What to do now?

Ballocavendish

Hi would just like to get some of ye're opinions on a few things.

I'm a 5'11 male and I'm 13.5 stone. I was 19 stone and lost a lot of weight by just doing cardio and not enough Muscular endurance/strengthing excercises. I'v only really introduced weights into my routine since January.

A usual week of exercise would consist of 4 weights sessions and 4 cardio sessions. I try and get a nice balance of endurance/strength exercises in the gym and long moderate intensity/high intensity cardio. Diet is good enough. could be better, and I take whey protein every day.

Im looking to increase strength whilst at the same time burn more fat, and maintain a high level of aerobic fitness. Because I had such a gut on me before im finding the fat around my belly very hard to shift, I can see my arms and my chest becoming slightly more defined but not so much the belly! I do about 10 min core every gym session, so about 40 min core a week.

So what I'm looking to know is:

Is there anything I should do differently in my programme to get crossfit?

Any tips on getting rid of the belly?

I'v been thinking of taking some different supplements, maybe cyclone or some other muscle gainer, or maybe some creatine?

Thanks in advance guys

TommyKnocker

I think you will need to provide a more detailed outline of your training and also your diet before folks can offer any detailed advice.

4 weight sessions and 4 cardio sessions could be 20 minutes curling 5kg dumbells and a 10 minute run or it could be doing say the starting strength Program along with a 20 k run. And your diet will play a big part in you achieving your goals.

As for supplements, leave them be for now is my advice. Get the basics (training and diet) sorted first before you start to worry about supplements. Thye are after all as the name suggests, a supplement. They are not magic pills and potions

Ballocavendish

Cheers man, this would be an average week for me.

In the gym I usually focus on 2 muscle groups per session doing about 3-5 different exercises for each, for example.

Monday:
Biceps/Chest
- Bench Press
-Incline Bench Press
-Flys
- Bicep curls
- Pull ups
- Isolation Bicep curls
- Forearm raises

Thats just an example of one day, if I was doing tris/back or legs it would be the same volume of training.
I'd usually throw in some core into this then, my gym sessions I think are quite good. Like I said I try to mix it up between strength and endurance.

As for Cardio it will usually be a run, cycle, GAA training or a GAA match.

I like to get a long run every couple of weeks, my last one was 17 km. But usually they are anywhere between 5km and 12km. Obviously the shorter the run the quicker the pace. I can do 10 km in about 48/49 min, and 22 min for 5km.
Cycle then maybe once a week, about 50 min to an hour, pace between 25/kmh to 30 kmh depending on my mood, state etc;.
Then the football training would be high intensity sprints and the like.

This would be an average day diet wise then.

Breakfast:
Omelette with 3 egg whites and one yolk, mushrooms.

Lunch:
Wholemeal pasta with some sort of sauce, (medium portion)

Dinner:
2 chicken fillets, 1/2 pack of microwaveable brown rice, mushrooms, onions, peppers and maybe chilli or sweet and sour sauce.

Snacks:
2 oranges, handful of cashew nuts, brown scone, and my protein shake after excercise.


This would be a usual day, I wouldnt have an omelette everyday, porridge or a bit of toast every 2nd day id say. I'd prob have pasta everyday, especially during the week in college.
I'd have the odd packet of crisps or chocalate bar, every 2nd day at least, one of these, and maybe a takeaway once every 2 weeks, so obviously my diet isn't perfect by any means, but if I put my mind to it I could cancel out the bad stuff!!
I drink a good bit of coke zero too, a small bottle every two days, and i rarely drink alcohol these days, and wont be drinking until the summer anyway.

Sireck

The fat around your stomach is due to your biosignature, its based on genetics and diet, it sounds like you have the insulin issue, you need to go on a diet which limits insulin release, vegetables and protein only, and only drinking water will do it, hard to stick to but it can be done, two months of that diet combined with weights four days a week and two 45 minute HIIT sessions a week and two 20 minute pure abs sessions will help in a big way

Sireck

By the way, you should be taking a quality multivitamin, creatine, fish oils, a good pre workout, you should get nitrix pills by bsn, (no calories in them) a great pre workout for strength and vascularity, my advice stay away from cyclone it is one of the most overpriced supplements on the market, thay claim its a 1.2kg tub, wrong, i measured it, that tub doesnt even hold a kilo of powder, i used one of those tubs years ago for a bag of creatine i got, there is only around 650 grams of the powder in there for like 60 quid, go to www.matrixnutrition.co.uk, hit the build muscle section, look at their all in one, way more powder for the cost and very tasty,i buy all my powders from that site.

Clearlier

Ballocavendish wrote: »

Dinner:
2 chicken fillets, 1/2 pack of microwaveable brown rice, mushrooms, onions, peppers and maybe chilli or sweet and sour sauce.

Are you making that from scratch? If not, take a look at the jar/packet. There's often a lot of calories in those which you don't expect.

sharkey 25

Sireck wrote: »

The fat around your stomach is due to your biosignature, its based on genetics and diet, it sounds like you have the insulin issue, you need to go on a diet which limits insulin release, vegetables and protein only, and only drinking water will do it, hard to stick to but it can be done, two months of that diet combined with weights four days a week and two 45 minute HIIT sessions a week and two 20 minute pure abs sessions will help in a big way

Don't you think that his performance in the gym would suffer by cutting out down carbs so much? Also what about fat ? I think if there are decent levels of fat and protein this would lessen any insulin response anyway.