Tldr - looking for assistance in structuring a fitness plan unique to my lifestyle & injuries - please redirect me if this is an inappropriate forum, happy to visit paid resources (Fitness coach? Nutritionist?) just let me know what you think is best. Very much appreciate your help and the insight of this subreddit!
Key question: What is your recommended workout routine given the information below. What can I change/improve upon? Any and all thoughts welcome.
Context
Key question: What is your recommended workout routine given the information below. What can I change/improve upon? Any and all thoughts welcome.
Context
- Sedentary life style (work 70+ hour weeks, including weekends)
- Physically fit once upon a time; played contact sports in college, did the major lifts religiously; post college reduced activity significantly to less rigorous activities 0-2 times a week, mostly squash golf peloton etc
- Herniated a disc ~8m ago and that has reduced activity to bare minimum
- Have gained a significant amount of weight (have gone from 205lbs to 230lbs over the past two years; 6ft M for reference)
- Have started and stopped prioritizing fitness multiple times over the past decade and I'm ashamed of not being able to stick with it; it's now starting to become a potential health concern and I want to get ahead of it
- Make fitness a habit (3x week min)
- Lose weight (210 by EOY '24)
- Regain QOL / reduce pain during light sports (e.g., play golf without severe pain the next day)
- Committed to carving out 45 minutes before work every morning, plus additional time on the weekends as needed
- Have been unable to squat given pain/discomfort from herniated disc
- Feel lost in prioritizing the below activities in only a 45m daily slot
- PT exercises for core - have been really bad about keeping up with this, but need to incorporate to help take pressure off the disc; can be done daily and is 15-30m depending on how much of it I complete
- Cardio/biking/running - running 10m miles seems inefficient in taking up the whole slot, but is immediately helpful and beneficial to health; have tried using stationary bike and HIIT to get more out of it (30s on, 30s off 5x getting heart rate to 190)
- Strength training - rebuild muscle which will help lose weight passively over time; want to do starting strength as recommended elsewhere in the forum but can't squat; can focus time on regaining core strength and slowly working in to something like this; compound lifts most efficient
- Stretching/mobility - also helpful to reducing pain but time consuming
- 1 - Rotate between two workouts
- A - Cardio + PT day - 5m stretch, 25m cardio (bike hiit), 15m PT exercises
- B - Full Body Strength - 3x5 - Bench, Row, Dips, Pull-ups, Lunges, Ancillary if have time
- 2 - Rotate between two workouts, but split up strength
- A - same as above
- B - focus on push one day, pull another day
- 3 - Every day is new
- A - Cardio Day
- B - Push Day
- C - PT Day
- D - Pull Day
- 4 - Focus on Cardio/PT every day until strong enough to squat, then switch to something like starting strength
- Any thoughts on best approach to start? What can be improved?
- Does splitting up each 45m day into both cardio and PT or full-body not give me the full benefits? Should each individual day be dedicated to one of these activities?
- Is it too much to start with all of these?