This is not a good idea considering this guy sounds like a beginner and he wants to lose weight. Higher reps burns more calories. Not to mention a full body workout allows for shorter rest periods. He should be doing a workout that consists of full body, 3 times a week, and mostly compound exercises. Throw in some cardio on the in between days, plus one rest day and that's a good starting formula. Variation is good, but he's not trying to become a professional wrestler. He's just getting in shape.
If he is already lifting weights for 2 hours a day then his body is already used to handling weights. Switching to an 8 rep system would not be anything extreme. I'm not telling him to do drop sets, super sets, pyramids, negatives or power sets. Simply to get to the 8 rep range. The whole point is to streamline his process. To become more efficient at burning calories, having a leaner body will help. This means increase muscle mass. The fastest way to do so at a beginner level is by simply doing 8 reps.
-15+ reps- Doing a lot of reps is great for endurance and would really help him out if he were training for some sort of sport or wrestling.
-6-12 reps- This is the hypertrophy, or muscle growth range. This is what would help him to increase his caloric burn.
-1-5- reps is for power. This would be great if he was a powerlifter or trying to increase his numbers.
Doing higher reps doesn't necessarily burn more calories. I lose more weight when lifting at the 6-8 rep range than when i do light weights. I've used this method to train many people. I've had people challenge me to see who can lose the most on deployments. The groups that do the low rep range with full body workouts all end up with nice muscle endurance but lost significantly less weight than the groups training heavy. Body builders are masters of weight loss since they have to have almost no body fat. By only working one or two muscles per day, he can isolate the blood flow to those muscle to help achieve hypertrophy. It also allows him to recover longer between workouts. For instance if he has a chest day, then his chest would have an entire week to recover before going at it again vs 1 or 2 days. This is coming from 7 years of personal experience, training people, research. I'm not trying to call you out or anything, just saying mine has worked for many people including myself. I suffer from alcoholism, so my weight gets out of control at points and I rely on these techniques to make sure I slim down for military standards.
I know he is not trying to become a professional wrestler, that is why I did not give him my workout regimen that I currently use. I gave him the type of regimen I use when I'm just trying to get in shape for a fit test or drop weight for summer. My current regimen is way more extreme and is not for beginners at all.
This is good advice, but what I bolded is excessive for your average joe. You're training for professional wrestling. You need that much water. He doesn't. Chuck someone into the deep end of training and you'll scare them right out of the water. Any regular person will tell you even drinking a gallon of water a day is crazy.
Akhilleus, your OP was more important than anything in regards to simply cutting weight. Anyone who's studied diets knows that you don't even have to look at a gym if you want to lose weight. The primary factors in that is what you consume and how much you consume. The gym simply speeds up the process if used correctly. I know a girl who lost 92 pounds in 9 months and she's as lazy as anyone you'll ever meet, but she got on Weight Watchers and followed the program to a T. No one really needs a program to follow if they have enough knowledge. The most important thing is discipline.
A general rule of thumb is the minimum water intake being 1/2 a gallon per day. But if he is working out for two hours a day, then 1 gallon is going to be needed. I say shoot for 2 because when I shoot for 2 I at least get my first gallon in but much of the time never drink my second. I notice that when I shoot for one, I often get less than one. So shooting higher, especially for someone who isn't used to drinking water regularly will help get that 1 gallon minimum. Anything in excess of what his body needs will just be passed. The main thing to worry about is that your urine is always clear.
I agree that a diet alone will allow you weight loss. And as you said the gym speeds the process. I assume that he would like the results quicker especially as it is spring time and almost pool time. This is hardly the deep end of training.
The deep end would be running 1.5 miles 5:30am, going to work, running 4 flights of steps every hour, completing 100 reps of either dumbell curls, tricep extensions or delt raises. Conusming 300g of protein to include at least 3-4 shakes. Then after a 10 hour work shift going home and working the heavy bag for 15 minutes with no rest intervals, then hitting the gym isolating 2 muscles and using different routines each day which incorporate drop sets, super sets, negatives, pyramids, power sets, hypertrophy sets, endurance sets. Then going home and doing 100 push ups and 100 sit ups before bed. Then training 4 hours on Saturday at a wrestling school and then being a bruised up cripple on Sundays lol. That wore me down. I had to drop the 5:30 runs and sometimes don't do the boxing and/or stair running(although I walk them every hour. Toss in my excessive drinking after the gym, I was always exhausted.
