The good news is that you're doing what a formerly heavy-set person needs to do- focus on strengthening upper body. Carrying around extra weight tends to build the butt and legs, so people who were heavy favor the lower body. Once you lose the weight, you do need to retrain your upper body and muscles in the abdomen-spine (called "core training").
The bad news is that the reason that you're not seeing results is that you're not doing enough variety of exercises and you're not doing enough core-abdominal work.
Lots look at what you're doing:
13 pushups -
arms, shoulders
30 crunches -
abs
Arm curls, 3 sets of 14 with 15lb weights -
bicep isolation
12 Shoulder lifts with those same weights -
traps/deltoids
A good starter workout is
3 sets of
8-12 reps (do as many as you can). There's no need to push yourself past 12 reps as a beginner.
- Don't worry about how much weight you're lifting for now.
- Your focus is strengthening muscles that haven't been worked. And to tire those muscles to the point that they built extra muscle tissue.
- Do the exercise correctly, slowly, working as hard as you can. You will see a lot of guys picking up heavy weight and jerking it around like it's their dick. This is bad form. Go slow, focus on form. If you can't do 12 reps of an exercise in proper form then lower the weight.
- Remember: it's not a weightlifting competition. It's about doing your personal best weight in the proper form.
At this point, I would say to start over with your routine. If you can, see if your gym has personal trainers who can help you design a routine to address your needs.
If you can't afford a trainer right now, this is a good starting workout:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/best_newbie_workout.htm
For you, I would recommend the second first (listed as "1st Place" on the link above). You can also do additional abdominal crunches at home in the morning or before bedtime in addition to this gym workout. Walk during the day when you can. If you have a job where you can take breaks, then get up and walk for 10 minutes a couple of times during your day. Try to allocate time in the evenings and weekends to walk- either outdoors or on a treadmill.
Day 1 (Mon or Tues)
- Bench Press: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
- Squat: 3 Sets Of 6 Reps
- Bent Over Row: 3 Sets Of 6-10 Reps
- Military Press: 3 Sets Of 6-10 Reps
- Deadlift: 3 Sets Of 6 Reps
Day 2 (Wed or Thurs)
- Leg Press: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
- Skull Crushers: 3 Sets Of 6-10 Reps
- Lat Pulldown: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
- Calf Raise: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
- Lateral Raise: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
- Dumbbell Curls: 3 Sets Of 6-10 Reps
Day 3 (Fri or Sat)
- Deadlift: 3 Sets Of 6 Reps
- Incline Dumbbell Press: 3 Sets Of 8 Reps
- Barbell Row: 3 Sets Of 6-10 Reps
- Smith Machine Squats: 3 Sets Of 6 Reps
- Dumbbell Shrugs: 3 Sets Of 6-10 Reps
[Sunday is your day of rest)
The reason that I'm recommeding this routine for you is that it has a lot of variety. It hits all body areas once a week. And it gives you lots of time for recovery because you're going to be sore, sore, sore for the first 4-6 weeks of doing this routine.
Aggeryt said:
But I'm increasing the number of reps I do every couple of weeks. I eat whatever we have around the house, we're on quite a budget here so I don't get to be picky
Three rules for you since you've lost weight recently:
- You have to eat to build muscle. If you're walking and working out daily, then you will not get fat.
- Drink water throughout the day. No sodas. No commercial fruit drinks (which are loaded with sugar). A lot of what people perceive as hunger is actually thirst, so if you drink water throughout the day, you'll find that you don't have cravings for food.
- Eat smaller meals but eat more often. Instead of having a big breakfast, lunch and dinner, eat a medium sized, well-balanced meal for the three basic meals but have a snack of between breakfast/lunch and between lunch/dinner. Have a between meal snack with protein - peanut butter, cheese or a hardboiled egg with a small amount of fruit. The goal is to try distribute a day's nutrition across 5 meals instead of three meals and to not get hungry between meals. Don't skip meals. If you're feeling queazy or "stuffed" after a meal, you're eating too much at one sitting.
