Hey everyone, I need some help here. I'm 5'9'' and weight around 185lbs. I started working out again, I stopped for a couple years and in that time I lost alot of muscle and replaced it with fat. My body fat percentage is much higher than my muscle and I basically want to lower my fat percentage and increase my muscle. I started to eat healthy again I run 1hour every other day, plus I go on a stationary bike everyday from anywhere to 30-45min.

I'm content with my cardio, it's the weight training I'm having a bit of difficulty with. See right now I'm really out of shape and my goal is to lose weight and gain muscle but one other thing I've really noticed is that I'm very very weak right now, I probably can't do more than 5 push ups right now (sad, I know:(), I need to gain alot of strength back and become stronger.

So my question is should I do low reps and high weight or low weight and high reps?

I know that low reps and high weight is better for increasing strength and high reps and low weight is better for slimming down, that's why I'm having trouble with this.:confused:

Thanks in advance.

High reps and low weight is *not* good for slimming down unless you're using it as additional cardio. If you stick with a weight that you can do 10-12 reps per set with, you should be able to progress into heavier weights as you gain some muscle and strength back. The *muscle* is better for slimming down than endless reps with itty bitty dumbbells. ;) Just start where you are and work toward a specific goal. Are you going to a gym or are you exercising at home?

Thanks so much for the reply, Naxis, I read these board quite often and you always seem to have excellent advice.:)

I'm exercising at home right now, I have a lot of space and it's kinda within my comfort zone.

So with the way I'm doing cardio right now, how many times per week do you think I should do weight training?

Also, would I be able to take any supplements to speed my muscle growth or is it better to avoid it?

You really need to be careful with weights. I gave myself a nasty form of chronic pain because I did stupid stuff with weights. I'm 6 foot, 60 kilos and I was doing bicep curls with 10kg weights, 20 reps with each arm every day for about 4-5 months. The result was not good. LOL.

Supplements are pretty useless. You will see significant gains in the beginning pretty quickly anyway, so theres no need to waste money trying to speed that process up. Now, if you're interested in using something like whey/protein shakes, you certainly can if you want to. Getting enough protein is definitely important to muscle gain and if for whatever reason you aren't eating enough if your regular diet (1-2g per kg of body weight) then using a protein supplement might be helpful. It can also just be a convenient, light snack to keep with you too. Just make sure that if you include shakes you adjust the rest of your calorie intake accordingly.
For weights, you could probably start with 2 or 3 full body circuit days a week. No more than that so that the muscle has time to repair (and you'll probably be a little sore a day or two afterward). Use compound exercises like presses, rows, pullups if you can do them, lunges, squats and such so that you're building functional strength first. You can sculpt specific muscles later if you feel you need to, but big movement exercises will give you more "bang for your buck" as far as the time:results goes.
That should be a good starting point. Feel free to post any other questions. Best of luck! :)

Death13 - Oh boy, I'll make sure I'll be careful, I don't want to end up getting any chronic pains, lol.

Naxis - Thanks again for the help, I got my workout plan set up now, your advice is much appreciated!:)

Hey Naxis I pretty much agree with most everything you say, but I had a question about the use of supplements. And to the poster I do not mean to hijack your thread, but it looks like you have already received the info you need :)

For just one example of a supplement I think is great, what about the use of Creatine Monohydrate? It is safe as it is found in foods we already eat (red meat) no side effects besides some people getting stomach aches from taking too much, and it is proven to enhance muscle stamina, resulting in increased reps and weights, thus increased gains, and in my opinion is worth the money for these gains.

So to clarify, are you saying supplements like this are useless, or more unnecessary? There are also other supplements I feel have very good value.

Thanks, Brad

Supplements are pretty useless. You will see significant gains in the beginning pretty quickly anyway, so theres no need to waste money trying to speed that process up.

The comment was directed specifically to the original poster's question. As a beginner, she will see fairly rapid increase of lean muscle anyway so adding creatine is pretty unnecessary. If after the plateau starts she decides she wants more mass, that's a different issue.