Newbie need Advice...gots me some pics here

Hey y'all. Been reading up the posts for a while and I've been meaning to get on here but I guess today is the big day. It's also the day I put myself on the line and show off some flab. I need to get rid of the spare tire like right ****ing now. I've had enough of the love handles. Anyway, I guess I be putting these here for institutional memory cuz my bod's gonna undergo some changes...and secondly for y'all to critique and maybe give some support. I know, I know, there's a ton of science in body building but one thing I've learned in my short existence is that there's no science in will power. You either got it or you don't.

So here's the routine:

Mon - AM - Cardio; PM -Chest/Tri
Tues - AM Cardio; PM - Back/Bis
Wed - AM Cardio
Thur - AM Cardio; Shoulders
Fri - AM Cardio; Legs
Sat - Test day - go max on chest to see where improvement is.
Sun - Sweet FA

All cardio is mixed up I'd say 'bout 45 mins. Keepin' the HR between 130-165. Comes and goes with energy levels but the important thing is I'm there.

So here they are. Any feedback would be awesome. You're a good bunch of cats so I figure I can rely on you not to flame too much. And then when the titties get into line, I can maybe get some compliments eventually.

RockWolf

I would cut back on the cardio 1 day and hit it only 4 days 45min in the AM on a empty stomach.

What's the diet look like...... Diet is key bro..... post that and we can help better.

Diet eh? Well, I'm still hammering that out. Here's the phys. stats:

Height: 6'0"
Weight: 215
BF%: I'm gonna get one done ASAP so y'all can hear.

As for diet (still rudimentary):

7:30 AM - 8:30 - Cardio

9:30 AM - 1 cup Oatmeal, 3 hd boiled eggs

11:00 - 1 scoop champ nutrition pure whey in water

12:30 - 2 chicken breasts OR Can of Tun (130 g) OR couple chop (no fat)
Salad with out the dressing or just balsamic vinegar

2:00 - 1 scoop whey in H2O, 5 g of creatine

3:00 - 4:30 - Weight lift

4:30 - 1 scoop whey in H2O, 5 g creatine, piece of fruit (banana, apple, etc)

6:30 - Supper time - pretty well same as lunch...I'm pretty inventive in the kitchen so I mix it up but I try to get at least 50 g of protein...veggies...I avoid any carbs

9:30 - 10:30 - sometimes have 1 cup cottage cheese. Always 15 g glutamine in 500 mL of water.


Throughout the day I'm drinking like 4-5 L (1 gallon) of water a day.

Hope this provides some more info

what's your lifting split like?

Specific Exercises? k here goes:

Exercises are in order and all 3-4 sets by 6-8 reps at the moment (total rep count changes depending on energy levels)

Chest/Triceps:

Incline dumb press
Flat Bench barbell
Tricep cable press downs
decline dumb press
decline skull crushers
standing cable cross X-0vers
dips/pushups (as many as I can squeeze out)

Back/Biceps:

Incline bench bar rows
Lat pull downs
Preacher curls (EZ bar)
Good mornings
Standing dumbbell curls

Shoulders/Traps:

Dumbell press
Lateral raises
Incline bench front raises
rotator cuff turns lying on bench with dumbell down then lift up across body.
EZ bar pull ups
Shrugs

Legs:
Squats
Weighted Lunges
Leg extension
Leg Curl
standing Calf raises
unweighted jumping lunges and squats (just giv'er)

Test Day:

Max out on:
1) incline dumb presses
2) Leg Press
3) Preachers Curls
4) Lat Pull down

**** around with the boys doing various things...changes pretty well evrytime we go on Saturdays. Just a chit chat sort of deal.

RockWolf

very quick low though draft of what you could try

As for diet
7:30 AM - 8:30 - Cardio
Post cardio shake????????????

hour later - 3/4 cup Oatmeal, 4 hd boiled eggwhite and 2 whole eggs

11:00 - can o tuna

12:30 - 2 chicken breasts
1 cup brown rice
1 cup broc or other healthy green veg
Salad with out the dressing or just balsamic vinegar

2:00 - 1 can o tuna with healthy carb maybe an apple

3:00 - 4:30 - Weight lift

post work out shake 1 scoop whey in H2O, 5 g creatine

6:30 - Supper time - pretty well same as lunch...I'm pretty inventive in the kitchen so I mix it up but I try to get at least 50 g of protein...veggies...I avoid any carbs

9:30 - 10:30 - sometimes have 1 cup cottage cheese. Always 15 g glutamine in 500 mL of water.


Throughout the day I'm drinking like 4-5 L (1 gallon) of water a day.

Hope this provides some more info[/QUOTE]

Looks pretty good. Here are my reccommendations:

Training/Weights:
You have too many sets for chest. Substitute another tricep exercise for one of your chest exercises, something like cable pressdowns instead of your decline dumbell press.

I'm not sure what an EZ bar pullup is under your shoulder exercise, but it sounds like a back exercise?

Cardio:
Too much here IMO, try High Intensity Interval Training.
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

Diet:
Looks pretty good.

Make sure you're getting enough calories. Shoot to loose about a pound or so a week. 500 calories below maintenence a day.

If you're loosing more than 2 pounds per week, you're probably loosing some muscle. One caveat, in the first month or so, you may loose a lot more than 1 lb a week. Don't worry about this, as your body is more efficient at burning fat at this stage.

Take 24hrs a week (I like Fri night-Sat night) and eat whatever you want. This will accelerate your fatloss.

Don't worry about complicated low-carb (ketogenic) diets unless you stop loosing weight.

Supplements:
I highly reccommend these basic supplements:
Multi Vitamin
Green Tea (2 a day)
Omega-3 Fats fish or flax (at least 6 grams a day)
Extra Vitamin C (1000mg)
Extra Vitamin E (1000-2000IUs)

Don't be afraid to take a day off if you're feeling down. And remember to have fun!

P.S. treat yourself to one of those little mp3 players. Helps to keep me in the zone.

something like that

Here goes a quick run on the diet:

7:30 AM - 8:30 - Cardio

9:30 AM - 1 cup Oatmeal 10 egg whites

11:00 - 2 chicken breasts OR 2 Can of Tun

12:30 - (Lunch) 2 chicken breasts OR 2 Can of Tun
1 cup Oatmeal w/ Natural Peanut Butter

2:00 - 40 to 50g of whey in H2O, 5 g of creatine

3:00 - 4:30 - Weight lift

4:30 - 40 to 50g of whey in H2O w/ 3g of honey, 5 g creatine

6:30 - Supper time - pretty well same as lunch...I'm pretty inventive in the kitchen so I mix it up but I try to get at least 50 g of protein...veggies...I avoid any carbs

8:30 10 egg whites / 2 cups of green veggies

9:30 - 10:30 - 1 cup cottage cheese. Always 15 g glutamine in 500 mL of water. 40 to 50g of whey w/ Flax


Throughout the day I'm drinking like 4-5 L (1 gallon) of water a day.

yup was going to begin on the work out next but ya beat me to it. your are over doing it here. Your are really doing to many sets per body parts. you are obviously excited to get at the weights and this rocks but allow youself recovery time and chill a little bit on the 4 or 5 different excer. per body part. use the time saved in the gym to iron out the diet

Mud do you buy in to the seperating of the fat and carb meals??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheMudMan

Here goes a quick run on the diet:


4:30 - 40 to 50g of whey in H2O w/ 3g of honey, 5 g creatine

.

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Whats the honey for???? simple carb post weight training

OK this is my take... no one here is making fun or joking, the important thing is you are here and asking advice, do it and stick with it. Its amazing the transformation any of us can make to our bodies over a couple years.

OK #1 need to loose some fat. #2 under that fat, you do not have a hard body... muscle is as soft as the fat. Again dont take this the wrong way but looks like you are just starting a training program. For one you are not all that fat... Its also amazing how fat someone can look at even 150-160 lbs with a little bit of beer belly and undertrained chest, arms and shoulders. In otherwords, harden up, grow the chest, arms and delts and might not need to take so much off belly.

I'd cut down the cardio to once a week and dedicate more into weight training in order to harden up the body. The key is, you want to not necessarily race thru increasing weights as much as you would want to start with lots of reps and sets... in other words most exercises should be 15 reps, 7 to 8 reps, adjust the weights so you can do this comfortably without aching the muscles too bad. This is sort of anarobic cardio, lifting weights while doing lots of reps and sets to have a fat reducing cardio effect at same time. Dont miss any muscle groups. SOme beginners work only on biceps and pecs, these DO develop but then now you have under developed and out of purportion traps and delts and these are sometimes harder and slower to grow muscles then the ones you gave a head start to.

Otherwise good luck.

i would not max out every week if i were you...for one, it taxes your CNS quite a bit and you are at a much greater risk of injury with so much weight

just start lifting, give it a month and then you will start to notice progress. you won't have to try and prove it to yourself by maxing out every week

Yeah I agree, weight training will be more beneficial then the cardio, so cut that back and up the weight training. And I'll agree, don't max every week. Personally I hardly ever max, I have no idea how much I can bench!

Thanks for all the input fellas. It's bitchin' how you guys lend a hand. I do have the initial spurt of eagerness to get on with it and I think it's good you guys grounded me a little. I'm taking it all in and sort synthesizing it into something that works for me. I'm in it for the long haul and I've already resolved myself to a change in lifestyle to allow for it. No such thing as quick fixes.

I'm going to definitely remove maxing out every week and I'm going to concentrate a bit more on the diet. As for cardio, I have asthma so I'm going to stick to it at least 3 times a week. It's not that I don't trust you guys, it's just that I want to be healthy and I'll cut back on my gains a little for good wind. It's a tradeoff, I feel a good cardio-vascular framework will help me in the long run especially with colds and flus. If I get a chest cold, man I'm pretty well ****ed until I get over it. I'll drop the number of exercises per muscle group to about 3 and increase the reps. I hear you Ntpadude about the soft muscle, no flame taken. I'm also checking out the EFA's and other supps. I'm making a pretty strict diet plan but I've heard of the "cheat day" principle and I think I'll give it a go, thanks MMC78 for the reminder. And I'm actually in the market for an MP3 player.

Any other commentary y'all want to share with me?

3 times a week is fine but if you also decrease wait time between sets you get a great cardio work out as well. I do a push/pull split with a days rest between and the first 2 days a week are max weight all out war. Then the second 3 thurs. fri. i kill the wiat time between set and even the skin basterd i work out with sweets his ass off on those 2 workouts. But as always do what feels good and allows for recovery

thank enraged. I'll try it out for a month or so. I'll post some pics in January. Just reading about the "marbling in fat" do you think the high reps and set will really tighten up the muscle that much?

Increase the reps? How many are you doing now?

I find that i gain the best when using sets of 4-7 reps. That's just me though. everyone is different. The only way to find out is basically.. do the same exercises for about a month with low reps, then another month with higher reps, and see which gets you better results.

Rockwolf. I like the avatar. After reading through this thread, you've got a lot of differing opinions to choose from. IMO, you should be doing lots of cardio. 1st thing in the morning on an empty stomach 4-5 days/wk for 30-45 mins. I would suggest a moderate intensity level though. Also, I don't like your current split. You have too many rest days. And there's no point in going to the gym to max out and chit chat. You need to bust your ass in there! I would suggest getting on a 2 on, 1 off split with that. Something like:

Day 1:Legs
Day 2: Chest/Tris
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Back Bis
Day 5: Delts, Traps, Abs
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Repeat

As far as your diet, you need to find the foods you can tolerate and stick with day in and day out. The diets listed above as suggestions are good but you might not prefer certain foods etc and therefore aren't going to be able to stick with it. My advice is to get your macro breakdown and divide it by 6-7 meals/day made up of clean foods of your choosing. (I would suggest you stay with fibrous low GI complex carbs like oatmeal, yams, brown rice, etc-except post workout where you should be drinking a high sugar protein shake---....for protein..egg whites, chicken, fish, steak...and for fats..natural peanut butter, flax oil, etc.) High protein, low carb, moderate fat is the best way to lose fat, IMO. THE ONE THING I STRESS is to make sure to find a set diet and follow it every day consistently. I eat the same foods at the same time every day and prepare meals ahead of time to take with me when I'm running around. It's the only way you'll stay on path.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheMudMan

Here goes a quick run on the diet:

7:30 AM - 8:30 - Cardio

9:30 AM - 1 cup Oatmeal 10 egg whites

11:00 - 2 chicken breasts OR 2 Can of Tun

12:30 - (Lunch) 2 chicken breasts OR 2 Can of Tun
1 cup Oatmeal w/ Natural Peanut Butter

2:00 - 40 to 50g of whey in H2O, 5 g of creatine

3:00 - 4:30 - Weight lift

4:30 - 40 to 50g of whey in H2O w/ 3g of honey, 5 g creatine

6:30 - Supper time - pretty well same as lunch...I'm pretty inventive in the kitchen so I mix it up but I try to get at least 50 g of protein...veggies...I avoid any carbs

8:30 10 egg whites / 2 cups of green veggies

9:30 - 10:30 - 1 cup cottage cheese. Always 15 g glutamine in 500 mL of water. 40 to 50g of whey w/ Flax


Throughout the day I'm drinking like 4-5 L (1 gallon) of water a day.

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Don't you people have jobs?!?!

Just bustin ya MM... nice layout. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pumpseeker

Rockwolf. I like the avatar. After reading through this thread, you've got a lot of differing opinions to choose from. IMO, you should be doing lots of cardio. 1st thing in the morning on an empty stomach 4-5 days/wk for 30-45 mins. I would suggest a moderate intensity level though. Also, I don't like your current split. You have too many rest days. And there's no point in going to the gym to max out and chit chat. You need to bust your ass in there! I would suggest getting on a 2 on, 1 off split with that. Something like:

Day 1:Legs
Day 2: Chest/Tris
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Back Bis
Day 5: Delts, Traps, Abs
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Repeat

As far as your diet, you need to find the foods you can tolerate and stick with day in and day out. The diets listed above as suggestions are good but you might not prefer certain foods etc and therefore aren't going to be able to stick with it. My advice is to get your macro breakdown and divide it by 6-7 meals/day made up of clean foods of your choosing. (I would suggest you stay with fibrous low GI complex carbs like oatmeal, yams, brown rice, etc-except post workout where you should be drinking a high sugar protein shake---....for protein..egg whites, chicken, fish, steak...and for fats..natural peanut butter, flax oil, etc.) High protein, low carb, moderate fat is the best way to lose fat, IMO. THE ONE THING I STRESS is to make sure to find a set diet and follow it every day consistently. I eat the same foods at the same time every day and prepare meals ahead of time to take with me when I'm running around. It's the only way you'll stay on path.

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No doubt...the opinions are endless and they're all valid I think. However, you make a good point in that I have do something that I can stick with. As I said before, I'm in it for the long haul and getting in the groove/routine without it becoming boring may be the biggest challenge I face. I'm trying a routine out for 2 months and then I'm going to re-evaluate. The way I see it, at this stage, any routine I choose will be beneficial and cardio is a big part of it. After 2 months I'll be able to more intelligently assess what my own needs are and adjust accordingly. As far as diet is concerned, I'm doing as you suggested, pumpseeker. I've divided the day into 6 slots.

#1 1/2 cup Oatmeal after cardio and scoop of protein powder
#2 60g Protein
#3 60g Protein and cup vegetables/carbs
#4 60g protein/sugar
#5 60g Protein and veggies (salad) 1/2 carbs
#6 60g protein (cottage cheese)


Thanks for the input from everbody and I'll keep y'all posted on my progress. The high I get after a workout is worth doing it nevermind the body shaping benefits.

RockWolf

I like pumpseekers split he gave you but I like to have two days off in a row here and there myself.

This is what this board is all about. I've never seen guys take such time helping a bro out. Good to see!!!