Beginner wanting advice from others!

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Hi there, im 25, im a baker who starts my days at 3am. About 2 months ago i joined a gym, ive ben out of shape my WHOLE life, which is my motivation. Im 5ft 10", and my initial assesment put me at 83kgs, and 18%bf. I changed to a very healthy low fat, high protein diet, cardio 4 times a week. After 8 weeks my reassesment came back at 74kgs and 14%bf, which was for me a great result. Though my mid term goal is to lower my bf% to be no more than 12, hopefully 10%. So after that ive started doing weights, a SMALL amount of cardio because now that ive dropped the fat, i want to put on muscle. Im doing 4 1 hr sessions a week: legs, chest/tricep, back/bicep, shoulder/core. Basically i do 3 sets of 6-10 reps, and i do have sore muscles the following day. im getting plenty of protein, and taking a SMALL amount of effervescent creatine- but after 8 weeks of weights i havent put on any weight? any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[NZPT]

post up your average diet mate see whats going in then we can help.

nice work on the weight loss to

[Pseudonym]

Hi mate. You say you do 3 sets per exercise - how many exercises per muscle group? There's also the possibility that you're doing everything right, and the muscle weight you're gaining is simply replacing the fat weight you're losing.

[teamfatboy]

You say 'low-fat, high-protein' - but what about the carbs... being a baker, that's an occuational hazard, surely?

I agree with the others, you're making good progress...but now the gains may get a little harder and the details will start to count.

How's the % bf being determined - a clue to how your body composition's changing is girths (circumference of areas like thigh, calf, biceps, waist hips and chest) - and skinfolds for %bf. Weight on its own can be misleading - like Pseudo says, you may be replacing bodyfat with lean muscle mass.

Keep it up!

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yea, my bf% was done by calliper test, by the same person for consistency. The only measurement i took notice of is that in the initial 8 week cardio, i lost over 3" off my stomach, which is where i hold most of my excess weight. I have got definition that ive never had before in my arms and legs, but my stomach still is flabby. i might swallow my pride and post a few pics. As for diet, heres a typical day. I know that im getting heaps of protein, but carbs are still a bit of a mystery to me, some advice on my carb intake would be great. note that im currently going to change one of the morning meals to a rice/vege risotto mix, but this is a normal gym day.

M1: 1pottle yogurt, 3/4cup untoasted muesli, 1 banana, scatter or raisin.

M2: sandwich(mkenzie bread, tuna can, salad, tomato paste)

M3: Sandwich(same but with dry fried mince not tuna)

effervescent creatine when i finish work, 1.30 - 2pm ish, then gym

M4: post workout, shake 300ml, skim milk, balance whey, banana.

with either noodles, brown rice or pasta.

M5: if im hungry,4 wholegrain vitawheat with quality p.butter on them.

i drink a couple of litres of water a day, not including gym water. And no i eat nothing that i make, its all horrible white bread and sugary cakes!

Any suggestions on this diet and any areas that i could improve on would be much appreciated. I also have to say thanks, i absolutely love being a gym rat and having common-minded people to chat with is awesome, im sure i will get my results in the end!

[teamfatboy]

I suspect there's probably still room to adjust the protein-carb-fat ratio...

I'd ditch the milk in the shakes for water, and opt for brown or basmati rice, not noodles/ pasta. Also watch the sugar content in the yoghurt, tomato paste - that, along with carbs, can cause fluid retention which won't help surface the abs. I'm personally not a fan of effervescent creatine, on account of the extra junk in it, but that's probably not so critical.

How much coffee or tea (with milk/sugar?) do you drink - used right, coffee can be your friend

Finally, post your training plan - are you still doing four cardio AND four weights sessions per week. There may be scope to modify the timing of workouts to help get best-impact from them, although doing cardio before starting work (at 3am, yikes!) is clearly not an option :nod:

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yea, i go straight to the gym after work, the biggest challenge for me isnt motivation, its stopping the tiredness setting in on the drive there, about half an hr. I dont drink coffee or tea at all, never have. I stick with milk/water, have the odd juice. Dont have any alcohol anymore. Heres my workout plan. number of sets doesnt include the weightless warmup set.

Day 1. 3 sets squats, 3 sets smith mach. lunges, 3 sets calf raises, 3 sets leg curls, 3 sets leg extension.

Day 2. 3 sets flat bench, 3 sets flat db press, 3 sets tricep pushdown, 3 sets decline bench press, 3 sets assisted wide grip dips, 3 sets cable cross flys.

day3. 3 sets one arm row, 3 sets ezibar bicep curl, 3 sets seated row, 3 sets alternate arm curls, 3 sets lat pulldown, 3 sets machine curls.

day4. 3 sets front db raise, 3 sets side db raise, 4 sets smith mach. shoulder press(front), 3 sets b.bell shrugs. 3 sets snatch&press, 3 sets back extensions, situps and crunches.

I finish everyday with 10mins running on the treadmill. Ive only ben doing this routine for two weeks, and it feels alot more effective then my 3 day 'basics' routine i had. I also want to change the machine curls into a dropset to try get a little variation on my bicep work. Any advice on the workout? keep in mind time is an issue for me, an hour is about as long as i can be at the gym most of the time. so should i be ditching one of the sandwich meals for a rice based meal?

[teamfatboy]

I'm not best qualified to comment on your weights routine, but that looks like a sensible outline, with room to refine it...

An hour or so should give you enough time, especially if you watch the rest-times between sets - unless going heavy, keeping a minute between sets would help with fat-burning (just enough time to change weights, towel-down and guzzle some water). When shifting between exercises, keep under two minutes - so, for example:

3 sets flat bench, (1 min between sets)

2m rest

3 sets flat db press (1m break)

2min

3 sets tricep pushdown

2min

3 sets decline bench press

2min

3 sets assisted wide grip dips,

3 sets cable cross flys.

I suspect you might get better results by keeping eg all the chest together, then all the triceps... so flat press, decline press, cable x-over then pushdown, dips.

To tone abs, consider doing something at the end of each workout... even if it's just one set of crunches, bench knee raises or whatever. although the only way to uncover the six-pack is to burn fat, not necessarily to work the abs themselves, when you do strip off the fat, you want to have a good muscular base.

I'll be interested to see what others say about your routine, but it does look to me like the basics are all there, it's now down to the fine-tuning. Good luck!

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thanks tfb, i will try hitting the muscle group consistently instead of alternating. And yea i do sumtyms do some situps on chest day, i will try and up my core workout. i seem to carry virtually all my weight in my midsection, so even though my initial progress is good, my tum still looks horrid. though up till now id never seen my hips, and im JUST starting to trim up a little on my oblique area, but i still have massive lurve handles. i will take sum pics of myself (scary) and post them in the pics section in the name of progress, and honesty. Will try get pics on in next few days. Cheers for the advice!

any others??

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photos posted in the 'post your pics' forum, under the title 'couch potato looking to keep up progress bf14%'

Shameful, but i do beleive it will help people giving me advice to know what im dealing with!! :oops:

[Flex]

Hi there, im 25, im a baker who starts my days at 3am. About 2 months ago i joined a gym, ive ben out of shape my WHOLE life, which is my motivation. Im 5ft 10", and my initial assesment put me at 83kgs, and 18%bf. I changed to a very healthy low fat, high protein diet, cardio 4 times a week. After 8 weeks my reassesment came back at 74kgs and 14%bf, which was for me a great result.

What the? Great result? Yeah you lost weight but at what expense - you lost 5kg of muscle and only 4kg fat, that in my books is a little bit of an issue. Looking at your diet I'd say you're not eating anywhere enough protein (you may think you're on a high protein diet but that is not high protein), and you're not eating often enough.

LOW FAT! Who came up with that? Is it 1989 again? Fat is your friend - or at least healthy fats should be. You need fat to burn fat as well as a whole host of normal daily functions in the body. Add some essential fats into at least 3 of your meals each day.

You want each day to go something like this:

Meal 1 Breakfast

Protein: 4 egg whites + 1 whole egg omelette, or Whey protein shake

Carbs: Oatmeal or Fruit (apple, banana, or orange), Almonds/Flaxseed Oil

Meal 2 - Mid Morning Snack

Whey Protein Shake with fruit/almonds/berries/yoghurt, or Meal Replacement Shake, or Mass Gainer Shake

Meal 3 Lunch

Protein: Tuna / Chicken Breast / Salmon

Carbs: Wholemeal bread / Brown Rice / Potato

and Salad with Olive oil dressing

Meal 4 Mid Afternoon Snack

Whey Protein Shake with fruit/almonds/berries/yoghurt, or Meal Replacement Shake, or handful of Mixed nuts, fruit salad or fruit.

Meal 5 Dinner

Protein: Lean Red Meat, Vegetables (cauliflower, brocolli etc),

Carbs: Brown Rice / Quinoa / Kumara / Yams

and Salad with Olive oil dressing

Meal 6 - Late Evening Snack

Whey Protein Shake with fruit/almonds/berries/yoghurt,

or Slow Release Protein - Casein / Micellar Casein / Cottage Cheese

Post Training Recovery Meal

Immediately following any training sessions (weight training, running, walking etc) a post training recovery shake should be consumed.

Whey Protein Shake with carbohydrates (waxy maize, dextrose, oats, banana, cereal), glutamine, bcaa’s, creatine etc

Carbohydrates can be omitted from Meals 4 to 6 if following a carb restricted diet.

NB: Aim to eat a meal every 2 to 3 hours and always ensure your post training recovery meal is consumed within 30 to 60 minutes of finishing training. Essential Fats should be included in at least 3 meals.

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wow, thats a heap of protein! but judging from your posts you do know what your on about! i am gonna buy myself some flaxseed oil to put in my shakes. this is an updated diet plan im still fettling, but i will undertake this as soon as my massgainer i bought runs out.

Breaky, protein shake with oats and banana

morning tea: 3/4cup brown rice, 200g s.fry veges, 185g can tuna

lunch: protein shake, 1/2 cup oats

1.30pm have superpump preworkout supp, go to gym

postworkout shake, with banana

dinner: 200gchick or beef, decent serve stirfry vege, no dressing.

before bed: maybe another shake, or vitawheats with p/butter

i will add some flaxseed to the shakes when i can afford to buy some, bills to pay at the mo! as for the muscle loss, i dont think it was that bad, id lost 3.1/2 inches off my guts! and im trying to bulk now, so i just have to put it behind me and push for some growth. what do you think of my proposed diet? not too much protein??