Help / Advice for gains & diet please!

[rsrider]

Hey,

Sorry if this is in the wrong area and sorry it is so long, but guess you need all the information!

Wondering if people can provide me with some advice on my training and diet.  Maybe I am just being impatient because I know results are not instantaneous, but I am getting bloody frustrated at what I percieve to be a lack of gains at the gym.  I have been going to the gym religiously for 4 months.  Before this I was doing a weights routine at home (for arguments sake let's just forget that).  I believe I am doing things 'by the book' but perhaps you more experienced guys can spot some things i'm doing wrong.

I am 185cm (6ft 1") and currently weigh 83kg.  I have always been of a thin/slightyl athletic build.  I train 4-5 days per week and try to have 2 days rest (cardio days) in between.  The only cardio I do is tennis twice a week on these days (high level).  In the first 2-3 months I made some decent strength and size gains going from about 78kg to my current weight, but lately it seems to have plateu'd and I cant seem to get past my current weight and I don't seem to be filling out as well as I would have expected.

On my training days I am at the gym for about 1.5 hours and always train as close to failure as possible without losing good form.  I do 3-4 sets of each excercise with between 6-12 reps and try to mix it up with supersets and drop sets as well.  I try to add weight if possible, but dont like to be doing less than 6 reps.

My general routine would consist of:

Monday: Cardio/Abs - Tennis 60-80mins & Abs (Hanging leg raises x 3 sets, 2 x 5min plank holds)

Tuesday: Back/Biceps - Lateral Pulldowns / Bent Over Row / Seated Cable Row / Incline Dumbbell Row / Standing Barbell Curls / Incline dumbbell curls / Reverse Curls / Cable Hammer curl dropset

Wednesday: Chest/Triceps - Bench Press / Incline Bench / Dumbbell Press / Flyes (Pecdec, cable, dumbbell) / Dips / Skullcrushers / Cable Tricep Pulldowns

Thursday: Legs - Squats / Leg Press / Lying leg Curls / Leg Extensions / Dumbbell lunges / Calf Raises

Friday: Cardio/Abs - Tennis 60-80mins & Abs (Hanging leg raises x 3 sets, 2 x 5min plank holds)

Saturday: Arms - Standing Barbell Curls / Incline dumbbell curls / Dumbbell Hammer curls  / Dips + Kickback superset / Tricep Pulldowns / Skullcrushers

Sunday: Shoulders - Overhead Barbell Press / Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press / Dumbbell lateral raises / Reverse Shoulder press + Dumbbell Front Raise superset / Barbell Shoulder Shrugs / Upright Rows

In terms of my eating I use MyfitnessPal to track my caloric intake.  Currently my caloric goal each day is 3500 calories, but I might need to up this as I cant seem to get past my current weight.  I hate eating rubbish food, hardly ever drink alcohol, dont touch soft drink or sugary shit and get at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night.  According to this my diet consists of around 210-220gm protein per day, 350-400gm carbs and 120-130gm fat (good fats I hope).

My diet consists of:

Breakfast: Coffee  + 4 Weetbix + milk + banana

Mid Morning : 3 x slices of multigrain bread with olivite spread and 1/2 an avocado

Lunch: 250-300gms chicken tenderloins + Potato salad

Afternoon Snack: Unsalted roast nuts + an apple

Pre-Workout: 1 scoop Musclepharm Assault with 500ml water

PostWorkout: Protein Shake (ON Whey, Egg, Milk, Creatine, Banana) + Small Salmon Fillet

Dinner: Meal consisting of  lean meat, vegetables and salad

Before Bed: 3 x weetbox + milk

I also drink probably 1.5 litres of water per day, maybe more on workout days.

 

If you could all let me know what you think needs a changeup it'd be appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Rory

[Spacebound]

From my experience, body part splits got me nowhere (I have shithouse genetics).

It was only when I switched over to powerlifting type programs (candito, 5/3/1) that I’ve made progress. I’ve made as much progress in 6 months then I did in 2-3years where I did body part splits. I’ve found more frequency has been the most beneficial aspect in terms of strength and size, For example squatting 2-3 times a week and deadlifting twice a week.

Take it for what you will, as im still weak as f*ck and small plus body part splits work fine for most people.

 

Either that or/and just eat more and cardio less 

[Kalidane]

I read several words of your post so I feel confident in recommending the following:

Deadlifts

Swap the 1.5 litres water for 2 litres milk (chocolate is best but whatevs).

Decide/disclose your goals

 

Report back in 6 weeks.

 

I'll PM you with my paypal details.

[Pseudonym]

Hey Rory. It looks to me like you're doing everything right. It's pretty normal to make great progress in the first few months, then find it gets progressively harder. Even if you've got everything perfect, your gains will still get slower.

That said, here's a few ideas for you:

One possibility is that now you're a bit bigger, you need to increase your diet even more. Personally, I would up the protein and leave the carbs and fats as they are. You could do that easily enough by adding in a couple of scoops of protein for one or two meals. That would add another 50g protein to a meal and increase your colric total by 200 calories.

The other thing I've recently found (and it's taken me 10 years of lifting to discover this) is that the rest time between sets makes a huge difference. Try to keep them to about a minute, if you aren't already.

[rsrider]

Much appreciated for the help guys!

I don't incorporate deadlifts into my routine for the simple fact that I have a terrible back.  Once I have got my back a bit stronger over time I will try and include these, as I know they are a great excercise for overall strength.

Pseudonym - My rest periods between sets is between 60-90 seconds, sometimes less, sometimes more depending on if I am training by myself or with a mate.

I think one of my problems is that I am not eating enough carbs.  I would ultimately like a 20% fat, 35% protein 45% carb split but at the moment I am eating around 40% of my diet in fats which is far too much I think, even though it is from good sources (salmon, avocado, milk etc).

Can you guys recommend some easy and inexpensive meal ideas that are low in fat but high in carbs?

Cheers

 

Rory

[maccaz]

imo worth learning to deadlift asap, even if its light as or just bar only or some light rack pulls to get the feel for it,

 

for high carb low fat cheap meal cant beat oats or rice

[Cameron_R]

 

I think one of my problems is that I am not eating enough carbs.  I would ultimately like a 20% fat, 35% protein 45% carb split but at the moment I am eating around 40% of my diet in fats which is far too much I think, even though it is from good sources (salmon, avocado, milk etc).

Hey, I'm trying to learn this stuff at the moment, so I don't have a solution for you sorry, just asking to help understand ...

why/how did you choose those %'s?? 

[Cameron_R]

Easy and inexpensive high carbs: Fruit!!

[HumanPerformance]

You need more rest days, your training to much for your bodytype.

[Pseudonym]

You need more rest days, your training to much for your bodytype.

Actually, that's a good point. I'd drop the arms day - you're already thrashing them on back/chest days anway.

Can you guys recommend some easy and inexpensive meal ideas that are low in fat but high in carbs?

Oats, rice, pasta, potato, kumara - basically anything starchy is good. Even bread, but opt for Vogels rather than plain white. Fruit is good, but don't go overboard because it is still sugar, even if it is healthy.

But why do you think you need more carbs as opposed to protein? Unless you're in a pretty active job, or have a ridiculously fast metabolism, I'd say 400g carbs should be heaps. It was the protein I thought you could increase.

[Gym rat]

It might a ideo to increase your protein by having milk,eggs,chicken breast,steak,mince,yoghurt,cottage chesse,pams tuna in can which is cheap to buy compare to the other brands that are out there which are more expensive to buy

 

 

 

[rsrider]

Cheers for all the help guys, much appreciated for taking the time to help me out.

Re: rest days - the only reason I have a specific arm day is because I train my triceps on chest day and biceps on back day and they are probably already semi-fatigued by the time I get to them......I thought a seperate arm day would be good to really drill my arms and give them 100%??

With regard to diet - I use Myfitnesspal to track my daily calories and nutritional information.  I was eating around 190-220gm protein per day, around 150gm fat per day and only about 250gm carbs per day which I believe is WAY too low.  Over the last two days I have modified my diet to the following.  let me know what you think:

Breakfast: 4 x Weetbix, 250ml calci-trim milk, banana, brown sugar

Mid-Morning: 3 x Vogels Toast, 70gm Cottage Cheese, 95gm Tuna

Lunch: 1.5 cups brown rice (cooked), 150gm chicken thighs

Mid Afternoon: 150gm Chicken Tenderloins, 30gm nuts, apple

Post workout: 45gm ON Whey, 300ml calci-trim milk, 1 x egg

Dinner: Meal consisting of lean meat, vegetables and salad

Before Bed: 3 x weetbix, 250ml Calci-trim milk, brown sugar

This diet gives me around 400gm carbs, 250gm protein and 90gm fat, which is close to the 45, 35, 20 split.......

 

[Pseudonym]

I train my triceps on chest day and biceps on back day and they are probably already semi-fatigued by the time I get to them

That's a good thing. In fact it's common training method called pre-fatiguing.

If you're trying to create a rest day, that seems like an easy way to do it without rearranging your whole routine. Personally, I don't have a dedicated arms day - I find they grow well enough just through back and chest work. If your arms are particularly stubborn, perhaps they need their own day, but try dropping it for now and see how you get on.

only about 250gm carbs per day which I believe is WAY too low.

That's all I have. But again, it's very much an individual thing. I might be older that you are (slower metabolism) and I have a very sedentary job, so I don't burn as much energy throughout the day.

Certainly if you're not growing, increasing the carbs can only help.

 

[Gym rat]

I would replace the weetbixs for oats plus the taste nicer as well and ditch the brown sugar

[Cameron_R]

This diet gives me around 400gm carbs, 250gm protein and 90gm fat, which is close to the 45, 35, 20 split.......

 

 

If you are having trouble growing, an idea could be to change the split of macros. Raise the protein % seeing as that is the macro mostly responsible for muscle growth. Just an idea to try.