I am a man in my 30′s trying to get fitter and lose my love handles. I want to
achieve good tone, good aerobic fitness and lose the love handles. I am not
majorly fat but could stand to lose at lease 10 pounds, I think. I don’t want
to look overly muscular. My main sport is tennis, which I want to start
playing again soon; anything that improves my game in terms of conditioning
will be good! I am pretty ignorant about fitness and exercise.

Okay, first things first: I PROMISE you, you will not look “overly”
muscular. For some reason, people think that by merely starting a
weightlifting program, they are going to turn into some huge, hulking
bodybuilder overnight. Its’ kind of like saying, “If I play
basketball a few times a week, I’ll get as good as Michael Jordan.”
Obviously it wouldn’t happen. It takes YEARS to acheive that and
unless you are using steriods which you obviously are not, you will
never look overly muscular. Another thing: You didn’t bring it up
but I’ll mention it anyway because it is such a prevelant assumption:
You cannot “spot reduce”. Your love handles will not go away because
you do 1000 situps a day. What you’ll have are rock hard obliques
(side of abdomen) with a nice little bit of marshmallow on top. You
need to reduce your OVERALL bodyfat and that is done slowly. Don’t
get discouraged, love handles are the last to go.

Q1

I have heard that you should only exercise certain muscle groups every 48 hours
in order to allow maximum impact of the exercise on the muscles and not to
overstress them, is that true?

Forget what you heard about every 48 hours because it is wrong.
Remember this: Everybody is different. What works for me might not
work for you and vice versa. You say you are in your 30′s but don’t
say if your 31 or 39 (makes a big difference). However, as a general
rule I will say this: Try to train each bodypart at least once, and
no more than twice a week. Any less will not help and any more will
cause overtraining and a resultant catabolic state. You are close to
the mark when you say you’ll overstress them but if you are training,
say, your legs every 48 hours….YOU ARE DEFEATING YOUR PURPOSE.

Q2

I am exercising every two days for reasons assumed in Q1. I do 20 mins on a
“horizontal” bike for aerobic exercise. Is this an exception to Q1, could I do
it every day and not risk damage to leg muscle?

See above about overtaining. 20 minutes on the bike is probably 10
minutes not enough. You don’t even start burning fat until you’re
about 15-20 minutes into your ride but are instead just using your
glycogen stores. That said however, any cardio activity will raise
your metabolic rate for a few hours after you’re finished. To answer
your last question, yes you can do cardio everyday although I’d give
it a rest once ina while. Plus…remember this: It will be a
combination of cardio AND increased muscle development that will
eventually help you loose weight. HIT THOSE WEIGHTS! The more lean
mass you have (muscle), the more calories your body will burn AT REST!

Q3

The other exercise I do is a latt pull down, 3 x 10 in front, 3 x 10 at the
back, in a seated position. Can anyone recommend any other good weight based
exercises particularly given my classic male love handle problem?

If this is all you are doing you need to completely alter your
program. Without knowing any details about your health, exact body
composition, etc I would recommend a simple weight program consisting
of something like this
S-Legs (Squats or leg press. 3 sets of 12-15 reps and some kind of
work for your hamstrings…not sure what your Paramount 2000 has.
Don’t forget your calves!!!
M-Chest (Bench, dumbells, etc) 3 sets 12-15 reps and Biceps same
sets/reps
T-Rest
W-Shoulders (Military presses and lateral raises) 3 X 12-15
T-Rest
F-Back (Pulldowns, rows, etc) 3 X 12-15 and Triceps (Tricep pulldowns,
kckbacks, etc) and again….3 X 12-15
S-Rest
This would be a one bodypart/week program. You can alter it obviously
and it is by know means the only way to work out…merely an idea of
what you can do. I would recommend doing your cardio also on these
days. You should not spend more than 1-1.25 hours working out and
that includes your cardio

Q4

The machine in my building is a Paramount 2000. The chest/bench press
is one

of those horizontal ones. I have tried using it but the return position for
the handles is behind my shoulders and I once wrenched myself slightly just
getting out of it after finishing! Does it sound like it could be set-up
wrong?

Doubtful. I’m not familiar with it but will say this: If you can
afford a gym membership get one. These all in one machines are junk.
If you can’t afford a gym (typically $15-20/month) than try to make
the best out of the equipment that’s available to you. Remember
though, whether at a gym or at home INTENSITY is the key.

Q4

Any comments on diet? I am a virtual vegetarian only eating skinless chicken
breast and fish (on the meat side). But I probably eat too much and this
doesn’t help my weight / tone.

Absolutely, positively incorrect. More likely you are eating way to
many CARBS. Right now, today, stop eating all processed, bleached
flour products and switch to whole grains. Rice…brown not white.
Bread….whole grain. None of this Wonder Bread stuff.
Potatoes..good, etc. However….keep all of these to a minimum and
eat them early in the day. Try to not eat any starchy carbs after 6
or 7:00. Keep eating the chicken and fish. You need to gain muscle
and to do that you need to eat protein. And EAT SOME FAT!!! Make
sure it’s good fat though from vegetable sources like peanuts. Stay
away from all dairy fat and things like that. Beef when lean is not
going to hurt you but since you seem to keep away from red meat then
do so.

.Q5

Also, any good web sites which give answers to my questions and more detail on
fitness / diet in general?

There are too many to even begin. I would suggest that you use Deja
News and do searches for “fat loss” etc. The newsgroup
misc.fitness.weights is great but be forewarned: It is not for the
weak hearted!!!! Radical opinions abound and threads sometimes get to
the point of true hostility and vitriol. Flames are common place and
they wrote the book believe me. However, there is some great info in
it.

People selling miracle products need not respond

I’m not selling anything. I have been lifting for 20 years, have
trained people in the past, and am currently taking my classes for
certification with ISSA. The sig line is not meant to sell anything
to you and as a matter of fact I would recomment that you DO NOT take
any supplements. You’re body is ripe to grow without any kind of
“miracle products”. In ten years, when you haven’t gotten “overly
muscular” , then you can start thinking about supplements.