just started out need some advice

harmy

just starting out and have been weight training on and off for about a year now.im pretty clued up on the dieting and training side of things just i can never seam to get in a good routine.im always stopping but i now decided to work my hardest and work out good and solid from now on.any way need advice on my protein im taking. its metrx size up? what do others think on this? also at the min im benching 45 kg and want to up this. im 6ft and 80 kg. would like to get to 90kg if possible and lift as heavy as poss to. need some advice from someone who has lots of experince on this please.

Tall

Re Size Up - Not used it. Looks fine from the description. I'm assuming frm this you want to mass up?

Re Bench - Take it in baby steps and add a little bit more weight to the bar each week, make sure your form is good (i.e. the chest is doing the heavy work, not your arms)

Re chest : My advice on this would be to do couple of warm up sets - bar only in the high rep range, and then start with a weight set and rep range you feel comfortable with - maybe 3 sets of 8-10 and 45kg.

The next week do the warm up, and try upping the weight and aiming for 6-8 reps, maybe 47.5kg or 50kg.

The next week warm up, and work in the lower rep ranges - 4 to 6 reps - and up the weight on the bar. Then try and see what you can press for 1rep.

Make sure you use a spotter...

That should give you a good idea of where you are and what your range of lifting is.

Then each week try and up the weight on a rep range you are happy with until you reach your goal. I like to mix my reps around each week which I find works for me, but it may not work for you. Everyone is different.

You need to find what works for you at the end of the day.

Re Weight Gain - get eating. 10kg is alot of pack on. It can be done dont get me wrong. You need to eat like a horse and workout properly.

Odds are you may/will gain some fat in the process.

Fire up your diet and routine - theres alot of good guys on the board who will be able to help you.

Richard

I was struggling for weeks with my bench press, every week i did lots of chest presses but always struggled, the progress was definately going backwards.

What worked best for me was the dumbell chest presses, i am much stronger as i have always been when using the dumbells and i concentrate on form and slow lowering rather then just lifting as heavy as i can.
Now, just a few months later i can lift far more then before, probably even double if i tried.

I am a hard gainer, yet i jumped from 80kg in April this year to the 91kg i was this morning using this exercise.

harmy

thanks for advice guys.also im only training every 3 days as i was told the recovery time was what i need. this is my route so far. monday chest-flat-decline-incline or pec dec.do 3 x 10@ 40 - 45kg ish.shoulders-shoulder press with dumb bells 3 x 10 20kg- upright rows 3 x 7 30kg- front raises 3 x 10 10kg each arm.

thursday-biceps-curls-concen curls-hammer curls
triceps- dips- tri kickbacks-overhead tri extension

my diet looks like this monday to friday.
6.45am protein shake
10.00 brown bread tuna/beef salad sarnie-low fat yoghurt-apple
12.30 bowl of soup veg.low fat yoghurt-apple
4.00pm protein shake
6.00 chicken/steak jacket pot + veg
10.00 protein shake with milk

is this ok or what.

CMinOZ

Welcome Harmy

Nice to see a decent weight gain goal. I just had a look at your training plan and I agree that you need to keep some rest days in between. The one thing lacking on your training split is any form of leg exercises. If you are going to put any real mass on you will need to seriously address this.

There are a number of training articles on here that are really useful to someone looking to get a decent training split worked out, these will help you achieve your goals that much quicker.

I have only been training since January so I am not one of the most "qualified" people to be handing out advice here so start digging around for info. If you like, check out my Progress Journal called " A log from the other side of the world" - It's not going to win any literary awards but it does outline my twice-weekly workouts as planned by a professional coach.

With regard to your diet, again lots of articles out there and advice like "eat lots" whilst true, can be a little confusing. My diet is on my log as well, I am gaining good amounts of lean mass each month whilst losing bodyfat - you just have to be very strict and eat a clean diet.

Looking at your current diet I would suggest just a few changes:

Firstly, have a real breakfast. Protein shakes are convenient in the absence of real food though IMO a breakfast of eggs & toast will set you up better for the day. You could even have porridge to keep you warm on those cold british mornings.

I would also question low fat yoghurts as a reasonable source of anything other than sugar. If you can cut these out of your diet in favour of some almonds then this would still provide calcium and some good fat. I would also kick out the fruit as this is another source of sugar and this will spike your insulin levels causing a crash later in the day.

Sorry if this has ripped your diet to pieces mate - You're definitely on the right track with number of meals etc. Oh, by the way, swap Soup for something more substantial like a chicken sandwich. Soup is a drink.

You should definitely start a food log and actually weigh the amounts so that you can keep track of protein/fat/carbs and adjust your diet as necessary dependent upon the gains.

I hope this helps, good luck with the goals and if nothing else start working those legs.

CMinOZ

Tall

Well spotted CM...

Harmy... Drop the kickbacks... Have you been reading Mens Health by any chance...???

Personally I think I day for arms is overkill. But thats just my opinion.

I'd like to see deadlifts and squats in your routine, along with some good back work and as CM said leg work...

I do a 2 days split - not saying this will work for you, its just what I do.

Day 1:
Squats
Bench
Dips
SLDL
Close Grip Bench
Calves

Day 2:
Deadlifts
Chins/Rows/Pullups
Mili Press
Shrugs
Bis

You need to work all of your body in order to grow properly IMHO.

Bodyworks

dude where did you get that diet from ? that ain't gunna do sh*t in terms of gaining. think high carbs my friend.

Tall

Bodyworks is right - you need to re-think your diet.

You're hardly getting any carbs in...

Try adding in 75g oats to your 6.45am and 4pm shakes.

Try and eat some meat and sweet potatoes at 12.30pm.

That should give you an extra 40g of protein and an extra 175g of low gi carbs.

Ali M

Right you wanna pack on weight cos your skinny? assume answer been yes. Then just eat and eat, it don't matter what you eat i.e. pitza, curry, kebabs, mcdonalds, kentucky, mate you just want calories. Get eating, also make sure your getting enough protein through out the day poss whey protein. Dont worry about keeping your diet clean, you just want mass for now.

harmy

cheers for the advice guys. ill start with my diet first. i will def start adding oats to my shake first thing. i aint got time to make egg and toast as i have to go to work.will def start adding more carbs to my meals. is pasta ok i.e tuna pasta/chicken pasta? ive cut out the yoghurts also.what about bananas? there ok or not?

on to my weights now. def want to work on my legs. can someone suggest a good weight to start off on doing squats?

cheers