A good plan to get in real good shape?

[nmartinez12443]

First off this is a great forum with some insightful people and i am grateful for that. Was wondering if you could critique my plan since I don't want to waste my time. Trying to get to 10 percent body fat.
Are my calories too high, most of my fat comes from the olive oil from salad 1/3 to be exact?
Milk/ whey protein is also giving me a lot of calories. 700


5'11 182 pounds 16% body fat

Dec 26: Chest/Shoulder after (walking 35 minutes 3.5 pace 6.5 incline)
Dec 27: Back/Legs/Cardio (walking)
Dec 28: Arms/Cardio (walking)
Dec 29: Cardio (light run)
and cycles over and over

Meal 1: Tuna/Whey Protein Shake/Multivitamin/Bananna

Meal 2: 4 Egg Whites/ Builders Bar (protein bar)

Meal 3: Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer/Strawberrys/ Muscle Milk RTD

Meal 4: Subway Salad- Double roasted chicken breast, olive,lettuce,tomato,cucumber, onion, olive oil, vinegar, parmasean cheese, oregano.

Workout- Creatine Monohyrdate PreWO and Whey protein (PWO)

Meal 5- 10 Ounces boneless skinless chicken breast, leaf spinach, bbq sauce

Meal 6: Tuna/Whey protein

2,847 cal, 352 protein, 71 fat, 193 carbs 50% protein, 28% carb, 22% fat

 

[nmartinez12443]

and when i said not waste my time, i didn't mean not use my own time to research, i meant waste my time at the gym.

 

[Jariel]

Everything looks good to me except that you're doing too much cardio or eating too few calories at the same time, which will most likely cause you to drop too much lean muscle mass.

Personally, I wouldn't do any cardio on weight training days. Just stick to the weights on those days, which will help you maintain your muscle.

Another thing I'd recommend is having one day per week with higher carbs, maybe a potato or banana before workout and cereal for breakfast. I learned the hard way recently how cutting carbs too much can really bring your mood, energy and testosterone plummetting.

Just have patience. Nobody can fault your dedication, but it's a big mistake to go to extremes hoping for fast results. Just slow down a bit, have patience and you'll get great results.

 

[~Vortex~]

I prefer natural food over whey shakes and protein bars; it just seems more natural to me; I once let a box of whey protein spoil, and it became a dirty, bright green color. I have never takes protein shakes since.

Like Jariel says, it would be better not to do cardio on weightlifiting days; you'll probably become over-trained as a result.

 

[Fuglydude]

Diet looks pretty good. I can advise a few things:

1. Try reducing protein, and adding healthy fat and more healthy carbs. Remember having carbs are protein sparing... they're just tricky. Remember yams, oatmeal, brown rice are good whole food carbs. Healthy fats are critical for appropriate metabolism through out your cells...I'm not gonna give you a biochem lesson here. I'd drop your carbs to around 250-300 and up your carbs/fat. I think calories are fine.

2. Get more protein from whole foods rather than bars, shakes etc. I know they're convenient. Hell I take lotsa different shakes every day. However, I think you should try and incorporate as much whole foods as possible.

3. What about supplementation? I recommend the basics: multi, B-complex, EFA, Anti-ox. I see you've got the whey, RTD's in there.

4. Try incorporating a pre-WO shake as well. There's lots of pre-WO supplements out there. I'm a huge believer in pre-WO nutrition. You gotta have your body the metabolic fuel that it needs to go to war.

5. Are you doing lots of compound movements? You need to elaborate on the work out more. Remember you're gonna build good muscle with the big 5: squat, deadlift, bench, shoulder press, chins/dips... ok maybe that was 6.

6. Maybe incorporate more high intensity cardio into the mix. A good diet will obviously help the body to keep muscle while doing cardio.

Hope this helps...

 

[nmartinez12443]

merry christmas

well i have a very busy life thus the (subway salad/healthy choice meal), i will however abandon the muscle milk and switch it with a protein shake. As far as cardio, I'll cut it out on leg days and chest and shoulder days.
so it'll look more like this.

1. chest/shoulders-no cardio
2. arms- cardio
3. back/legs- no cardio
4. cardio only
and repeat

thanks for the responses.

 

[nmartinez12443]

great response

Diet looks pretty good. I can advise a few things:

1. Try reducing protein, and adding healthy fat and more healthy carbs. Remember having carbs are protein sparing... they're just tricky. Remember yams, oatmeal, brown rice are good whole food carbs. Healthy fats are critical for appropriate metabolism through out your cells...I'm not gonna give you a biochem lesson here. I'd drop your carbs to around 250-300 and up your carbs/fat. I think calories are fine. I will eat some oatmeal for my last meal before bed

2. Get more protein from whole foods rather than bars, shakes etc. I know they're convenient. Hell I take lotsa different shakes every day. However, I think you should try and incorporate as much whole foods as possible.
i agree, i take 4 shakes a day, myofusion in the morning, musclemilk RTD during lunch, ON protein after workout, and myofusion again before bed. As for whole foods, i do eat lots of chicken with my salad (double meat) and (boneless skinless breast) (tuna) and thats about it.

3. What about supplementation? I recommend the basics: multi, B-complex, EFA, Anti-ox. I see you've got the whey, RTD's in there. The supplements I take are 10 grams of creatine monohydrate, myofusion, optimum nutrition, and a general multivitamin

4. Try incorporating a pre-WO shake as well. There's lots of pre-WO supplements out there. I'm a huge believer in pre-WO nutrition. You gotta have your body the metabolic fuel that it needs to go to war. I eat a salad right before I workout and some creatine monohydrate

5. Are you doing lots of compound movements? You need to elaborate on the work out more. Remember you're gonna build good muscle with the big 5: squat, deadlift, bench, shoulder press, chins/dips... ok maybe that was 6.
chest/shoulders- bench barbell, overhead press dumbell, incline barbell, barbell shoulder shrugs, bench dumbells, lat raises, pec dec with 10 push-ups after, abs
arms- barbell curls, tricep ext, curls with pulleys, weighted dips, tricep pushups, pull-ups, abs
back/legs- squats, leg press, leg ext, leg curl, cable row, various machines working back, abs

6. Maybe incorporate more high intensity cardio into the mix. A good diet will obviously help the body to keep muscle while doing cardio.
I thought the lower the intensity the more fat burning ill be in
Hope this helps...

1. thanks

 

[escobar04]

If you can pull off a back AND leg workout in one day then you must be a beast or just doing it wrong

 

[TizZle]

I suggest splitting up your back and legs as a first.

Here's the routine ive been doing and so far it works for me.

Monday(Legs)- Squat(Heavy on non-deadlift week),Deadlift (every other week after intermediate squat), 45 Degree Sled Leg Press(working up to heavy set of 5-7), Leg extensions(8-12 rep), Leg Curl(8-12 rep), Lunges(if i'm not too exhausted)

Tuesday(Middle/Inner chest,Tri's) - Explosion Bench(60% 1RM 8 sets of 3 with 60 sec in between each set), Close Grip Bench, DB Flys, Weighted Dips, Cable Flys(high reps)

Thursday(back/bi's) - Weighted Underhand Chin-ups, Bent over row(just added these), Seated Lever Rows, DB Curls, DB hammer Curls

Friday(Upper Chest/Shoulders) - Incline Bench, Incline Close Grip, Seated Overhead Press, DB shoulder Press, DB Shrugs

I do calves on my leg day and whenever i see fit as well as forearms(have ez-bar and DB at home)

Supplements besides whey i take are Explode and Kre-alkalyn.

 

[nmartinez12443]

If you can pull off a back AND leg workout in one day then you must be a beast or just doing it wrong

Why? They are completely seperate muscle groups.

When i do legs and back i do....
1.Squat,
2. dead lift after ( i admit these kind of interfere with each other but this is a leg/back workout and the dead lift gets both and my technique isn't the best)
3. 45 degree angle leg press,
4. T-Bar Row,
5. Dumbell lunges,
6. dumbell row,
7. leg extensions.
8. pull ups (sometimes, but i am usually to tired)
9. abs

I do 5X6 with 1:30 rest and 30 minute low intensity walk after. In the gym for about 2hrs.

Thanks for the advice everyone though. I am taking, jack3d,kreakalyn, whey, bcaa, fish oil , and a multi.

 

[escobar04]

Why? They are completely seperate muscle groups.

When i do legs and back i do....
1.Squat,
2. dead lift after ( i admit these kind of interfere with each other but this is a leg/back workout and the dead lift gets both and my technique isn't the best)
3. 45 degree angle leg press,
4. T-Bar Row,
5. Dumbell lunges,
6. dumbell row,
7. leg extensions.
8. pull ups (sometimes, but i am usually to tired)
9. abs

I do 5X6 with 1:30 rest and 30 minute low intensity walk after. In the gym for about 2hrs.

Thanks for the advice everyone though. I am taking, jack3d,kreakalyn, whey, bcaa, fish oil , and a multi.

I know they are separate muscle groups and all but when I do back, I literally cannot do any other muscle group besides some curls

same with legs

both muscle groups are just too big to be trained on the same day

like I said, you gotta be a beast to pull off both, or you just might not be going hard enough

I'd say split back day with arms or leg day with arms

 

[runner83]

I know they are separate muscle groups and all but when I do back, I literally cannot do any other muscle group besides some curls

same with legs

both muscle groups are just too big to be trained on the same day

like I said, you gotta be a beast to pull off both, or you just might not be going hard enough

I'd say split back day with arms or leg day with arms

This is correct.

Doing both back and legs on the same day means that you will be compromising your intensity for the major exercises and limiting your gains.

Split them up and do back and biceps one day, and legs another day, for the best results.

 

[Jitterbug]

This is correct.

Doing both back and legs on the same day means that you will be compromising your intensity for the major exercises and limiting your gains.

Split them up and do back and biceps one day, and legs another day, for the best results.

This simply isn't true. I've seen novices manage it and I've seen elite lifters (powerlifters and pro bodybuilders) manage it. Personally I do that twice a week. You guys just aren't lifting & eating hard enough.

 

[escobar04]

This simply isn't true. I've seen novices manage it and I've seen elite lifters (powerlifters and pro bodybuilders) manage it. Personally I do that twice a week. You guys just aren't lifting & eating hard enough.

Back and Legs are two of the biggest muscle groups, while arms and chest and shoulders are much smaller

why do two of the biggest muscle groups in one day?

plus, the last thing I do is compare myself to juiced out pro bodybuilders

unless you follow that path I do not suggest training the way they do

 

[Jitterbug]

why do two of the biggest muscle groups in one day?

To get strong. Duh.

I train & compete in powerlifting with a drug-free and drug-tested federation (IPF, tested by ASADA). That's how we train.

And please tell me you're not calling squat a leg exercise and deadlift a back exercise. Ever seen someone with a big squat yet a weak lower and upper back? My upperback was a weak point at one stage and training it heavily got my squat up (as well as deadlift, of course).

How we train normally:

Main Day 1: heavy bench (plus assistant ex), heavy squat, heavy rows, light deadlift or power clean
Main Day 2: heavy deadlift, medium bench, light squat, chins, GHR (big on hammies, so essentially a leg exercise.

Plus an extra day for light & random sh!t.

One SHW elite I know trains even heavier & more regularly than us. If he can do it at his level, so can all the novices here.

Before you say it's all the drugs (I'm lifetime drug free, and the elite lifters I train with are tested regularly), just maybe, you guys aren't training hard enough.

 

[escobar04]

To get strong. Duh.

I train & compete in powerlifting with a drug-free and drug-tested federation (IPF, tested by ASADA). That's how we train.

And please tell me you're not calling squat a leg exercise and deadlift a back exercise. Ever seen someone with a big squat yet a weak lower and upper back? My upperback was a weak point at one stage and training it heavily got my squat up (as well as deadlift, of course).

How we train normally:

Main Day 1: heavy bench (plus assistant ex), heavy squat, heavy rows, light deadlift or power clean
Main Day 2: heavy deadlift, medium bench, light squat, chins, GHR (big on hammies, so essentially a leg exercise.

Plus an extra day for light & random sh!t.

One SHW elite I know trains even heavier & more regularly than us. If he can do it at his level, so can all the novices here.

Before you say it's all the drugs (I'm lifetime drug free, and the elite lifters I train with are tested regularly), just maybe, you guys aren't training hard enough.

oh, so you do fullbody days

thats fine, I do that too!

1. all upper body
2. all lower body

 

[runner83]

To get strong. Duh.

I train & compete in powerlifting with a drug-free and drug-tested federation (IPF, tested by ASADA). That's how we train.

And please tell me you're not calling squat a leg exercise and deadlift a back exercise. Ever seen someone with a big squat yet a weak lower and upper back? My upperback was a weak point at one stage and training it heavily got my squat up (as well as deadlift, of course).

How we train normally:

Main Day 1: heavy bench (plus assistant ex), heavy squat, heavy rows, light deadlift or power clean
Main Day 2: heavy deadlift, medium bench, light squat, chins, GHR (big on hammies, so essentially a leg exercise.

Plus an extra day for light & random sh!t.

One SHW elite I know trains even heavier & more regularly than us. If he can do it at his level, so can all the novices here.

Before you say it's all the drugs (I'm lifetime drug free, and the elite lifters I train with are tested regularly), just maybe, you guys aren't training hard enough.

Good info. And I can see how that can work, since you are correct in that the differentiation between deadlift (back) and squats (legs) is not absolute.

 

[nmartinez12443]

considered the advice and i agree, i plan to do back and bi on one day and legs and tris the next thanks.

 

[GoodButNotGreat]

i'd advise you to seek out a different protein shake, since muscle milk isn't the best available. check out optimum nutrition gold meal which is a meal replacement but PERFECT post workout drink. i take my creatine POST workout as well, since it times it perfectly since post workout is the best time it is absorbed. also, 5g of creatine per day is the best amount to take, skip the loading phases which leave you bloated...since taking too much of any powdery substance in a day will make you feel crappy.