Expert: Bonnie Hardie - 4/20/2009

Question
Hi,

I am a 43 year old male, I weigh approximately 200lbs, 5' 8" tall. I currently go to the gym 2 or 3 times a week, I also play squash regularly and play five a side football once a week.

My current training regime is 10 minutes treadmill, 2.0% gradient, 10kph / 10 minutes arm bike maximum intensity approx 120 rpm / 10 minutes cycle level 8 random setting / 10 minutes rower maximum intensity minimum 2000 metres / 10 minutes cross trainer level 15.

My heart rate peaks at around 166 bpm during gym time, I would like to know whether this regime is functional as I want to tone up without bulking up but don't seem able to lose a great deal of weight since the initial impact results and now seem to have reached a weight which has remained steady over the last few weeks where ideally I would like to lose another 15/20lbs.

Any advice on tweaking the regime to make it more effective?

Thanks.

Answer
Hi Gary,
Thank you for your question.
You should be hitting the weights in addition to doing cardio.
You will not bulk up unless you use very heavy weight.
Do exercises for all body parts:
bicep curls
tricep pressdown
bench press
lat pulldown
row
shrug
pec flye
leg press
calf press
squat
lunge
lateral steps.
You can find videos for all of these exercises on youtube.com.
Make sure that you are eating more carbohydrates and protein and less fat and sodium. Drink plenty of water.
Thank You,
Bonnie