posted Fri, 08/28/2026 - 06:25
61
Weighted cardio and strength training help?
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Hey, im looking for suggestions on how to design a workout plan? Im 30years old and currently sitting at around 250 at 6' tall. Im also a bigginer in the gym and work a somewhat physical job. I would like use a stair master and hiking as my cardio. Ideally id like to be fairly comfortable with say 60# in my pack, I do have a nice pack that I would load up with weight (exok4), and for the strength I was considering doing a pull, push, legs split. My days start at 330am leave town for work at 445 then get back to town around 5 pm. And i eat between 9am and 530pm trying to get around 190 grams of protein and day.
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In general for new people who haven't really worked out much, ive seen higher frequency splits work really well. Something like upper, lower, off ,repeat. Or shit even a full body every other day where you pick one exercise per muscle group and do one set to true technical failure. Something about the more frequent exposures really shines with newbies. The more advanced you get the more individual attention your muscles will need, then PPL and bro splits become more relevant. But in the beginning a newbie can make crazy progress with high frequency. Just make sure you progressively overload each week. All that means is do a cunt hair better than you did the week before. Might be only be 1 more rep or 2.5 more pounds than you did last time, just shoot for a little bit better than you were last week. Chatgpt can help you design the basics. Prompt something like I want an upper lower spilt, about this much time to complete, and I have access to XYZ equipment, i can't perform this exercise, i like this exercise, etcc. Then just start fine tuning.
Cool, it sounds like I would start with the full body routine and possibly transition to the upper/lower split. What tells you if your ready to start directing workouts for specific results?
Your log book, eventually you will stop progressing, then you know it's time to increase your volume for each muscle group. Transitioning to upper/lower/off would be ideal in that scenario. Still a high frequency plan, but with more volume per muscle group added in.
What are your goals, more bodybuilding or hiking related? I used to be huge into mountaineering before I got back into bodybuilding.
To be honest im not 100% certain. The hiking is mostly a hunting thing. Then I have a family and hunting isnt year round. So then its more toward backpacking trips with my family, we have three little ones, which adds alot of gear for me and mom to pack along. Which is where the 60# is coming from. Like I said im not very experienced in the gym and any strength i have is from work. So honestly just a decent balance, im not really sure how far to look forward with my goals, like I don't know har far this goes . I originally considered just focusing on the hiking to build a foundation or more of a base line then adding strength traing so my body kind of adapts one way at a time. But if I can make the time and tackle both ends then why not? As a bigginer is it really going to make that much difference how much I push the hiking? Then im also wondering what it looks like if hiking is more of the focus how big can I get or the vice versa. I mean at the moment its not like im planning a full on mountaineering excursion or anything
60 is a heavy fucking pack. If you have access to hikes you can train on regularly that would be the best conditioning for you. I would start with the milage and elevation gain you want to work up to with a lightweight pack and slowly increase your weight until you can do it comfortably. The more you can get out there the better. You can also get a box and do box step ups at home with your pack and a click counter to track elevation gain. For strength you want to focus mainly on lower body and core strength with a minor focus on upper body. Single leg exercises are going to be your best bet, Bulgarian split squats, lunges, single leg rdls. I would recommend strength training 2-3x a week, 2 days hiking conditioning and the more zone 2 cardio you can do the better. Look up some mountaineering training programs and follow those, it's going to be pretty similar to hunting.