Too much exercise?

andyred

Hi just wandering what am I doing wrong to get that better body. I seem to have hit a point where I dont seem to lose a pound. I go to the gym monday to friday at around 7am for about 45-60 min of cardio. I then go again 3-4 evenings out of 7 to do an hour or so of weight training. No matter how much I do I cant seem to lose that spare tyre and show my abs! I can feel they are rock hard underneath but there just seems to be a lare of fat covering. Im about 6 foot 1 and 11 and a half stone. Im starting to think I just have a weird body or something. My eating is generally like this...

9.30 am - breakfast - bowl of cereal
11.30 am - protien shake, piece of fruit
1.30pm - lunch - chicken or tuna sandwich on brown bread.
4.30pm - piece of fruit
6.30pm - dinner - breast of chicken and some veg or similar
8.30pm - protien shake

After reading some other threads im thinking could I actually be doing too much exercise?

cowzerp

i'd say the quantity of the foods you eat are too large, also the quality of your exercise is important, actual time wise your not over doing it. cut out the starch, bread..

mloc

To be honest six foot one and eleven and a half stone is a very light weight for someone of that height. I'd concentrate on trying to gain more lean muscle mass and the "cut" or "ripped" look will come afterwards.

At that weight and height, your resting metabolic rate will be very, very low and you need very few calories to stay at the same weight as you are. Try concentrating on building muscle, even just an extra stone, and then look at some fat loss techniques such as high intensity training and barbell complexes. Static cardio at your weight isn't going to be a lot of use.

Colm_OReilly

My guess is that your program is inefficient if you're judging it solely on time (e.g. an hour of cardio, an hour of weights)

Cut out the bread too. Eat more protein and fat, less carbs

andyred

Cut out the bread...all 2 slices I eat a day!!!

Thanks for the replies guys. I dont put my workout solely down to time, I generally do 5-10 miles of various cardio in the morning which generally takes around 45-60 minutes and my weight programme again just happens to take around an hour in the evening, sometimes less. Although 6'1" and 11 and a half stone I dont look skinny and have a perfect BMI. I have muscle on my shoulders and arms but its just my abs and pecks that I struggle to show it. Id like to put on another 7-14 pounds of muscle but it will be hard. Decided Im going to cut down on the cardio for a bit and try build more lean muscle, take more protien and cut the carbs. Hopefully it works and I see some results by the summer.

thehamo

surely 2 slices of bread a day arent gonna keep the tyre on, now were getting in to atkins territory!

scquinn

I would recommend cutting your cardio down to about 2 hours per week and start concentrating more on weight training.

Is there any way you can add more protein into your diet with actual food rather than whey, perhaps tuna, cottage cheese, turkey? I dont think there is a need for 2 protein shakes a day.

the-lad

I think you should also stop judgeing your cardio by distance 45min of intervals will shift alot more fat than a consistent speed run/cycle/row, if done correctly. i've also found that hitting the large muscle groups helped me eg lots of squats, presses,dips,deadlifts etc
best of luck with it.

Degsy

I notice you're taking in alot of protein shakes.
I stopped taking them outside of immediatly after training and i've noticed a lot of fat falling off.
Whereas they may well be good for getting the protein in,they may well also contain a lot of lactose or whatever.
Instead of the shakes,have atin of tuna instead.

nice_guy80

ahhhh tuna. my latest food craving. love the stuff. try boiled eggs?? poached eggs? Cheap and easy to cook.

better to do a good 25 mins of interval training - never mind 45 mins!!

logic

^^What Degsy said, when I leave the shakes alone I seem to shrink around the mid section. give it a try.

Transform

I am going to say there is no spare tyre!!

At your height and weight your going to get worse if you continue with that program.

Go to a decent trainer and

1. Get a body fat test done with calipers
2. Get a proper weights program and get stronger (do you notice all the guys that look great are very strong?)
3. Retest in a month and get new program

Your current diet is just lacking some good fats like taking fish oils, avocadoes, nuts etc