Critique my diet and workout plan

[MikeYikes122]

I'm still kind of a beginner, so bear with me if this isn't completely kosher.

I'm currently 5'10, 157 pounds. I began at 143 pounds, and that was about a month and a half ago. My bench max is up by about 20 pounds, and my squat max is up a ton, probably 80 or 90 pounds. I started out benching like 180 or 185. I maxed out at 200 a few weeks back. I lost some weight because of a bout with the flu. It also set my training back some, so all those numbers are a little skewed.

Diet:
I usually start off the morning with some carbs. I'll eat whole wheat bran cereal that has dried fruit in it. Then I'll usually work out about an hour and a half or two hours later.

I come home and I have to almost immediately eat some carbs or I will just get real tired and feel like I have to sleep. I'll eat a whole wheat bagel or a piece whole wheat bread. It just has to be some source of carbs.

I'll take a shower, drink some water and calm down a little bit then eat lunch. For lunch, I'll usually eat a huge meal, probably my biggest of the day. That will consist usually of a big piece of steak, chicken breast, fish or pork. With that I'll have a big salad with some vegetable and a baked potato or some whole wheat rice.

Then, I'll get some work done (I work from home) and about an hour later I'll drink a protein shake and three or four raw eggs. And throughout the rest of the day, I'll snack on low-fat cottage cheese, pistachios, tuna or maybe some leftover chili I have in the refrigerator. Sometimes if I know my calorie/fat count is low I will go eat a sub at Subway with tons of meet and bacon and stuff. In the evening, I won't eat any carbs at all. Usually I will eat one more small meal. I'll drink another protein shake and three raw eggs usually a couple hours before I go to bed.

I also usually drink two or three tablespoons of olive oil. And I take flax oil and fish oil as well.

Off-days work the same way. I always make sure I eat a couple of servings of vegetables throughout the day, and I'm pretty easy on the carbs throughout the day. I usually only eat them in the morning.

Overall, I think I get about 3000-3500 calories a day and around 225 grams of protein. Some days it's a little less or a little more than that, but I think that is probably the average.

Workout
Monday:
Incline bench: three sets of eight reps (a buddy suggested a lot of incline for definition)
Flat bench: two sets of eight or nine reps
Row machine: two sets of 10
Shoulder press: two sets of 10 reps
Tricep extensions: two sets of 15 reps
Dips: two sets of about 15

Wednesday:
Bicep curls: two sets of 10, but i really work it hard during those sets
Reverse curls (forearms): two sets of 12
Lat pull downs: two sets of 10
Hyperextension: Two sets of 15, weighted with holding onto 45 pounds
Elevated Cable rows: Two sets, 10 reps
Pullups: two sets of usually five or six to finish

Friday:
Squats: Three sets of about 8
Low-weight squats: 1 set of 15 reps
Calf raises: Two sets of 12 reps
Ab excersises

I realize my Wednesday probably needs work. I also have one other exercise that I do on Fridays, but I can't remember what it is or what the hell it is called. I should also point out that I quit deadlifting because it was giving me a lot of pain in one of knees (i had surgery on it a while back). Deadlifts were also bothering my back.

 

[Quagmire911]

Right, congrats on the weight gain.

Now that you are getting a bit further into training I'd recommend getting onto something a little bit better structured diet and routine wise. For your routine I'd try this out:

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125444

Deadlifts; if they are giving you back problems it is probably bad form and not using your glutes properly. Check out stronglifts.com for that. If you still have problems and your knee still gives you pain, then I'll switch the routine about a bit for you. I am surprised that you would be able to squat and not deadlift though. Remember squats are as low as you can go and NOT TO PARALLEL.

As for diet it sounds like it needs a bit of work. Most cereal is terrible, and the rest of it doesn't seem to be to structured. I would start eating like this:

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=134782

If you can make a log that would be beneficial for you, as then the guy's on here will be able to help you out better and keep you from plateauing.

Good luck,

Quagmire

 

[MikeYikes122]

Thanks for the response.

It's really hard for me to eat structured and do things on a structured basis because my job is pretty sporadic. I don't follow any sort of a schedule with my job and each day provides different things that I have to do. I don't follow any sort of 9-5 hour guidelines, so eating and working out on a daily schedule is damn near impossible. I've tried it.

As for the links you've posted, I've structured most of what I do off of EFFORT's posts. That newbie lifting guide is pretty much the same as my routine. There are a few differences, but for the most part mine is the same. Also, with the diet, I follow EFFORT's schedule for the most part, only I eat carbs in the morning, which I balance out with fruit like he suggested. I find if I don't eat carbs, I just get tired as hell during the day. But for the most part I go: Shake/eggs in the morning, steak/poultry/fish and veggies, shake/eggs, then poultry/steak and some more veggies. I mix nuts, low-fat cottage cheese and tuna in there as well. I'm trying to go high fat/low carbs. There are some days that I deviate badly from the schedule, but for the most part I keep on it. I never eat any cheat meals.

As for deadlifts, I had a big guy look at my form when I was at the gym a few weeks back, and he said it looked good. It still just bothered my knee. I'll tough it out for a few more sets and see how it goes, but are there any other exercises I can do to compensate for not deadlifting?

I'm glad I only need "a bit" of work. The first time I posted on here I needed a miracle.

 

[Quagmire911]

Effort/WBA did not mean for that post to be tinkered with. As a beginner you shouldn't be tinkering with it. Not being offensive here, just saying it how it is. Your routine is not the same. Do it the way it is layed out, trust me. You have bastardized it. There are unnecessary exercises in there.

And yes there are effective substitutes for deadlifts. I'd try this if you aren't gonna do deads:

DAY 1(eg. Monday)
Squats 2 x 5
Squats or Leg Press 1 x 15 (lighter weight)
Stiff Leg Deadlifts or Sumo Leg Press 2 x 10-15
Glute Ham Raise or Pullthroughs or Hyperextension 2 x 8
Calf Raises 2 x 10

DAY 2(eg. Wednesday)
Incline Press 2 x 5
Dumbbell Press (Flat/Decline) or Dips 2 x 8-10
Shoulder Press 2 x 8-12
Cable pushdowns or Skullcrushers 2 x 10-15

DAY 3(eg. Friday)
Good mornings 2 x 5
Row or Chinup/Pulldown 2 x 8
Bicep Curl 2 x 8-10
Forearm Exercise 2 x 10-15

The only change I made was sub in good mornings for deadlifts. Here is a GM:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=MRuJdQDvlOE

Be careful with these, easy to f*** yourself up if the form isn't right. Start off light and work your way up on them.

As for the diet follow a 5 meal plan IF you have to. You'll just need to be getting more calories/protein per meal.

You need to be eating a ton of eggs and beef, if you can't do this then I wouldn't bother trying to gain.


Good luck,

Quagmire

 

[MikeYikes122]

The diet I'm not really all that concerned about. I'm experiencing gains, and I've been eating a ton of beef/eggs like you suggested. I probably would have gained closer to 20 pounds if it weren't for the damn flu I caught. Also, stiff leg deadlifts was the other exercise I was doing on squat days. I just couldn't remember the name of it.

I guess I deviated from the original newbie guide just because I felt like I wasn't doing enough exercises. Is this really all you have to do?

I'll try out the good mornings tomorrow and let you guys know how it goes. Though, I can see where someone could really themselves doing those. I'll be careful

 

[Quagmire911]

Ok to put it simply:

YES FOR FS. LEAVE IT THE WAY IT IS.

Got it? :box:

 

[I-tallionStallion]

Quagmire just gave you great advice - take it :rockon:

 

[MikeYikes122]

Also, sometimes if I'm in a huge hurry because of work, I will just take a huge chug of V8 juice for my vegetable intake. Is that an acceptable source of veggies or do I need to be eating something green?

 

[MikeYikes122]

Ok to put it simply:

YES FOR FS. LEAVE IT THE WAY IT IS.

Got it? :box:

Hah, OK i will, but it's hard not to get tempted to do other things when I see guys in the gym doing tons more workouts than me.

 

[Quagmire911]

You will get some benefit from it, is it non concentrate and no added preservatives?

I'd still try to get fresh veggies later on in the day if you can.

And v8 juice on it's own as a meal is definitely a no no. Hopefully you are having beef or a raw egg shake as well.

Quagmire

"when I see guys in the gym doing tons more workouts than me." WATCH AS YOU FLY BY THEM...

 

[Quagmire911]

I just had another though as well, how are you warming up for your main sets>? Show me your FULL warm up.

And read this:

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3386&highlight=creatine+amount

More than likely that you can't handle a lot of volume, just like most people.

 

[MikeYikes122]

I just had another though as well, how are you warming up for your main sets>? Show me your FULL warm up.

And read this:

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3386&highlight=creatine+amount

More than likely that you can't handle a lot of volume, just like most people.

That link was a pretty good read. I am definitely not a person who recovers fast. My cardiovascular system recovers amazingly fast, but that isn't the case for my muscles.

What do you mean by warm-up for main sets?

 

[EFFORT]

What do you mean by warm-up for main sets?

Squat 2x5 the main set is the 2x5 (which needs to be heavy, 2reps short of failure on the last set. You said it didn't feel like enough, this means your not pushing it hard enough) but you can't just throw it on there and do it, you have to warm up to it, which the post on ironaddicts was about. The accessory work most likely won't need warming up since the main lift probably warmed those muscles up already.

 

[MikeYikes122]

Sorry, I misunderstood him for some reason. To warm up to the main set I usually do 10 reps of a lighter weight. For example, on the squat lift I will do 8-10 reps of 135 pounds. For the main set I will then increase that by about 50 or 60 pounds for the main lift. That main lift I will do 6-8 times.

Incline works the same way. I do dumbbell incline. My warm up is usually 45 pounds in each hand. I'll do 10 reps with those and then grab the 55lbs or the 60lbs barbells. I'll do two sets of like 6-8 reps with those.

I understand what he means though. Hopefully my warm-up isn't the problem.

The link I went to from ironaddicts was all about high-volume workouts and low-volume workouts. It explained how high-volume works for a very small percentage of people. It was a good read, but I didn't see anything about warm-ups in there. Did I miss something?

 

[EFFORT]

Sorry, I misunderstood him for some reason. To warm up to the main set I usually do 10 reps of a lighter weight. For example, on the squat lift I will do 8-10 reps of 135 pounds. For the main set I will then increase that by about 50 or 60 pounds for the main lift. That main lift I will do 6-8 times.

Incline works the same way. I do dumbbell incline. My warm up is usually 45 pounds in each hand. I'll do 10 reps with those and then grab the 55lbs or the 60lbs barbells. I'll do two sets of like 6-8 reps with those.

I understand what he means though. Hopefully my warm-up isn't the problem.

The link I went to from ironaddicts was all about high-volume workouts and low-volume workouts. It explained how high-volume works for a very small percentage of people. It was a good read, but I didn't see anything about warm-ups in there. Did I miss something?

haha sorry man i didn't check the link i just assumed it was the post on warm up IA made here it is http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3404

 

[MikeYikes122]

haha sorry man i didn't check the link i just assumed it was the post on warm up IA made here it is http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3404

Hah, no problem. That Mentzer guy who was mentioned in that post, the fitness trainer, I think I know his son. He is a high school linebacker. The kid is like 16 and he is built like a 24-year-old who has been weight lifting weights his whole life. He is a man among boys. I had heard his dad was a legendary fitness guru or something like that. There has to be some sort of relation between the two of them. This kid is jacked.

Is my warm-up good or should I be doing something else?

 

[Throttle]

just to clarify quag's advice on one point -- V8 is most emphatically NOT a vegetable for our purposes here, all their advertising & propaganda to the contrary notwithstanding. if you want to think of v8 as a sort of multivitamin with a few calories, that's fine. you can do that whenever, but it's not a meal, and for a lifter, it's not even a real snack (needs protein). real (and predominantly green) veggies should be adding bulk & nutrition to real meals that are otherwise protein-focused.

 

[Mad Manic]

The diet I'm not really all that concerned about. I'm experiencing gains, and I've been eating a ton of beef/eggs like you suggested. I probably would have gained closer to 20 pounds if it weren't for the damn flu I caught. Also, stiff leg deadlifts was the other exercise I was doing on squat days. I just couldn't remember the name of it.

I guess I deviated from the original newbie guide just because I felt like I wasn't doing enough exercises. Is this really all you have to do?

I'll try out the good mornings tomorrow and let you guys know how it goes. Though, I can see where someone could really themselves doing those. I'll be careful

The routine he posted wasn't very good tbh. Message me if you want a good one.

MM

 

[Throttle]

if you read the thread Effort linked to, you need to do a good bit more warming up than that. somewhere i saw a spreadsheet that made putting that advice into practice really mechanical but i can't find it right now...

 

[MikeYikes122]

Nevermind, I found some good info about warming up. I think I understand what I need to do.