1 month into my program... thanks to this site

StickyMcGinty

I'm about a month into my program, i've lost 3 kilos and am building up a nice bit of muscle, i started off with a lot of myths in my mind about how to lose weight but this site has straightened a lot of things out for me...

heres my current routine

3 times a week with at least 1 day in between

Cardio

Treadmill (dont worry g'em, its spelt right )
7 Km @ 45/50 mins

Weights

free weights: 20Kg long bar bicep curls - 3X 10 reps

Bench press - a puny 15Kg 3X10 reps

Knee Ups - 10X3 reps

Chest Press - 80KG 10X3 reps

Lateral Pull Down - 80Kgs 10X3 reps

Leg Extension (Quads, etc) - 50Kg 10X3 reps

Seated Leg Press - 100KG 10X3 reps

Pec Fly - 50Kg's 10X3 reps

Diet

Breakfast - Porridge w/ bannana slicked, w super milk

11am - Large Apple

2pm - Sliced brown bread, ham & cheese sandwich (not the real brown bread but the sliced wholegrain you get, its like normal white bread but brown if ye know what i mean!)

5pm - Large Apple/Banana/mardarin

7/8pm - Tuna Sandwich with bread as described above

---

i eat later if i've been to the gym, i'll eat something before i go and when i get back i'll have tuna out of the can or on brown bread to get my glycogen back up.

The only thing i'm worried about is my diet, i think it could do with some fine tuning. i'm getting very picky about what i eat and read almost every package before consuming, but i think i could do with some help on this. i now feel great after coming back from the gym and dont eat any crap anymore whatsoever...

one other thing is the bread that i'm eating, i dont eat white bread anymore but i eat the sliced wholegrain brown bread, is this much better for me or should i cut this out too? its sliced wholgrain pan you get in supermarkets, this has been a big part of my diest so i hope its not slowing me down

any suggestions appreciated folks....

Cheers,

Vinny

amazingemmet

Too many isolation type movements not enough compounds

StickyMcGinty

???

What ye mean?

amazingemmet

Weights

free weights: 20Kg long bar bicep curls - 3X 10 reps, Isolation

Bench press - a puny 15Kg 3X10 reps, Compound, internally rotates the shoulder

Knee Ups - 10X3 reps, good choice of an abs exercise, though i'd do something to work the uppers abs aswell

Chest Press - 80KG 10X3 reps, if on a machine don't bother with it, internally rotates the shoulder

Lateral Pull Down - 80Kgs 10X3 reps, Internally rotates the shoulder

Leg Extension (Quads, etc) - 50Kg 10X3 reps, Quad dominant leg exercise, sheering forces on the knee

Seated Leg Press - 100KG 10X3 reps, Quad dominant, can be bad for lower back if improperly performed

Pec Fly - 50Kg's 10X3 reps, Isolation, internally rotates

As you can see from the add comments which exercise is an isolation and which is a compund. Hamstrings and gluts are the big leg muscles which have been neglected on the program. You have 12 sets of exercises that internally rotate the shoulder joint and nothing that externally rotates it, might seem trivial now but it will cause problems later.

My advice would be stick with the whole body idea and design a program that incorporates the following, One vertical pull and push movement, ie chin ups and military press, one horizontal push and pull movement, ie bench and supported rows, one lower body quad dominant and hamstring dominant movement, ie squats and deadlifts and then a couple of isolations for what ever part you want to work ie curls for arms or calf raises.
Do 2 sets 8-10 reps 1 minute rest between sets and exercises and you'll have a decent program. Changing exercises every couple of weeks will keep you going for ages as well

StickyMcGinty

brilliant emmet, just the kinda info i was looking for, cheers!

as far as my diet is going though, does an apple or banana suffice as a snack?

like this evening i'm not doing anything in the gym, so i had a can of tuna (small john west ones, 15g protein) as my evening dinner as i'm not hungry but thought it'd be a good idea to eat somthing.

i'm primarily after weight loss, need to loose a good few kilos and after losing the first couple its kind of hard to lose more....

g'em

VinnyL wrote:

I'm about a month into my program, i've lost 3 kilos and am building up a nice bit of muscle, i started off with a lot of myths in my mind about how to lose weight but this site has straightened a lot of things out for me...

Yay!!

VinnyL wrote:

Treadmill (dont worry g'em, its spelt right )

Yay #2!!

Otherwise I agree with Emmet, there's a lot of isolation work going on there. Honestly, the big compound lifts will give you way more bang for your buck, and will get you looking better and lifting stronger. You already have the bench, but what about back work? And compound leg lifts? Have a search around a site like t-nation for full body workouts (also called TBT - total body training) or do an upper/lower body two day split to get you started.

As for your diet, unless you weigh the same as a seven year old, you're eating far too little!! I know when you're losing weight, or trying to lose it, the instinct is to eat way less than usual, but this is counterproductive.

You need more protein and healthy fats for one, and certainly more vegetables.

Read up about healthy fats - monunsaturated/ polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 oils and where to get them in your diet (oily fish, avocadoes, buts, olive/ walnut/ sesame/ flax oils among others).

This is one of the best "rules" articles about healthy eating around - enjoy!!

StickyMcGinty

g'em wrote:

As for your diet, unless you weigh the same as a seven year old, you're eating far too little!! I know when you're losing weight, or trying to lose it, the instinct is to eat way less than usual, but this is counterproductive.

you hit the nail right on the head there, i'm trying to eat more but i find it easier to plan a two hour workout than to plan my diet right...

i read that link there and they're great rules to follow, but what constitutes as a snack then?

i'm sure that if i can get my diet in order then i'm nearly there as far as weight loss goes... just need to get a ideal plan

g'em

have a handful of nuts with your fruit, or some meat or some milk - some form of protein in other words.

Don't worry, it takes most people a good while to get their diet it order - it's easy to follow pre-made lifting plans, but everyone tends to have very individual eating habits. Just keep working at it - I'm always tweaking my diet and probably will continue to do so as my training/ goals change.

Keep your food unprocessed and fresh and it'll be hard to go wrong!

StickyMcGinty

ye see having nuts just shouts "their full of fat" to me!

so if i get a bit of protein with my snacks my diet is grand for weight loss then, so thats what i've been missing!

g'em

nuts are full of GOOD fats, a handfull of unsalted almonds or cashews is a perfect snack! Trust me, the weight comes off faster with good fats in your diet. You need fat in your diet, just the right kind of fats!

StickyMcGinty

nice one, i'll start that tomorrow so!

i'll keep the rest of my diet basically the same and add in your suggestion, nice one g'em!

g'em

VinnyL wrote:

i'll keep the rest of my diet basically the same and add in your suggestion, nice one g'em!

along with more vegetables and food in general... :rolleyes:

use a website like fitday.com to figure out your macronutrient and calorie intake. It's a bit of a pain in the beginning but soon you'll grasp how much food you need. The stickies have info about how much food you should need every day according to your weight and activity level, so use that to makes a rough estimate of your required calorie needs.

brianon

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

Weights

free weights: 20Kg long bar bicep curls - 3X 10 reps

Bench press - a puny 15Kg 3X10 reps

Knee Ups - 10X3 reps

Chest Press - 80KG 10X3 reps

Lateral Pull Down - 80Kgs 10X3 reps

Leg Extension (Quads, etc) - 50Kg 10X3 reps

Seated Leg Press - 100KG 10X3 reps

Pec Fly - 50Kg's 10X3 reps

The guys are right. Compound is the way forward.
Squat, Deadlift, Press/Bench, Squat some more, bit more squats.
Ditch all the exercises you've got and move to these Barbell ones and you should notice BIG improvements.

Lower reps also. 5 max per set instead of 10. Proper warmup and about 3 work sets with the same weight.

Oh yeah. Squat, Bench/Press(alternate each session) and Deadlift in that order in a session.

Bicep curls ? see sig

aye

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

Weights

free weights: 20Kg long bar bicep curls - 3X 10 reps

Bench press - a puny 15Kg 3X10 reps

Knee Ups - 10X3 reps

Chest Press - 80KG 10X3 reps

Lateral Pull Down - 80Kgs 10X3 reps

Leg Extension (Quads, etc) - 50Kg 10X3 reps

Seated Leg Press - 100KG 10X3 reps

Pec Fly - 50Kg's 10X3 reps

i'd agree with the general voice of compound movements instead of isolation.
and as g'em said, you do three chest movements (pectoralis), and not one movement for the opposite muscle to the chest, middle traps.
yes i know lat pulldown is a back exercise but it is mainly the lats, as suggested in the name.
the opposite muscle to the lats is the medial detoid (shoulder) by the way.

working the middle trap will effectively make your chest look bigger and it will 'pull' the chest back if you like.
so barbell rows, or seated rows if you wanna start on the machine.

is the chest press a machine?

dumbell bench press is it?


nothing wrong with the bicep curls, but if you are going to do them you should do some tricep exercises. the tricep is the larger muscle in the upper arm, not the bicep. a close grip bench is great for the tricep if down correctly.
this will also help with your bench press strength.

as said legs movements are quad dominant, get a hamstring movement in there. if you start deadlifting and squatting that will do it.

deadlifting and squatting will be great for your core also.

g'em

you guys know this thread is over a year old right...? I'm not entirely against dragging up old topics but I'm not sure the OP will be reading it

aye

g'em wrote: »

you guys know this thread is over a year old right...? I'm not entirely against dragging up old topics but I'm not sure the OP will be reading it

nope i thought it was new.
waste of typing effort!

brianon

Bicep Curls are not really making the most of your time in a gym. Isolation is probably not something a 'newb' wants.

If hypertrophy is your aim then go ahead. If you want actual functional fitness....Pull/Chin Ups will do your biceps/triceps/shoulders and your back !

Dips are great also.

brianon

aye wrote: »

nope i thought it was new.
waste of typing effort!

awww crap !

I just assumed it was new. Assumption is the mother of all ... etc....

g'em

aye wrote: »

nope i thought it was new.
waste of typing effort!

If you look above the username of each poster it gives the date and time the post was made at

Hanley

brianon wrote: »

Bicep Curls are not really making the most of your time in a gym. Isolation is probably not something a 'newb' wants.

If hypertrophy is your aim then go ahead. If you want actual functional fitness....Pull/Chin Ups will do your biceps/triceps/shoulders and your back !

Dips are great also.

Explain to me what this "functional fitness" you speak of is?

BossArky

I'm going to PM the OP and get him back on here. It will be interesting to see if he stuck with the program and what kind of progress he made.

estebancambias

Do it. I would like to see what he is lifting now.

BossArky

Done.

[dramatic pause]drums fingers on desk and looks around whilst an erie silence settles on the thread[/dramatic pause]

StickyMcGinty

BossArky wrote: »

I'm going to PM the OP and get him back on here. It will be interesting to see if he stuck with the program and what kind of progress he made.

ha ha cheers BossArky thought i was in trouble when i saw that PM

i'll update you all over the weekend on my current program, just wrapping up my college finals so i'm a bit pressed for time

needless to say all this advice was REALLY helpful, the gym has been a great to relieve stress this year!

anyway, i'll get back to you the weekend folks with an update!

estebancambias

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

ha ha cheers BossArky thought i was in trouble when i saw that PM

i'll update you all over the weekend on my current program, just wrapping up my college finals so i'm a bit pressed for time

needless to say all this advice was REALLY helpful, the gym has been a great to relieve stress this year!

anyway, i'll get back to you the weekend folks with an update!

Just so you know we were desperate to see you fail.

g'em

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

needless to say all this advice was REALLY helpful, the gym has been a great to relieve stress this year!

Updates like this make me feel all warm and tingly inside

The_Hustler

brianon wrote: »

awww crap !

I just assumed it was new. Assumption is the mother of all ... etc....

You're the one who resurrected it!

Looking forward to the update

estebancambias

I think Sticky has done a runner.