a workout program. I am looking to go from my overweight flabby self to a muscle look. I am not seeking a ripped bodybuilder look.

About me:

-30 yrs old. Played college basketball 10 years ago, so did do weightlifting.
-6'8 tall, 280 pounds. Played ball at a very healthy 250.
-I have access to a gym

Goals

-To get down to 240-250 (currently on Atkins and have had success)
-To lose my stomach fat (it is basically the only area where I look "fat")
-To tone up the rest of my body trough weight training

Questions

-What type of diet would you recommend?
-What type of three day per week workout would be ideal for my situation.
-Feel free to make suggestions

[Off Road]

If you haven't worked out in a while, start here

If you've been working out but need a better routine, start here

[jamie1980]

Hi it you want to get rid of your fat you need to do some intense cardio to start off with. No point in looking at putting muscle on until you’ve lost the fat as to build muscle your body needs calories and to lose fat it needs to burn calories. Also you body loses fat at the same ratio as it looses muscle i.e. 50/50 as they are both sources of stored fuel. Personally I would drop the Atkins diet as this is an unhealthy and more importantly unnecessary diet. A decent low fat low calorie diet consuming between 1500 – 1800 calories per day should do. Cut out all saturated fats and non wholemeal wheat products. There are lots of decent diets knocking around on the net. If you then combine this with cardio session at least every other day, a minimum of 30 minutes. Your body should burn 2000 calories per day without doing any extra exercise so if you can do a cardio session which burns 500 calories restrict your diet to 1500 calories you should be looking at a deficit of 1000 calories which isn’t bad. On top of that the exercise will increase your metabolism. I would recommend you do this until you have got yourself down to a decent weight, you have stated a flat stomach so aim for your stomach to be flat. Once you have got yourself down to a light weight you have a decent blank canvass to start weight training from. At this point I would cut out the cardio all together. There are many weight training routines here on the net. I would start for the first months taking easy doing all over body work outs every other day. Make sure you do an exercise which works every muscle group. Biceps, triceps, back, shoulder, chest and legs. Gradually increase the amount of effort you put in to the point where a month or so in you should be able to train easily without feeling ache the day after. Then I would move to training ever other day but do bicep/tricep on one day ¾ exercises on each, back and shoulders the next day ¾ exercises each and chest/ abs the final day ¾ exercise each. I would include a different leg muscle on each days training as well. Aim to complete ¾ sets of each exercise at between 8 – 12 reps. Always train until failure so if you can get to 13 or 14 reps do so but next training session increase your weight then you should not be able to get to 13 but should be able to manage 8 reps. As you get stronger increase the weight. Nutrition at this stage is just as important as training. You can increase the calorie intake so can eat more but ensure what you are eating in still healthy and low in saturated fats. Lean meats are high in protein and low in fat and combine this with some healthy veg. Where you will put your main bulk on though is from supplements. Find a decent whey protein shake which has more than 25gm of protein per serving and a decent casein protein shake. You should drink a whey protein shake every morning when you wake up. A further shake either at lunch if it is a training rest day, or immediately after a training session if its one of your training days. Your muscles will need the protein within 30 minutes of you finishing your training session as it is this soon that they start repairing themselves. Then before you go to bed take a casein protein shake. Casein protein is a slow absorbing protein so is ideal for when you are asleep. If you follow this basic plan you can’t really go wrong, and will pack on loads of muscle. It takes a decent amount of dedication to get to where you want to be going but at 6ft8 it would be well worth it when you get there as you will look awesome!!

[tom183]

^--Oh, dear

[LuNa]

Hi it you want to get rid of your fat you need to do some intense cardio to start off with. No point in looking at putting muscle on until you’ve lost the fat as to build muscle your body needs calories and to lose fat it needs to burn calories.

Also you body loses fat at the same ratio as it looses muscle i.e. 50/50 as they are both sources of stored fuel. Personally I would drop the Atkins diet as this is an unhealthy and more importantly unnecessary diet. A decent low fat low calorie diet consuming between 1500 – 1800 calories per day should do. Cut out all saturated fats and non wholemeal wheat products. There are lots of decent diets knocking around on the net.

If you then combine this with cardio session at least every other day, a minimum of 30 minutes. Your body should burn 2000 calories per day without doing any extra exercise so if you can do a cardio session which burns 500 calories restrict your diet to 1500 calories you should be looking at a deficit of 1000 calories which isn’t bad.
This is bull****

On top of that the exercise will increase your metabolism. I would recommend you do this until you have got yourself down to a decent weight, you have stated a flat stomach so aim for your stomach to be flat.

Once you have got yourself down to a light weight you have a decent blank canvass to start weight training from. At this point I would cut out the cardio all together.

There are many weight training routines here on the net. I would start for the first months taking easy doing all over body work outs every other day. Make sure you do an exercise which works every muscle group. Biceps, triceps, back, shoulder, chest and legs. Gradually increase the amount of effort you put in to the point where a month or so in you should be able to train easily without feeling ache the day after.

Then I would move to training ever other day but do bicep/tricep on one day ¾ exercises on each, back and shoulders the next day ¾ exercises each and chest/ abs the final day ¾ exercise each. I would include a different leg muscle on each days training as well. Aim to complete ¾ sets of each exercise at between 8 – 12 reps. Always train until failure so if you can get to 13 or 14 reps do so but next training session increase your weight then you should not be able to get to 13 but should be able to manage 8 reps. As you get stronger increase the weight.

I dont like having an arm day, plus as long as you are getting stronger with the beginner workout, there is no reason to switch. A bodypart routine is not better than a full body routine.

Nutrition at this stage is just as important as training. You can increase the calorie intake so can eat more but ensure what you are eating in still healthy and low in saturated fats. Lean meats are high in protein and low in fat and combine this with some healthy veg. Where you will put your main bulk on though is from supplements.
Supplements "supplement" a healthy diet revolving around whole foods. You are wrong.

Find a decent whey protein shake which has more than 25gm of protein per serving and a decent casein protein shake. You should drink a whey protein shake every morning when you wake up. A further shake either at lunch if it is a training rest day, or immediately after a training session if its one of your training days. Your muscles will need the protein within 30 minutes of you finishing your training session as it is this soon that they start repairing themselves. Then before you go to bed take a casein protein shake. Casein protein is a slow absorbing protein so is ideal for when you are asleep.
This isnt exactly needed but can be used for your convenience. A protein blend would work excellent. You can find great products here

If you follow this basic plan you can’t really go wrong, and will pack on loads of muscle. It takes a decent amount of dedication to get to where you want to be going but at 6ft8 it would be well worth it when you get there as you will look awesome!!

First of all, use paragraphs please. That block of text looks awful .
Second, as long as atkins is working for him, i would say keep going. As long as there is a deficit and protein is kept high it shouldnt matter how the rest is.

Also, for a guy his weight and lenght, 1800 cals is starvation. I cant go on 1800 every day and i am a lot shorter and lighter. The saying: dont fix it if it aint broken applies here.

The muscle loss statement is not true. I have lost 10 pounds which would mean i have lost 5 pounds of muscle while increasing both my squat and deadlift with 50 pounds. I doubt it.

Loosing weight is mostly done by changing your diet. Cardio is a tool but the biggest part will be diet. I dont do cardio, but by manipulating my diet i have lost 10 lbs in 6 weeks.

Start weight training straight away as this will force your body to hold to the muscle you currently have. Further, you might increase your muscle mass because you are coming back from not having lifted in a while. Also, it will increase your metabolism.

Take on Starting Strength straight away. There is a sticky in this forum with all the details. This routine focusses on compound movements. Use good form and intensity and it will give you the results you want.