Home workout that works out :D

[reneaz]

Hey,

I've been working out for a month, but I daily question myself if this will ever bring results. I know time will tell, but I'd also like some directions.

I also got in touch with 2 personal trainers, but they weren't really inspiring and motivating me (classic gym bros).

I currently workout 5 times a week, at home, with a mix of 60min yoga, 30min HIIT, and 1h of biking.

I also follow a diet that my nutritionist gave me (low FODMAP) as I have IBS issues.

So far, what happened is that I gained 3kg in 1 month, but I also do feel better physically, like stronger — I also do see I can stretch deeper in yoga, do more pushups, etc..

Ideally I'd like to keep on working out at home, 4-5/w.

The goal is to go from 64kg to 58kg, lose the bloated belly I have, and get a leaner shredded body.

What workout plan do you suggest? Do you think in the long run yoga+HIIT+biking would work? I'm open to buy a couple of equipments, but I do not want/can have 100 gym items.

I don't like to go somewhere to workout, I like to wake up and do it at home in my personal space, but I hope to find results from home too!

Thanks!

 

[antponetteoaks]

@reneaz You can't out work your diet, gotta eat less food.

 

[reneaz]

@antponetteoaks I do, I eat 1400kcal which is less than I should eat

 

[teknontheou]

@reneaz 1400 cal of processed carbs will sit on your body differently than a balanced 1400 of high protein, complex carbs and healthy fats. What is your 1400 comprised of?

Buy some weights and find a strength training program or online trainer/videos that you can follow along at home!

 

[reneaz]

@teknontheou I can’t tell you in percentages but I eat 100gr of tofu 200gr of veggies, and 40gr of carbs with every meal.
I don’t eat any gluten. Lactose free only.

I do have one free meal a week (pasta, pizza, sushi..) as long as the day after I have at least a meal with no carbs. I’m near to no processed food whatsoever.

I’ll get kettlebells today, and find a program that I like!

 

[antponetteoaks]

@reneaz If the scale ain't moving then there's too many calories. Sucks.

 

[mikeb34]

@reneaz Get 2 or three 7 handle fitness sandbags loaded to 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 your body weight (to start) and your bike or a jumprope. Adapt sandbag lifts to any standard push, pull, hinge, squat program in the fitness wiki.

Make your HIIT more hitty by turning it into a Tabata format and leave the 30 minute smokers behind. Do HIIT 2 or 3x per week for 12-15 minutes. Maybe even do yoga on the same day(s).

Prioritize resistance training.

Stock answer:

"Generally all my basic programs are constructed around primary push, pull, hinge, squat with accessory exercises as compliment. In most cases this equals 8 exercises (4 primary, 4 accessory) with a few additional abdominal, bicep, tricep thrown in at the end. Alternate primary and accessory, upper and lower, push and pull, hinge and squat. This gives every primary lift pattern a break every other session, while maintaining consistent volume to the prime moving muscles. It gives you a mental break upper and lower, and a break in intensity in terms of muscle mass recruited per exercise.

The selection of specific exercises can be swapped out periodically but should be readily identifiable by classification (push, pull, hinge, squat) and role (primary, accessory).

In practice the exercises are arranged over two days, performed 3 times per week, run ABA one week, BAB the next.

Abs and calves can be done every day as a finisher or not at all. Is a good idea to include some walking, jogging or interval training on off days commensurate with fitness level.

Every day is leg day. Push, pull, hinge, squat with shoulders, quads, hamstrings as accessory. Have used the following format with kettlebell, sandbag, barbell/machines, isometrics etc, it works with everything. As an example:

Day A

• squat (primary squat)
• overhead press (accessory push shoulder)
• hamstring or Nordic curl or mule kicks (accessory hinge)
• bent row (primary pull)
• overhead tricep extensions
• abs

Day B

• deadlift or good mornings (primary hinge)
• upright row or laterals (accessory pull shoulder)
• quad extensions, hack squats or sissy squats (accessory squat)
• bench, loaded pushups (primary push)
• curls
• abs

ABA, BAB"

 

[reneaz]

@mikeb34 Thanks a loooot, really cool of you, cheers!

How many reps and sets should I do of each exercise?

So ABA 3 times per week, next week 3 times BAB, and repeat. Right? And to each exercise I try to add/use the sandbag, starting from the lighter to the heavier as I progress?

 

[mikeb34]

@reneaz Most exercises you'll only use two of the bags. Your heaviest bag should be too heavy for most upper body except rows or pushups and even then barely. Your lightest bag should be a joke for squats or good mornings.

Set/rep/load will depend on goals. I typically use a set of 15 reps or so as a warmup, stay away from failure.

2nd set will be heavy, maybe 2-4 reps using a load I could hit for 3-6 respectively. Again, stay away from failure.

3rd set use a 4-10 rep load and take it to technical failure (you finish the rep but 90% sure you can't get another). Rest 30 seconds and do another repeat, again to tech failure, rest 30 and do a third. Exercise finished.

 

[reneaz]

@mikeb34 Alright thanks again!

So 1st set is easy, 2nd hardcore, 3rd hard. Gotcha!

Doing that with kettlebells doesn't make much sense right? I don't have much space so having 3 big bags of 16, 24, and 32kg laying around my tiny house isn't easy.

Maybe I'll do it with 2 kettlebells (1 medium, 1 heavy)?

 

[mikeb34]

@reneaz First set is metabolic, moderate fatigue

Second set is high tension, low fatigue

Third set is high metabolic and moderate tension

Rep speed is always brisk.

Sandbags are about a foot and a half wide and three feet long, they stack up pretty small. I used to keep em in the garage on a rubber mat, bringing em in is part of the warmup.

Also look into Cluster Set training, it also plays well with largely static loads like sandbag or kettlebell.

I don't recommend kettlebell very often...

 

[reneaz]

@mikeb34 I'll go tomorrow check for these sandbags, I'll keep them on the ground floor as I exercise on the top floor

Thanks a lot!! Noted everything down, and it starts getting some structure

 

[ocsoni]

@reneaz Ultimately, you will need to add weight to continue working out effectively. Yoga and cycling are nice but they won't build the kind of strength you get from lifting heavy items. And HIIT sounds great on paper but ultimately, unless you have someone pushing you, you're not going to be able to reach the levels of activity true HIIT requires.

If you are going to continue working out at home, invest in kettlebells and dumbbells. You'll want a range from light to heavy. Unless of course, you can include a full-on weight rack and bar.

 

[reneaz]

@ocsoni Hey thanks for answering! Yeah yoga I do it cause I just like it, and surely does something (also just helps with backpain etc as I sit a lot during the day). I like cycling cause I do bikepacking and now in winter I train at home.

I'll buy kettlebells soon, can't have too much stuff as my house is tiny — I also want to be good with tools I can use also when I travel with my campervan.

I just want to find an app/program to follow, cause yoga/HIIT apps help me knowing what to do, but yeah maybe not the right exercises to see results

 

[rev7verse9to12]

@reneaz If the goal is to lose weight and lose that belly, Yoga, HIIT and biking may be enough.

Getting shredded though? Possibly. At lower body fat%, you can see more of your cuts and muscle striations. But your muscles won't get bigger beyond a point with Yoga,HIIT and biking since 2 of the 3 are cardio workouts, and there is only so much progression/progressive overload you can do with Yoga/Calisthenics. And bigger muscles just help make things pop and look more shredded.

Ultimately, I don't see why you can't have a healthier body with those 3 exercises.

Good luck, and hope you enjoy the journey!

Side note: I hope your protein intake is sufficient. Helps maintain your muscles while you lose weight/fat.

Edit: Side note 2: I also hope you know how to progress your Yoga practice, from the Gentle to whatever is the most extreme version. I've only done a few Warrior stances back when I was doing Yoga. so I know it gets hard. I just don't know if there's a harder version, what the pinnacle of Yoga is.

 

[reneaz]

@rev7verse9to12 Hey thanks!

Yeah I don't want to become bulky, as I'm 158cm and if I bulk I become a cube

I'd like to lose weight and the belly, and to tone/define the body a bit. I'd like to keep yoga and biking, maybe I can do HIIT with some weights, or some resistance training instead maybe x3 a week, so to get a bit of muscles but without focusing too much on that as ultimately my goal isn't really that (at least for now).

I eat 200gr of tofu a day which is about 26gr of protein. That's what my nutritionist gave me. Too little?

 

[rev7verse9to12]

@reneaz Okay, this advice coming from a sports scientist who is a body builder (Dr. Mike). You should eat around 0.8g or 1 g of protein per pound of body weight. So yes, if tofu with 26g protein really is just your protein source, too little.

As for adding weights with HIIT, HIIT isn't really a good muscle builder according to some experts (Menno Henselmans). It's more cardio. I think with your setup, your muscle builder would be your Yoga.

A lot of muscle building is in the stretched position, a loaded stretched position (ex. your quads and glutes at the bottom of a squat, your hamstrings in downward dog, your quads in a deep Warrior 1/Warrior 2 stance).

Side note: I'm not a sports scientist. I just follow sports scientists. So if someone refutes me, they may be right and I may be wrong.

 

[reneaz]

@rev7verse9to12 Damn that I'm eating half of what I should be eating. Next week I meet the nutritionist, we'll see how to rearrange the meal plan!

I'll stick with strength training + bike + yoga, so I have a primary muscle builder (ST), 1 low muscle/high stretch and meditative practice (yoga), and cardio with biking.

Maybe 3 days strength, 1-2 days yoga, 1-2 days cardio — does that sound realistic and helpful? Too much, too little?

Tomorrow I'll go get some kettlebells or a sandbag, and find a program for strength training I can stick to for a few weeks-months!

 

[rev7verse9to12]

@reneaz

Maybe 3 days strength, 1-2 days yoga, 1-2 days cardio — does that sound realistic and helpful? Too much, too little?

That's too much cardio for me. HAHAHA. (I hate cardio)

But you do you. As long as you enjoy it and can stick with it, it sounds great!

If you feel it's not enough and you have more energy, do more. If you feel fatigued after 2 weeks or a month, drop one of the days. Find that balance where you think you can keep on doing this for the rest of your life.

 

[reneaz]

@rev7verse9to12 Heheh cardio is to burn calories and also cause once the summer is back I want to go back on using my bike outside!

I’ll listen to my body as I go, but first what’s important is to create a program that I understand and maybe have it printed or put in an app so I can look the sequence and how each exercise is done!