Soldato
I have started to notice a number of posts in here asking ‘How do I lose my beer belly?’ and ‘How do I get in shape for summer?’ The answer?- A good diet, hard work in the gym and discipline. GordyR’s sticky is fantastic and I used plenty of the advice in there coupled with the other great posters we have in here so I thought it was only fair to contribute something back to the forum. This plan is an adaptation of something I have from Men’s Health magazine and other sources. It worked for me when I was starting out and should work for you if you are a beginner to training. It won’t make you look like Arnie or a Men’s Health cover model, but it will drop your bodyfat and make you look a lot leaner. If you are already in good shape then there are probably better routines for you. But this is a definite belly buster for those couch potatoes who want to lose the flab fast!
Let’s get things straight from the off. You are going to have to make some sacrifices to do this. The main one being beers. Yes, that’s right- no beer during this plan. But it only takes 4 weeks to complete. If you can’t manage 4 weeks with no beer then I suggest googling for Alcoholics Anonymous! You will have to get a good 8 hours rest at night, cut out fizzy drinks, chocolate and sweets. But it is worth it, believe me. This guide assumes you have read GordyR’s and understand basic terms such as reps, sets and form.
I will split it into three easy sections: Diet, Weight Training and Cardio.
Diet
You will be glad to hear that the diet isn’t a diet! It’s just a sensible eating plan. You are going to be working hard in the gym so you need to fuel that engine- an empty sack wont stand up! The diet doesn’t involve weighing things out, it just relys on you and your discipline.
You eat enough at each meal to feel full- not bloated and stuffed- just full.
Drink water all day every day. Aim for at least two litres of water a day- this helps your liver process fat and flush the toxins from your system.
You have a post workout shake in the plan and here are the ingredients:
200ml of skimmed milk
1 cup of Quaker Oats (unsweetened)
1 banana
1 tbsp of peanut butter
Mix all the above in a blender and whiz until smooth then drink down. Add some ice cubes as well if you wish to make it even tastier!
Eat the two snacks before lunch- aim to be eating about every 2-3 hours. Only take a handful of nuts or grapes etc not a whole bag to feel full. A snack is just a light nibble to keep your metabolism ticking over.
Ok so what can I eat? The key here is low fat, and getting your carbs in early coupled with a decent amount of protein. Here is a possible diet plan for the whole week:
You can mix and match the food throughout the week but do not skip meals! See, it isn’t a diet at all is it? Some of the food on there is delicious.
Weights
The weights plan works as follows:
Do 1 set of ten reps, rest 60 seconds. Repeat two more times so 3 sets in total.
Use the heaviest weight you can manage ten reps with Perfect Form on the first set. Decrease the weight if you have to for the other sets but perfect form is the key. No cheating now!
We split the weights plan into two workouts- A and B. Here are the exercises, look them up at http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
Workout Plan A:
Bench Press
Squats
Cable Row
Leg Extension
Military Press
Bent-knee incline sit-up
Barbell Curl
Calf Raises
Workout Plan B:
Lateral Pulldowns
Lying Leg Curls
Dips
Leg Press
Lateral Raises
Back Extensions
Dumbell Shrugs
Reverse Crunches
Cardio
Cardio is split into three workouts- steady state cardio, sprints and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). For the steady state cardio you should aim to be working at 70% of your maximum heart rate. To calculate your maximum heart rate as an unfit bloke, take your age from 220. I.e. 30yr olds max rate would be 220-30=190 so you would be looking to keep your heart rate at around 133 bpm. Steady state cardio can be anything- jogging, x-trainer, cycling etc.
HIIT training is the real fat burner though and the one you will feel the most! For HIIT, you warm up for 5 mins then do an interval at 85%-90% of your max rate. You then have an interval of rest at 60% of your max rate. This intense burst, rest period interval is repeated for the given amount of time followed by a five minute cool down period. HIIT can be done jogging, x-trainer, rowing etc.
Sprints are simply sprints for 10 seconds. Do them around your road or wherever you can run flat out for 10 seconds. Warm up and cool down on your sprints for 5 mins.
So here is the weights and cardio plan:
See, you can easily fit that into your week!
Final Words
Stick at it. I lost a load of bodyfat doing this when I first started at the gym a few years back. It isn’t a guaranteed quick fix- just a good introduction into going to the gym. It will get your body used to exercising again, bust the gut down that you had and make you a lot fitter than you were before you started the plan. Don't look at the scales- you should put some muscle on here so your weight will not fall dramatically. Use the mirror and a tape measure. You must do the exercise though! Eating like that with no exercise will make you even more of a bloater so move yourself down to the gym and get repping!
Best of luck should you choose to take it up! Feel free to ask questions and post further advice in here.
Let’s get things straight from the off. You are going to have to make some sacrifices to do this. The main one being beers. Yes, that’s right- no beer during this plan. But it only takes 4 weeks to complete. If you can’t manage 4 weeks with no beer then I suggest googling for Alcoholics Anonymous! You will have to get a good 8 hours rest at night, cut out fizzy drinks, chocolate and sweets. But it is worth it, believe me. This guide assumes you have read GordyR’s and understand basic terms such as reps, sets and form.
I will split it into three easy sections: Diet, Weight Training and Cardio.
Diet
You will be glad to hear that the diet isn’t a diet! It’s just a sensible eating plan. You are going to be working hard in the gym so you need to fuel that engine- an empty sack wont stand up! The diet doesn’t involve weighing things out, it just relys on you and your discipline.
You eat enough at each meal to feel full- not bloated and stuffed- just full.
Drink water all day every day. Aim for at least two litres of water a day- this helps your liver process fat and flush the toxins from your system.
You have a post workout shake in the plan and here are the ingredients:
200ml of skimmed milk
1 cup of Quaker Oats (unsweetened)
1 banana
1 tbsp of peanut butter
Mix all the above in a blender and whiz until smooth then drink down. Add some ice cubes as well if you wish to make it even tastier!
Eat the two snacks before lunch- aim to be eating about every 2-3 hours. Only take a handful of nuts or grapes etc not a whole bag to feel full. A snack is just a light nibble to keep your metabolism ticking over.
Ok so what can I eat? The key here is low fat, and getting your carbs in early coupled with a decent amount of protein. Here is a possible diet plan for the whole week:
You can mix and match the food throughout the week but do not skip meals! See, it isn’t a diet at all is it? Some of the food on there is delicious.
Weights
The weights plan works as follows:
Do 1 set of ten reps, rest 60 seconds. Repeat two more times so 3 sets in total.
Use the heaviest weight you can manage ten reps with Perfect Form on the first set. Decrease the weight if you have to for the other sets but perfect form is the key. No cheating now!
We split the weights plan into two workouts- A and B. Here are the exercises, look them up at http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
Workout Plan A:
Bench Press
Squats
Cable Row
Leg Extension
Military Press
Bent-knee incline sit-up
Barbell Curl
Calf Raises
Workout Plan B:
Lateral Pulldowns
Lying Leg Curls
Dips
Leg Press
Lateral Raises
Back Extensions
Dumbell Shrugs
Reverse Crunches
Cardio
Cardio is split into three workouts- steady state cardio, sprints and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). For the steady state cardio you should aim to be working at 70% of your maximum heart rate. To calculate your maximum heart rate as an unfit bloke, take your age from 220. I.e. 30yr olds max rate would be 220-30=190 so you would be looking to keep your heart rate at around 133 bpm. Steady state cardio can be anything- jogging, x-trainer, cycling etc.
HIIT training is the real fat burner though and the one you will feel the most! For HIIT, you warm up for 5 mins then do an interval at 85%-90% of your max rate. You then have an interval of rest at 60% of your max rate. This intense burst, rest period interval is repeated for the given amount of time followed by a five minute cool down period. HIIT can be done jogging, x-trainer, rowing etc.
Sprints are simply sprints for 10 seconds. Do them around your road or wherever you can run flat out for 10 seconds. Warm up and cool down on your sprints for 5 mins.
So here is the weights and cardio plan:
See, you can easily fit that into your week!
Final Words
Stick at it. I lost a load of bodyfat doing this when I first started at the gym a few years back. It isn’t a guaranteed quick fix- just a good introduction into going to the gym. It will get your body used to exercising again, bust the gut down that you had and make you a lot fitter than you were before you started the plan. Don't look at the scales- you should put some muscle on here so your weight will not fall dramatically. Use the mirror and a tape measure. You must do the exercise though! Eating like that with no exercise will make you even more of a bloater so move yourself down to the gym and get repping!
Best of luck should you choose to take it up! Feel free to ask questions and post further advice in here.
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