13 weeks to my weight loss

[srhall2192]

Last night was abs and cardio.

Didn't get to the abs and did 1/2 hour on the eliptical plus a walk with the family. Had a tough evening with the little one so...not a great workout. Hoping to fight some crunches in tonight.

[Gregsimo]

Consdering the gap (6 months) from last lifting to beginning to cut. I think you should focus more around the compound lifts rather than some of the workouts listed on the 13 weeks to fat burning routine. Its a great routine, dont get me wrong, but its a routine designed to increase vascularity, maintain muscle size decrease fat and most importantly on this type of program, sculpt the body ready for competition, hence the heavy volumes of isolation work in there.

As such pure arm workouts arent necessary as Arian said previously. Or put more correctly, efficient with your goals in mind. In your current situation you will retain strength and even gain muscle size focusing on squats, bench, deadlifts, shoulder press, with a few accessory lifts like rows, pullups/chins, close grip bench, lunges etc. Ie. Compound lifts.
Even if you wanted to do a pure arm workout you'd be better off choosing compound movements eg for Biceps, pullups or Rows and triceps, close grip bench.

If you were going for competition or had done atleast 6-12 months solid training and got big muscle and fat wise then the 13 week program would be spot on as the isolation work will be more beneficial as the fast early on gains will have diminished by then, in those circumstances isolation work is good. But with such a gap in training as yours you'll achieve the same results with less exercises and you'll probably find yourself gaining muscle while losing fat more efficiently than with pure isolation movements.

When cutting the aim of your workouts should be to provide the bulk of your cardiovascular work. Nothing gets your heart pumping, or your stomach churning better than an intense and heavy set of squats or deadlifts. Isolation exercises just dont hit the body in the way compound exercises will. Your additional treadmill, crosstrainer etc.. work should compliment your workouts and not interfere with them. The workouts serve the purpose of maintaining muscle and will develop fitness if you go at things with high intensity. These arent actually the most important things while cutting though, its your diet that will ultimately decide how good your progress is.

[srhall2192]

What you're saying makes sense. Here's my goal right now, I need to lose weight (fat) and be healthy. I believe I have a good core underneath the fat and after 2 weeks of this workout I can see a huge difference.
I live in an environment with cold winters and let myself gain way too much weight this winter and didn't workout, so I decided to follow the 13 week fat burn diet and decided to follow the workout.
I do see what you are saying though. I'm just not sure where to go with it now, I dont' have the experience so I do appreciate the knowledge you and Arian are sharing.
I was brought up on the concept of 3x10xincreasing weight, for every focus exercising opposite muscles 3 days a week and that has worked for me and I've been able to lift serious weight with that program. This is my first experience with a program like this.

[srhall2192]

I guess what I am asking is, what kind of program would you suggest? a 5x5 with the compound exercises that you suggested? Kind of lost now.

[Gregsimo]

3x10 will work very well, just dont forget to vary rep ranges every now and then to save it becoming stagnent.
What i would suggest is to work one core lift per day, doing 3-5 workouts a week. Each lift having a frequency of twice a week. If you need to add on sholder press with deadlifts or bench press do so. It upto your personal preference if you want to lift it on a day of its own or not.
Choose a couple of assistance exercises and that pretty much covers it. Any routine which involves squats bench deadlifts and shoulder press with give you results as long as you put the effort into it. After 6 months out i would try and focus more on lower rep ranges with the main lifts to improve your strength despite cutting ie 2-8 reps per set but the assistance exercises are good at 6-12 reps.
when trying to cut intensity is paramount as you want to get your heart beating fast and to be sweating after every set, the metabolism boost from a hard workout with weights beats any treadmill or running work in my opinion.

[srhall2192]

Thanks for the advice. Man, this is kind of like a punch in the gut today. I've put a lot into this program. I guess I might have to go back to the drawing board.

[Gregsimo]

Dont think of it like a punch in the gut. You have achieved results in the past 2 weeks and you are hitting it hard, that matters more than any routine whether that be from a world record holding powerlifter or from a guy who was just started lifting and make his own routine up. Both routine would work well given commitment and effort but one would prevail as it is built with efficiency in mind.

There is no right or wrong way to train, what ive said in my previous post is just what i would do in your position with your current goals given my knowledge from research and from other peoples imput over the years.
Remember, when cutting your diet is way more important than your workouts, they should be functioning to maintain/increase strength and maintain muscle mass.

[srhall2192]

Had to take Thursday off because had to go to the hospital with a sick kid.
Friday workout:

squat 130 12-10-15

wide leg squat 125 12-10-15

knee together squat 120 12-8-10

calf raises 120 25-20-15-10
rev calf raises bw 30-25-20-15

[srhall2192]

So after advice (which is why I'm on this website) I am changing my workout. Tonight will be:
5 min eliptical warmup
1 min backwards

drag curls 50x5x2
50x5x2
60x5x2
calf raises 120 25-20-15-10
ss rev calf raise 30-25-20-15

shoulder press 40x5x2
50x5x2
60x5x2
lat dumbbell raise 10x12x1
10x10x1
25x5x2
10x12x1
rear delt row 50x5x2
70x5x2
90x5x2
bench (close grip) 60x5x1
75x5x1
85x5x1
95x5x2
105x5x2


5 min eliptical fast pace
1 min backward

[Gregsimo]

Nice couple of workouts. Hope the changes work well for you.