ozzy

Think we're all breathing a sigh of relief there

Afroking,

I personally don't want to get BIG. The only reason I lift weights is to maintain some strength and protect myself from injuries.

Getting big for me is a disadvantage as all my sports and goals involve high-aerobic activities (running, mountaineering, kayaking, etc..) and hauling a big frame around is a major drawback.

Perhaps it's time I gave split routines a try.

Stefan

Tiggs

in theory i will stop the cardio at around 10% Bf.....at that stage i will have pics from 35% - 10% !!!

i may post them then!

afroking

Id highly recommend it mate, if for nothing else so that you can at least get more strength by concentrating on specific groups more.

I do think youll feel a lot of benefit from it at the end of your sessions!!

afroking

WOW, that would be an AMAZING achievement!! Whats your BF ATM?

Tripple'O G

Wanna cut up?

Eat more protein than carbs but don't stop eating carbs all together as you'll loose energy, get ratty and will end up sh1tting out half the protein you consume.

Wanna build up?

Don't bother with all thos p0xy excersises you see i.e. Flys when doing shoulder.
Still to the basics.....

Pressing movements - Shoulder press. 6sets and thats it.

- Bench. 6sets and thats it.

-Back. Rows & chin ups. Thats it.

-Legs. Squats & legpress. Thats it.

-Biceps. Curls. Thats it.

-Traps. Upright rows. Thats it.

-Tri's. Extensions & dips.

If you want to get a "gym" physique.....

Then weigh your carbs and protein out.
40g protein 60g carbs three times a day.

A basic food routine would be:

7AM: poridge with water

10AM: Supplement shake/ PCB

1PM: Plain Chicken Breast with a preferable slow releasing carb.
(Cous-cous or rice)

4PM: Either supplement or a PCB

TRAIN/GYM

NOTE* YOU HAVE A "GOLDEN WINDOW" AFTER YOU FINISH THE GYM (AROUND 30-45MINS) THAT ANYTHING YOU EAT (PROTEIN IF POSSIBLE) WILL GO STRAIGHT INTO MUSCLE REGENERATION.

So: after the gym a protein shake or a protein enriched meal.

The most important part of training is giving yourself enough rest.
If you can do weights everyother day in 45 mins to an hour, with 30mins of cardio EVERYDAY you will have no problems.

Try going on a competition diet and dropping 3 stone in 8 weeks.

peace

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Cool, blunt and to the point which is probably what I needed.

Cheers

Tripple'O G

appologies for the bluntness.......on my diet and sick of chicken & rice.

The main problem for me is no alcohol!!???

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

I was not complaining that it was blunt so no worries M8

What I meant was that there was no padding or beating around the bush you went straight in with the facts and also laid out a plan.

Cheers.

Tripple'O G

If you need a weighed out plan......

(i.e. I can work out the exact amount of protein/carbs you would need
for each meal)

.....then let me know.

Other than that do your carbio in the morning if you can (brisk walks are best as then you don's stress your joints) (not the joint you smoke by the way ) so your body is continually burning fat all day. Coupled with speeding up your metabolism by eating ever 3 hours, the effects will shock your body even more.
AND try not to eat/lower your carb intake after about 3pm.

Good luck and just think.......a few months of effort and then you can go back to whatever you want to do!

wilf

Good post from Tripple 'O

The 3Fs rule should be applied to training fuel, form and function

Remember form. Dont get sucked into lifting heavier weights with a poorer technique. How you lift the weights is just as important as how much you lift.

Tripple'O G

CORNER

and I couldn't agree more with wilf.....

You see blokes swinging the curling bar with 20kg on each side.
Try and get them to do a controlled, strict movement with 10kg instead and watch them struggle......

adios

Big Den

Can you do that without fookin yourself up? I wouldn't mind losing around 1 to 1.5 stone before going on holiday in 9 weeks. Combined with a bit of toning work.

Early 40's, 6' & unfortunately 14St 11lbs but don't have a huge gut or anything.

please no comments about mid life crisis - heard it all before.

Cheers

Den

Tripple'O G

Yes you can.....but not too often.

I have a lot of bodybuilding mates (all competition winners, NABBA etc)
and they'll diet down a couple of times a year. Now of course thats not good for you......as they're on gear etc it will help them to cut up even more.

But it can be done and as long as you're strict enough but LISTEN to you're own body.

i.e. when you start eating smaller portions every three hours you can find that you're constantly hungry....this is your metabloic rate speeding up.
DON'T EVER STARVE YOURSELF......if you're hungry, eat, just eat sensible.

It's a very very strict competition diet.....
i.e. no butter on your bread/toast. (no bread at all really)
Just eating plain BOILED/GRILLED chicken and rice.
No alcohol and a good 30 mins cardio daily. (not a wander, a brisk walk!)

However i'm not a nutrionist so don't take me word for word.
Everybody is different but as long as you eat well/healthy, train sensibly and REST you'll see the results. The stricter you are, the more rewards you'll recieve.

Hope it helps and always on here.

peace

GaryScoobNCBR

ok chaps, anyone who wants serious health and "useable" strength should go online and order "Spartan Health Regime"

Wont say much more for now unless you want more info BUT if your serious about being healthy and not being a normal slob with all sorts of illnesses get this manual.

super_si

till the jobs done

S

Ben WRX Bug-Eye

Just to back up what has been said about the importance of rest and eating...

I used to go to the gym 5 times a week doing 2 hour sessions a time - pure weight training. I would also strictly manage what I ate - very low fat, smallish portions and very little alcohol. I had excellent definition but didn't gain a massive amount of bulk over the three years I did this.

Recently I have cut down to 3 sessions a week. I now eat largely what I want and a lot more in quantity, particularly on the meats side. I also now drink a lot more, probably about ten to fifteen pints a week, but always put in my 3 sessions in.

Since these changes I have noticed myself get much bigger. I have lost a bit of definition, particularly around the abdomen, but this trade off is well worth it for the bulk I’ve developed in a short space of time.

scoobfan

If your training hard and with high intensity you should be spending

1hr max in the gym,beyond this your body starts producing what are

called Free Radicals and basically breaking itself down.

Always warm up and down and remember the growing starts when you

leave the gym, not in it, so nutrition is paramount.

Pleanty of protien and easy on the carbs if your looking at loosing weight.

Also drink plenty of water.

Rob

jonc

..and don't forget, less posing in front of the mirrors!!!

terence

very intersting thread peeps, answered alot of stuff i wondered about

i think maybe im a little excessive inmy gym attendance (nothing to do with lack of it LOL-purely good release after a hard days work busting my brain programming all day ), I go 5 days a week and do at least an hour really hard pushing cardio usually 40 mins running (not hanging about, flatout as fast as machine will go for alot of it) and then onto roeing and x-trainers, i then move on to the leg machines (i dont even no what there called-how educated am i considerin my ex is a gym instructor LOL ) then round the lat machine s, bench press machine setc, but in fairness i barely touch weights, i have lots of m8s who r purely into it and i neva cud see myself dwn that route, im purely running/roeing really. then i move on pushups/sit ups/medicine ball etc... then often bac onto running then round a few more machines afterwards, takes about 2.5 hours a night.

but as id kinda been guessin ive been doing this same routine for a year or something and it js like a walk in the park, maybe as someone mentioned variety is the key?

what im interested to know is should i split my sessions upto purely cardio, then another nite, a few weights etc? or js carry on as im going? or maybe im jst going too much?

jonc

IMO you should do a split routine eg a push/pull routine, all the pulling exercises 1 day, Lats, traps and biceps, day 2, pushing exercises, chest, shoulder and tripceps, day 3 all leg workout with abs, day 4 cardio on a 1day on, 1 day off weekly routine.

This way it gives all of your muscle groups time to grow and recover and allows you to excercise without affecting the recovering muscle group too much ensuring that you don't overtrain. You can alter the routine slightly eg, if your shoulders are weaker that your chest or you just want more development on shoulders, do shoulder exercises first then chest, then triceips, but in general you should work starting with the largest muscle and finish with the smaller muscle.


Match that up with 6 regular high carb and high protien and low fat meals a day and you will see gains relatively quickly.

It worked for me, I put on 1 stone of muscle mass in 6 months, and that with out expensive fad suppliments and I have an ectomorph physique.

terence

top advice m8, im guna re-look at what I do!

The only kinda prob I can see is that I love to run and I will strugle to enter a gym and not do any running no matter what hehe, I thik that will be the test for me, splitting things up and sticking by it! I dont think ive ever been to the gym and not hammered the running machine

jonc

You'll have to change your mind set and decide whether you want to train for cardio fitness or strenth/muscle physique as the two require completely different training routine. You can of course use the treadmill to warm up, but I wouldn't do it for too long or too intensly, 10 mins max, as you need the energy for the weights, and sip an energy drink like lucozade throughout the workouts. Don't forget one of the training days is purely cardio, but even then don't hop from one machine to another. For a good cardio workout you should use no more than 2 machines instead of going to tread mill, stationary bike, rower then stepper etc. Spend a max of 1 and a half hours in the gym with an intense weight/cardio session. Main thing is not to overtrain and to eat properly.

terence

im guna have to be strong hehe n stick to it

cheers for the advice bud, sounds top and il give it ago!

Notorious

I am 5ft 9 and weigh 12 and a half stone, looking to losea little more and tone up and get some defenition, what is the best way to go about this?

afroking

OK, best way to go about things, as a few people have mentioned is to eat little and often, below ill outline pretty specifically what your macronutrient or MN (carbs/protein/fat) intake should be throughout the day for each meal (which in my opinion is the biggest stumble in peoples fitness goals whether building muscle, losing fat or both).

So, onwards and upwards...

You say you weigh 12 and a half stone, so turning this into lbs = 175lbs

For stripping fat and gaining muscle you need to eat quite a bit daily, so im going to use a multiplying factor of 15 against your bodyweight in lbs to work out your daily cal requirements. (This is the general rule for achieving your goals, ladies use a smaller factor of 12)

So, 175 x 15 = 2625 Cals per day.

I use a MN split of 60% Carbs, 30% Protein and 10% Fats
(Note that each gram of carbs has 4cals, each gram of protein has 4cals, but each gram of fats have 9cals)

So out of your total calories, you'll be consuming:

1575cals worth of carbs, or 394g's (2625 x .60) / 4
788cals worth of protein, or 197g's (2625 x .30) / 4
263cals worth of GOOD fats, or 29g's (2625 x .10) / 9

Split that into six meals and you have 66g's of carbs (complex carbs burn slower, fuelling your body more steadily rather than quickly and suddenly giving you an energy rush which would then turn to an energy crash) 33g's of protein (your muscle building food) and 5g's of fats in every meal! Its hard though so you have to be pretty focused on your goals!!

Now thats the diet sorted, im goig to go to bed and reply with a training regime in the morning, because im knackered and Im not thinkin straight, and still have to read through a few more chapters of Angels and Demons.

Notorious, ill PM you the training, unless anyone would like me to make it public?

Night all,

Adam

afroking

By the way, redo the above formula every two weeks to match your new weight!!

Within two weeks of sticking to it you'll have fat dripping off you because your body can finally function optimally! Think of it as this: Sticking to this is like putting AVGas in your car!!

(Please ignore any spelling errors - its late!)

Tiggs

just picking up on a few of the comments made:

Bicep curls/tricep work ect......why? I have NEVER trained arms in my life but have large biceps from years of chins and rows. Look at a male gymnast - guns like bolders because they can rep out more chins than you can count - not because they do 10 sets of preachers followed by concentrations.
I dont even know when you should do biceps? after back? my arms are dead by then..before back...and ruin my back work out? on a different day...when they should be resting after the back workout? Different if you are a BB but for "he works out" looking arms that are clearly larger than the norm without being HUGE you just dont need curls...............same applies to triceps - dips are fine but push downs/french press/kick backs? pointless.

Cardio - dont do it before your weights it will screw your weight workout. Its fine after though and i often do a cardio session after weights (ideally i split it so its weights in the AM cardio PM but not always possible. DONT jump from one machine to another - get on one you like and STAY ON IT. Your heart/lungs dont give a toss whether you are on a bike or a camel....get bored? buy an ipod.

DONT cardio for beyond 50 mins (unless youwant to run marathons) and i would not do more than 2 "long" cardio sessions a week - instead do HIIT sessions instead. I often do a HIIT of 25 mins after weights....quick and effective way of burning massive calories in a short time (dont belive the pants about that not burning fat.....if it puts you in calorie shortage then you will loose fat)

you CAN do cardio and weights and you CAN increase lean weight and decrease fat at the same time. Those who say you cant are fat weight monkies that want an excuse for not getting on the jogger. As long as you keep you weight work outs SHORT and INTENSIVE and protein nice and high you can dodge overtraining and will find lean weight going up while BF % goes down.

T

ps- last night in the gym some fat asain guy is getting a workout with the personal trainer there (what is that? £15 and hour?) She has him doing barbell curls suppersetted with lying french press??????????????????? STOOOOOOOP get your fat **** on the jogger!

Brendan Hughes

Mildly amusing, this guy tries to give up exercise for a week:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0...563299,00.html

LG John

Explain please. Surely if you consistently eat 1500 cals and burn 2000 worth in your day that 500 deficit has to be made up from another source (body fat/muscle mass)??

Tiggs

if you burn 500 a day that do not come from intake they MUST come from stored calories......thus you MUST loose weight- unless you have invented a fuel source that can produce energy with no loss! (in which case you should be a billionaire )