Help-definitive answers needed! Will is weakened!

rccaulfield

Been training 5 days a week for the past 3 months(3 days weights and 2/3days cardio).My diets is- 5-6 meals a day good ratios of protein to carb to fat! The odd meal out which is unavoidable mind!
However my wills beginning to break-reason being i have doubts in my mind that are creeping in-Please help to sort these out if you can!(iv searched these topics but cant find definite answers!)
1.-Is it possible to lose the last 5 pounds of belly fat while bulking up? I was 13st.2 in december, 5ft10, i did lots of cardio and some weights workouts and lost loads of fat and muscle!.I put this down to starving myself (which i did!) a bit too much! However i discovered the 5-6 meals a day thing about a month ago and ever since have gradually started to put on some definition on the upper body(i went down to 11st 6 and am now 11st 9), however the belly which only has a small layer of fat on it at this stage(no love handles or anything) is not budging and as such no 6 pack for me(we all want one sure!) ! I'm worried about a yo yo effect where belly grows and muscle grows or muscle dies and belly fat dies!-There MUST be a way around this?

2-Is cardio counter-productive to muscle-building?
This has been covered here before but its unclear for me. With morning cardio when the body starts eating into its reserves- does it burn fat reserves or abundent muscle on the body, perhaps both? How does the body know?
3Recently iv added weight to my workout with fewer reps(aiming for 6-8) However i feel no burn anymore just shaking when lifting till i know i cant do it anymore-this a bad thing? Used to love feeling the burn from 12-15 rep range! Have i added too much weight too soon?

I play gaa so have to work my weights program around that, my week is as follows
Monday- day of rest,
Tuesday-Gaa training (well carbed up for this)-consists of gruelling cardio and a little circuit traing with burpies press ups etc.
Wednesday-Weights workout.
Thursday-Gaa training
Friday-Weights workout
Saturday-day of rest
Sunday-Match and weights program at night.
With the weights i workout at home and try to avoid the legs- im open to suggestions on this but i work the legs to the absolute limit with football training and also have no interest in having muscley legs at all!
Workout which i am always trying to improve is
*8 chin ups
*15 tricep dips(just started these-they are a bit too easy-need an alternative with fewer reps-suggestions?)
*12 left oblique crunches
*6 military presses seated
*15 full sit ups
*8 alternating dumbell curls standing
*12 right oblique crunches(Waste of time?)
*8 forearm curls
*20 stomach crunches
*6 bench presses

I do 3 sets of this with a 2 minute break in between- last set is to failure, current bench is 54kg and rising . Anymore home weight exercises you have please share them with me thanks for reading!

Diet typically would be
7a.m.-30g protein shake (casein)and a banana
10.30- 2 eggs 1 slice wholemeal bread with some butter/no butter with skimmed milk
13.00- jumbo fillet of chicken with sugar free beans and water
16.30-tuna and sugar free beans and a banana with skimmed milk
19.30- some beetroot and cottage cheese with some tuna sandwiches(wholemeal bread)
22.30 Protein shake(casein) and a banana or a chicken fillet/fish perhaps with some oven chips with peas or beans!
I take a whey shake post-workout and carb up before matches and training-typically with beans on toast or some wholewheat pasta-
4-Please critique my diet and workout-all criticism will be taken as constructive because its a work in progress-thanks very much!!!

FunkZ

1: Pick a goal and concentrate on it and you'll achieve it much quicker. You only have five pounds to lose? Three or four weeks of hardcore dieting will have that gone, just drop all your carbs, stay lifting 3 times a week and run once or twice. It'll go man. Then get back to bulking.

ScissorPaperRock

As long as you maintain a healthy high protein diet you should not lose muscle while trying to lose fat.

FunkZ

rccaulfield wrote: »

With the weights i workout at home and try to avoid the legs- im open to suggestions on this but i work the legs to the absolute limit with football training and also have no interest in having muscley legs at all!
Workout which i am always trying to improve is
*8 chin ups
*15 tricep dips(just started these-they are a bit too easy-need an alternative with fewer reps-suggestions?)
*12 left oblique crunches
*6 military presses seated
*15 full sit ups
*8 alternating dumbell curls standing
*12 right oblique crunches(Waste of time?)
*8 forearm curls
*20 stomach crunches
*6 bench presses

I do 3 sets of this with a 2 minute break in between- last set is to failure, current bench is 54kg and rising . Anymore home weight exercises you have please share them with me thanks for reading!

Drop the tricep dips, crunches, sit ups, dumbell and forearm curls.

Start doing squats and lots, deadlifts, barbell rows, stiff legged deadlifts. standing shoulder BARBELL press. Youre legs aren't being worked to the max with cardio. You'll get used to the pain after 2 or 3 weeks and then you'll love squats.

rccaulfield

FunkZ wrote: »

Drop the tricep dips, crunches, sit ups, dumbell and forearm curls.

Start doing squats and lots, deadlifts, barbell rows, stiff legged deadlifts. standing shoulder BARBELL press. Youre legs aren't being worked to the max with cardio. You'll get used to the pain after 2 or 3 weeks and then you'll love squats.

You should try my cardio-lol-Yea i hear ya with the workout-dont want to get massive bulky though- just real fit and lean with definition if you know what i mean-why should i drop all arm exercises?

rccaulfield

ScissorPaperRoc wrote: »

As long as you maintain a healthy high protein diet you should not lose muscle while trying to lose fat.

Agreed-can i lose fat while bulking up though?

FunkZ

rccaulfield wrote: »

Diet typically would be
7a.m.-30g protein shake (casein)and a banana
10.30- 2 eggs 1 slice wholemeal bread with some butter/no butter with skimmed milk
13.00- jumbo fillet of chicken with sugar free beans and water
16.30-tuna and sugar free beans and a banana with skimmed milk
19.30- some beetroot and cottage cheese with some tuna sandwiches(wholemeal bread)
22.30 Protein shake(casein) and a banana or a chicken fillet perhaps with some oven chips with peas or beans!
I take a whey shake post-workout and carb up before matches and training-typically with beans on toast or some wholewheat pasta-
4Please critique my diet and workout-all criticism will be taken as constructive because its a work in progress-thanks very much!!!

Right I'm gonna target this as if ya want to lose those 5 pounds of fat.

Drop everything in bold

I'm not sure on the macro nutrients of the sugar free beans or the beetroot. If there's in them then carbs drop 'em.

Drop the bread.

Eat a banana or two after you lift weights, so really with somethings ya just have to eat at more benificial times.

Have a small serving of carbs before the GAA training of you'd like, don't go over around 50g though.

Basically less carbs. And replace those carbs with loadsa yummy chicken fillets, fish and lean meats!

rccaulfield

FunkZ wrote: »

1: Pick a goal and concentrate on it and you'll achieve it much quicker. You only have five pounds to lose? Three or four weeks of hardcore dieting will have that gone, just drop all your carbs, stay lifting 3 times a week and run once or twice. It'll go man. Then get back to bulking.

Good advice-however im too light for football at the moment and have been gettin out muscled in the physical battles so have been bulking cos have had enuf of it!!Used to be me dishing that out not receiving it! Was hoping there was a way of cutting and bulking at same time if theres not what can i do!

rccaulfield

FunkZ wrote: »

Right I'm gonna target this as if ya want to lose those 5 pounds of fat.

Drop everything in bold

I'm not sure on the macro nutrients of the sugar free beans or the beetroot. If there's in them then carbs drop 'em.

Drop the bread.

Eat a banana or two after you lift weights, so really with somethings ya just have to eat at more benificial times.

Have a small serving of carbs before the GAA training of you'd like, don't go over around 50g though.

Drop the fruit Except for pwo? I know theres alot of sugar in them but didnt think i was overdoing it!? K bread fair enuf-must look up macro nutrients-not familiar with that concept at all! Ratios of nutrients is it?

FunkZ

rccaulfield wrote: »

You should try my cardio-lol-Yea i hear ya with the workout-dont want to get massive bulky though- just real fit and lean with definition if you know what i mean-why should i drop all arm exercises?

Haha dude I'm sure it's tough work alright!

It takes five years or so to get bulky man.
Squats and deads will make you lean. Ya don't have to drop all the isolation exercises if ya don't want to, but don't nother with so many. Maybe one or two sets of barbells curls and tricep extensions every now and then. And for your abs if you'd like try knee raises and leg raises!

Arm exercises aren't really of great benifit unless you're big I think, expecially considering you get much more back from the compound lifts!

ScissorPaperRock

rccaulfield wrote: »

Agreed-can i lose fat while bulking up though?

I'd imagine it's pretty difficult if at all possible. If you're bulking up you're going to be eating plenty of carbs, and your body will not have reason to use it's fat stores.

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken though.

FunkZ

rccaulfield wrote: »

Drop the fruit Except for pwo? I know theres alot of sugar in them but didnt think i was overdoing it!? K bread fair enuf-must look up macro nutrients-not familiar with that concept at all! Ratios of nutrients is it?

Macro nutrients is just a term for protein, carbs and fats!

Yeah man, drop the fruit a decent bit. I find when I want to lose fat dropping carbs is the best way to go, the lower the better like.

By the way, micro nutrients are minerals and vitamins!

FunkZ

rccaulfield wrote: »

Good advice-however im too light for football at the moment and have been gettin out muscled in the physical battles so have been bulking cos have had enuf of it!!Used to be me dishing that out not receiving it! Was hoping there was a way of cutting and bulking at same time if theres not what can i do!

Well then if you're getting thrown around, squats and deads are the way to go. Also I reckon you could probably eat a fair amount of food with all the training you do! If ya wnat to get big drink milk, lots of fresh milk, 2 or 3 litres a day. It'll probably add some fat though! Maybe not with all the cardio ya do?

rccaulfield

FunkZ wrote: »

Well then if you're getting thrown around, squats and deads are the way to go. Also I reckon you could probably eat a fair amount of food with all the training you do! If ya wnat to get big drink milk, lots of fresh milk, 2 or 3 litres a day. It'll probably add some fat though! Maybe not with all the cardio ya do?

Cool-skimmed milk not the answer? All the protein feck all fat?
On other point-yea gonna bring up the protein ratio and lower the carbs as best i can- i'll google those lifts-wanna get the technique right!

FunkZ

rccaulfield wrote: »

Cool-skimmed milk not the answer? All the protein feck all fat?
On other point-yea gonna bring up the protein ratio and lower the carbs as best i can- i'll google those lifts-wanna get the technique right!

Yeah dude it's all about technique. Or else you'll end up like the guy that played Superman, you know the one

Skimmed milk is filled with carbs, just less fat. For losing fat you're best off using fat as your main energy source, so you'll have to cut out most of your carbs like. I'm not sure how much though, but a gram of carbs for every two pounds of BW could be good. Then you'll have to up your fat intake I guess, so try and get good fats in!

G'em could really give ya some top notch advice!

rccaulfield

FunkZ wrote: »

Yeah dude it's all about technique. Or else you'll end up like the guy that played Superman, you know the one

Skimmed milk is filled with carbs, just less fat. For losing fat you're best off using fat as your main energy source, so you'll have to cut out most of your carbs like. I'm not sure how much though, but a gram of carbs for every two pounds of BW could be good. Then you'll have to up your fat intake I guess, so try and get good fats in!

G'em could really give ya some top notch advice!

Im usin skimmed milk im my protein shakes as a meal replacement or pwo drink- ok in your opinion?
Yea hopefully gem will throw his/her tuppenence in!:)
As for carb intake-so your sayin aim for 50% protein 30%fat 20% carbs to lose fat as a basis?