Diet, Weights and Cardio Questions?

Deedsie

Hi everyone, im a frequent reader of the fitness forum and i have to say it is a great and friendly fitness resource. I have questions every now and again but i dont want to keep creating threads on diet and weights and Cardio seperately. It would just fill up the forum, so i was hoping i could ask questions on this thread every now and again, or anyone who wanted to ask a specific Diet, Weights or Cardio Question could use it too?

Perhaps this should be in the Fitness Logs section? But i rarely go in there. If it should please move it.

Basically starting from the start, Im 180cm in Height. 5"9 About 82Kg. I started training about a month ago. I was 87Kg and very unfit. In a month i have made some what seem to me drastic improvements.

I stopped eating any junk food and fizzy drinks. But i do eat alot of the same foods everyday now, Weetabix for breakfast, Banana's, Glensisk organic yogurts, brown bread at lunch, potatoes carrots, parsnips, brocolli, with my dinner, and some meat. Would love a bit more variety in my diet. I wanna pack a lunch for work but im never sure what to go for.

For now im just trying to increase my metabolism to remove the excess fat on my tummy. Not much fat anywhere else and its not overly bad there its just the last large pocket of fat on me.

I had a weight bench at home covered in cobwebs i cleaned it up and i know this might seem pretty crap to alot of people. But i bench 50Kg X 10 X 3. And i do various free weight exercises that im not sure of the names of just yet. I never lifted weights before but the 50Kg is pretty easy now id like to build it up, but im not sure if i should be able lift the weight or struggling to finish my three sets? Also rest days, I dont like taking rest days from the weights, my arms especially seem to lose a bit of definition not much but some. Which makes me think im not working enough on the appropriate weights sessions.

I ordered the starting strength training book by Mark Rippetoe many of you have recommended to others. Presume ill get plenty of answers there?

Im up to running 4 miles 3 evenings a week and it feels pretty good running, i never really enjoyed running before.

I dont really know what im asking but if anyone has any suggestions of what i should be doing id be very grateful i read through the stickies before and i have taken some of the tips there on board. I just dont want to lose interest now. I want to keep myself motivated during the winter.

Apologies for the length of that.

Colm_OReilly

A lot of your weight training questions will be answered in SS, so heed that young padawan.

You seem to be really commited to getting in shape, so fair play. It's great to see someone turn about so fast and do well.

If you're serious about diet I'd suggest you either pick up The Paleo Diet of Mastering the Zone. You could probably pick them up cheap enough on ebay.

Oh, and you might as well take a gander around this site. I'm biased, but it is brilliant and has a shed load of videos on lifts, workouts, etc.

shels08

Well done on the progress you've made so far, keep it up:)....with regards to your diet,going by what you wrote,seems like you need more protein throuhout the day...and with the weights, if it's getting too easy for you,you should either join a gym or get more weight lol....anyways good luck;)

Deedsie

Thanks for the replies Colm and Shels. Im certainly not starving myself but i do have it in my mind to minimize the carb intake until the bits of fat on my tummy and the sides of my lower back are reduced/removed.

My plan is too stay the course as in keep lifting what i am improve my lifting technique & my time running while i am waiting for the starting strength book to arrive. Start to build up my legs, I started doing squats last night, I did 28Kg X3 X10. Is that enough to start on or should i lift a heavier weight? Ive never lifted any leg weights before.

And when the fat is gone rebuild from a reasonably lean weight possibly 80Kg. Is losing 7Kg in a month healthy? About a stone weight. Bear in mind it was mostly excess weight.

The crossfit website you mentioned is very good colm thanks for that. But i couldnt find the nutrition book. I think Nutrition is the key to whether this will be a success for me or if ill do it for a while and then get lazy in the winter.

Colm_OReilly

Ebay search returned fine for me.

Will post later if you need any more info,
Col

shels08

Deedsie wrote: »

Start to build up my legs, I started doing squats last night, I did 28Kg X3 X10. Is that enough to start on or should i lift a heavier weight? Ive never lifted any leg weights before.

And when the fat is gone rebuild from a reasonably lean weight possibly 80Kg. Is losing 7Kg in a month healthy? About a stone weight. Bear in mind it was mostly excess weight.

Tbh,28kg isn't a huge amount of weight,but your goal is to lose weight so it's not really important.The most important thing is that the weight isn't too light,or too heavy,so do what feels right for you...


To me,7k a month is a bit much to lose unless you're seriously overweight,which judging by your stats, you're not.And of course as you lose weight,the amount you lose goes down each week,month etc.

Deedsie

shels08 wrote: »

Tbh,28kg isn't a huge amount of weight,but your goal is to lose weight so it's not really important.The most important thing is that the weight isn't too light,or too heavy,so do what feels right for you...


To me,7k a month is a bit much to lose unless you're seriously overweight,which judging by your stats, you're not.And of course as you lose weight,the amount you lose goes down each week,month etc.

Well I lost 5Kg in the first two weeks by cutting out junk food and fizzy drinks and sitting back from the table a bit in general. And starting out walking running. That 5Kg was certainly easy-ish to lose the last two weeks i lost about 2Kg from running and swimming and the weights. I have increased my food intake a bit, six slightly larger meals a day now. Just to give me energy to complete the exercising im doing.

My stomach is alot firmer now, its just the sides and the bottom and side of the back that have the fat on them. I presume this is the hardest place to replace fat with muscle? Id say overall there is about an inch of fat left in the worst parts. Does that convert to an amount of weight that you could aim to lose? Say when i remove the last of it, could take another month? I want to start building back up healthily to my optimum weight for strength and speed.

I am considering going back to play rugby, haven't played properly for four years now. Do you know of any specific programmes i could look into for this? I just think ill need a target to aim for if im to keep it up. What would you recommend i lift doing the squats Shel? Weight Reps Sets?

Colm_OReilly

SS will have you squatting 3 work sets of 5 repetitions, adding weight each workout.

When you make decent changes to your diet, you can lose a lot quite quickly, eventually the fat loss slows done, and then you've to reallly start dialling in your diet/training. But as a novice, nearly everything works, just some things work better than others.

Are you planning to go back to rugby this season? I still think SS is what you need, and if you start now you've a month of gains before training proper starts (end of Sept). Then, depending on your fitness/recovery levels, which will depend on diet, sleep and stress, you may be able to continue with 2x weights sessions, 2x training and game time.

shels08

Ye I agree with Colm, Starting Strength will do you the world of good..

With the squats,well I can't really tell you what weight to lift,just not too heavy that you can't complete the sets and reps in good form (if you find you're form getting sloppy,drop the weight untill you can perform the excercise properly,especially squats and deadlifts beacuse they're so dangerous if not done correctly) and not too light that you dont feel them at all, so it really is up to you.

Good luck

Deedsie

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

SS will have you squatting 3 work sets of 5 repetitions, adding weight each workout.

When you make decent changes to your diet, you can lose a lot quite quickly, eventually the fat loss slows done, and then you've to reallly start dialling in your diet/training. But as a novice, nearly everything works, just some things work better than others.

Are you planning to go back to rugby this season? I still think SS is what you need, and if you start now you've a month of gains before training proper starts (end of Sept). Then, depending on your fitness/recovery levels, which will depend on diet, sleep and stress, you may be able to continue with 2x weights sessions, 2x training and game time.

The diet part is a bit confusing, i was late out of bed this morning so i hadnt time for a weetabix breakfast. or to make a lunch. So i had an apple and at break time i went for a sandwich.

If ye could tell me if this is a terrible bad sandwich or reasonable id be much obliged. I got brown wholemeal bread with coleslaw, carrots, chicken, lettuce and light cheese. I was pretty starving now. So what ingredients in that are bad/good?

I am considering going back this season alright, ive played on and off for the last three years for the seconds team, but the only training i did was set piece training the friday before the game. Lineouts and scrums. So i was never fit to play really.

Id like to get to a position where i could just compete to the best of my ability. I would have a pretty good level of skill, its just i never trained hard enough to play as well as i could.

So if i tried 40Kg X3 X5 id be getting more out of it? Do Squats help speed aswell?

Thanks again for your replies folks. I really do appreciate it.

Colm_OReilly

The diet part is a bit confusing, i was late out of bed this morning so i hadnt time for a weetabix breakfast. or to make a lunch. So i had an apple and at break time i went for a sandwich.

If ye could tell me if this is a terrible bad sandwich or reasonable id be much obliged. I got brown wholemeal bread with coleslaw, carrots, chicken, lettuce and light cheese. I was pretty starving now. So what ingredients in that are bad/good?

How perfect do you want your diet? How much sacrifice are you willing to make? How easy can you make changes? I ask these questions because a properly balanced, natural diet (and I'm going to come under fire for this) is so far removed from the 'normal' diet people eat that it seems crazy.

No, it's not terrible as, but it's not optimum either. Bread isn't that good for you, really. Coleslaw I'm not sure of the content. Chicken is good, as is lettuce. Cheese depends on your lactose tolerance really. But if it's light cheese they've removed the fat from it, yes? Which is taking away some of the good, if not all of it.

A basic rule of thumb is that the more man has interfered with food, the worse it is for you. It's not a perfect rule but a good starting point.

Having said that one slip for one meal/day isn't the end of the world. So don't sweat it.

So if i tried 40Kg X3 X5 id be getting more out of it? Do Squats help speed aswell?

A general philosophy you can take is "more weight, dammit", so yes, squat heavier with solid form, particularly as you're a novice.

Squats build strength, and the stronger you can contract your muscles, the faster they can move you. Power cleans, which you'll learn in SS, will help the transfer of strength to power/speed for your sport.

But, as a forward, you don't require a sh!t load of speed, not over any discernable distance anyway. The ability to move quickly and forcibly for a few metres, then stabilise your midline are requirements for rugby.

Head over to Rip's forum, have a look at the squat compilation, and start squatting. Keep checking back and tweaking your squat form.

Enjoy,
Colm

Al_Fernz

Deedsie wrote: »

The diet part is a bit confusing, i was late out of bed this morning so i hadnt time for a weetabix breakfast. or to make a lunch. So i had an apple and at break time i went for a sandwich.

If ye could tell me if this is a terrible bad sandwich or reasonable id be much obliged. I got brown wholemeal bread with coleslaw, carrots, chicken, lettuce and light cheese. I was pretty starving now. So what ingredients in that are bad/good?

"Bad," or "junk," food is always better than no food if you're an athlete. Skipping meals is never good because it will have negative impacts on your training and recovery times.

Refining your diet for improved performance is a lot like strength training. Get the basics right and then you can start to make further changes when you learn more about nutrition and gain more experience about what works for you.

Deedsie

Thanks again for all your replies.

I was wondering though, from any of you who ordered starting strength training book by Mark Rippetoe how long it took to deliver. I ordered it 1 week ago today.

celestial

Hey,

I ordered online from them too and it took around 12 days. You should have it by this time next week I'd wager.

Deedsie

Starting Strength came there yesterday. Its a good read so far anyway. I havent been doing weights for the last week. I hurt my shoulder last week so its only coming back right now.

So im gonna start on the starting Strength program tonight.

I have to do Squat, Bench Press & Deadlift tonight. Ive never really done a deadlift before.

Im still not sure what weight, set and reps i should do? Im hoping someone might suggest a starting out program of weight, Sets and reps for the three of them.

I havent got to go through the book thoroughly yet and if i stay reading i might get fired. Hope someone might have an idea for me.

Colm_OReilly

Go to the programming chapter of the book.

Basically 3 sets of 5 reps on the squat and the bench
1 set of 5 on the dead.

You warm up to your work sets on all weights.

Start light enough on the dead if you're concerned about safety. The dead should/will overtake the squat soon enough.

Deedsie

Thanks Colm. Im gonna lift as much as i can at all three. So im not to do any dumbell training for a while?

Deedsie

Well i was going grand last night. Building up the squats as i went but it was getting too hard to bring the bar back over my head after the third set. I dont have a squat rack at home.

Does anyone here have a squat rack at home? Recommend one to get? Fairly cheap if possible.


Something like this would be ideal:

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/york-heavy-duty-squat-stands.php

Does anyone know of a place this might be sold in Ireland>? I cant find it anywhere.

Deedsie

Hi again, sorry to keep asking this but does anyway here do starting strength at home?

I am having trouble with the squat because i dont have a squat rack. And so my technique seems pretty good and i have noticed a change. but all i can manage to squat is 40kg because i know i have to lift it over my head and place it down safely. Are front squats an alternative? Would be easier let the weight down than have it behind my back.

I was just hoping someone had a method they used at home.

Thanks,

Deedsie.