Rate My Diet and Program please

MMM

Hi all,
I started frequenting this site about a year ago and have found it a wealth of information and a good motivational tool. I’m a 6ft3” 25 year old 14.5 stone rugby player. I’ve played rugby for years but between college and everything else never got to do any serious gym time until last summer. After college (four years ago) I was at my heaviest at 15.5 stone but relatively (cardio wise) fit. For two years I did a lot of cardio but very little gym work and brought my weight down to 14 stone. This was good but adversely affected my rugby performance as I play second row/ back row and need a bit of bulk. I followed the stickies here last summer in terms of diet and program and brought my weight back to 14.75 stones having added a nice bit of muscle mass. During last season I maintained this weight and bulk with diet and weights, finishing the season (injury free all year, alot to do with the gym i think) on 14.5 stone.
I took a rest for the month of May but have been back to the gym for the past 3 weeks looking to add some lean mass for the season ahead. I haven’t really put on much weight in the last few weeks although I have definitely gained size in my upper body, I may need to do a calorie count on my food again to adjust for this. Below is my typical diet and workout plan. Any advice or criticism would be great.

Typical Diet:

Meal 1 – 7am
A shake made from the following:
1 banana
1 scoop of Pro X Vanilla Whey
1 Cup of Frozen Berries
250ml Skimmed Milk

Meal 2 - 9.30am
1 Bowl of Porridge with raisins
1 Half of a small multi grain baguette with centre bread removed and some marmalade

Meal 3 – 12.15 pm
1 Oven Baked Chicken Breast
2 portions veg (broccoli, carrots, green beans etc)
1 Half Baked potato

Meal 4 – 3.45 pm
1 Chicken breast
Small Salad with olive oil
1 slice McCambridge Bread

6pm – Gym (possibly banana before it)

Meal 5 – Post Workout (7.30pm)
1 protein shake (Pro X) mint choc with water
40g Carbs from either a large banana or a lucozade sport drink

Meal 6- 8.30pm
Some thing like a four egg white omelet with onions peppers and either turkey, tuna or chicken


Workout Plan:
Monday (Chest and Back)
Chest: Bench, Incline Bench, Decline Bench, Flys or Cable Crossovers – 4 exercises, 3 or 4 sets of 8 reps, aiming to fail on eighth
Back: Lateral Pull Downs, Bent over Rows, Dumbell rows– 4 exercises, 3 or 4 sets of 8 reps, aiming to fail on eighth

Tuesday – 1 hour six a side soccer

Wednesday (Legs and Core)
Legs: Squat, Deadlift, Legpress, Leg extensions, Leg Curls, Calf Lifts – 4 exercises, 3 or 4 sets of 8 reps, aiming to fail on eighth
Core: Bridge, Oblique Bridge, Supermans, Back Extensions, Crunches – 4 exercises, 3 sets of 12 reps

Thursday – 1 game of tag rugby (40 minutes)

Friday (Arms and Shoulders)
Arms: Cable Curls, Tricep Cable pull downs, Seated Dumbbell Curls, Dips, Standing barbell Curls – 4 exercises, 3 or 4 sets of 8 reps, aiming to fail on eighth
Shoulders: Shoulder press, Behind Neck Shoulder press, Lateral Raise, Front Lateral Raise – 3 exercises, 3 or 4 sets of 8 reps, aiming to fail on eighth

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Rest

daveirl

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Leon11

I'd planned to use WS4SBII but we've been told to stick to a certain type of program. Dave is right in that doing a shoulder and arms day is a bit of a waste, I'd look to Defranco as a guideline.

Basically we're looking at increasing functional hypertrophy for June, increase strength for July, increase explosive power for August. That means we'll be working in the 8-12 rep range for June, 5-8 rep range in July, haven't seen Aug's plan yet!.

Core Work/Corrective Core Work is important, I'd suggest picking just 2 exercises and doing them after each session for the next few weeks. Say come the end of July I'd then look at doing one advanced core technique per day.

Eating plan and training looks fairly decent in all fairness though.

MMM

hey guys thanks for the feedback and advice.
yeah, i reckon variation is a good idea, i've been trying to broaden the number of exercises i have for each area and use a different set each week, as you said i should probably change around the reps also.
Core is something i have been focussing on as i have had lower back problems and tight glutes in previous seasons, increasing the frequency of these exercises sounds like sound advice.
That WS4SBII plan sounds fantastic and introduces alot of functional sport specific exercises which is something i could use so i think i might try to introduce some of the field type work in the coming weeks.
Cheers Guys...any more comments welcome

daveirl

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Leon11

daveirl wrote:

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Oldschool! No wonder why Munster produce all the forwards, we're lucky enough in that one of the players runs his own fitness company, specialises in rugby fitness so we avoid the usual ****e some teams are forced to do.

Patto

Looks pretty good to me too.

How intense are the 6 a sides and the tag rugby?

Do you find that you are lifting better on Monday than on Wednesday or Friday?

What are you squatting, bench pressing, deadlifting?

MMM

The 6 a side is very intense, i basically bust my butt for an hour to make up for my lack of skill I put in a good bit of work in the tag also, although subbing on and off does ruin this a little. As i said i think adding a field session each week ( possibly along the lines of the WS4SBII) before formal training starts would be beneficial too.
My Monday session is usually my best alright, but just because my chest and back is the area i'd be most used to working.
I've neglected my lower body in the past (due to lower back problems, tight glutes!), but i think i have my squatting technique down now and have been working on glute flexibility and core work to help this. I always shyed away from putting much weight on the squat bar for these reasons but in the past few weeks i've been squatting 80kG and looking to build this up.
For the same reasons as avoiding squatting i avoided deadlifts and have only been builiding these up for the last few weeks with about 50KG on the bar.
I benched without a spotter for most of last year and got stuck on a 60KG plateau. i've got a gym buddy for the last few weeks and have been able to do much more intense workouts going to failure each time and have increased this weight to about 70KG.
hopefully i'll be able to increase these numbers further in the next few weeks

Patto

What are your goals? From your first post I take it you want to build strength and bulk up for playing rugby. You are not that strong for a rugby player your height and weight (this is something you and I have in common, I am the same height and weight but I don't play rugby)

I reckon at 6'3" 14.5-15 stone you could aim to be benching over 100Kgs, Squatting 140s and dead lifting 160s. They are my long term goals anyway, at the moment I'm lifting similar weights to you.

If you want to get there quicker you probably need to look at improving the quality, volume and intensity of your work rate in the gym, maybe you would get more benefit from 3 full body workouts, and cutting back on high intensity stuff like the 6 a side and the tag.

You shouldn't be plateau at a 60Kg or even 70Kg bench, if you are its either lack of calories, lack of sleep or lack of recovery (i.e. your six a side). Mind you it looks like I've hit a similar problem, I do two full body sessions a week and I do a lot of low to medium intensity running (tempo runs, long easy run, intervals, hill runs etc). Maybe you are the same in that you want to maintain a decent level of fitness while making gains in the gym. Unfortunately there is a tradeoffs and that why you get these early plateaus.

MMM

Cheers Patto,
I get what you mean about the high internsity stuff, it must have some effect on my performance in the gym sessions. As you said the trade off between remaining fit and bulking up is a tough one. I've another month before formal pitch sessions begin so it might be an idea to use this time more effectively as reagrds bulking.
i hear where you're coming from on the low plateaus . I blame a lot of it on
gyming on my own for the last year (thus not busting my butt and going to failure), I've put in 3 weeks of quality work with a gym buddy now and have seen the numbers go up, so hopefully i can maintain this progression with tough sessions.
On the squat and deadlift, as i said i avoided these due to lower back problems and tight glutes but have worked hard on my core and squatting technique in the past month and have been increasing the weights steadily. I'm up to 90kG on the squat now for 3 sets and again the quality of my workout has been much better. I'll keep ye posted as the numbers rise...hopefully!