looking for critiques & advice on my training plan & diet

[Neil]

Hi guys

im pretty new to all this, have been going to the the gym off and on for the past few years but now am trying to bulk up

Current training:

Mon: Chest press, incline, decline, flys, skull crushers, tri ext, dips, bench dips

Tues: Seated row, close grip cable row, 1 arm cable row, back ext, bb curls, preacher curl, incl curls, conc curl

Thurs: Sh press, arnold press, 1 arm lat raise, shrugs, upright rows

Fri: leg ext, leg curls, squats, calf raises

Sat: Abs

All generally 3 sets of 10

Food:

Breakfast: Muesli, banana, yoghurt

Morning tea: meal replace shake

Lunch: 100g meat, veges

Afternoon tea: Meal replace shake

Dinner: 100g meat, veges

Supper: 2 toast with peanut butter, banana

+ protein shake after training

oh and im 186cm, 87kilos currently

am i on the right track? any critiques/advice would be appreciated

[ramy]

hey your diet looks quite good bro. id just try up your meat meals from 100 to 150-200 unless your eating chicken breast or fish its not gunna be THAT much no more than 25 grams... you should try not to eat too many carbs post workout especially closer to sleeping. i try to eat none other than the ones that come in my shakes/sometimes rice/potatoes which all depends on whats cooked and i cant help that know what i mean?its not a sin. you wanna get more protein in the morning if i was you id switch up your last meal to your first meal and have a shake before you sleep at night. before i sleep roughly consume about 400 grams(cooked) of meat and 2 shakes(one post workout one 45 mins prior to sleeping) its most important to eat big after a workout but it is hard. also in the morning after a big workout you need to get protein in. i eat 3 slices of toast(whole grain) with peanut butter some biscuits a banana and a large tea(nearly all milk) theres really no rule with breakfast anyway i dont really care about the carbs in the morning most important thing for me is just calories get a jump start on the day for your calorie count and protein.

but your eating the right foods, and eating in good frequency...

with your routine i wouldnt dedicate a whole day on abs id mix things up around so i wouldnt have to go into the gym that day and have an extra day for recovery. for example what id do with that is do calves after shoulders and then abs with legs...thats what i personally do ive been doing that for about 6 months now and its going well...

[Android]

Hi guys

im pretty new to all this, have been going to the the gym off and on for the past few years but now am trying to bulk up

Current training:

Mon: Chest press, incline, decline, flys, skull crushers, tri ext, dips, bench dips

Tues: Seated row, close grip cable row, 1 arm cable row, back ext, bb curls, preacher curl, incl curls, conc curl

Thurs: Sh press, arnold press, 1 arm lat raise, shrugs, upright rows

Fri: leg ext, leg curls, squats, calf raises

Sat: Abs

All generally 3 sets of 10

Food:

Breakfast: Muesli, banana, yoghurt

Morning tea: meal replace shake

Lunch: 100g meat, veges

Afternoon tea: Meal replace shake

Dinner: 100g meat, veges

Supper: 2 toast with peanut butter, banana

+ protein shake after training

oh and im 186cm, 87kilos currently

am i on the right track? any critiques/advice would be appreciated

It's not enough food for a 6'1" tall guy trying to bulk.

Let's say you're trying to reach 95kg, this is a reachable milestone in 6 months. You have to eat like a person 5kg heavier than that right now, so you should be eating like a 100kg person.

Here are my points from what you've posted:

- Bulking up means getting a bit fatter as well so don't drop the food at night but skip the banana, open a tin of baked beans or if you prefer open a tin of creamed rice (low fat version)...every night.

- Get rid of meal replacement shakes and buy protein powder instead...use 1.5 scoops to get about 40gms protein with every shake.

- Wake up and down a protein shake then go and have breakfast.

- Replace those 2 meal replacement shakes you have during the day with real food, meat and carbs. Then down a protein shake after each of those meals.

- All meat meals have 200gms meat (raw weight) per meal. That's about 1kg of meat per day. A 185gm tin of tuna is a popular meat meal with bodybuilders it gives 32-35gms protein.

- Skip exercise like walking and jogging wherever you can.

- Do the food routine weekends as well as weekdays.

- Your workout days are fine but would rather see:

Day 1 Chest, Triceps...rather than a specific exercises which should be changed up. Looks like too many chest exercises for bulking and workout must take an hour or more? take it easy and just do basic stuff. Don't do decline press 1 week and swap it for another exercise the following week.

- Non-meat food during the day could be rice (any kind you can eat alot of), potato, kumara, or pasta, but am sure wholemeal breads are fine too.

- Make your last meal include meat or better still a couple of glasses of milk, or buy Casein protein for a slow-release protein as you sleep.

- Fats, you're fine with peanut butter but other healthy fats like Omega-3,6,9, CLA, and EFA can get from nuts or oils.

- Rest. If you have the chance take a power-nap often, a daily power nap can do wonders for growth. Go to bed early.

Biggest point I can make is eat more. You will have to adopt a new eating regime, bigger meals etc not just while bulking but to maintain the bigger size. It's a life-changing diet change not a temporary one :-)

[ramy]

androids advice is good depends what you mean by bulk people ask me am i bulking up? but im quite lean and eat lean but growing however as i grow the results show up there is no cutting cycles etc...but i dont really have a definition of bulking up i always considered it to be getting big fullstop so i guess eating anything and alot...

but for me there is no such thing as a bulking stage i just believe in eating as much protein as possible and preparing my body as well as possible for the gym and getting the required amount of rest...you cant cheat through eating or training. if your diet, training and recovery is at the top of your game you can only BUILD your BODY one step at a time.

are you trying to just get plain big?

with chest, i wouldnt do more than four, i.e flat,incline, incline flys and dips and you should do your dips as a chest exercise which follows into your tricep routine.

[Neil]

thanks Android and Ramy- some good advice there. at first i was finding it hard to eat the six meals a day, but now i am used to it and still get hungry so upping the intake shouldnt be too hard. yeh my main goal is just to bulk up at this point, but i dont want to lose my shape completely. i guess that wont happen if i eat the right food, and keep my training going, which i am really enjoying. does anyone know of a good place to go in hamilton to get the right advice and supply of protein etc? to be honest iv just been buying the supermarket stuff so far.

[Gym rat]

Ditch the muesli and have oats instead for breakfast.If you are bulking I would increase your meat intake for lunch from 100g to 200g and have carbs as well with your meat like white rice or basmati rice.How much water are you drinking each day?

[Neil]

i try and drink roughly 1.5 litres of water per day. having thought about the previous comments i think il go for a middle ground approach, as i want to bulk but still dont want to put on too much fat (+as a student food costs are a big consideration). i read on another site today that before you start to bulk you should first get your fat percentages right down "so you have a visible six pack" - that way you will put on more muscle as opposed to fat when you do bulk. any truth to this?

[Gym rat]

You need to be drinking more water like four litres of water per day.

[ramy]

You need to be drinking more water like four litres of water per day.

thats right neil i drink 1.5 litres in the gym alone in summer its anywhere between 2-3 litres...but thats not considered as daily intake as your only rehydrating yourself. ive found that ive gotten a bit of a gut now from all the water and milk i drink and lost quite a bit of definition but its worth it. you need it for peak performance but you have to make a compromise during your cutting cycle (if you compete) as water reduction is a big part of increasing muscle definition.

[Gym rat]

IF you are taking creatine you need to be drinking 4.5 litters of water or 5 litters of water.

[Optimass]

You need to be drinking more water like four litres of water per day.

thats right neil i drink 1.5 litres in the gym alone in summer its anywhere between 2-3 litres...but thats not considered as daily intake as your only rehydrating yourself. ive found that ive gotten a bit of a gut now from all the water and milk i drink and lost quite a bit of definition but its worth it. you need it for peak performance but you have to make a compromise during your cutting cycle (if you compete) as water reduction is a big part of increasing muscle definition.

Water wont give you a gut ramy - without it your body doesn't perform to its best effect. On alll levels) ... A 4L bench mark will cause your body to stop storing it under the skin provided you have a safe amoount of sodium going into your body. (i.e body uses water to flush the sodium out which improves your cuts). the milk is more likely to bloat you.

Im impressed GR - you thinking of becoming a dietician?

[Neil]

thats pretty interesting stuff. but what does all the extra protein and water etc do do your kidneys, must put alot of extra strain on them?

[gym junkie]

thats pretty interesting stuff. but what does all the extra protein and water etc do do your kidneys, must put alot of extra strain on them?

thats why you should drink 3 and a half ltrs of water at least to help brake down the protein and keep the kidneys clean as new

[Pseudonym]

I've split two pages of off-topic posts out into their own topic in the Playground.

Now, I believe we were helping Neil with his training and diet...

[GreekAdonis]

Good call pseud.

Neil thats a lot of volume on mon and tue. You possibly could be overtraining some body parts.

As for legs I would add in some lunges and leave the leg ext till last. 8)

[Luigi]

yup listen to androids advice, always spot on. you need to eat more and train heavy and harder and skip the cardio, go hard on the water, and as said water is good for your kidneys it helps to rid excess toxins so 4-5l a day should be your intake dont worry your body will quickly adapt to it.

[Neil]

alright, cheers guys

- whats the danger in overtraining? is it just that doing too much is pointless or would i be doing damage? i sort of thought that given each muscle group had a week to recover i should push it as hard as i can

[Bazza]

Hi Neil...just had a read through the thread and some great advice there for you. If gaining mass is your target then my suggestion is to eat more often with better food, be well rested, and as someone said earlier, do less different types of exercise and stick to the basics. Sequentially add a little more weight each week, and treat the iron as if it owes you money and wants to date your teenage daughter...if you are disciplined, keep your form, and stick to the basic pressing exercise, provided you eat enough and eat well...you will add mass.