I have one single advice: Do not eat anything that comes out of of a box!
I know it seems very hard to do but it is not as I almost never eat processed food. It takes more time to cook things but it is really worth it in the long run. I have a Mediterranean type diet and eat a lot of fish and vegetables. As an example, I cook a Basa fillet meal (white fish) in 30mn. I just put it in a baking pan with a little extra virgin olive and than put a few slice of lemon on top of the fish. and than add slices of tomatoes, green and red peppers and onions. You can sprinkle the fish with a little black pepper and salt and just cook it in the oven at about 375 for about 20mn or until the fish is ready. I also use balsamic vinegar (1/4) and extra virgin olive oil (3/4) as a salad dressing. I just put them is a small glass jar and mix them very well. And voila, you have a very health meal without a single chemical, preservative...etc.

I'm a good person to say what not to do:
-Chicken wings 2 nights a week
-Beer
-Soda
-No exercise.

Put on 35 lbs in 3 years.


Thing is, before that, even back in high school, I played 3 sports (cross country, ice hockey, and ultimate) and I never lost weight. Never really gained weight either. Ran 5-10 miles 5 days a week for XC, did 3 hr hockey practices 3 days a week (hockey and XC overlap seasons by 2 months too) and played ultimate up to 3 days a week when it was nice out. Never lost weight.

Went to college. Played ultimate even more (no kidding 4 days a week, every week, in all weather) and picked up lacrosse (4 days a week). Still didn't gain or lose weight for those first 2 years. Still stayed a steady 185 lbs (I'm 5' 11").

I didn't put on weight until I came out here to State College. Stopped playing sports because I started working 25 hrs/wk and classes got tough. Still eat the same, but BOOM, 35 lbs in 3 years. Up to 220lbs now. Guess it could be worse.

I found a nifty free website for keeping track of food intake.
CRON-O-Meter: Track nutrition & count calories

I haven't been too bad on the calorie intake (2800-3300 per day) but the sodium and carbs are killing me. There are days that I've counted 500g of carbs and 6000mg of sodium in a 3300 calorie day. I like my spuds with garlic salt.

I started buying gallon jugs of water at the store because my tap water tastes like crap and the Brita filter pitchers suck. I could never keep them filled. I feel so much better now that I'm more hydrated. And for $0.25 a day, I can live with that.

Flash said:

You're very knowledgeable PieEyed. Can you give some insight on red meat like beef or bison? I barely eat red meat, but from my understanding it contains more fat. What are your thoughts with red meat in regards to staying lean, but also building muscle.

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Here's my take on red meat; They say that it's too fatty, and contains far too much cholesterol, heart risks, etc. But red meat is also probably the best animal source of protein you can get. The fat's contained are relatively balanced in my opinion. Fat is good for you, and great for weight loss. At 9 calories per gram fat can provide more energy than any other macronutrient. As for the cholesterol, well the cholesterol you ingest in your food doesn't end up floating around in your bloodstream. It's not drinking coffee and having the caffeine hit your blood stream 20minutes later, it just doesn't work like that.

I love red meat. But if I were on a cut, I be eating more lean meats instead just because they're less calorie dense while still providing the protein I need. I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to avoid it, either though (large greasy hamburgers isn't what I mean).

Well, had my first Fish, Rice, and Broccoli dinner today. Less than enthusiastic on the lack of taste but I can make it tolerable. Filled me up rather quickly and it gave me energy for several hours including through my workout.

So, I know that 'results may vary' but how many weeks in would you expect to see a difference. Being a couple of weeks into this, I can feel a small difference and it's certainly improved my mood and motivation. However it hasn't become very visual. I know my stomach has shrunk due to eating a ton less but beyond that I suppose I'm just anxious to start seeing everything slim down.

I've been going about 300% harder than I should, pumping my metabolism up and sticking to not touching unhealthy food - so far. I'm sure I'll slip up here and there but not terribly. That meaning I might accidentally forget and cook something in butter and what have you.

What is a good, I suppose, month goal?

XiKeiyaZI said:

So, I know that 'results may vary' but how many weeks in would you expect to see a difference. Being a couple of weeks into this, I can feel a small difference and it's certainly improved my mood and motivation. However it hasn't become very visual. I know my stomach has shrunk due to eating a ton less but beyond that I suppose I'm just anxious to start seeing everything slim down.

I've been going about 300% harder than I should, pumping my metabolism up and sticking to not touching unhealthy food - so far. I'm sure I'll slip up here and there but not terribly. That meaning I might accidentally forget and cook something in butter and what have you.

What is a good, I suppose, month goal?

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For me I started to see solid results after 3 months- I mean solid, like people notice, you notice in mirror and you feel like you're on the right path.

Flash said:

For me I started to see solid results after 3 months- I mean solid, like people notice, you notice in mirror and you feel like you're on the right path.

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Not sure if you've already shared this - but what was your routine? How often were you hitting it? How dedicated to your goal were you? Did you cut corners here and there or just dead-eye it and go?

XiKeiyaZI said:

Not sure if you've already shared this - but what was your routine? How often were you hitting it? How dedicated to your goal were you? Did you cut corners here and there or just dead-eye it and go?

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I tried to isolate everything. Chest, biceps (some tris), legs, back and shoulders, triceps (some bis). Monday - Friday. During the summer I'll run a couple days during the week for about 5 miles, and will bike about 12 or so miles on the weekend. This past winter I started swimming (running sucks compared to swimming and biking) Saturday and Sunday. Since swimming I have thrown in a lot of compound exercises that have helped tremendously.
I was dedicated and still am extremely dedicated. I get plenty of supplements, and strict with my diet. Recovery is an absolute necessity that hasn't been discussed in depth. I wish I could sit out on the weekends and let my body recover those 2 days, but I honestly can't sit there and do nothing, I just have to be doing something.

XiKeiyaZI said:

So, I know that 'results may vary' but how many weeks in would you expect to see a difference. Being a couple of weeks into this, I can feel a small difference and it's certainly improved my mood and motivation. However it hasn't become very visual. I know my stomach has shrunk due to eating a ton less but beyond that I suppose I'm just anxious to start seeing everything slim down.

I've been going about 300% harder than I should, pumping my metabolism up and sticking to not touching unhealthy food - so far. I'm sure I'll slip up here and there but not terribly. That meaning I might accidentally forget and cook something in butter and what have you.

What is a good, I suppose, month goal?

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1lbs of fat is the size of your fist.

Just don't forget it's spread out all over your body when you hold your hand next to your tummy in hopes you could find a similarly sized void.

Flash said:

I tried to isolate everything. Chest, biceps (some tris), legs, back and shoulders, triceps (some bis). Monday - Friday. During the summer I'll run a couple days during the week for about 5 miles, and will bike about 12 or so miles on the weekend. This past winter I started swimming (running sucks compared to swimming and biking) Saturday and Sunday. Since swimming I have thrown in a lot of compound exercises that have helped tremendously.
I was dedicated and still am extremely dedicated. I get plenty of supplements, and strict with my diet. Recovery is an absolute necessity that hasn't been discussed in depth. I wish I could sit out on the weekends and let my body recover those 2 days, but I honestly can't sit there and do nothing, I just have to be doing something.

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I know about the recovery fact - but it should be discussed.

When you work out and say.. I want to target my arms with curls and such. Should I blow them out and just go until I can't do anymore as fast as possible? Should I take it slow and easy and try to get as many as I can? If I do blow them out how long should I allow them to recover before doing so again?

PieEyedPiper said:

1lbs of fat is the size of your fist.

Just don't forget it's spread out all over your body when you hold your hand next to your tummy in hopes you could find a similarly sized void.

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Lmao. I never suspected it'd happen like that. I do know that I have been noticing that I feel weight shifting... still nothing visual yet. I've upped my pace as well as the length of my run. I've gone from 3 miles to 6. I just need to drop 40lbs. That's all I want.

On a side note, we should probably suggest a subforum for Fitness. This seems like a hit topic and a lot of people seem very in-tune with fitness.

XiKeiyaZI said:

I know about the recovery fact - but it should be discussed.

When you work out and say.. I want to target my arms with curls and such. Should I blow them out and just go until I can't do anymore as fast as possible? Should I take it slow and easy and try to get as many as I can? If I do blow them out how long should I allow them to recover before doing so again?

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Definitely don't want to do that.

Here is one of the most important things to understand about your workouts. Most of the time, now of course there is some degree of spill over, but most of thhe time, you have to focus on one goal at a time. Meaning, it is very difficult to 'bulk up' and 'lean out' at the same time.

Compound exercises, such as squat, dead lift, bench, etc. are all going to burn the most calories, and contribute to strength gains, while isolations such as concentrated bicep curls are going to do more in the way of yielding size. While you will of course burn calories while isolating a muscle, you will burn more with a compound exercise. So it all comes back to your goals.

I know that is a bit off on a tangent, but I thought it was important to mention. Now as far as going till you can't go any more, that is terrible for your Central Nervous System, and won't contribute to anything other than your body actually producing muscle wasting hormones. Training to failure, or doing forced reps (your spotter helping you get additional reps after you are already exhausted) do nothing but damage.

There will be an element of explosion in some of your lifts; but for the most part, you want a good, smooth, controlled full range of motion especially when you are targeting specific muscles such as biceps. Picture the dumbell in your hand, your fingers wrapping tight around it squeezing the shaft, and then pumping it up and down while you get all sweaty and.... shit, wrong forum. But picture the muscle contracting first from your forearm, slowly up to your bicep, and then squeeze and contract the bicep at the top of the lift. Rally get that mind/muscle connection going, and you'll notice a difference.

NosLaser said:

Definitely don't want to do that.

Here is one of the most important things to understand about your workouts. Most of the time, now of course there is some degree of spill over, but most of thhe time, you have to focus on one goal at a time. Meaning, it is very difficult to 'bulk up' and 'lean out' at the same time.

Compound exercises, such as squat, dead lift, bench, etc. are all going to burn the most calories, and contribute to strength gains, while isolations such as concentrated bicep curls are going to do more in the way of yielding size. While you will of course burn calories while isolating a muscle, you will burn more with a compound exercise. So it all comes back to your goals.

I know that is a bit off on a tangent, but I thought it was important to mention. Now as far as going till you can't go any more, that is terrible for your Central Nervous System, and won't contribute to anything other than your body actually producing muscle wasting hormones. Training to failure, or doing forced reps (your spotter helping you get additional reps after you are already exhausted) do nothing but damage.

There will be an element of explosion in some of your lifts; but for the most part, you want a good, smooth, controlled full range of motion especially when you are targeting specific muscles such as biceps. Picture the dumbell in your hand, your fingers wrapping tight around it squeezing the shaft, and then pumping it up and down while you get all sweaty and.... shit, wrong forum. But picture the muscle contracting first from your forearm, slowly up to your bicep, and then squeeze and contract the bicep at the top of the lift. Rally get that mind/muscle connection going, and you'll notice a difference.

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In contrast to some of the above ,I would say that compound exercises such as Bench Press, Military Press, Squats, Deadlifts, Cleans etc. will provide better strength AND size gains over isolation movements.

There is a reason that Barbell Curls make stronger and larger biceps (in general) than concentration curls. The same goes for your chest with Bench Press vs. Flat Flyes. Compound movements, or multi-joint movements, allow you to utilize more weight and more weight leads to more strength/growth.

The thing is, these tiny little posts are in no way getting the whole picture across. There are so many different sides and aspects to everything.

I'll make it as point blank as possible.
Isolation exercises are for isolating a specific muscle group to often work on detail, shape, contraction. They are not mass movements.
Compound exercises are for overall strength and mass. These should be the core of your routine.

Here's some examples of some workout structure:
Sets and Reps for Strength
5x5
Sets and Reps for WeightLoss
3x15
Sets and Reps for Size
3x10-15

In general, use a weight that allows you to complete your target reps with only 1-2 reps left in your tank. Going beyond this is what we call approaching "failure". Failure is a neat trick to give the body a jolt when you've been stagnant, but I totally agree with the above that all failure is really good for is wrecking your CNS and eventually overtraining. Also, if you're doing more than 4 exercises for a single muscle group, you likely aren't working hard enough.

Strength:
3-6 sets
1-6 reps
less cardio

Hypertrophy
3-4 sets
8-15 reps
cardio

WeightLoss
3 sets
12-15 reps
more cardio

Also, to add to the "mind-muscle" connection mentioned above, you might try this approach. It's been shown that you activate the most muscle fibers when you contract your muscles as hard/fast as you can for every rep. If you're using appropriate weight you will notice this isn't very fast at all. But that doesn't change another important piece of information; the eccentric phase. When you lower the weight you want to be taking at least twice as long to do so. Often people use tempos, such as 103 for instance. 1 second up, 0 hold time, and 3 seconds down controlling the weight.

I still think this thread is a mess and we need a FAQ or something where we can all debate the accuracy of the information therein.

Agreed that it needs some organization, but as messy as it appears to be it's very beneficial to someone such as myself who is trying to soak up as much information as possible.

So... basically I should be looking at light weights, multiple reps and sets, and not pushing so much as to burn out but to promote extended muscle use to prolong the time that I utilize to burn fat and such, correct? Going quick and burning out would be short lived and do little for weight loss and more muscle attention from what I'm understanding.

So on top of an hour of running - what would you do to drop weight? How would you approach it with exercise and diet? Just say you were in my position ; going from being about 40lbs over your target weight area and coming from a world of an office job, fast food, and sodas - considering this was started in the name of weight loss and not mass building or strength increases.

NosLaser said:

I know that is a bit off on a tangent, but I thought it was important to mention. Now as far as going till you can't go any more, that is terrible for your Central Nervous System, and won't contribute to anything other than your body actually producing muscle wasting hormones. Training to failure, or doing forced reps (your spotter helping you get additional reps after you are already exhausted) do nothing but damage.

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Oh really. I have never heard of this. What about negatives? Slow reps. I feel that leads to muscle failure much quicker, and frankly I've seen good results from them.

mindset said:

Oh really. I have never heard of this. What about negatives? Slow reps. I feel that leads to muscle failure much quicker, and frankly I've seen good results from them.

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He worded it in a way that will prevent beginners from hurting themselves with advances techniques. Negatives are in that group, I'd say. A great tool, only when you know how to use it.

Fact: It is counter-productive to reach actual failure more than once a month.

XiKeiyaZI said:

So... basically I should be looking at light weights, multiple reps and sets, and not pushing so much as to burn out but to promote extended muscle use to prolong the time that I utilize to burn fat and such, correct? Going quick and burning out would be short lived and do little for weight loss and more muscle attention from what I'm understanding.

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I'm not really sure what that means to you. You're going to interpret and rationalize the information in a way that works best for you. Seemingly, your way doesn't work for me since I can't tell what you just wrote.

There is almost no reason to use "light weight" unless you're de-loading. Don't ask about de-loading, yet.

How heavy you think something is very subjective, and there is no definition but I'd think of it something like this:
Light - I can do 50 of these
Warmup - I can do 25 of these
Moderate - I can do 15 of these
Heavy - I can do 6 of these
Specifically training for strength - I can only do 1-5 of these

If I were in your shoes, coming from the office, fast food, sodas, etc.

I'd try very hard to get an hour of cardio in 5 days a week. I would keep diet rather simple at first. Cut out all processed sugar. Cut out fast food. Subway really isn't that great for you but if it's how you're going to down nearly a whole green pepper then go for it. It's just that deli meats are not that great for your body, hardly any of that protein even makes it in. Then, I'd get my ass in the gym.

I'd try to do my cardio and my workouts at opposite ends of the day, working out for only 45minutes. I'd use a moderate weight and adjust it so that I am always "just" making target reps with only 1-2 spares in the tank. i.e. if you can do the movement 20 times it's time to up the weight.

"Going quick and burning out would be short lived and do little for weight loss and more muscle attention from what I'm understanding. "
I just re-read what you wrote above. YES!! That is really quite incredible if you picked that out of this wacky thread.
When you are lost in the desert, walking miles and miles at a slow and steady pace, you are using fat stores for energy.
When you are playing that hardcore game of blacktop that gets going on Friday afternoons, you're using Carbohydrate stores and then, once depleted, muscle breakdown occurs. It doesn't hurt or anything, , but your body literally starts eating away at your muscle tissue for energy. <--- not to be confused with breaking down tissue for repair in your workouts.

But, then you come across something like HIIT that puts what I just said upside down on it's head! It still remains true, but there are ways to exploit the system. If I wanted maximum fat burning while doing my cardio I would employ HIIT. And then I might even use HIT for my weight training.

PieEyedPiper said:

In contrast to some of the above ,I would say that compound exercises such as Bench Press, Military Press, Squats, Deadlifts, Cleans etc. will provide better strength AND size gains over isolation movements.

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For strength yes, for size, not necessarily. I know there are studies and science to support both, and there seems to be for some reason a lot of fighting back and forth between the two schools of thought, but the way I see it, is that body builders typically focus on more reps (for the shaping exercises). The idea is that oxygen is carried by the blood, and it takes more oxygen to sustain muscle use over a longer period of time than it does one quick explosive motion, more requirement for oxygen means more blood needs to get into the muscle, increased need for more blood means more tissue is needed in the muscle, which means muscle growth.

This is often why some body builders may have the size, but may not be as strong as they look. (Again, some, not all.) They concentrate on more reps, with more focus on the muscle being worked. It bears mentioning that when I say more reps, I don't necessarily mean 50 reps, I'm talking somewhere in the 15 range, vs. somewhere in the 3-6 range for strength. In my opinion and experience, in a lower rep range, the muscle simply isn't under load long enough to require growth quickly, which is why everyone gets a lot stronger before they get bigger.

Again, there are studies, and science to support both of these ideas, so I'm not here to say you are wrong, simply to offer a different perspective. I think ideally, different tactics work for different people, and you have to experiment with how YOUR body works, and how it responds to different methods of training.

mindset said:

Oh really. I have never heard of this. What about negatives? Slow reps. I feel that leads to muscle failure much quicker, and frankly I've seen good results from them.

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I do pause reps (lower the bar to your chest, hold for 3 seconds, then press) quite often, but I only push for what I can get. For example, if I am doing pause reps in bench with 250 for a set of 10, if I can get 11 but with crappy form, and really burning myself out, I'll always stop at 10. The point is, you don't want to be pushing past what is reasonable. If you get 8 reps in an exercise, but struggle like you are having a seizure to get numbers 9 and 10, you are pushing past what is reasonable. It's okay to have to dig deep a little with your last rep, but it shouldn't break form.

Negatives you have to be careful with. Again, multiple schools of thought on negatives. They can help with strength gains as some people believe you gain more strength during the 'eccentric' part of the lift. For me, I think they are more of a mental tool.

Let me explain. The first time you go heavy on bench press, and that bar comes off the rack and you are holding it, and you start lowering it, in your mind, you are going "holy shit balls, there is no way I am going to push this back up!" You basically psych yourself out of the lift, and if you aren't used to handling heavy weight, you will psych yourself out every time. Doing negatives gets you used to feeling heavy weight, and that in my opinion, is the best benefit. But like Pied said, I wouldn't do them very often as they just aren't necessary, and there is a fine line with negatives from doing good, to doing harm.

And just to clarify, like Pied said, your compound movements such as dead lift, bench, squat, etc. SHOULD be the core of your workouts, and they are definitely the core of mine.

I just wanted to make sure I didn't give anyone the impression that I am advocating isolation only exercises.

NosLaser said:

For strength yes, for size, not necessarily. I know there are studies and science to support both, and there seems to be for some reason a lot of fighting back and forth between the two schools of thought, but the way I see it, is that body builders typically focus on more reps (for the shaping exercises). The idea is that oxygen is carried by the blood, and it takes more oxygen to sustain muscle use over a longer period of time than it does one quick explosive motion, more requirement for oxygen means more blood needs to get into the muscle, increased need for more blood means more tissue is needed in the muscle, which means muscle growth.

This is often why some body builders may have the size, but may not be as strong as they look. (Again, some, not all.) They concentrate on more reps, with more focus on the muscle being worked. It bears mentioning that when I say more reps, I don't necessarily mean 50 reps, I'm talking somewhere in the 15 range, vs. somewhere in the 3-6 range for strength. In my opinion and experience, in a lower rep range, the muscle simply isn't under load long enough to require growth quickly, which is why everyone gets a lot stronger before they get bigger.

Again, there are studies, and science to support both of these ideas, so I'm not here to say you are wrong, simply to offer a different perspective. I think ideally, different tactics work for different people, and you have to experiment with how YOUR body works, and how it responds to different methods of training.

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Well put.
I made sure not to say that I thought you were wrong. Cause you're not. I agree with everything you said. However, it is my personal opinion that most people will still see superior size gains from compound moves. While the extra blood flow and tissue requirements, etc. makes perfect sense (you'd totally have me convinced with that line) I feel that the increased size bodybuilders seem to net from their workouts is more a function of number of repetitions. If we were doing 15 rep bench presses...yadda yadda

But you're also right about something else. You will have to find what works best for you. For instance, when I was first getting started I did pretty much exclusively machine and flat db flyes for my chest and I moved on. Worked great really, I had a defined and striated chest. But it was thin.
I eventually said goodbye to flyes altogether (not permanently, but I've not gotten back into them yet after like 15 years) and moved into my personal king of chest exercises - the flat dumbell bench press. This compound movement brought out so much more thickness, depth and power to my pecs it was absurd. I went from a flat and squared chested to fuller, thicker and convex chest muscles. Dare I say 3D!!! (bb.com joke)

But, before we debate schools of thought on rather finer details we should establish that you must first build a foundation and that is done with compound movements.
I'd certainly hope no one would send a first timer into a gym and tell him to do concentration curls, superman curls, front raises, and flyes instead of bench, bb curls and military press.

Anyways, there's nothing wrong with challenging or controversial pieces of information, even if it isn't resolved. We already know everyone here is on the same side.

PieEyedPiper said:

But, before we debate schools of thought on rather finer details we should establish that you must first build a foundation and that is done with compound movements.
I'd certainly hope no one would send a first timer into a gym and tell him to do concentration curls, superman curls, front raises, and flyes instead of bench, bb curls and military press.

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100% And it must be done at first, in my opinion, with lighter weight to establish proper form. If you are working with a trainer that can stop you and make corrections, then by all means, push yourself from the start. But most people will watch a video online of how to do an exercise, and then go attempt it in the gym. Or at best, they do that, and work with a partner who is equally as inexperienced. Heavy weight in compound exercises with bad form is a recipe for disaster. So to anyone reading this, leave your ego in the parking lot, and first work with a weight you can handle, get your form down pat, and then work your way up; trust me, the strength will come.

Anyways, there's nothing wrong with challenging or controversial pieces of information, even if it isn't resolved. We already know everyone here is on the same side.

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Absolutely.

-lost-

When it comes down to keeping metabolism peaked and heartrate - how concerned should I be with heartrate during these sessions and are any sorts of suppliments recommended for extended periods of use?

You will want to avoid supplementation until you have a routine and proper diet down.
Supplementation is just that, a supplement to a proper diet and exercise program.

If diet is 90% of your results and training is 10%, you can likely attribute a whole percent to supplementation and cram it in there somewhere. You could, however use a quality protein powder to help reduce caloric totals while still meeting your macros, as well as a solid multivitamin. Fish oil is also beneficial for weight loss. But still, I'm hesitant to even give you that much information. I just don't want you to run out and buy shit your body doesn't need, nor would see results from at this point.

Grab a cup of black coffee when you can, that is plenty of "supplementation" at this stage.

Your heart rate though will depend on your own body but I'd be surprised if a target HR of ~140 for 45min+ wouldn't work just dandy.

I've seen the following over the past 2 weeks -

Diet : I've been sticking to a TON of water, maybe lightly sweetened Tea every so often, and a glass of milk per day. In the mornings I have a breakfast shake. I also eat half of a protein bar. At 10:00am, an Apple. At 11:00am a banana. For lunch it's usually chicken or a Salad with chicken. For instance today I had a whole chicken breast, 1/3 cup of rice, broccoli, and a little cheese. It was about 1 1/2 - 2 cups worth of food. For dinner it's usually a Salad or Fish.

Work out : 1 Hour 5 nights a week -

5lbs down
Endurance is up
People are taking notice?

Running for 30 is no problem. Heart-rate sits at about 167
Elliptical for 30 with Resistance on 8 and high-point of 12 and Cross Ramp on 10.

^I can do this hour and calculate a total of 720+ Calories burned. No issue as far as pain or feeling burnt out.

20 Curls at 15lbs was tough the first week. By the end of the 2nd I'm doing 25lb curls 25 times before not being able to lift again.
35lbs Triceps exercises
Shoulders - Not sure of the weight, the system is numbered. I believe they are 10's, so - 70lbs for chest and shoulders 20x times twice

^There is very noticeable muscle tone coming back in my Arms, forearms, shoulders, and muscles re-forming where my chest meets my shoulders. I'm going with the multiple reps with lighter weight idea instead of lifting what my max is.

Overall : I feel great so far. Just going to keep pumping at it. A lot of the muscle tone I used to have is still there, it's just getting it back and shedding the weight.

20-25 repetitions is too many. If you like it, that's fine, but it will limit your overall gains. It is good, however, that you are making sure you are comfortable with a weight before moving on.

So, I should ask since you only mentioned arms and shoulders, are you practicing your squats? Are you using the leg press? And what for your back?

You should lay out your exercise routine more clearly for us. The cardio looked dandy. I wouldn't want my HR that high, personally, but if you're not slowing down or experiencing any discomfort then rock out! Everyone is different.