Matthew is the Youth Pastor at Brandywine Valley Baptist Church and a former contestant on NBC's Biggest Loser where he lost 176 lbs. For contact info, free resources and more, follow the links across the top of the page!
One of the questions I have gotten over and over the last couple years is what my workouts are like and how and the world did I pull off two and a half hours of exercise a day at 366 pounds during the Biggest Loser?!? One component has not changed from the beginning; upper body circuit training. Three days a week I spent about half an hour doing upper body workouts on the machines at my local YMCA. The purpose behind this is to retain muscle; when you do a lot of these fad diets and just cut out food, etc., but don’t exercise, a big percentage of the weight you lose is actually muscle weight. My goal is to just lose fat so I have to push my muscles to keep them the same. Let’s face it, as fat as I was, there had to be a solid core of muscle under all that fat to propel my 366 lbs around. The cardio aspect of my workout has changed as I have upped the intensity with each week. Originally I was walking four miles in the morning, and four miles in the evening; which took about an hour each. Once that got easy, I started upping the incline on the treadmill. Eventually I got to where I was walking about 4.3 miles an hour at an incline of about four or five. When that was easy, then I started using the eliptical. Originally I could only last about ten or fifteen minutes, then I’d go back to walking for the rest of the hour. Eventually I built up to doing an hour straight on the eliptical … then I started upping the intensity. When I got to the point where I could do an hour of eliptical on a difficulty of 15 (out of 20) at about 70+ rpm, I realized I wasn’t pushing as much as I should be, so then I went back to the treadmill. I start off running until I couldn’t do that anymore, then I moved to the eliptical until I’m completely beat and then finish out the hour on the exercise bike. The key is, I wasn’t doing the whole two and a half hours at the same time; I did 60-90 minutes in the morning, and another hour in the evening. And I did what I was able to do … but constantly kept pushing myself. Generally I like to have my heart rate up around 150-170 for a workout – I’m a sweaty mess at the end!
Now a days, I’m in maintainance mode (although, at the moment I have a few leftover pounds from Christmas to deal with …). Instead of the 10-15 hours a week of exercise, I aim for 4-6 hours. I typically do an hour of exercise at a time, usually on the treadmill and/or the eliptical machine. I actually prefer using my treadmill at home because I have a portable dvd player on a shelf in front of it so I can plug my headphones in and watch a movie while I exercise. I actually find it to be one of the most relaxing hours of my day!
If I’m not watching a movie, I’m listening to my MP3 player. My favorite workout music? Andy Hunter and David Crowder Band. I’ve been listening to their albums over and over the last couple years! And I’ll listen to the Doug Field’ Podcast whenever that comes out! I also enjoy Rob Bell sermons, and the occasional audio book. My biggest pet peeve at the gym? People watching the food network at the gym. What the heck? Don’t they see the recovering obesity survivor guy trying to work that stuff off in front of the TV? It’s just not right!
January 14, 2008 at 7:19 pm
[...] Original post by Matthew McNutt [...]
January 16, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I know that the next thing I have to add is some kind of weight/resistance training with emphasis on my upper body. I belong to the local Y (it’s on the other side of the block from my office, so no excuses) and they’ve got a great Nautilus room plus a free weights room.
Problem is I have no idea what to do. I’ve had the instruction on using the machines but I don’t want to just be noodling around doing nothing useful.
How did they set up your program?
January 16, 2008 at 10:20 pm
They showed us how to use the different machines but we were kind of on our own (actually, the at home contestants weren’t even allowed to have trainers, so we really were on our own). The greater the variety of circuit training machines you use, the more rounded the workout you will receive. Most of them are designed to target specific muscles. I used just about all of the upper body machines over the course of thirty minutes to get a well rounded circuit training session. I usually do 15-20 reps, move to another machine, do 15-20 reps, then go back to the other one and repeat. I usually do 2-3 sets of reps at each machine.
January 17, 2008 at 10:30 am
That’s very useful thanks Matt. How did you determine starting weight?
Just went in to the Y and found I’ve gained another pound! I’ve basically gained back everything I lost last year.
NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!
Worse yet I have no one to blame but myself. Grump.
January 17, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I kept adding weight until I could just barely finish the reps. Then I would stay at that weight for a few workouts and then bump up to the next one. I kept pushing and adding, keeping it at a level I could just barely do. : ) Hey, it’s frustrating to put weight back on but it’s not the end of the world – if you hadn’t lost it to begin with, just think how heavy you would be now! So at the end of the day, you’re still ahead of the game. Maybe not where you want to be, but you’ll get there!
January 17, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Great stuff here!
Love the plug for Field’s podcast! you crack me up.
January 17, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Thanks Matt, I actually hadn’t thought of that! LOL!
January 18, 2008 at 12:06 am
Any time I mix food with exercise it’s a huge mistake for me. Mixing the Food Network and the gym is the ultimate mistatke.
January 18, 2008 at 8:07 am
lol Ken … hey, what can I say? I like to listen to podcasts when I work out … can I help if it there are only a few I actually download?
Andy – yeah. I remember one time they were doing a pizza making special. It’s when I first started my diet; I thought I was going to die. I was so hungry by the end of my workout I almost went straight next door to the Amatos next to the YMCA!
January 23, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I have just started doing exercise for 1 hour at night on the weekdays, and for 1hour in the morning and 1 hour at night on the week ends. I want to lose about 35 pounds, But I need to know what to eat. So if you could please let me know how and what you ate. It would be greatly appreciated. By the way Congratulations, You look Great…………
January 23, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I’ll try to get around to posting a “eating” blog! : )
January 24, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I would really appreciate any help you could give me with a typical days menu. I am vary determined, but i just do not know what to eat. We have 5 months until summer and I want to take off the 35 pounds I have gained. I quit smoking after 27 years of smoking a pack a day. I now have not smoked in 8 months. Instead of smoking I eat. But if I can quit smoking I know I can take of this weight. Thanks again for any help you can give.
Bonnie
January 24, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I just posted a blog entry on things I eat! : )