Advice on my Programme / Diet / Supplements

discombobulate

I'm 5'10 - 73Kg and around 13 - 14% body fat

Programme:

Monday and Thursday
All weights 15/12/10/10/10

Flat and decline bench
Barbel bicep curls
Upright rows
Dumbell shoulder press
Squats

Tuesday and Thursday
Spin and abs (1 hour)

Dumbell rows
Lat pulldowns
Dumbell bench \ pushups (superset)
Cable bicep curls \ tricep pushdowns (superset)

Depending on the week I might do another mix of the weights over the weekend and throw in leg press and upright rows if i'm not doing the spin.

Trying to burn some fat and put on some muscle at the moment which I believe is possible based on what i've read on newbie gains and wondering what kind of progress I will achieve with this programme. I've been doing this for around 3 weeks after starting out with a light machine weights programme.

Finding good gains in what i'm lifting but would like to get peoples thoughts. I'm aware the leg work is fairly limited at the moment mainly because of the spinning at the moment and hope to add more leg work in after a few more weeks of spinning as I don't think i'd be able for both currently.

Typical diet would be:
3 Weetabix for breakfast
Sandwich for lunch
Smoothie preworkout with fruit, veg and low fat youghurt
Chicken fillet, couple of potatoes and small bit of veg about an hour after workout.

I've just bought whey, oats and glutamine. Going to take the glutamine after workout anyway but wondering whether I would be better taking the protein pre or post workout?

Feel free to rip apart any of this as needed

discombobulate

Probably should add that I go through around a litre of low fat milk a day also

discombobulate

Anyone any advice?

corkcomp

discombobulate wrote: »

Anyone any advice?

diet is average at best, you need to eat enough protein, wholegrains and fruit + veg .. Lunch could be changed form sambo? breakfast prb ok but oats would be better .. I can never see the point of drinking a lot of milk if you are trying to drop fat there are plenty other sources of protein without the fat and carbs ...

apart from squats your not really doing much leg work? do you do any cardio? sorry if I missed any of these in your post ...

discombobulate

Thanks for the reply. Not sure if you read a lot of what I wrote there but I did waffle on a bit! Missed out on a few points.

Cardio would usually involve 2 nights spin classes for the moment and usually a bit of squash and football some time in the week too.

Plan on upping the leg work after getting back my fitness first as heavy leg weights I feel would detract from my cardio at the moment as I don't feel i'd be able for both yet.

Sandwich at lunch could possibly be changed but can't see how that would make to much difference. I'm not looking to lose a lot of weight or anything and it would always be wholegrain.

The milk is just habit for me. I was drinking 2 litres of wholefat a day. Drinking 1 to 1 litre of low fat now. Pint at lunch, pint at dinner. Sometimes water at lunch. The part i’m more looking for advice in is where to fit in more protein. Should I add a scoop of whey to my after work shake? Should I have a shake straight after workout as its over an hour by the time I get home and get cooking. Is there enough protein in the chicken breast alone at dinner? Should I ensure I get lots of protein in on days off also.






[FONT=&quot]Sorry I’m waffling on a bit again……… [/FONT]

corkcomp

discombobulate wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Not sure if you read a lot of what I wrote there but I did waffle on a bit! Missed out on a few points.

Cardio would usually involve 2 nights spin classes for the moment and usually a bit of squash and football some time in the week too.

Plan on upping the leg work after getting back my fitness first as heavy leg weights I feel would detract from my cardio at the moment as I don't feel i'd be able for both yet.

Sandwich at lunch could possibly be changed but can't see how that would make to much difference. I'm not looking to lose a lot of weight or anything and it would always be wholegrain.

The milk is just habit for me. I was drinking 2 litres of wholefat a day. Drinking 1 to 1 litre of low fat now. Pint at lunch, pint at dinner. Sometimes water at lunch. The part i’m more looking for advice in is where to fit in more protein. Should I add a scoop of whey to my after work shake? Should I have a shake straight after workout as its over an hour by the time I get home and get cooking. Is there enough protein in the chicken breast alone at dinner? Should I ensure I get lots of protein in on days off also.






[FONT=&quot]Sorry I’m waffling on a bit again……… [/FONT]

hi, sorry I had missed the bit about the leg workouts! I guess what im saying is that if you want to drop fat you probably need to make some dietary changes - if you think the lunchtime sambo and litre of milk are optimal for fat loss then fair enough but I would personally ditch (or keep for post w/o) these if I wanted to drop fat .. if you want to drop fat AND build muscle you could try calorie cycling (combined with cardio vs weights cycling), I found this worked well ..

discombobulate

To be honest I probably should have said that i'd be more focused on putting on muscle than the fat loss. Obviously know sambo's and milk aren't optimal for fat loss. Only problem with weight is bit of a beer belly but thats shrunk a couple of inches and doesn't bother me too much at the moment.

Could I get thoughts on the current weights programme i'm doing? Its based loosely around one I was given by an instructor but I mix it up a bit myself. My current plan would be to stick with it for another 4 weeks and then possibly look into deadlifts, heavier squats etc.

Inspector Coptoor

yeah, it;d be a good idea to get used to doing the exercises with light weights and then preogress on to heavier weights with lower reps which will build up strength and release natural muscle building hormones.


I was going to mention that you should add deadlifts but you;ve said you;re gonna add them in a few weeks

make sure you do squats, deadliftds and bench and other compound movements like rows and pull ups before you go on to isolation exercises

I'd recommend the 5 x 5 programme in 4 weeks time when you move on to heavy squats and deadlifts and after a few moths when you've pregressed a bit check out the 5/3/1 programme

discombobulate

Thanks Liam. Wasn't aware that isolation exercises should be done after the compound. WIll start doing that now.

The 5x5 looks good so will probably go with something like that in a few weeks time.

Anyone any advice on the amount of protein etc. I would be getting into me and if I should be getting more at any time? I put a scoop of 35g into the preworkout smoothie yesterday and then 5g of glutamine after workout with dinner then an hour after that. Does this sound ok?

sfag

sounds reasonable.

I take whey with dextrose & mattodextrin (35mg & 45mg) within 20 mins of a w/o. Then meat with lots of veg a hour after that.

Apart from that meat and fiberous carbs with every meal.
flax oil and fish oil.

Whey will do if you havent got meat.

discombobulate

sfag wrote: »

sounds reasonable.

I take whey with dextrose & mattodextrin (35mg & 45mg) within 20 mins of a w/o. Then meat with lots of veg a hour after that.

Apart from that meat and fiberous carbs with every meal.
flax oil and fish oil.

Whey will do if you havent got meat.

Thanks sfag. Just wondering what the benefits are of the dextrose, mattodextrin, flax oil and fish oil there?

Inspector Coptoor

try to 1g of protein per 1lb of bodyweight.

also try to get as much of the protein from real food as you can.
Tin of tuna (70g) has almost 20g of protein for example.

try to space the protein out during the day with your meals, aim for 5-6 meals a day (3 "normal main meals" and 3 other meals of tuna or protein shake etc.
fish oil is your friend also.

Inspector Coptoor

the dextrose and maltodextrin replace your carb stores (glycogen) after they have been exhausted during a workout.
flax oil are healthy fats and have a range of health benefits.

done be afraid to google some of this stuff and read about it yourself.

discombobulate

Thanks for that. Tried them on Google alright but explanations on wikipedia etc. were a bit technical. Whats the actual downfall associated with carb stores being depleted after working out? Is it to supress hunger or something else?

Will look into the flax and fish oils too as i'm not really a fan of eating fish.

Just in relation to the 1g of protein for each 1lb just read this article here http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_4_20/ai_n6002944/ and it says that a gram would result in putting on fat and to aim for 0.7 - 0.8g.

Inspector Coptoor

protein has no calorofic value really, if your body doesnt use it, you piss it out.
0.7/0.8g might be enough for you alright tho.

you dont have to eat fish, get fish oil capsules and you can get your omegas in that way.

the reason you want to replenish your glycogen stores is so your body doesnt use your muscle as fuel and ruin all your hardwork so its very important to get a carb/protein rich meal withing 30-45 mins of your workout, even if its just a tin of tuna and a bottle of lucozade.
pre and post workout are the times to have isotonic drinks really

discombobulate

Thanks for that. Amazing how our bodies work really.

john_cappa

discombobulate wrote: »

Thanks for that. Amazing how our bodies work really.

Realistically you dont need to get hung up on that kind of stuff.

Plan for 3-6 meals per day ok. If you can only do 3 then they need to be big. If you can do 6 then they can be half the size.

Every meal should have a protein source and a carb source

Portion size depends on your own size, needs,, goals.

Its up to you to control, monitor and adjust accordingly

Protein sources include :any meat, fish, eggs, TVP, protein powders etc

Carbs : bread, rice, potato, oats, any grain etc

On top of this aim to get you 5 fruit and vegs + some healthy fats

Have 4 gram of glutamine before training and 5 gram of glutamine after train. Whey can be used after training also.

When you need a quick meal blend 300 ml of milk with 100g of oats + 40 whey.

hope this helps

Rocket!

Liam Henners257 wrote: »

protein has no calorofic value really

Now thats just silly...


Listen OP, you said that you want to lose some fat and gain a bit of muscle. Pick one.

-Calculate you Daily Calorie Maintenance(Stickies should have it).

-Add/Subtract 500 calories for surplus/deficit.

-Lift Heavy.

-Eat your fruit and veg.

-Get 1 lb of protein per lb of Bodyweight.

-Make up the rest of your calories however you want.

IMO Thread\

Best of luck!

dubois90

op lose a little fat and gain a bit of muscle. you need to be specific in your goals.

discombobulate

dubois90 wrote: »

op lose a little fat and gain a bit of muscle. you need to be specific in your goals.

Yeah your both right there. To be honest I think hitting the gym has been the best decision i've had in my life and in a way i'm being like a greedy kid wanting everything. My first goal was to lose the belly and although its not gone i've lost an inch or 2 off it and am content with that for the moment

The muscle is my main goal at the moment so think i'll stick to that for now and work on the belly again in a couple of months when i'm happy with where the muscle is. Going to go on a level on the calories for the next couple of weeks and then up the calories when I start the deadlifts etc.

Off to be counterproductive now and go for a few pints. Find myself not wanting to go out half as much anymore now either as I know I won't do anything tomorrow and want to be at something everyday now instead of being a lazy bastad on the couch.

Thanks for all the advice lads has been a great help and hopefully i'll be able to give a bit back in the future!:P