Advice Please

[Shogun1204]

First off, hello all! I am new to the forum and was seeking some advice. Let me start off with some background information about myself. I am a 28 year old male. I am 6'3" or 6'4" and about 230lbs. I had my body fat taken around two years ago and it was high, like 20%. I tend to have a somewhat thin build, but have most of my extra weight in my stomach. I have been inactive for the past 10 years and have not eaten the best during that time period, so I am lacking muscle and endurance due to the inactivity for the past 10 years. Prior to that, I was active all the way up until 18 years old. I did weights on and off with partner (didn't do it for long and nothing real structured) and I did martial arts 3 times a week from 10 to 18 years old which gave me pretty decent cardio. But like I said, I have been totally 100% inactive for the last 10 years.

About 6 weeks ago, I joined a martial arts school and I go twice a week for 2 hours per session. I also signed up for a gym and plan on starting a weight lifting/cardio program to lose the fat I have and start putting mass on. Here are my questions:

1. Based on what I described about myself, should I be concentrating only on losing fat and building endurance up rather then mass? I believe I read on here, losing fat and gaining mass sort of counter act eachother to a degree? I planned out a diet based around weight watchers to control the amount of foods I eat. I am drinking a lot more water and avoiding junk food and fast foods.

2. I am going to working out alone and from what I researched here, free weights are the way to go for mass building. I would assume I would be mainly working out with dumbells so I don't need a partner. Would startin with free weights based on how out of shape I am (10 years not active) or should I use the machines for awhile then progress to free weights?

3. I planned out what my work out week would look like, could you please advise:

SUNDAY: Legs during the evening at the gym or rest and/or walk/Cardio
MONDAY: Legs during the evening at the gym or rest and/or walk/Cardio
(couldn't decide which day to work legs between Sun or Mon)
TUESDAY: Chest, Triceps, and Forearms during evening at the gym
WEDNESDAY: Martial Arts during evening
THURSDAY: Rest and/or Walk/Cardio
FRIDAY: Back, Biceps, and Shoulders during evening at gym
SATURDAY: Martial Arts in the morning

Any areas I should change? Also how/where could I fit Abs in? Also could you recommend some good exercises for each muscle group based off of dumbells and/or machines (remember I would be working out alone and would prefer the advice be based off of that factor)

4. Should I be doing 3 excerises per muscle group? How many sets/reps are recommended?

5. Also how much cardio should I be doing? Remember I want to lose the fat and put on mass?

Any advice or help will be very appreciated and I will be very thankful.

Thanks!

[Shogun1204]

no one?

[El Guapo]

You might be thinking a little too hard man. First off remember to be patient, all of what you want is going to take some time. In short stick with the basics, and yes free weights are best. Try and lift weight 4 days a week if you can on a 4 day split such as mon, tue, thur, fri. Dont get too fancy, just stick with basic exercises such a bench(incline, flat) squats, deadlifts and rows. An example training split would be monday: chest and bi, tuesday: legs, wed: off, thursday: thoulders and tri, Friday: back. For now just do a few exercises per body part for 3 or 4 sets. Dont go too crazy on the cardio in the gym because your doing all that other stuff. 30 minutes of interval training on the elliptical 3 or 4 days a week should suffice. As far as diet, keep your protein high, about 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight, a serving of carbs for only your first few meals of the day, and a good amount of healthy fats around 50 to 60 grams per day(olive oil, flax oil, almonds, blah, blah). Good luck.

[blondmusclhunk]

Why legs two days in a row?
Stick to the basics
Chest bench, incline, flyes maybe
tris skull crushers or close grip , v bar pushdowns

Back dead lifts, t bar rows, pull downs dumbell rows

bis barbell curls, preacher


legs squats, hamstring curls, calves

shoulders,
shoulder press, flyes

each body part once a week

take glutamine powder too a few time a day

[JPM]

The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) method will always give the best progress over time. No need to split workouts. No need to overthink training. You might consider reducing the daily carbo intake rather than using a Weight Watchers scheme. You will need enought calories for  body maintence as well for adding muscle mass and the Weight Watchers will not accomplish that. A general rule of thumb for fat loss is avoid all processed white products. And keep the carbs with-in the 100 grams a day range. If results are not to your liking than drop them down to with-in 40-60 grams a day. You will be ingesting more fats/oils for engery requirements. All fats/oils are not bad, some can be very helpful for all over health.This is not the Atkins diet, just a form of diet that has worked for a lot of lifters. Could also try the semi veggie diet, depending on mostly chicken, fish and whole grains; brown rice, flours, etc. In any event, get some good books of training diets or DogPile the internet for more information of correct eating plans for your goals.

Might try a whole body workout to get your body geared for training. Two or three times (preferred) a week with  Squats (I hope you plan on doing squats), Bench Press (BB or DB), BB rows or lat machine, curls. DO Abs at the end of the workout. Abs do not need excessive sets or reps. They are to treated as any other muscle group.  Only one exercise per muscle group because that is all you will need now. Three sets of each exercise of 7-12 reps. Give all this a try for 6-8 weeks, than if you need to branch off to other workout plans go right ahead. If you would rather use machines than suite yourself. But the most result producing method of training would still be free weights. The balance and coordination, along with  total muscle group involvement, is always the main factor here.

Martial Arts can aid endurance. Kata's, at a fast rate, come to mind as does playing/sparring. Leg (good ab work here, also) work on the bag/board, strikes, etc. I'm speaking in Shotokan terms, sometimes the wordage is not the same in all styles. A two hour session is a little short but I'm sure you can make the most of it. May also consider the Tabata protocol or other interval training methods for a superior way to build stamina (endurance+strength) as well as ridding body fat. Good Luck.

[WOOO]

no one?

In your position I would hire an experience personal traine.r, at least until you build some foundational knowledge