Newbie...Hello all

[iwajabitw]

Hi Everyone,

I have been reading this board for several months. It is really full of information and help. I haven't needed to ask any questions, should have, but didn't, until now. I would like to have my you guys critique my diet/routine and show me any pointers you can.

To start off I am 30yrs, h= 5'11, w=193lbs.
I was 235lbs. on May 1, 2003 when I started getting in shape. I quit smoking the year before and packed on the body fat. Since then I have basicly stayed atkins, low carb, until I found CKD in June, at which time I switched and started finally noticing gains. As of November I have begun a diet of 40/40/20 that I tweaked for me to a 45/40/15. This has worked well and plan to keep the calories at 1850 to 2000 until I get in the 180's

A typical day of meals are:
7am-2 eggs/3 turkey bacon/ fiber one w. skim milk
830am-orange
10am-lowfat,no sugar yogurt
12am-3oz. chicken/lowfat, no sugar yogurt/apple
230pm-3oz. chicken/2 servings of veggies
500pm- workout
630pm- Isopure 50g protein/ 30grams dextrose
730pm- 3oz chicken/ 2 servings of veggies
10pm- Egg protein shake with flax oil

Veggies include steamed brocolli, lima beans, kidney beans, zuccini, as low glycemic as I can get it. I move things around of course to make my totals come out right without spilling over the calories.

Supplements I take are:
Animal Pak - 1 pack a day
Potassium - 2g-5g
Fish Oils -4g a day EA=640mg DA=428mg
Vitamin C - 3 a day
Calcium - 1200mg
Vitamin E- 200iu to off set the fish oil

My work out has been the 1 week body work out routine of m-chest, t-legs, w-shoulders, th-arms, f-back.
Since I have put the carbs back in my diet I want to add more frequency and go for a full body workout in 3 days, so I can workout 6 days a week.
I get home at 5 and immediatly start working out. I have a cage type setup that I use, 300lbs Olympic weights and about 250 in standard. I know my #'s are week.

This is what I had in mind

Monday & Thursday
-----------
Incline BP - 4s/8r/135
Flat DB Press - 4s/8r/40
DB Pullovers- 4s/8r/45
Pulldowns- 4s/8r/90
Bent-over- Rows 4s/8r/105
DB Rows- 4s/8r/60
Dealifts- 3s/8r/135
Decline Situps- 4s/ failure

Tuesday & Friday
-------------
Close-grip BP -4s/8r/145
EZ curls -4s/8s/80
Skullcrushers - 4s/8r/45
DB curls -4s/8r/30
Wrist & R. wrist curls- 3s/failure/ 20-30
Military Press- 4s/8r/85
Side Laterals- 4s/8r/15
Crunches -4s/failure

Wed. & Sat.
---------------
Front squats - 3s/8r/115
Squats - 3s/8r/115
Leg Curls -4s/8r/45*** Just started these
Calf Raises - 4s/15/135
Good mornings - 3s/8/30
Shruggs - 4s/8r/135

Please guys and gals, tell me what you think. Thanks in advance.

 

[athlete0185]

well, i dont think you need to work out 6 days a week. id say maximum 4 days a week. your gonna grow out of the gym.

 

[leatherface]

Welcome to the boards! I'm in a hurry right now, but when i come back ill respond to some of your questions bud
Anyhow, hope you find all the information you need(and much more probably..) here!!

 

[big4life]

First congrats. on kicking the smoking habit.

As for the workout you're asking about, it looks like overtraining. It might not bother you in the short term, but over time it will wear on you. Everyone wants to rush their program, but it takes time, both in the gym and outside of the gym. I would break it down into something like this.

1) chest and triceps.

incline bench press
flat bench
dips (if you have a place to do them)

close grip bench press
skull crushers
db extentions

2) Back and biceps

deadlift
bent over row
good mornings
pull downs or chins

bb curls
hammer curls
preacher curls

3) shoulders and traps

military press
db raises (front, side, and bent over to hit all areas of the delts)
db press

bb shrugs in front and behind you
db shrugs with the weight beside you.

4) Legs

squats
stiff leg deadlifts
leg curls
calf raises

Then hit the abs 3 times a week.

I would work each body part only once a week.

Good luck. I'm sure that other's will have some different ideas for you. We have some good people here, and check out the sticky at the top of the page, there are a lot of different programs listed. Just click on the links.

 

[iwajabitw]

Thanks everyone,
I was wandering about the overtraning. I had planned on starting this routine after the new year. Maybe better to stay with my current routine.

Monday
------------
Bench
Incline Bench
Pullovers

Tuesday
-------------
F squats
Squats
Calf raises
D Situps

Wed.
-----------
Military Press
Arnold Presses
Rear Laterals

Thurs.
---------------
Close grip Bench
EZ curls
Skullcrushers
Alt. DB curls
Pushdowns
Incline DB curls

Friday
----------------
Wide grip pulldowns
Barbell Rows
Dumbell Rows
Deadlifts
Shruggs
D Situps

This is what I do know. I rotate somethings in and out or substatute others as needed.

 

[guldukat]

Hi Everyone,

Hey! Call me "Gul Dukat" or Sean. Either will do

I have been reading this board for several months. It is really full of information and help. I haven't needed to ask any questions, should have, but didn't, until now. I would like to have my you guys critique my diet/routine and show me any pointers you can.

Better late than never, eh?

To start off I am 30yrs, h= 5'11, w=193lbs.
I was 235lbs. on May 1, 2003 when I started getting in shape. I quit smoking the year before and packed on the body fat. Since then I have basicly stayed atkins, low carb, until I found CKD in June, at which time I switched and started finally noticing gains. As of November I have begun a diet of 40/40/20 that I tweaked for me to a 45/40/15. This has worked well and plan to keep the calories at 1850 to 2000 until I get in the 180's

That sounds alright. You might want a *bit* more fat (I'm assuming your ratio is protein or carb/carb or pro/fat) here and there, but you're definitely cooking with gas.

Great job on quitting smoking, btw. I know it must be hard...a pretty girl I knew in college, a tall, slender thing, smoked so much I was very afraid for her even then. She was only 21 and had "only" smoked for 8 or 9 years, but she would literally chain-smoke every minute she wasn't indoors. She probably smoked over 3 packs a day, and showed no indication she wanted to quit--EVER.

Not to digress unduly, but ever since I knew her, I realized what a tremendous thing it was for someone TO quit smoking. If you can manage that, you were successful where my dear Lorie failed. She was pretty special in my eyes, so by my estimation you're definitely kicking ass

Getting in top shape will be easy by comparison. You'll make it so.

My work out has been the 1 week body work out routine of m-chest, t-legs, w-shoulders, th-arms, f-back.
Since I have put the carbs back in my diet I want to add more frequency and go for a full body workout in 3 days, so I can workout 6 days a week.

Hmm...that might be a bit much. I know some people who thrive on such a routine--our own Body By Finaplix does--but the majority would seem to overtrain on such a schedule. (I know when I trained each bodypart thrice weekly, even when I was a relative newbie struggling to bench 240, my strength gains went nowhere fast.)

With that in mind, I suggest you train only 4 days/wk., training half the body each session. You'd still be training each bodypart twice a week, which is reasonable, but you'd avoid the potential pitfalls of going all-out 6 days a week.

I get home at 5 and immediatly start working out. I have a cage type setup that I use, 300lbs Olympic weights and about 250 in standard. I know my #'s are week.

This is what I had in mind

Monday & Thursday
-----------
Incline BP - 4s/8r/135
Flat DB Press - 4s/8r/40
DB Pullovers- 4s/8r/45
Pulldowns- 4s/8r/90
Bent-over- Rows 4s/8r/105
DB Rows- 4s/8r/60
Dealifts- 3s/8r/135
Decline Situps- 4s/ failure

Tuesday & Friday
-------------
Close-grip BP -4s/8r/145
EZ curls -4s/8s/80
Skullcrushers - 4s/8r/45
DB curls -4s/8r/30
Wrist & R. wrist curls- 3s/failure/ 20-30
Military Press- 4s/8r/85
Side Laterals- 4s/8r/15
Crunches -4s/failure

That's not too weak at all. Trust me, many of the truly freaky here could tell you, we ALL start out fairly weak

Your exercise choice is solid so far. I would like to see you do fewer work sets, maybe 2-3 VERY hard per bodypart (though not necessarily to complete positive failure). I'd also hit delts on Tues. n' Friday before I did arms.

But so far, so good.

Wed. & Sat.
---------------
Front squats - 3s/8r/115
Squats - 3s/8r/115
Leg Curls -4s/8r/45*** Just started these
Calf Raises - 4s/15/135
Good mornings - 3s/8/30
Shruggs - 4s/8r/135

Please guys and gals, tell me what you think. Thanks in advance.

I honestly think you'd benefit from cutting out some exercises to just focus on a few basics. You'd work them up as hard as possible, which should yield some nice size gains; and with added muscle, your metabolism will be faster, so getting really lean will be that much easier.

I would propose a routine like this. You'd alternate upper body with lower body, with upper on Mon. and Thurs., lower on Tues. and Fri. Weekends and Wed. are off. (The days themselves are irrelevant...suit this to your schedule, but at LEAST get a rest day after every couple of workouts, and 3 total rest days/wk.)

Upper body:

1. Bench Press--2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps. Alternate workout by workout with

Incline BP--2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps.

2. Deadlifts--3-4 sets of 5. Alternate wkout by wkout w/

BB Row --3 sets of 8-10.

3. Pulldowns--2 sets of 8-10
4. Military Press--2 or 3 sets of 6-10
5. Close-grips or Skullcrushers (alternate)--1 or 2 sets of 8-10
6. Biceps curls (alternate EZ Bar and DBs)--1 or 2 sets of 8-10
7. Wrist curls, alternated with Farmer's Walk (if possible) OR hanging from bar wrapped with towel for time. Have fun with grip training; mix it up, bro!

Lower body:

1. Front squat alt. w/

Back squat. Each for 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps. Do an occassional low-repper, AND the occassional 20 repper...I'd advise against going to positive failure on these, but DEFINITELY work those nos. up on a weekly basis, even if it's going up by 1.25 lbs.

2. Good mornings, 3 sets of 8-10 (?), alt. w/

SLDL, 2 sets of 8-20. IMO, stiff-legged deadlifts are the best hamstring exercise out there. Glute-ham raises might be better in some ways, but I haven't tried them in awhile ; plus, we needn't complicate the issue. SLDL are awesome, period, and allow for serious weight over time.

The only caveat I'd make about SLDL is that doing them and conventional deadlifts (from upper body day) on consecutive days would be ill-advised.

3. Leg curls alt. w/

Sissy squats. Quads can take a good bit of work...and though the name suggests otherwise, sissy squats (check Google for a description) are a pretty good isolation movement. By alternating movements from workout to workout, you'll help ensure symmetrical development for the front and back of your thighs.

For both, I suggest 2 sets of 10-20 as a general rule of thumb. This can be nitpicked but just for a start, I think it'll roughly work.

4. CALVES!

Don't neglect your calves my new friend. A full range of motion, with a slight pause in the stretched position and a similar pause when you're on your tip-toes, raising those heels toward the ceiling, is the order of the day.

Calves are something I think definitely benefit from training to positive failure. 2 sets of 15-20 reps should leave you feeling dead down there. If it takes 4 sets to get your feet cramped and your lower leg so stiff it can't move, you need to--yep!--work harder on the previous sets!

5. Abs. Work that core. Decline sit-ups are good, but WEIGHTED decline sit-ups are much, much better. When you can do DSUs with 90 lbs. on your chest, don't you think those abs will be SAF--strong as fuck? LOL.

In conclusion:

1--Congratulations again, man. You're going where few do.

2--Don't restrict fats _too_ much.

3--Focus on the big basic movements.

4--Don't do too many sets per exercise if you're pushing them very hard.

5--Alternate "big" exercises on a workout basis were possible.

6--Focus on strength gains. Keep your form clean, but ALWAYS strive to put more weight on the bar and lift it for MORE reps!

7--Report back in a few months on your results. We will expect big things, so PUSH thyself

I look forward to hearing how you do. Exceed our expections, brother!

-Sean

 

[kingc_79]

welcome aboard man...much to be learned here

 

[Arnold'sApprentice]

welcome bro...try a low volume routine

 

[iwajabitw]

Just wanted to let everyone know what type of set up I have. The bench is seperate so I can stand in there to do squats and pushdowns. I know I will out grow it, but I think it is alright for now.

http://www.1-stop-exercise-equipment.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=PHC-PWR5