As someone who has also started from being obese and now on my second year of regular lifting and consistent cardio, I recommend starting with two 20-30 minute sessions of full body per week and then devoting 20-30 minutes on the off days to plain old walking (or incline walking).

The reason to start slow is it allows you to actually notice how GOOD exercise feels when you do it regularly, and this naturally motivates you to do more over time. But if you start too intense, your brain builds a more negative association- boredom, pain, monotony, achiness, exhaustion.

You can get a trainer or use some of the many resources online that provide workout plans to ensure you target all muscle groups.

Last tip- on days you don’t feel like doing anything, just do 10 minutes (push-ups and squats at home). This keeps you in the habit.

Good luck, this is something everyone needs to do for health and longevity.

I’m going to be honest I think you’re too optimistic. You’re going from 0-1000 overnight. You’re going to burn yourself out. Or hurt yourself. Maybe start with 3-4 days a week and up it from there.

In general lifting 5 days a week is fine as long as you rotate.

If you stick to it long term you will come out looking muscular. I am tall and very very skinny and despite years of diligent diet and exercise I still look skinny lol. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never look like those guys who look very muscular especially at 45. Good luck OP. At my gym I have seen some amazing transformations with Obese people.

I would focus on nutrition first. Find yourself a rotation of low calorie, high protein foods that you enjoy and count your calories. And stick to the nutrition plan. Most of weight loss is nutrition. Pair that with strength training and you’ll start feeling better and better!

This sounds like a terrific start to have a schedule to work out every day, and including strength training will help immensely. As others said, alternate muscle groups (can be as simple as upper and lower body to start.)

There may be some exceptions, but you will find the vast majority of those lifting to be helpful and encouraging.

Good luck!

Take it day by day. Most diets/exercise programs fail because people look at the long-term goal rather than focus on the short-term. It makes it easy to put it off until tomorrow (ever say, I'll start my diet on Monday?). See what you like before committing to an hour. Some days you will want to go on the treadmill, some days you won't. And that's OK. If you want to lose weight, that starts with your diet.

Maybe throw a yoga day in there. A little easier on the muscles, gives you core work, helps with flexibility, and helps with some of the supporting muscles that you don't necessarily focus on with standard weights.

Not that I'm terribly experienced -- but my main exposure was doing the P90X program a few times. I'm sure my form was laughable, but at the beginning I was surprised at how hard it was. And, at the end, I was surprised at how good the yoga session, in particular, made me feel.

Congrats and yes, a trainer

Definitely do something more like the “from couch to 5K” program. If you just suddenly launch from zero into 1 hr 5x/wk, your joints may take over because your don’t have enough muscle yet to support, and then you could blow out your knees, hurt your back etc. I would definitely talk to a trainer.

Anonymous wrote:I am obese and weak and just joined a gym for their circuit machines to work out and gain some strength. I want to work out for an hour Monday through Friday (includes half hour of treadmill use). What do you think of this?

Good for you! A set schedule helps you build a new habit…great way to start! Focus on consistency-sticking to your schedule to exercise for 1 hour is the goal. Alternate upper and lower body weight lifting. Some days will be easier and some harder, but sticking to it will deliver results.

Anonymous wrote:I am obese and weak and just joined a gym for their circuit machines to work out and gain some strength. I want to work out for an hour Monday through Friday (includes half hour of treadmill use). What do you think of this?

As others said, rotate muscle groups and do core daily. Highly recommend a trainer to set you up with a program.

It’s fine, but you should alternate lower boys days and upper body days (and do abs as often as you want). This will help prevent injury and give muscles some time to rest.

Definitely get a trainer to help you start, if you can. But usually in this situation the advice is to rotate muscle groups each day, so that each muscle group has a day or two to recover before it gets worked out again.

Great start. But you need to start slow and rest every other day. Talk to a physician and a trainer.

I am obese and weak and just joined a gym for their circuit machines to work out and gain some strength. I want to work out for an hour Monday through Friday (includes half hour of treadmill use). What do you think of this?