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I am a hair over one month of eating Paleo. Overall I have been about 95/5 or 90/10. I am down 21 lbs from when I started and I feel better than I have in years. My body has leaned this way... head, neck, chest, stomach...and now legs while my considerable gut is still working its way down (got a ways to go). I started back at the gym because I noticed that under that fat I have very little muscle tone. I am not interested in putting on a lot of mass or becomming a body builder. However, I am looking more for tone and definition.

Here is what a regular routine looks like when I go three times a week. Chest press (free and machine), Bicep curls (free and machine), Tricep pulldown, Tri-over head extension, and the tricep machine, Crunch machine, and the Torso rotation. I am avoiding cardio because I am actually loosing weight at an accptable rate and I do not want to speed it up. I want to keep my weight loss at a healthy rate, not an alarming one.

Am I missing something? Is there something I can add that people found particularily useful?

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6 Answers

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Squat heavy. Deadlift heavy.

That's all you need.

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throw in some pullups and your gtg – Bill1102inf Jul 22 at 15:06
Thanks, I was considering adding in a squat component, but I still have not done it. I have to be very careful about the heavy part though...I have knees issued to me by the US Army and they are in pretty bad shape. Have to be careful with how much weight I put on them. – SCUBABry Jul 22 at 16:38
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Squat, deadlift, press, pull. Your knee issues should be alleviated over time. Do not start out at your maximum but rather at a reasonable weight and add over time. Be sure to do full range of motion. – JakeA Jul 22 at 18:05
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Two words: Cross fit. Or functional strength training. Best shape of your life, no body building necessary.

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First, there's no such thing as "getting toned." Either you have muscle and it shows or you don't. Also, contrary to conventional wisdom, you really can't isolate a certain muscle and make it grow (much) bigger than the others. Granted, body builder focus on certain ones and get certain shapes, but that required LOTS of specialized work (and supplements). For normal humans with a normal gym schedule that doesn't happen.

So what do I recommend? As Trelow said, deads and squats. Basically you want to put your effort as short duration, high intensity, high weight on the biggest muscles. That will actually cause all of your muscles to grow. People often think that muscle repair from the workout is what makes them big; and, that's true to an extent. However, working out also stimulates a release of growth hormone which causes all the muscles to get big, even the ones that weren't specifically exercised. For example, look at sprinters. They do lots of heavy, explosive work with their legs and their upper bodies look great. They probably do some upper body work, but they'd be foolish if they didn't focus their time on explosive leg work; so, I bet their workouts are mostly that, and they get great upper body stimulus from that.

Granted, that doesn't mean ignore your upper body, but generally you'll want to focus on heavy, short, intense workouts that use mostly the big muscles. Compound, coordinated movements are also much better than focused, single-joint movements.

You also don't want to undo the growth hormone by doing any long, slow cardio, or even metcons. Those are actually antagonistic to muscle growth.

Look up "Starting Strength" or "Wendler 5/3/1" or my favorite "The Texas Method", those will really get you going good. Caution: don't be alarmed that it looks like very little work. Those programs have been designed and tested to work. If you add more to them, you'll just undo the benefits.

If I had to design a program it would center around

5x5 or 5x3 of Deadlifts, Squats, Power Cleans, Power Snatches, and Standing Press (only 1 or 2 of those on any given day).

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+1 on the 5/3/1. Saved my ass with my JHS. Also German Volume Training worked really well for me. bodybuilding.com/fun/luis13.htm – Thrak Jul 22 at 21:26
5/3/1 and Texas Method are great but intermediate programs. A novice can get much faster results from a beginner program like Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5X5. I do Texas Method myself but their is a difference between increasing the squat 30 pounds per week for the first 4-8 weeks than just 5-10 pounds per week. Get those beginners hooked on the gains and they won't mind later when they slow down. – Mark Jul 23 at 1:49
Oh +1...so right about 'getting toned'. Everyday I go to the gym I hear someone say they are trying to get toned and then proceed to watch them do a worthless routine of high reps and low weights. There really is no excuse when a 3 day a week, full body work out only requires 3 hours of your time per week, and it is the most effective thing you can do to gain strength. – Mark Jul 23 at 1:52
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Row Chest Press Pulldown Overhead Press Leg Press

You can do these exercises on machines. Your workouts should be strenuous but you shouldn't kill yourself at the gym either and give yourself plenty of rest.

Little muscle tone means you have little muscle mass, so that is what you need to get. You won't get as big as you think you would.

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I like the leg press idea. As I mentioned, I have some knee issues so I have to be careful. As long as I am careful it should not be an issue. – SCUBABry Jul 22 at 16:38
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First off, you mention no leg exercises, and you are doing mostly single joint movements. Work in some squats, lunges, or deadlifts. They don't have to be heavy but they are very functional. Also try to do multi-joint exercises. You could do squats with dumbbells that you press at the top, so you are working legs, trunk stability and triceps/shoulders. Doing the occasional sprint intervals will help with HGH production and make both building muscle and losing weight easier, without taking a lot of time. Plus it will be a boost to your fitness abilities.

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Oh, I failed to mention, I am an avid fencer. I do a lot of lunges since that is one of the primary attack movements for a touche. We also do tons of them when I am at the place where I fence. I have never really done many squats, maybe I need to work them in as well. – SCUBABry Jul 22 at 16:40
Oh and running is out of the question. My knees will not take it. Anything else that would give me high HGH without the knees being affected? – SCUBABry Jul 22 at 16:41
Basically you need to activate the larger muscle groups of your legs to get a substantial benefit of HGH. Squats, sprints, lunges, etc. – RaiseFitness Jul 22 at 17:42
I don't disagree with your recommendations, but neither human growth hormone nor testosterone in physiological doses stimulate muscle growth. medicalnewstoday.com/releases/246637.php jap.physiology.org/content/112/11/1805 springerlink.com/content/228h54586751g19l/?MUD=MP springerlink.com/content/r866q8m835680400/?MUD=MP In particular, the order of exercise (large to small muscle groups) has been shown to have no effect on muscle strength or growth. bmsi.ru/doc/0da949fa-f702-4dca-85fb-db83fa47527a – Sam Knox Jul 22 at 22:37
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If you intend to gain strength on any level, then barbell training is the most effective way to go. If you intend to train with barbells, then you need to buy Starting Strength, learn the proper technique, and run the program through linear progression.

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