Thread: Another newcomer!

Alright folks, dunno where to start lol! Always had an interest in fitness but decided to finally do something about it properly this year. For the last 2 months I've been hitting the weights at the gym before work mon-fri. Mon I do back and biceps, tue shoulders and triceps, wed abs and legs, thu back and biceps then Friday chest and triceps! I'm about 80kg and 5'8, was wanting to bulk up so only done weights but now realised I should really be doing some cardio as well so added 30mins after the weights Monday Wednesday and Friday. Was just looking for a bit help with some questions I have, any help at all will be much appreciated! I read tjlees blog which was quality and decided to follow his diet as off today, outwith the cottage cheese, tried it an hour and a half ago an decided I'll never try it again lol!! When I'm eating the Tuna would it be ok to add a small bit light salad cream/Mayo to it as I struggled a bit eating it the way it is! Also on the days I do cardio should I take my protein shake after I do my weights or wait and take it after I finish my cardio after te weights?
Any help would be appreciated, hope to get to know some of you guys a bit better!

Cheers, Chris

Alright Chris, welcome to the Forum!

The diet that I posted and was following for the challenge was a cutting diet, so if you are wanting to Bulk still, you will need more carbs, than I was consuming! However, if you are now looking to cut instead then that diet should do the trick for you, especially as you have now added the cardio in! If you find you hit a plateu (which I did) then you will need to up the cardio, rather than reducing any of the nutritional amounts.

You should consume your protein shake after the complete workout, i.e when you have finished both weights and cardio!!!

If you really struggle to eat Tuna on its own then just have a little light mayo with it. At the end of the day, if you force food down your neck that you are not enjoying, then you will find the diet hard to stick to, a little LIGHT mayo wont hurt!

Good luck mate, keep us posted!

Thanks for the response mate! Was wondering when u were having an omelette for your meal is it 2 whole eggs and another 5 egg whites as well just with some semi-skimmed milk? Also did u take fibre tablets when u were on this diet? Apologies for the hundred questions, just want 2 do this proper! First day almost done, everything went ok so far, done the cardio on top of my usual monday weights session and followed the diet, outwith the cottage cheese, couldn't handle that at all lol! Just been taking phd pharma whey at the moment, on payday I'll buy a couple of tubs if synergy, think I'll go for the choc orange! By the way did u still take the synergy on non training days (will be the weekend for me). Thanks again mate.

Chris

Hey Chris,

No bother about questions mate, I enjoy answering them, its nice to feel useful haha

With regards to the omlette, I had 2 whole eggs and another 5 egg whites, so you are cracking 7 eggs in total but throwing away 5 egg yolks, I mix this with a small amount of skimmed milk, I dont use Semi-skimmed. For fibre tablets, I took Psyllium husk (not sure if thats how you spell it), which can be bought from Holland and Barrett, you take 2 capsules 30 minutes before each meal.

The synergy will be good for you, I regard it as an excellent all in one product and is my number 1 purchase each month!

I did not take Synergy on non-training days, which was also the weekend for me! I maintained the 7 meals throughout the day with good amounts of protein, Saturday, I would have a Whey shake with Oats in the morning, then mid morning I would have tuna or chicken, then for lunch I would have a chicken sandwich, mid afternoon maybe a protein bar and then it was treat meal on Saturday night. Then Sunday, I would do the same with the whey and oats and just making sure I had a good source of protein throughout the day and moderate carbs! Then back to hardcore Monday to Friday!!!

regarding the omelette, I find it cheaper, and a lot more convenient, to buy liquid egg whites. So if I were follwing TJLEE's diet I would just use two egg whites then around 150ml of liquid egg whites which is the equivalent of 5 eggs worth. Obviously it's whatever is most convenient for you, it's just always good to have alternatives.

For an omelette i would also go with egg white liquid. But then im a little lazy and its much less messy. As for the synergy i would also take it on your off day as it contains your creatine which i believe you should be cycling everyday for upto 5-6 weeks solid. Then take a week off the creatine.

Your routine is 5 days and you smash chest, back, tricep and bicep twice. Have you thought about an upper/lower body split over 4 days? It would look like Mon is upper body where you do chest, shoulders, back, bicep, tricep doing around 4 sets per bodypart (not including warm ups). Tuesday is legs and abs doing quads, hamstrings and calves, abs and obliques, again 4 sets per bodypart. Wednesday is rest. Thursday and friday are repeat of monday, tuesday (you can change the exercises and the number of reps you do for periodisation). this way you are training your muscles intensely twice a week with a nice rest in between, therefore really stimulating those growth hormones. As a beginner pick the basic compound exercises and concentrate on form and not the amount of weight on the bar (leave the ego at the gym door).

Good luck mate.

Thanks very much for the replies lads, much appreciated! Really going to make a go of this, decided to cut for about 3 months to get rid of unwanted bodyfat then all going well I'll then start to bulk up and hopefully add some decent muscle!

Cheers!

Chris
How much cardio a week would you guys recommend doing for now? At the moment I do 3 days a week, roughly half an hour after my weights.

Hey Chris,
For cardio, you need to monitor your progress and then make adjustments accordingly. At the start of my cut, I was doing cardio for 5 days per week for 10 to 15 minutes, then as the weight loss slowed down, I increased the cardio. I ended up doing 40 minutes of cardio, 5 days per week, which kept my weight loss around 2lbs per week, which I think is a sensible loss and should help you retain muscle!

TJLEE can you post the link for your cutting diet for me mate, I
can find it!

Paul - There is a copy of TJ's Nutrition.

I just did a search through his blogs, and looked at the first one with nutrition in the title

Tuesday 06.04.2010 - Nutrition

1 to 2 gallons of water throughout day.

Meal 1 (5:40am) - Pre Workout
Phd Synergy ISO7 - 2 Scoops (mixed with water)
1 Multi-Vitamin Tablet with Omega Oil
PROTEIN = 35g, CARBS = 22g, FAT = 3.3g

1 litre of water during work-out

Meal 2 (7:45am) - Post Workout
Phd Synergy ISO7 - 2 Scoops (mixed with water)
1 Banana
PROTEIN = 36g, CARBS = 51g, FAT = 3.3g

Meal 3 (10:00am)
1 Tin of Tuna in Springwater (swap between 1 tin of Tuna and 200g Chicken each day)
10 Almonds
1 Orange
PROTEIN = 39.2g, CARBS = 20g, FAT = 6.2g

Meal 4 (1pm)
200g Chicken Breast with 2 slices of Nutty Wholemeal Bread
80g Cottage Cheese
5 Almonds
PROTEIN = 56g, CARBS = 41g, FAT = 12g

Meal 5 (4pm)
Reflex Instant Whey (1 serving) mixed with water
5 Almonds
PROTEIN = 21.5g, CARBS = 1.5g, FAT = 4.5g

Meal 6 (7pm)
5 Egg Whites and 2 Whole Egg Omlette (small amount of Olive Oil) - some days I will have 200g Chicken Breast with fibrous vegetables.
Lettuce and Cucumber
PROTEIN = 33g, CARBS = 4g, FAT = 10.5g

Meal 7 (9:30pm) Approx 30 mins before bed
Whey FX (1 serving) mixed with Skimmed Milk
PROTEIN = 33g, CARBS = 12g, FAT = 5g

TOTALS:
PROTEIN = 254g
CARBS = 151g
FAT = 45g