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Help ardy89 gain muscle!

ardy89

ardy89

ardy89

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Joined
6 Dec 2005
Posts
873
Hey guys,

I'm after some advice regarding Training and Diet, I currently weigh 80kg (176lbs) and am around 6ft in height. I have been going to the gym for nearly two years but have only trained seriously since January (noticed minimal gains).

Firstly, my goal is to build muscle and loose my stomach fat.

Currently my training regime is as follows:

Monday Chest/Biceps (with 3km run before)

Tuesday Cardio (75mins):

35 minute run, hill program.
25 min random program on x-trainer.
3km up right bike as fast as possible.
1000m rowing at own pace on hardest setting.
10 mins stepper machine on constant level 9.

Wednesday Back/Triceps (with 3km run before)

Thursday Same as Tuesday

Friday Shoulder/Legs (with 3km run before)

Weekend: Rest

All workouts are done between 5pm and 7:30pm followed straight away by a meal.

Diet:

Weekdays - No Breakfast, 5 peices of fruit between 8am and 7:30pm, then full meal.
Full meal is normally something with oven chips and beans (chicken breast, fish fillets, turkey burgers, quiche),
pasta, chilli con carne, Home Cooked indian (chicken)

Weekend - Cereals maybe odd bit of chocolate and maybe pizza!

I would like to start using protein shakes also.

If someone could give me a template diet to work on then I can go buy the stuff I need.

So Critisism is highly welcome and highly likeley :D
 
First of all, read the sticky. You need to decide whether you are going to be building muscle or losing fat...

Second of all, you need to sort out your diet! You are getting nowhere near enough protein. Don't skip breakfast. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier if you have no time for it usually.

Third of all, sort out a training program.

Your diet should include about 1g of protein for each pound of body weight you have. Don't bother with protein shakes yet, only if you can't get the protein from your diet normally (I have a 5lb tub of whey protein, but it is rarely used - only for making cheat meals like high protein flapjacks or brownies).

Today I ate 1797 calories, 180g/720 calories from protein, 188g/657 calories from carbohydrates, and 43g/389 calories from fat. I am cutting at the moment, hence the low number of calories.

What I ate today was:

2 slices of whole wheat bread
3 egg whites and 1 whole egg
1tbsp of mayonnaise
1/2 grapefruit

90g of chicken breast
1tbsp peanut butter
1 banana

90g of chicken breast
3 apples
1tbsp peanut butter

150g low fat cottage cheese
1 can of tuna

2tbsp peanut butter

This isn't an ideal template as it doesn't include vegetables! Add a few cups of them and you will have a pretty decent template. Adjust portion sizes to the number of calories you are eating.
 
move the cardio to post workout and dont make it intense, if you can, do cardio at other times instead of before/after weights.

eat clean, work hard, sleep well.
 
I have had a bropwse throught the sticky...so many pages!

I think my main aim is to gain muscle, the fat loss can come when I cut!

The diet sounds extremely complicated and very demanding, there are certain points which I can easily improve such as breakfast, is there an example of something which i could have for breakfast everyday? That would atleast be a start.

Also should I continue eating my 5 a day fruit?

Cheers

P.s. would pics help determine my goal?
 
pics are always good, especially for you as motivation.

breakfast: 4 egg scrambled egg on 2 slices of wholemeal toast
 
See thats the thing, out of those 4 excercises my gym can only cater for 1, Bench Press! We only have dumbells, no other barbells or anything! The breakfast sounds doable.

Also should my diet be the same on days when I am not training?
 
Not everyone has the access/time/finances for the best gyms and diets. You can still see decent gains with limited equipment and average diets.

The OP hasn't asked for info on becoming a BB or Power lifter, he's just looking for a little more muscle.
Implying you need a pre-planned diet and access to a "proper" routine is probably enough to put 50% of people off all together.

IMO the 3 key points to focus on are:
Diet; eat at least 3 meals a day
Cardio; Twice a week is sufficient, maybe try circuit training instead of running
Weights; Aim to keep reps between 6 and 12
 
Last edited:
I have decided on a goal - to gain muscle.

I suppose theres not much wrong with my routine except the cardio side, I just need to get the diet sorted, and will look about planning that this afternoon whilst I wait for my telly to arrive.

Rob
 
exploitah said:
Not everyone has the access/time/finances for the best gyms and diets. You can still see decent gains with limited equipment and average diets.

The OP hasn't asked for info on becoming a BB or Power lifter, he's just looking for a little more muscle.
Implying you need a pre-planned diet and access to "proper" routine is probably enough to put 50% of people off all together.

IMO the 3 key points to focus on are:
Diet; eat at least 3 meals a day
Cardio; Twice a week is sufficient, maybe try circuit training instead of running
Weights; Aim to keep reps between 6 and 12
Click to expand...

Welcome to ocuk and SA :D

Your 3 points are very generalised, for someone to reach any goals its better to be more specific, otherwise that person will not get to where they want to be.
In the OPs case, it looks like he has been doing general things for 2 years and not reached his goals.. time to get specific :p
 
exploitah said:
Not everyone has the access/time/finances for the best gyms and diets. You can still see decent gains with limited equipment and average diets.
Click to expand...

Is this the part where the excuses about not being able to eat at work/not having time to make meals beforehand / not having time/money to join a gym come in?

The OP hasn't asked for info on becoming a BB or Power lifter, he's just looking for a little more muscle.
Click to expand...

He said he wants to build muscle, so yes he does want info on being a bodybuilder. Guess what they do? They build muscle.

'A little more muscle'? Because...building 'a little', whatever that means, amount of muscle is so easy, you can plan ahead that you will stop when you have that 'little' bit more muscle.

Implying you need a pre-planned diet and access to "proper" routine is probably enough to put 50% of people off all together.
Click to expand...

Well maybe those people should buy 1 of those ab belts and sit at home drinking their coke and eating their chocolates and wait for the abs to show
 
Yes all 3 changes are very generalised, but from his original post they are 3 things he is not doing at the moment.

If he based future training on those 3 points he would see improvements, specifics can come once the basics are right.

Without knowing his situation it's very difficult to be specific, For most people training has to suit their lifestyle, not the the other way around.
 
exploitah said:
Yes all 3 changes are very generalised, but from his original post they are 3 things he is not doing at the moment.

If he based future training on those 3 points he would see improvements, specifics can come once the basics are right.

Without knowing his situation it's very difficult to be specific, For most people training has to suit their lifestyle, not the the other way around.
Click to expand...

We know his situation: 2 years of training with no real change.
For a new person to exercise your 3 points would be good, but here they are not enough.
From the opening post you can see he has some idea about things (has a basic outline of a routine), so what you have said is in effect pointless.
 
I think I should take things in stages, and am going to start by changing my diet, this afternnon I shall come up witha plan and you can all critique it!
 
Ok, maybe I'm missing something here :)

He could have been training for 100 years, doesn't mean he is doing it right!

He has already said he only eats 1 meal a day, why is it pointless to suggest he eats 2 more?

The program he posted contains too much cardio for building muscle effectively, why is it pointless to suggest he reduces it to twice a week?

He hasn't indicated how he weight trains, why is it pointless to suggest a rep range good for building muscle?

I'm not trying to argue I'm just offering a different perspective to the OP.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome A2Z!

If someone wants optimum gains then yes, they need to make sacrifices. My point was you don't have to pre-cook meals, travel 30 miles to a better gym, eat every 2 hours to see the benefits.

Whats so wrong with taking things 1 step at a time? By gradually improving diet/training the OP will be able to find a happy medium between lifestyle and training.

I think we can all agree that any form of training requires more effort and commitment than most people are willing to give on a regular basis.

I think we can also agree than being a top BB requires more effort than 99% of people are willing to give, you just have to decide where you belong in between.
 
The thing you have to realise here exploitah (and welcome to the forums :)) is that the main posters that have replied in this thread are very much into bodybuilding (as am I) and know the dedication, sacrifices and hard work it takes to achieve good gains/results. So the advice seems a lot more black and white because that's the way we train. I'm up at 5am every day, and work 10-12hr days, spend a fair bit on my food shopping and dedicate a lot of time to improving my body. My gym's not particularly brilliant but I've managed to become hench as a result to my efforts (as others here will testify).

So I don't buy the lack of money/time excuse. If he's dedicated to wanting to achieve a goal - which I think he is after the exercise routine he has posted - then we need to be sure he'll understand what he needs to do if he wants to put on some mass.

Diet is the main one (agreed that his eating pattern ain't great).

A proper exercise routine is required.

A plan. You need a plan, otherwise it's easy to stray away from it.

Cutting down on the intensity of cardio is important.

Cutting down on carbs/boosting protein intake as well as other essential minerals.

Then you can start addressing specific exercises and routine he needs
 
Freefaller said:
Diet is the main one (agreed that his eating pattern ain't great).

A proper exercise routine is required.

A plan. You need a plan, otherwise it's easy to stray away from it.

Cutting down on the intensity of cardio is important.

Cutting down on carbs/boosting protein intake as well as other essential minerals.

Then you can start addressing specific exercises and routine he needs
Click to expand...

These are summed up pretty nicely.

One thing I am not totally sure about is the cardio when bulking... Are you supposed to do it? Surely it means you have to eat more to make gains?
 
I do it to a moderate level to keep myself aerobically fit. There's nothing wrong with doing it when bulking, besides if you're doing hardcore bulking a few sessions of cardio in between a hardcore gym routine isn't really going to affect you that much IMO.
 
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