Newbie help

[raf24]

Hey everyone.

I'm new to the forum and am basically just in need of some help in a few areas.

As it stands right now, I'm 18, nearly 19, years old 6'2'' tall, 76kg (167#) and last time I checked my body fat is sitting around 10%.

My weekly routine is as follows

Day 1:
Warm up: Rowing machine, level 9, 2.5km

Weights:
Dumbbell Chest Fly on exercise ball - 15 kg (12, 10, 8 reps)
Bent Row - 30 kg (12, 10, 8 reps)
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press - 20kg (12, 10, 8)
Lat Pulldown - 49kg (12, 10, 8)
Dumbbell Seated Shoulder Press on ball - 15kg (12, 10, 8)
Cable Side Shoulder Raise - 10kg (2 x 15 on each arm)

Cool Down: X-Trainer (Level 13, 70RPM, 15min)

Day 2
Treadmill - 10kph, 2.5% Incline, 10min.

Rowing Machine - Level 9, 30SPM, 4km
X-Trainer - Level 8, 65RPM, 15min

Core:
Swiss Ball Crunch (Hands Across Chest) - (3 sets of 10)
Side Bend on the Back Extension - (3 sets of 10)
Swiss Ball Alternating Arm and Leg Extension - (2 sets of 8)
Heel Slide - (2 sets of 8)

Day 3
X-Trainer - Level 13, 65RPM, 20min.

Wall Squat with swiss ball (3 sets of 10)
Seated Leg Curl - 91 kg (12, 10, 8 reps)
Bodyweight Front Lunge (2 sets of 15 on each leg)
Cable Pushdown - 30kg (12, 10, 8 reps)
Tricep dip - (2 sets of 15)
EZ-Bar Arm Curl - 20kg +bar (12, 10, 8)
Dumbbell Arm Curl (Alternating) - 12.5kg (3 x 10)

Day 4
Treadmill - 8kph, 5min.

Treadmill Speed Interval 3% Incline, 16min.
Jogging slow for 1min at 10kph, then fast at 14 kph 2min

Core:
Swiss Ball Oblique Crunch (Hands Across Chest) - 2 sets of 12
Swiss Ball Forward Roll (On Knees) - (15 secs side plank (each side) then 15 secs plank hold 8 sec)

Day 5
Rowing Machine Distance Level 8, 32SPM, 2km,

Dumbbell Walking Lunge - 15 kg in each arm (3 sets of 12)

Deadlift (Mixed Grip) - 20kg + bar (10, 10, 8)

Dumbbell Bench Press on ball - 17.5kg (12, 10, 8)

Dumbbell Rear Shoulder Raise 12 x 9kg
12 x 9kg
15 x 7kg

Cable Curl - 12 x 40kg
12 x 40kg
17 x 35kg

External Rotation - 10kg (2 sets of 10)

Elastic Band Internal Rotation - 10kg (2 sets of 10)


On all the weights days, i finish up with a circuit of sit ups in which I do the following:

bicycle kick (20 reps)
crunch (30 reps)
reverse crunch (15 reps)
roll up (10 reps)

I repeat this 3 times.

As for my diet, I ake a concious effort to eat well, keeping out fizzy drinks, chocolate, crisps, sweets etc. I tend to start the day with a glass of orange juice, multivitamin, glass of milk and a bowl of wholegrain cereal or porridge. a snack usually comes in between breakfast and lunch in the form of some sort of fruit or a health bar. lunch is a sandwich filled with some sort of protein (chicken tuna or ham) and a yoghurt. another snack between lunch and dinner and then dinner.

I essentially want larger muscles, especially my arms and pecs and more defined abs and so I was wondering what sort of nutritional and weights advice you have based on my information.

Thanks in advance!

Richard

[Sportsmedjosh]

That is the kind of intro I like seeing, it seems like your in pretty decent shape and just trying to max your gains. Here is what I would suggest, start a weight loss tracker profile which you can find in the nav bar. You'll use this to track your progress and mostly just track of your nutrition. Also start a journal thread like you just did, and keep adding your progress along with pictures.

I really think nutrition is going to play a big factor for you, so lets track that and see what we come up with. :wave

[raf24]

Thanks for the feeback. I have to say that I think nutrition is the main factor in me making further progress towards my goals. However, I'm not quite sure what it is I'm supposed to be doing now....excuse my stupidity!

I tried clicking on the weight loss tracker but it's asking me to sign in and not accepting my log in name and password. Also, I'm not so much interested in losing weight, but gaining larger muscles, especially in the afore mentioned areas, without becoming fat.

Thanks again!:wave

[Sportsmedjosh]

Originally Posted by raf24

Thanks for the feeback. I have to say that I think nutrition is the main factor in me making further progress towards my goals. However, I'm not quite sure what it is I'm supposed to be doing now....excuse my stupidity!

I tried clicking on the weight loss tracker but it's asking me to sign in and not accepting my log in name and password. Also, I'm not so much interested in losing weight, but gaining larger muscles, especially in the afore mentioned areas, without becoming fat.

Thanks again!:wave

you can use your same username and password but you will need to register with the weight loss tracker. It doesn't run off the same database that our forum does. Even though your not really looking to lose weight it's a great way to track your nutrition. You are right in the aspect that your nutrition is what might be holding you back.

[raf24]

Ok, so I'm going to start the journal as of yesterday (Sunday 15th April), listing my workout and what I ate. I didn't wake up till around 10 or 11 am yesterday so didn't eat loads. Here it is, comments and feedback encouraged...

Workout
Warm up: Rowing machine, level 9, 2.5km

Weights:
Dumbbell Chest Fly on exercise ball - 15 kg (12, 10, 8 reps)
Bent Row - 30 kg (12, 10, 8 reps)
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press - 20kg (12, 10, 8)
Lat Pulldown - 49kg (12, 10, 8)
Dumbbell Seated Shoulder Press on ball - 15kg (12, 10, 8)
Cable Side Shoulder Raise - 10kg (2 x 15 on each arm)

Cool Down: X-Trainer (Level 13, 70RPM, 15min)

Food
Breakfast:
Cheerios with semi-skimmed milk
Glass of orange juice
Multi vitamin

Gym

Lunch/Post-workout snack:
Roughly 1/3 of a cup of Brown wholegrain rice mixed with tuna and a table spoon of low fat mayonnaise

Dinner:
4 baby carrots and 3 pieces of chickory with hummus
3 sticks of celery
5 green olives
2 spring onions
1/3 of a bag of lettuce
1/4 red pepper
crumbled feta cheese

I also drank 2-3 litres of water throughout the day.

[The League Champ]

You might want to spend a week just totally blowing your muscles.
Have one day strictly dedicated to chest, one day strictly dedicated to your arms, one day for back and shoulders, one day for legs.

It seems like you have a pretty healthy diet, and from your description of yourself you come accross as a lean guy.

If you are lean it is harder for you to build raw muscle and bulk up, but not impossible.

I would suggest taking some kind of a whey protein.

To build your muscles efficiently you want to try to get the amount in grams of your body weight.

Your weight is around 170# so in essence you want to try to take in about 170g of protein each day. Remember your muscles need amino acids (proteins) to build back up tissue that has been torn apart. The best time for muscle building is directly after the workout and in your sleep, so I would suggest a protein shake right after your finish you routines.

[raf24]

Whilst I have thought about taking some sort of whey protein, I decided against it because I feel that it isn't completely natural. Instead, I've come across this recipe in men's health which offers immediate recovery with natural ingredients. It contains 58g of carbs, 33g protein. The ingredients are as follows:

1 banana
80g strawberries
80g raspberries
3 large eggs
200ml semi skimmed milk
handful of ice
100g rolled oats

What do you guys think of this? I only had my first one yesterday and it will be a few weeks before I notice any visible changes, but I figured it was worth a go.

[raf24]

I also thought it was worth mentioing that the above mentioned recovery drink contains 550 calories and 22g of fat, which worries me slightly. Should it? I was thinking of maybe cutting the quantities used by around a third...

[raf24]

Nobody interested in commenting on my home made recovery drink then?!

[LoveGuinness]

i think its a good idea to use just natural things for supplementing. it doesnt too bad but i am no expert on men's health or anything of that nature.

my concern would be the amount of fat in it. but i dont think its really something to be worried about because everything on the ingredient list is really good for you.

[Sportsmedjosh]

I would really be concerned with the raw egg aspect.

[raf24]

Raw eggs aspect? Why's that?

[Sportsmedjosh]

raw uncooked food always have the risk of getting salmonella