Mike in Real Life

Hey Mike,

Congratulations on the workout routine. Two weeks of utter misery is a small price to pay for a lifetime of feeling food once you get settled. Just wanted to share some thoughts with you from my own personal experience. I have had the most results with isolating 1 large muscle group a day or 2 smaller muscle groups a day. For example:

Weekends: 40 min to 1 hour of cardio, and 3 30 second sets of abs ( I bought one of those big rubber ab balls at Wal-Mart. It was only about 15 bucks and you see ab results quickly, because it's hard to crunch up when you're on the ball and you exercise stabilizing muscles trying to hold yourself on the ball).

Monday: Legs. BIG muscle group so that's all I do on that day. Squats are a great exercise to add to your repertoire. They are good for legs as well as core strength, so squats will make all muscle groups stronger. Abs on this day also 3 sets of 30 second bicycle crunches followed by 3/30 seconds of planks. 40 min of cardio at the end,

Tuesday: Main ab day. I go to a gym and use machines on this day, so I'm really not sure what the home gym equivalent would be. 40 min cardio at the end.

Wednesday: Chest and shoulders. 40 min cardio at the end. Same ab workout as Monday

Thursday: Back. Another BIG muscle group. As with squats, deadlifts are excellent for core strength. Some people will do straight-legged (aka Romanian) deadlifts cause they go a little quicker. I think they're kinda dangerous, so I just do the old fashioned kind. 40 min of cardio.

*Quick note. Doesn't matter how long you have been lifting. You'll always be sore after back days and leg days. That's why I try to have these exercise days as far apart from each other as possible.

Friday: Biceps/Triceps. Abs again. 40 min cardio at the end.

First thing in the morning is the best time for cardio, but that is probably not logistically possible with your work schedule. The second best time is after your strength workout. Your insulin and sugar levels are most stable then, and they are primed for fat burning. You want to breathe hard, but don't get to the point where you are really wheezing and sucking air. When you get to that point, your body has started burning muscle tissue instead of fat.

Quick nutritional notes:

I'm sure you want to just be in better shape, and not be a massive power lifter, but I would still recommend the following.

Whey protein: Essential for muscle growth. Make sure you take it within a half hour of completing your workout for optimal results. After 1 or 2 weeks, you will notice a substantial change in strength and in muscle growth. Any brand is fine, so long as it is 100% Whey. I get the EAS kind from Sam's.

Glutamine: Excellent for helping your muscles heal after each workout. Especially good on back and leg days, as it reduces soreness.

Creatine: Another important supplement for aiding muscle growth. Creatine fills your muscle cells with water to stimulate growth. I have felt stronger since I have been taking it, but I will warn you that it tastes absolutely horrible.

Protein bars are a help, just make sure that you read the back and make sure they don't contain any gelatin. Gelatin is hard for your body to digest, and it takes all the protein present in the bar to break it down.

Invest in a George Foreman Grill. I buy big bags of frozen chicken at Sam's, and grilled chicken is a great source of protein. For a good lunch, I put make a chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread, topped off with some slices of avocado.

Other good sources of protein are tuna, ground turkey, all-natural peanut butter, and hardboiled eggs (only 70 calories per egg, easy to make, and quite filling).

Hope these notes are of use. I've tried some different routines, and the aforementioned has provided me with the best results.