For the gym rats

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Hi all. Hopefully this isn't out of place here and hopefully you have some comments on my diet. I'm trying to primarily lose fat but also maintain muscle and increase strength.

A typical example of my daily diet is:

7:30 "normal" size bowl of shreddies in semi-skimmed milk (sorry, don't know exact quantities)
8.00 2 scoops whey (35g of protein, H&B choc flavour) with blended organic fine Scottish oats
10:30 apple and sometimes a snack like a scotch egg, or mackerel fillets
13:00 smallish portion of stuffed pasta in tomato sauce, or tuna sandwich in Hovis best of both bread made with 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard and 2 tbsp of low fat mayonnaise
15:00 2 scoops whey in water
17:00 – 18:10 workout (see below)
18:20 2 scoops whey in water with blended oats again, when I get home
19:00 usually griddled chicken seasoned with olive oil in a tomato sauce with pasta or basmati rice and broccoli, also sometimes things like lasagne, spag bol, sausage casserole, etc
22:00 bed

I have a feeling people will say that I need another meal before bedtime, but I’m not sure as my aim is primarily to ditch what’s left of the beer gut, but also to maintain muscle levels (or maybe even increase them if this is even possible whilst shedding fat as a noobie). There's also a gap between 1 and 7pm during which I eat nothing "solid" - not sure if this is a problem only I sometimes have issues with cramps if I eat in the afternoon before going to the gym. I have 6 months before I get married and go on honeymoon, and the bodyfat needs to be off!

I’m following a 3 day split workout as follows:

Day 1 chest + biceps + 40 mins cardio [flat DB bench press 3x10x28kg, incline DB bench press 3x10x24kg, barbell curl 3x10x25kg, 40 mins treadmill or 20 min x-trainer + 20 mins rower]

Day 2 legs + triceps + 40 mins cardio [squats 3x8x60kg, skullcrushers 3x8xnot-very-much, cable push down 3x8xdon’t know, 40 mins treadmill or 20 min x-trainer + 20 mins rower]

Day 3 back + shoulders + delts (I think) + 40 mins cardio [deadlifts 3x8x60kg, overhead DB press 3x8x20kg, wide grip and close grip front cable pulldown 3x10xnot sure, 40 mins treadmill or 20 min x-trainer + 20 mins rower]

On the rest days in between (though sometimes I train on successive days and continue the alternating day split afterwards) I try and get 40 mins of cardio in if possible.

I’m sure some of you will have things to say about that, and I’d really appreciate any advice that will help me achieve my aims.
 
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you curl 40kg but only DL 60kg?

the idea behind a meal before bed is to keep the metabolism working over night, also, it will continue to feed the muscles over night. you are doing plenty of weights, so take advantage of a shake (in milk) or another slow releasing protein source to help build the muscles.
more lean muscle = more calories burnt each day :]
 
Sorry, that was a mistake. I've only done one batch of deadlifts so far (ever!) so it was very light (and my back ached haha), but the curl weight was a mistake. I can't curl anything like that.

So the thing that stands out for you is to take another milk + protein shake right before bed (presumably without the oats)?
 
Robbie G said:
Sorry, that was a mistake. I've only done one batch of deadlifts so far (ever!) so it was very light (and my back ached haha), but the curl weight was a mistake. I can't curl anything like that.

So the thing that stands out for you is to take another milk + protein shake right before bed (presumably without the oats)?
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Without the oats yep.
If the milk will provide too much fat / calories then look at something like 100g of quark with some options powder.

casein is good, but tbh its not worth spending out on different types of protein powders for your aims :]
 
SK07 said:
Tell you what, im going to the gym tomorow for a cardio session so I'll hop on the lat pull and try a 1RM and see how much I can rack out of it. Any other things you would like me to trial? not to much of a bother really.
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Did you do the above and did you film it by any chance?
 
Morba said:
tbh its not worth spending out on different types of protein powders for your aims :]
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That's what I like to hear :p and thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I think I'll go for whey in water just before bed. Is the 3pm protein shake ok or should I just be looking at carbs at this point (pre-workout)?

In terms of my exercise, would you say my split is ok and is it ok to train different body parts on successive days? Is it ok to include the pull down on back and shoulder day or should I move that somewhere else?
 
Robbie G said:
That's what I like to hear :p and thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I think I'll go for whey in water just before bed. Is the 3pm protein shake ok or should I just be looking at carbs at this point (pre-workout)?

In terms of my exercise, would you say my split is ok and is it ok to train different body parts on successive days? Is it ok to include the pull down on back and shoulder day or should I move that somewhere else?
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whey in water will be ingested too quickly iirc. having it in milk slows down the release meaning its feeding you through the night.
 
Yes definitely with milk. Only take it with water if you are trying to keep down the calories or immediately after a workout.
 
The only way for a proper lat pull down is straight bar grip as wide as you can.

lats-pulldown.jpg

Just a bit wider than that, so your hands are at the end of the bar each side.
 
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Look forward to seeing it. I hope your not one of these guys who uses his own body weight to shift the plates, the damage to the back is nasty. One guy I saw did a crazy rocking motion! Nothing but arms should be moving...

Are you sure the plates represent kilograms and not lbs or levels?
 
Best way to test if the plates are in kilograms is to set the plates to your own body weight and hang from the bar, it will support your weight if its kilograms, otherwise it's probably lbs.
 
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msm722 said:
Best way to test if the plates are in kilograms is to set the plates to your own body weight and hang from the bar, it will support your weight if its kilograms, otherwise it's probably lbs.
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It's in kilos trust me :). 176KG is the stack. Don't even think you get many gyms with lbs, thats usually in America.
 
About half the gyms I've been to use lbs over kilograms. The problem worsens when machines list plates as 10, 20 , 30 etc with no indication of what that 10 or 20 is measured in. There have been several gyms where I've noticed machines being in a different measurement to kilograms, whether it's lbs or simply a level indication.

Does your machine explicitly say kilograms? The only reason I ask is because the weight your doing is extremely high, all of the biggest guys in the gym only just manage to come close to that. You must have a massive back and biceps to pull it down to your chest.
 
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