Any advice?

itsyourround

Hey ya folks, just wanting a bit of advice on my current training regime, i was 16.7 stone on new years day, so decided to sort that out, been training away properly since about march time, was only farting about till then, anyway, down to 14.8 stone now. Im just over 6ft.

My normal training regime when i was at uni was with a fella who played rugby, on a mon, wed, fri a 3.5 mile run outdoors in about 25 minutes i think, not sure, could be more, fairly inaccurate timing. Come into the gym, 2000m row in about 7 minutes 12 seconds, do about 20 minutes core, plank, sit ups etc.

Then onto weights, we started with benching, had got this up to 2 reps of 85kg and a rep of 75kg, squats (70kg), bicep curls (17.5kg each arm), tricep dips, pull ups (Struggling to do about 5), lat pull down bar machine (65kg), Shoulder press, pec deck (60kg) some more leg weights, then hammer the punch bag for a while.

I know that is probably too much to be doing at once, anyway, im finished uni and back home n havn't anyone to go to the gym with lol, joined my local one and been heading by myself, just wondering if anyone could give me a bit of advice or hints as to what way i should be working? And what i should be doin? Im revising for exams now so i can go every day and im heading to the states on the 13th june to play football for the summer, would love to get down to 13.5 stone, could it be done from 14.8? I've noticed serious improvements since ive started.

My diet is just about ok, not great, quit the beer which helped greatly, i have a massive appetite. Would consist of normally 2-3 scrambled eggs in the morning with wholemeal bread, cup of coffee, some kind of soup in the day with more bread, then a fairly hearty dinner in the evenings, always healthy food but probably far too big portions. Ive quit the fizzy drinks but would still have the odd biscuit etc.

Anyone give me any advice what kind of training plan i should have and diet up until the 13th june? Sorry for making this so long but you folks know your stuff and trying speaking to the personal trainer in the gym but he's a total muppet.

By the way, should a fella like myself, who is about a stone and half overweight bother with protein shakes, im pleasing with the way ive come on at the weights, only reason im asking this is i tried one of mates one afternoon after the gym, about 4pm, and i wasnt hungry the rest of the night, this was a great job! Or since im overweight would i be best staying off them?

yomchi

My normal training regime when i was at uni was with a fella who played rugby, on a mon, wed, fri a 3.5 mile run outdoors in about 25 minutes i think, not sure, could be more, fairly inaccurate timing. Come into the gym, 2000m row in about 7 minutes 12 seconds, do about 20 minutes core, plank, sit ups etc.

Then onto weights, we started with benching, had got this up to 2 reps of 85kg and a rep of 75kg, squats (70kg), bicep curls (17.5kg each arm), tricep dips, pull ups (Struggling to do about 5), lat pull down bar machine (65kg), Shoulder press, pec deck (60kg) some more leg weights, then hammer the punch bag for a while

Firstly, this is a crazy way to train! unless you want your body to be in a total catabolic state every day. Ideally your cardio and weights days should be seperate. If they can't be, do your cardio after your weights.
You say you want to lose another stone. Do you know what your body fat index is? This will let you know whether its there to lose. Most people will know by looking so I presume you did

i have a massive appetite. Would consist of normally 2-3 scrambled eggs in the morning with wholemeal bread, cup of coffee, some kind of soup in the day with more bread, then a fairly hearty dinner in the evenings, always healthy food but probably far too big portions

massive isn't what I'd call it! Small and lacking in balanced macro nutrients I would say (apart from your dinner probably).
You would want to have a balanced diet all the way through the day eating at least 4 or 5 meals during the day. They don't have to be big as its weight you want to lose, but definately balanced with protein, carbs and fats. Just to give you an example on non training days at half ten in the morning I would have a 10 egg omlette (10 whites 3 yellows) - and this would be meal two! So what i'm saying is you need to suit your diet to your training, and suit your training to your needs/goals.

the personal trainer in the gym but he's a total muppet

Unfortunatley this is normally the way. But there are some good guys/girls out there. Some here too! I remember a PT telling me to eat protein straight after training - I was thinking ah he knows his stuff! then he said I should get it from a turkey sandwiche... :eek: enough protein for strong toes.:)

By the way, should a fella like myself, who is about a stone and half overweight bother with protein shakes, im pleasing with the way ive come on at the weights, only reason im asking this is i tried one of mates one afternoon after the gym, about 4pm, and i wasnt hungry the rest of the night, this was a great job! Or since im overweight would i be best staying off them?

This is optional for you, I would recommend you do increase your protein intake. Any person involved in athletic sports/Martial arts etc etc and who trains hard should increase their protein. Never mind the whole protein makes you fat thing! Guys who want to get big and lean will take really big portions of protein throughout their day as its needed. Protein can be helpful for slimmers too. I would recommend about 1 gram of protein per KG of your body weight daily. Others might give a different opinion. This will help you keep some lean muscle without packing on any extra weight etc.

just wondering if anyone could give me a bit of advice or hints as to what way i should be working? And what i should be doin?

If your objective is to lose weight, well lifting heavy weights is going to conflict with your goals. Lifting heavy weights increases muscle mass, probably very slowly for you as your diet isn't shaped towards this goal.
Use lighter weights and higher reps for that all out burn feeling as opposed to over load and fatigue.
Do your weights before your cadio. Split your weight up to suit each body part on a different day:
Monday: - chest and arms (then cardio)
Tuesday: - Back and shoulders (then cardio)
Thursday: - Legs and core work

This is only an example. You could put your cardio days seperate completely.
And avoid the common beginner approach which can be - train every part over and over and keep going until you feel like puking, use small range of motions in order to lift heavier weights, feck about from machine to machine.. this will only reverse the diection you want to be going in.. take it easy, slide into it at a steady pace.

T-ha, Dragan and G'em know a hell more than me here, so maybe they'll add a bit too.

Either way best of luck!

itsyourround

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!

Yea my main goal is to lose the weight, believe me there is plenty of fat to shift! To get my speed back for football, im still fast but the extra weight eventually slows me down, and i play in around midfield so need endurance but i still need to be sturdy, i play gaelic football btw, not soccer. I enjoy lifting weights but are they of any benefit to me for trying to lose blubber? Im kinda afraid of just doing all this cardio, losing weight, and strength?

Basically i can head to the gym every day, so after reading your advice, would a half sensible routine be, about 40 minutes cardio every day, and then every other day do weights but only hit the one area? Like you say, chest arms monday, legs core wednesday, back and shoulders on friday? Then more cardio at the weekends?

Also you say about eating 4-5 meals a day? Is this benificial if tryin to lose weight, always keeping your metabolism ticking over kind of thing? Is it bad the way at the minute i am more or less dying of hunger between meals?

itsyourround

What i meant by saying i have a massive appetite is that i could probably eat 4 times what i normally do but i dont!

yomchi

Yea my main goal is to lose the weight, believe me there is plenty of fat to shift! To get my speed back for football, im still fast but the extra weight eventually slows me down, and i play in around midfield so need endurance but i still need to be sturdy, i play gaelic football btw, not soccer. I enjoy lifting weights but are they of any benefit to me for trying to lose blubber? Im kinda afraid of just doing all this cardio, losing weight, and strength?

Ok so your goal is loose excess fat and gain strength.

1) Diet: The most important factor to loosing weight. If you take in more calories than you burn off - you get fat. If you reverse that - you loose fat. Simple really. Eatin up to 5 balanced small meals a day will increase your metabolism and effectively help burn more calories. So it all depends on your caloric input throughout the day. Also, if you eat very rarely, like 3 meals and well spaced out in between there is a chance your metabolism will slow right down making it harder to burn cals in rest mode.

2) Low intensity Cardio before breakfast in going to get right into them fat stores and shift it quicker than you would imagine.

3) For strength - forget about the routine I posted. That routine is to develop certain muscle groups in proportion to each other. If your looking for strength - stick to compound exercises like such:_
Bench press
Military Press
Dead lifts
Squats

Are just a few examples of good compound exercise. These four will hit your Chest, shoulders, back and the daddy of them all - the squats are good for everything!
Just make sure you do them with free weights.

They are the 3 key ingredients to your goals. Increase your protein intake and ,ake sure you are well stocked up on complex carbs for energy - and away you go!