Read the great stickies, serached the posts..have a few questions

Idioteque

Hi All,

Been reading a lot of info on the site over the past few years and have to say the fitness section in particular is top notch (Thanks to people like gem with great posts/stickies). I don't post too much as I usually find the info I need through stickies or searching. But just wanted to get some advice/opinions on what I've come up with over the last while..

I'm 27, 5'10 and 75 kgs.

I used to go for a 30 min run (excluding warm-up/cool down, stretching etc) and try to include as much HIIT in it as possible. Did this on average 3/4 times a week. I was also doing weight sessions around 3 times per week.
My Bodyfat was quite low on appearance and I (and friends etc) noticed gains in muscle growth particularly in upper body.
However, for one reason or another my routine gradually faded to a point where I'm nearly back to scratch. Now I'm happy with my body weight but would like to loose some body fat while also building some muscle. My understanding that the best way to do this is to gain muscle as it continues to burn calerios/fat for hours after a workout.
So should I keep 3/4 runs a week (For overall good cardiovascular fitness and to support fat loss) and then concentrate
on weight sessions with heavy weights and low reps? Gradually increasing weight over a number of weeks/months.

I've read through all the diet stickeis/posts and feel I have a pretty good diet. I'm trying to eat 5/6 meals a day and have only come to realise through the forum the importance of including protein with each meal to aid muscle growth. I'm in the process of keeping a food diary to see how much protein I'm getting etc per day but can see already that it won't be enough to meet muscle needs. Should i go for a whey protein supplement and just use it immediately post workout and try to meet other protein demands through meals etc?
Also, and...my last question(ish)! - I have a good area to go running beside my house and prefer to work out at home if possible as I've done the gym thing for years previosuly and just found it too time consuming with travelling there etc.
Do you think it possible for me to be able to do enough weight exercises at home to achieve my goals? If so any reccomendations of exercises and could you name any extra things I might need to buy? (Already looking at chin-up bars and press up support handle things.)

Sorry for the longwinded-ness but I'd say there might be some others around same height/weight etc with similar goals.

Thanks,

Idioteque

CoachBoone

Wrote out a really long reply and then my connection dropped. Pretty Annoying.

Essentially:

To lose fat you need to be on a calorie deficit, its also very probable you will lose muscle too.

To gain muscle you need to be on a calorie surplus, its also very probable you will gain fat too.

It very hard to do both at once. So set your goals accordingly.

I'd advise keeping up the cardio, try to include as much HIIT as possible. This will aid in getting your body fat% down.

Do weights to stimulate your body to keep the muscle you have. Try concentrate on compound exercises though. That is, exercises that involve more than one muscle group. Squats/Deadlifts/Lunges/Bent over Rows/Bench Press/Military Press etc An added caveat would be to try consume an amount of protein equal to your lean body mass. Supplement it if you cant get it in during your 6 meals.

Idioteque

That's great, thanks for the reply CoachBoone!

Idioteque