Hi Guys,
I'm 24 years old, appox 6 foot 1, or 2, not quite sure :S, and I weight 13 stone. earlier this year, I was 14.5 stone, and this time last year I was 15.5, so I've never been particualary light. I suffer from the same as 90% of other posts I've read here, which is flabby chest/stomach. I'm still
loosing weight, but obviously not building up much muscle :S.
I've been working out now for about 2 months. I basically went on the program that my gym set me up with using the fitlinxx system. This is the first time I've ever trained, so I'm a total novice. I'm picking up what I can from this forum, as it seems to be the best resource I've found so far. Most other stuff is just trying to sell you supplememnts and stuff.
My goal is to be able to go down the beach next summer and actually not have flab. I'm not that bothered about being amazingly muscular, but obviously I wouldn't mind
This gives me about 9-10 months to achieve my goal now.
My workout currently consists of the following:
18 minutes on the cross trainer. I'm consistenty hitting 300 calories in 15 mins, on lvl 17 followed by a 3 minute cooldown.
Seated Row - 2 x 8
Leg Extension - 2 x 8
Leg Curl - 2 x 8
Chest Press - 2 x 8
Shoulder Press - 2 x 8
Ab Crunch - 2 x 8
The weight I'm lifting, I have worked out so that the last rep on my second set is the final amount I can lift. If I can keep going, then I put the weight up for my next workout.
Monday - 1 hour kickboxing
Tuesday - Cardio/Workout as above
Thursday - Cardio/Workout as above
Saturday - Cardio/Workout as above
Although this workout has been fine for the last 2 months, I'm now concious that for example, my biceps aren't getting worked. I'm willing to fit in an extra day if I had to on a wednesday, so I could do something then. Any comments about this workout would be welcome. I'm thinking my next step would be a 3 or 4 day split. Ideally I want to do kickboxing mondays, and then exercise tues, wed, thur, and sat. The cardio issue is really confusing me as I've read here that you shouldn't do cardio 8 hours before a workout. Is this right? Should I not be doing a workout after the cardio I described above? If I don't do cardio before a workout, how should I warm up?
The cardio, and suggestion in which order to work muscle groups in that kind of weekly routine would really help. I'm planning to stay away from the free weights at the moment, due to the machines basically telling me what to do next etc, and making sure I do the correct amount of reps and range of motion.
Now my diet needs looking at.
My diet is currently a calorie controlled lunch, and a 'proper dinner', which could be anything from salad, to roast, to sausages and mash. I snack on fruit in between. Now the first obvious thing is I'm not eating breatfast, which I've found from here to be a big no no, so that's my first concern. My other concern is I'm not eating pre workout, except for maybe a banana. I eat my dinner about 30 - 45mins after my workout.
A typical day for me at the moment is as follows
8:00 - wake up
12:00 - eat lunch (approx 400 calories)
5:50 - eat banana
6:00 - workout
7:45 - eat 'proper dinner'
9:00 - eat banana/apple
Now I don't really want to start counting my meals down to every g of protien/fat etc, just rely on the fact that I eat a lot of veg, and salad. If this stops me from becoming Brad Pitt, then I'm going to have to live with that, as I don't really have control over my main meals. What I need are some things that would help. Now obviously breatfast is a good start, and I've read drinking lots of water, so that's another thing. The other thing I'm seeing pop up a lot is supplements.
Could I take supplements with a diet where I'm not strictly watching my individual food groups? ie, take a shake for breakfast, each my 400 calorie lunch (wrap, low fat crisps and diet coke), take a shake before my workout, and then eat my dinner afterwards? I can't really control what I have for dinner as I don't cook it myself, but the rest of the day I can do what I like with. If I could take supplements then what should I take? I'm assuming whey from what I've read here already. Then when should I take it?
I've also read here about building up, then cutting down. What I haven't been able to find is when to do each. Obivously I'd like to build muscle and loose weight at the same time, but from what people say here, it's either very slow and hard or not possible. I don't mind doing one then the other, I do have 10 months before I want to be able to take my t-shirt off in public, so hopefully time is on my side. :P
Any tips would be greatfully appreciated, and if any of what I said sounds like rubbish, then it probably is
TIA.
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