Supplement recommendations.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

I've been doing weights regularly and consistently for about 2 months now and I'm looking to improve my returns by investing in some decent supplements. I do 4 weights sessions a week, with two 90 minute/20km cardio sessions and a rest day. It usually pans out something like this: light weights, heavy weights, cardio, light weights, heavy weights, cardio, rest day.

Light weights sees me doing 5 sets of 15+ reps whereas heavy weights is normally more like 4 sets of 10. On the heavy weights days I'll usually fail on the 8th or 9th rep of the 4th set so I'm definitely pushing myself.

I haven't fully gotten my eating habits sorted out but I usually work out in the morning / afternoon so before I lift each day I've usually had a bowl of oats, banana and a sandwich of some sort. Dinner is usually something involving chicken and potatoes / veg.

As for my body, I'm 18 years old and standing 6 foot tall. I weigh 102kg and whilst lifting if my main goal I'm doing the cardio to try and reduce body fat. I'd like to get a bit more scientific / smarter with my diet and also, if it will help, start using supplements to increase the return I get for my efforts. Any advice would be much appreciated, the more specific the better.

joc_06

5 sets of 15?? and 4 sets of 10??
if lifting is your main goal this is crazy. in general 5x5 is the most you should be doing on light day and 3x3 on heavy day.

as for supp's protein and good multi vits are a must. after a while maybe look into bcaa's creatine, glutamine, zma

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Well from the limited amount I've read the general consensus seemed to be 4/5 sets of fairly high reps in a light workout and 3/4 sets of <10 on a heavy workout. This isn't optimal? 5x5/3x3 seems like almost nothing.

tribulus

it should be quality over quantity, rather do 3 sets with strict form than 5 sets with crapform. If you're worried about the volume then reduce the time between sets to increase the intensity.

I haven't fully gotten my eating habits sorted out but I usually work out in the morning / afternoon so before I lift each day I've usually had a bowl of oats, banana and a sandwich of some sort. Dinner is usually something involving chicken and potatoes / veg.

is that all you're eating for the whole day??? You should eat more often than 3 times a day, 5 or more would be good. Try to get your carbs from pasta/rice/wholemeal stuff and use lean protein sources , chicken, tuna,turkey if you want to keep an eye on your bodyfat.

Easygainer

The general consensus is 4 or 5 sets... how many of the general gym rat population actually look like they lift weights? Ignorance is rife in this sport and people are still just doing what Arnold did 30 odd years ago. Things have changed.

I can't be arsed posting up all the rules of dieting and lifting again so just search the forum, if you want search through my posts and replies to threads with similar titles (there are about 200 of them)...

joc_06

Bob wrote:

Well from the limited amount I've read the general consensus seemed to be 4/5 sets of fairly high reps in a light workout and 3/4 sets of <10 on a heavy workout. This isn't optimal? 5x5/3x3 seems like almost nothing.

it all depends on your goals and if it is lifting (ie your 1rm) then 5x5 is a huge amount.
I dont think you understand what lifting is.
5x5 @ 80-90% of 1rm is a huge amount.

electric69

I use a 10kg weight on each arm and do 120 reps non stop.followed by 30 reps working shoulder muscles and then 30 reps for my triceps.have been building up gradually for a number of months and its working very well.
is this routine ok?

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

See, I think this might be part of my problem... I love lifting weights, or at least what I call lifting weights, but I've never had any proper tuition and bar trying my best at following what I see on the machines or looking at magazines / websites I've had absolutely no instruction as to form. Also, I haven't truly determined my 1RM on most machines yet. Like I said, I've been doing this completely without tuition so far and this thread was created as I wanted to take my training a step further and lift smarter.

poobum

Bob wrote:

See, I think this might be part of my problem... I love lifting weights, or at least what I call lifting weights, but I've never had any proper tuition and bar trying my best at following what I see on the machines or looking at magazines / websites I've had absolutely no instruction as to form. Also, I haven't truly determined my 1RM on most machines yet. Like I said, I've been doing this completely without tuition so far and this thread was created as I wanted to take my training a step further and lift smarter.

try not to use machines! use free weights etc... if possible!