Introducing myself - Help needed!!!!

[gizzykid]

Whats up people,

Just joined up for a little advice.

I am 22 years old, 72 kgs and about 5'5" (165cm). Bf 12-15%

I started weight training 12 months ago and have seen some pretty good gains (started out around 64kg). Have been using whey shakes in the past and have just started my first cycle of creatine.

However, I went overseas over summer and had 2 months without stepping inside a gym at all. This set me back a wee bit and took a while to recover from. I am now working out harder than ever but seem to have hit a plateau, particularly in my benchpress. My chest is probably my weakest area (Only benching 32Kg DB) and just cannot seem to put any more size on it or increase my weights.

My workout routine is:

Sat - Chest

5 min warm-up

Flat bench DB or BB - 9, 8, 6, 4 (have only recently started doing BB bench as did not have a spotter until now)

Incline Bench - 9, 7, 5

Incline DB flies - 3x8

Cable cross-overs - 10, 8, 6

Sun - Back

5 min warm-up

Single arm DB row - 10, 8, 7, 6

Wide grip Lat pulldowns - 10, 8, 6, 5

Seated cable row - 10, 8, 7, 6

Narrow grip Lat pulldowns - 10, 8, 6

Sometimes some bent-over row

Tues - Shoulders

5 min warm-up

Seated DB shoulder press - 9, 8, 6, 5

DB side raises - 10, 9, 8, 7

DB rear flies - 10, 9, 8, 7

DB shrugs - 15, 12, 12, 10

Sometimes throw in upright row or arnold press

Wed - Arms

5 min warm-up

Straight BB curls - 10, 9, 7, 5

Tricep rope extension - 9, 8, 6, 5

DB incline curl - 9, 8, 7, 6

Tri overhead db extensions - 10, 9, 8, 7

Single arm db preacher curl - 9, 8, 7, 6

BB or cable skull crushers - 9, 8, 7, 6

Fri - Legs

5 min warm-up

Squats - 12, 10, 8, 8

straight leg dead lifts - 12, 10, 8, 8

Leg press - 12, 10, 8, 8

Ham curl machine - 10, 9, 8, 8

Calf raises - 20, 20, 20

I will sometimes replace my last set of every exercise with a drop-set.

I know that a 5-day split is quite intense but I originally did a 3-way split (back-bis, chest-tris, shoulders-legs) but my workouts were taking too long (around 1 hr 45 to 2 hrs) and so I split it like this in order to get my gym time under an hour.

My daily diet is generally:

6:30am Protein shake, 2 eggs

7:30am 1 cup oats

10:30am 140g tuna in sandwich

12:30pm 140g tuna in sandwich

3:30pm 140g tuna in sandwich

5:30pm (or after gym at 6:30) protein shake with banana and 1.5 tbsp peanut butter

7:30 Chicken and couscous

9:30 steak or chicken for dinner

Can any of the knowledgeable people here see any crucial flaws in my routines or diet?

Any help with getting past this plateau?

Goals are to put on as much solid muscle as I can over winter (when you're my height you need to look as big as you can haha) then to slim down for something I got in early summer (and just for summer in general).

[cantygirl]

Hi,

A couple of obvious things jump out at me, firstly with your training, you might find it good to split up your arm training and do biceps with your back, and triceps with your chest with shoulders on another day. Also, I personally think it is not necessary to do so many exercises for each muscle group, all you will be doing is wasting your time and making your energy last to get through it all. 2-3 different exercises for the bigger muscles with 2 for the smaller might be a better balance, give it a try, you may get better gains with changing things a little.

With your nutrition, I would ditch all the bread, nothing wrong with having a good filled sandwich for lunch but you would be better off cooking up a batch of kumera and adding that to your tuna for a change. Why do you have a protein shake at 6.30am then oats at 7.30am? Do you have anything with your oats? Also, its a bit bizarre to have 2 dinner meals,why not replace one with a protein shake. Just my 2c worth.

[Pseudonym]

Hi Gizzykid. At a quick glance through, the only thing I'd say is you seem to have a lot of volume, particularly for arms. I'd be inclined to drop an exercise for both bis and tris, and add in a bit of ab work. Other than that, it looks really good. Nicely thought out routine, decent rest periods where they're needed, good diet (you could add more protein, but you can always add more protein!). Well done. :nod:

[musclenz]

wwelcome, gizzykid to NZBB.co.nz & congratulations for a first up post where you have set out your personal stats, training regime & daily food plan in a way that most never even come close to. In addition to the above comments, which I agree with, I feel your diet is very lacking in good wholesome clean carbs. With weigth training & bodybuilding it is not just about protein. Carbs are equally important particularly to put on body mass & give you energy for your workouts. I'm thinking you need more brown rice, fruit & veges, kumara, potato (in small amounts) brocolli & possibly some nuts - walnuts & almonds. Oats are a great slow release low GI carb & a great friend of the bodybuilder. THrough some into your shakes & blend them up with banana & ice or frozen berries. Good luck with your training & growth.

[gizzykid]

With your nutrition, I would ditch all the bread, nothing wrong with having a good filled sandwich for lunch but you would be better off cooking up a batch of kumera and adding that to your tuna for a change. Why do you have a protein shake at 6.30am then oats at 7.30am? Do you have anything with your oats? Also, its a bit bizarre to have 2 dinner meals,why not replace one with a protein shake. Just my 2c worth.

Cheers for the advice cantygirl.

Yeah kumara would definitely be better than bread but sandwiches are just so much more convenient to take to work.

Have protein as soon as I wake up as I figure my body is probably a little starved after not having any protein all night. Thoughts?

I have the oats as a meal just before I go to work. Just have some honey and a little brown sugar in the oats. Is there something else I should be adding?

My meal at 9:30 is really my dinner meal and my 7:30 is just a meal between protein shake and tea (or 1 hour after working out). Not sure why I started doing this but start to feel hungry round this time. Little reluctant to switch to a protein shake here as 3 shakes a day is gonna get a lil' costly and I've always read that good food is better than whey anyway.

[gizzykid]

Hi Gizzykid. At a quick glance through, the only thing I'd say is you seem to have a lot of volume, particularly for arms. I'd be inclined to drop an exercise for both bis and tris, and add in a bit of ab work. Other than that, it looks really good. Nicely thought out routine, decent rest periods where they're needed, good diet (you could add more protein, but you can always add more protein!). Well done. :nod:

Cheers Pseudonym,

I'll try dropping an exercise each for bi's and tri's.

[gizzykid]

I feel your diet is very lacking in good wholesome clean carbs. With weigth training & bodybuilding it is not just about protein. Carbs are equally important particularly to put on body mass & give you energy for your workouts. I'm thinking you need more brown rice, fruit & veges, kumara, potato (in small amounts) brocolli & possibly some nuts - walnuts & almonds. Oats are a great slow release low GI carb & a great friend of the bodybuilder. THrough some into your shakes & blend them up with banana & ice or frozen berries. Good luck with your training & growth.

Musclenz,

Thanks for the diet advice,

Will try to up the clean carb intake, start eating some brown rice instead of couscous and a few more spuds and kumara.

Whats the consensus on pasta for dinner? OK or not advisable?

I've always struggled to eat fruit and veges aye, I eat quite a bit of lettuce and bananas in post-workout shakes but thats about it. What are some good, easy to get down fruits and veges?

Oh yeah will try the oats in my shake, that's a good idea. Is this good for post-workout shakes too?

[Beef]

Have protein as soon as I wake up as I figure my body is probably a little starved after not having any protein all night. Thoughts?

.

mate you've got plenty of protein in your diet. as long as you train hard and rest well the results will come

why not cut back to 4 meals a day, but eat the same amount of food. that's where it's at bro. way more time efficient. unless you're aiming to lose weight there's no reason to be eating that many smallish meals

on another note, it's good to see you're organised!

also, i would reduce it to a 4 day split and just do arms at the end of a workout. your arms will grow regardless of whether you do arm execises or not

if chest is your weakest, start doing some rotator cuff exercises. they're bound to help with your benching strength

[Gym rat]

Welcome abord Gizzykid For leg I would suggest having doing squats then leg press and keep everythingh else the same