Having a hard time getting back into it..

[surayray15]

Hey all, new to the community and just seeking some advice...maybe just venting and need the push...Last few years with COVID, working as an ICU nurse, and dealing with life changes I had slipped off the deep end on working out and have gained a lot of unhealthy weight.

Its been a LONG time since I had to restart like this and guess I feel unsure at my "advanced" age of 38 lol.

Anyways, I'm 6'1" 220lbs and pretty flabby. I have been an avid fan of the DC (DoggCrapp) workout in the past for muscle building and such but since I am quite out of shape would I be better off with a 3 day a week full body program to get my body back in the groove of things rather than a 3 day week DC workout? Also, I walk around 8-10k steps a day at work and work 3-5 days 14hr a day...Should I still add some light cardio while doing all this?

Example of DC: reps range 11-20 (with rest pause and heavy weight) per exercise.

A workouts: chest, shoulders, triceps, back width, and back thickness

B workouts: biceps, forearms, calves, hamstrings, and quads.

Or something more like this 3x a week:

Fullbody 3x10 or 4x10 anything without weight amap.

Squat

Bench Press

Pull Ups

Military Press

Barbell Curl

Crunches/V-ups

Goals is just to rebuild muscle, get leaner again, improve my health. I definitely need to work on my diet as well which is hard because I work as a travel nurse and get my ass kicked in these places I go to LoL. Anyways, thanks for any advice on the options at hand, open to opinions, and be safe!

 

[unknown404]

@surayray15 I'm in the same boat, 37 and have two young kids. Used to be a gym nut but the little guys turning up and the gyms shutting down meant I haven't properly worked out consistently for about 18 months. I've started trying the ice cream work out that's been pretty popular on some other reddit subs. I like it a lot and its only a three day a week workout which i think is right for me at the moment. Might be something that would interest you.

In your situation I reckon it probably depends on your general health, whether you're carrying existing injuries or pain etc. If you want to put on muscle and get leaner gym is good but diet is everything. I really struggle with it too and i don't really travel, that would make it super hard. Good luck

https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-fitness-5x5-novice-workout

 

[elishiva]

@surayray15 Everyone starts or restarts somewhere.

Yes, you should always do cardio. Being a nurse, thought you would’ve known that by having great cardiovascular health your body has the potential to build more muscle vs if you didn’t.

I’d start by doing a full body routine 2 days a week with 1 session of cardio making it 3 workouts. The goal here for cardio is to build cardiovascular strength so, I’d focus on HIIT that one session vice LISS or MISS.

After a month or two of this, I’d re-asses and go up or down in my workouts.

I’d look into Bill Star 5x5, Jim Wendler 5/3/1, but also Maps aesthetic, or Maps Anabolic are great options. specifically maps aesthetic, they’re multiple weeks with different rep ranges and lifts so you won’t get bored. I’d look at the workouts as A, B, & C. Week 1 you do A & B, week 2 you do C & A along with your cardio.

I’d stay away from designing my own programs. Do the cardio that you enjoy doing, if you hate running, don’t run.

As always diet > workouts. At this age you need to focus more on diet.