1 month to change my shape......

gabgab

Hi guys I am currently 6'2 and 181lbs, was 189 but some triathlon stuff helped me loose a few pounds.

I am not in great shape by any stretch of the imagination, but I am trying to move my diet a bit, at the moment it looks like this,

Morning, scoop of protein, 2 scoops of flahavans porridge in a shaker, about 300mls of full fat milk and gulped down,

Lunch: Chicken and McCambridges brown bread with butter, and probably some ribena or Kia-ora

Dinner: Could be chicken or mince and I will try rice or maybe potatoes

I also try to get and generally do, an orange, banana, apple, kiwi, everyday!! I know I should be eating a lot more vegetables and am gonna look at tomatoes and carrots in the evenings too,

Ideally I would like to change my shape a bit, but am more interested in the strength side of things and looking good without a top on Aaaaah the vanity of it,

I have hypoglycaemia so my metabolism is pretty quick as it is, I am gonna join back up in Westwood but I may head to total fitness cos it seems the better of the 2,

I would like to take supplements and have heard good things about noXplode, I am unsure if that is the right spelling but you guys probably know what I am talking about.

My thoughts were to train in the morning at about 75% of my heartrate on an empty stomach for 25 minutes then do weights at night?

Esse85

Are you trying to cut or bulk?

NoXplode is a waste of money, the main ingredient in it is glucose, which costs a €1 for 500g in Tesco. There are also other sweeteners added for taste.

gabgab

Hey Esse thanks for the reply, excuse my ignorance on this but do I have to do one or the other?? I would like to put on lean muscle but not have to then go through a big cutting phase too.

I could be oversimplifying it, but that is the idea, to put on as much muscle as possible and look defined so I guess I am looking to cut.

Esse85

Try 40mins a.m cardio @ 65% 5days a week

Weights in the evening 3 days.

As for diet, include oats, egg whites, tuna, chicken breasts, salmon, green veg,

Drop carbs after 5p.m

Drink plenty on water throughout the day

Colm_OReilly

gabgab,

Adopt a paleolithic diet, i.e. eat as your body was designed to eat. That is, fruit, veg, nuts, meat, fish. Look up the Paleo Diet on Amazon or Zone Diets.

As for exercise: www.crossfit.com - this site will exercise your body in the way it was meant to work - as a complete unit.

If you can't be bothered reading the site (you really should read the site, it has so much info on it) learn the following lifts: dead lifts, squats (full squats), shoulder presses. Learn proper push up form. Do pull ups and dips.

Then learn the Olympic Lifts - the Snatch and Clean & Jerk.

Make sure your exercise is intense. By that I mean if you're lifting keep the weight as high as you can tolerate while maintaining good form. Keep reps low (particularly as you want to develop bulk). either 7 sets of 3 (if you're familiar with the lift) or 5 sets of 5 (if you're learning). Practice the lift at a really light weight for a bit before adding weight.

If you're engaging in "cardio", keep the intensity up by doing short, varied work.

If you want, I can show you the lifts since you're in South Dublin. PM me, or mail me oreilly dot colm at gmail dot com,

Colm
-Forging Elite Fitness

justsomebloke

read the stickies loads of information, especially the one called Diet and Nutrition

gabgab

Thanks for all the replies lads,

Really appreciate them!!

Hanley

Colm_OReilly wrote:

gabgab,

Adopt a paleolithic diet, i.e. eat as your body was designed to eat. That is, fruit, veg, nuts, meat, fish. Look up the Paleo Diet on Amazon or Zone Diets.

As for exercise: www.crossfit.com - this site will exercise your body in the way it was meant to work - as a complete unit.

If you can't be bothered reading the site (you really should read the site, it has so much info on it) learn the following lifts: dead lifts, squats (full squats), shoulder presses. Learn proper push up form. Do pull ups and dips.

Then learn the Olympic Lifts - the Snatch and Clean & Jerk.

Make sure your exercise is intense. By that I mean if you're lifting keep the weight as high as you can tolerate while maintaining good form. Keep reps low (particularly as you want to develop bulk). either 7 sets of 3 (if you're familiar with the lift) or 5 sets of 5 (if you're learning). Practice the lift at a really light weight for a bit before adding weight.

If you're engaging in "cardio", keep the intensity up by doing short, varied work.

If you want, I can show you the lifts since you're in South Dublin. PM me, or mail me oreilly dot colm at gmail dot com,

Colm
-Forging Elite Fitness

While I might disagree with some of the above I definately agree with the majority of it.

However if you're lifting purely for cosmetic purposes, and not sporting performance then there's absolutely no reason you can't do well with split (ie bodypart) training 3x a week.

gabgab

Hey Hnaley thanks a million for the reply,

I might join up in Westwood and get a programme of those guys, I reckon they have the calipers and that too so that will be a good thing. Its only down the road from me too so handier,

Do people think that supplements make a big difference? I have read that you make quiete a lot of gains in the first while then it gets harder and harder to gain, so I was presuming that supplements would be a good idea from the get go,

justsomebloke

gabgab wrote:

Hey Hnaley thanks a million for the reply,

I might join up in Westwood and get a programme of those guys, I reckon they have the calipers and that too so that will be a good thing. Its only down the road from me too so handier,

Do people think that supplements make a big difference? I have read that you make quiete a lot of gains in the first while then it gets harder and harder to gain, so I was presuming that supplements would be a good idea from the get go,

supplement should be only that, supplements. i.e. you should be trying to get most of all your nutrients from whole sources if at that point you are finding it hard to get in more then maybe look into supplementing.

there is only one magic ingredient that I know that works for gaining and that my friend is eating

Colm_OReilly

However if you're lifting purely for cosmetic purposes, and not sporting performance then there's absolutely no reason you can't do well with split (ie bodypart) training 3x a week.

If we look at what's defined as an attractive body it all harks back to the ideal of beauty in males first put forward by the ancient greeks. This beautiful body was a result of vigorous demands placed on the body.

What did the Greeks do for exercise? The lifted heavy things, climbed rocks, threw spears, wrestled, boxed, engaged in swordplay and other aspects of warfare. Not a calf extension in sight.

As a beginner unaccustomed to exercise, you're body will adapt to anything. Hell cycling will improve your bench press if you're a complete novice (Rippetoe, 2007) Essentially everything works, but some more than others.

While isolating body parts, you're not working the body as it's designed to work. So you miss out on the neuroendecrine response, i.e. you don't get the same hormonal effect as you would in natural movements, nor do you build up the pathways between your brain and body for further development and proper recruitment of the muscles.

If you look at the world's top performers in sport, they usually have fantastic bodies (i'm referring to the majority of power based and/or multi modal sports here) - see wrestling, sprinters, Olympic Lifters (ligthweights)

These were brought about by utilising functional lifts.

Another benefit of functional lifting for aesthetic purposes is that it produces results more efficiently. It's far less time consuming to do squats and pull ups that it is to do: calf extensions, leg extensions, hamstring curls, sit ups, bicep curls, lat pull downs. Plus with the functional movements (squats and pull ups) you're working all those support muscles, which help build up the overall shape of your body.

Whew! If anyone read that, thanks,

Colm