Evilpie's get off your lazy arse and get back to the gym diaries

[lazaroonie]

since this now seems to be the the fitness advice thread, wonder if you would give this your critical eye :

i have only been following this for a week since i recovered from the flu but already i feel much better and dare i say 'lighter'. My primary goal is fat loss/ i have a huge way to go though. i have been following a book called 'burn the fat, feed the muscle' which seems to be a good balance of diet and excercise.

anyway i am training 2 days on, 1 day off. And the days are split into

Day 1 - 30 minutes cardio (cross train & rowing), followed by 45 minutes weights (chest, shoulders, abs, triceps and biceps)

Day 2 - 30 minute cardio (fast walking/jog steep incline treadmill), followed by 30 minutes weights (legs, back, calves),. followed by 20 minutes swimming (approx 500metres)

I have incorporated an 1800 calorie 5 meal per day plan, in accordanace with the plan. The big debate seems to be, since i do my workout in the morning (6.30am) is whether i should eat breakfast before or after.....

To be honest mate it looks like you're doing a bit too much for your calorie intake. I know you want to lose weight but doing it this way could be bad for you.

I'd try to avoid doing cardio and weights on the same day. Half an hour's training is plenty as long as it's hard training. People who spend 2 hours in the gym are just stupid if you ask me. It's just not necessary for normal people.

Try for 10 minutes cardio as a warm up then half an hour weights. Alternatively do 40 minutes various cardio. The swim on the end is fine btw. That's quite a good warm down after training.

I'd look at only training 2 bodyparts in any one session as well. If you're doing too many body parts in one session you won't be training any one of them well. Whilst you're just starting this isn't a problem but as soon as you up your weights a bit you need to get on to a proper split routine asap.

As for the breakfast thing. Well I train at 7am so similar to yourself and I always eat first. Breakfast for me is 6 egg whites and 2 yolks made in to an omelette with 1 wholemeal pitta bread. I also have a flapjack bar which is packed with oatmeal for slow release energy. Immediately after training I have a protein shake to feed my muscles.

I know it's tempting to not eat too much because you think you'll drop more weight but your body doesn't work like that. It will use all the sugary carbs it has first, then slow release carbs then any protein just to keep you going. Because it's used all of it's protein it won't build any muscles so the weights you've done pretty much goes to waste. The fat that you have left over won't go to building muscle, it will just stay there until  it's needed but it will be the last resort.

If you can build some muscle by eating well then your body will automatically need more calories just to function. This is when you'll start to see fat drop off more.

Low calories and lots of training will lose weight short term but I really think it's a bad way to go about losing weight. 1800 calories just doesn't sound like enough to me. I wouldn't worry about upping it a bit but do it around your training in high protein form so that it all gets used up building muscle. You then get the knock on effect of burning fat whilt not even doing anything.

I'm sure I've already said this but when I was training heavily I needed 5500 calories per day just to maintain my body weight at 16st 4lb. That's purely because of training and being generally active but weight training was only ever 40 minutes maximum per day.

Don't starve yourself. Eat lots but eat lots of good stuff and you won't go far wrong.

doh ! obviously the 1800 was supposed to say 2800. this was based on the calculation that my current physiological state requires 2900 calories to maintain its current weight, and then adding in the physical excercise factor of x 1.5. I have calculated that a 3lb per week weight fat loss is desirable and achievable in the long term, which equates to (i think) 10500 calories per week i need to be in deficit, which is around 1500 per day.

i agree with the point about the excercising too many muscle groups, and i do plan to address this when i am about 3 months into the program. also the cardio/weight combination maybe needs to be looked at.

the main point is of course that i am back in the habit of going to the gym. half the battle is getting there, once that has been achieved, then everything else can be tweaked.

 

[yorky34]

Just seen this thread , i used to play rugby league  but retired now , i also went to gym 4 times a week , but since retiiring from rugby   and starting to play poker plus working in casino as a poker dealer i struggle to have the energy  and motivation to get to gym more than twice a week , my Main problem is keeping my weight on  as am not eating properly , i still use weight gain and whey protein poweder but only after a i have been to gym, i used to be 13stone when training properly but now am fighting to stay around 12 stone .

[byronkincaid]

i hope you guys have got the ANACONDA on order, it's meant to be like a mixture of whatever the incredible hulk did to make himself big and green and grumpy and stuff, the radioactive spider that bit spiderman and top secret eastern european steroidz.

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_program/sports_body_training_muscle_anaconda/anaconda_protocol?utm_source=product_announcement&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tmuscle

get it before the government bans it!

[EvilPie]

Just got back from weekend in Malta.

Obviously the diet suffered terribly but I'm now fully back on it.

Somehow got to get up at 6 o'clock to get to the gym for 7.

[ ] This will be fun.

[StuartHopkin]

Just got back from weekend in Malta.

Obviously the diet suffered terribly but I'm now fully back on it.

Somehow got to get up at 6 o'clock to get to the gym for 7.

[ ] This will be fun.

Mmmm

I lost 6 pounds between Friday morning and when I got up today.
Maybe I should forget the food and just eat vodka!

[GreekStein]

Did you go gym this morning Mattias?

[EvilPie]

Did you go gym this morning Mattias?

No mate. Wednesday is off day.

Managed yesterday which was the big challenge and be there tomorrw at 7.

[EvilPie]

Did you go gym this morning Mattias?

No mate. Wednesday is off day.

Managed yesterday which was the big challenge and be there tomorrw at 7.

Sure was there at 7 this morning!!

I can't seem to get back int o a good sleep pattern since I went to Malta. I think really I should've took the day off after Malta and then gone back to the gym yesterday.

Anyway all was not lost. I had a lie in this morning 'til about 9 then went to the gym about 10 and had a late start to work. Actually had a very good shoulders session so I'm pleased with myself despite not getting up early.

Diet's going really well. I'm getting plenty of the right foods and staying off the unhealthy stuff.

I'm hoping to get up at 6 to be at the gym for 7 tomorrow. Really don't want a repeat of today.

Onwards and upwards.

[byronkincaid]

lifts, reps, sets, weights?

[kinboshi]

lifts, reps, sets, weights?

Yes, he did all of them.

kkthxbye

[kinboshi]

Anyway, this thread is rubbish without CounterfeitKing.

[EvilPie]

lifts, reps, sets, weights?

Still all very light stuff mate. For once in my life I'm being sensible and trying not to injure myself. I used to have to go to physio once a week to strighten everything out That was when I was fighting as well though tbf.

Chest was:

Bench press - 4 sets of 8 to 10 up to 60kg
Incline dumbells - 4 sets 8 to 10 up to 30kg
Decline smith - 4 sets 8 to 10 up to 80kg (This machine completely takes the bar out of the equation so would be 60kg on normal machine)
Cable crossover - 4 sets 12 to 16.

Shoulders

Shoulder press on a machine thing 4 sets 8 to 10
3 super sets of side / front lat raises all single arm on cable aim for 12 reps of each thing to failure
Upright rows - 4 sets 8 to 10 on cable
Shrugs - 4 sets 12 to 14 up to 80kg

Legs

Leg raises - 4 sets 12 to 16
Leg press - 4 sets 8 to 10
Stiff legged dead lift - 4 sets 10 to 12 up to 40kg
Calf raise - 3 sets 12 to 16

I've not included weights for a lot of things because they are irrelevant on machines. All machines are different but I will always aim for the heaviest weight I can achieve failure for my target reps. Where weihts are given they don't include the bar.

All reps are target reps. I do every set to failure. I also pyramid weights so the last set may be lower than target as failure could be reached sooner.

I'm quite happy with my training so far but I've not made the 7am thing a couple of times. I'm lucky that my job enables me to take an hour off to go to the gym. This is something I really need to sort. Long term I want to be in the routine of training at 7am every day.

I'm feeling a lot stronger already and the aches aren't as bad as week one. Will be doing back tomorrow but will also squeeze in arms as I had Monday off because of holiday.

Next week will be my first full week with no days off planned at all. Should be fun.

[StuartHopkin]

lifts, reps, sets, weights?

I'm quite happy with my training so far but I've not made the 7am thing a couple of times. I'm lucky that my totally lackadaisical approach to my job enables me to take  hours off to just piss about. This is something I really need to sort. Long term I want to be in the routine of training at 7am every day.

FYP

[EvilPie]

Quick update on this. Diet has been going really well up until about 20 minutes ago when I scoffed a doner kebab pizza!!!!

Training was good but last week was really bad. Only managed Tuesday morning and no other sessions. Hopefully back on it Monday.

[EvilPie]

Ok so I managed to train yesterday and today. Both were good sessions and I got a good bag workout in today as well which was fun.

Diet is going really well other than Saturday's slight doner meat pizza mishap. It was really tasty though and in my defence it wasn't my fault. I'd had about half a bottle of JD so I wasn't responsible for my own actions.

I've decided that the no drinking thing is unnecessary. I rarely drink in the week anyway so a few at the weekend isn't going to hurt. I don't need to diet in the same way I did before as I haven't got 2st+ to lose so I think denying myself a couple of pints when I fancy them is silly.

Not sure how things will go over the next couple of weeks. The gym is open so I'll do my best to get down there as often as possible but there's Christmas parties and other distractions which may get in the way.

Will just have to see how it goes.