# Advice



## Lisam81 (Jul 7, 2019)

Hi everyone,

Just joined the site after someone mentioned it.

I'm 37yrs old, 5ft 2 and 10st 4lbs, I am slowly making positive changes to my lifestyle. I am not in the best shape ( here is where the advice is needed) I've joined a gym, cut down on my calories and increased my protein intake. I have a few intolerances to food, dairy, nuts, whey and gluten being some of them.

My current gym routine is

10 mins cardio on cross trainer.

3sets- 20 reps 30kg glute kickback machine

3sets-20 reps 30kg leg curl machine

3 sets 20 reps 10kg chest press machine

3 sets 20 reps 30kg inner and outter thigh machine

3 sets 20 reps 10kg sumo squat with kettle bell

3sets 20 reps 5kg weight skull crushers

5 mins on bike to cool down

I go to the gym 2 days in a row then have a rest day and do the same routine. I want to get into the best shape I have ever been in.

Diet-

Breakfast-2 Linda McCartney sausages, 2 eggs for breakfast

Lunch- 100g chicken salad or protein with veg

tea- as above

I would appreciate any advice on exercise routines, if I need to incorporate more or less into my gym sessions?

how much protein and carbs should I be eating on a daily basis?

I really appreciate any feedback and thank you in advance

warm regards

lisam81


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## anna1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Lisam81 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Just joined the site after someone mentioned it.
> 
> ...


 Welcome and best of luck with your goals

so that routine is what you repeat every time ?

I would start practicing compound lifts ( squats , deadlifts etc )

then add isolation work like what you do

not much upper body work there . How did you come up with this routine?


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## Lisam81 (Jul 7, 2019)

Thanks for the reply Anna,

yes that's the routine I repeat every time, not necessarily in that order.

I was lifting light weights at home doing chest press, shoulder press, deadlifts, over head press until I started the gym. I was thinking start doing them again and use gym as a top up and leg/cardio workout. Not sure if that's too much?

I just did Research online, YouTube and asking around is how I came up with it.


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## anna1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Lisam81 said:


> Thanks for the reply Anna,
> 
> yes that's the routine I repeat every time, not necessarily in that order.
> 
> ...


 That's amazing then , why would you drop the compound lifts ?

They should be the core of your workout and then implement with the rest of isolation movements you're doing. No , I don't feel it's too much. Split your workouts between muscle groups to give yourself time to recuperate x


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## InkMinx (Feb 5, 2019)

Hi Lisa,

I think Anna has already given you some pretty solid advice regarding your training but a few other things of note; There are some online MACRO calculators that can give you a breakdown of how many calories you want to be looking at per day based on your age, build and activity level. You may find with what your currently eating that your not quite eating enough, a common mistake for dieters is to eat at little as possible in order to lose weight quicker, but not only is this not sustainable but it slows your metabolism and also while in a deficit you will not be able to build muscle. Adding a healthy snack option or 2 wouldn't go amiss and will help keep your blood sugar consistent among other things.

As Anna said, with your training you really want to get those compound lifts back into routine as they will work a lot more muscle groups. Working individual muscle groups using machines is a very inefficient use of time in the gym and repeating the same routine each day will see very little results as the body very quickly adapts, the key is to keep it varied and testing the body in different ways, by both mixing up the exercises and the number of reps and sets. So maybe after two weeks of what your doing, increase the weight load and do 5 sets of 5 reps instead for example. If your able to work all the same muscle groups on 2 consecutive days your probably not working hard enough as those muscles should be aching and need a bit of recovery.

Its worth finding a good 6 week training plan and following that religiously instead of trying to put together your own routine at this stage. There are some great ones online, or also I really like HERS (Muscle & Fitness) magazine if your in the UK. You normally get a couple of routines each issues and it also has some great recipes and stuff in too.


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## 90055 (Sep 7, 2019)

Hi Lisa and first of all I am very glad to see that you are looking for a change to your lifestyle and already making steps towards it.

However I see some issues both with your current training and your diet as well and would like to see some tweaks here and there.

But before that I would like to know more about your overall goals and what's your daily schedule like.


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## AestheticManlet (Jun 12, 2012)

You're under eating for sure, which is detrimental to weight loss.

As for routine I'd be looking into changing it up - exact same exercises and reps every session isn't productive.

How many days can you gym a week?


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