My plan and typical day with goals, and a few q's

Hello, I recently came upon this board and after reading through many, many threads decided to create my own journal in hopes of getting some critques and feedback.

Some background: I am an 18 yr old male college student. I run on my school's cross country and track teams competitively. I typically run 50-60 miles per week and lift 6 days a week (split upper/lower body days).
Right now I am 5 ft 9 inches tall and weigh 135, despite my low weight I am fairly muscular and strong for my size.

My goals are to optimize my overall health and fitness, to improve my functional strength and endurance (running orriented), and possibly to add 5-10 lbs of lean muscle mass (over a long period of time).

Lifting wise I alternate upper body and lower body days, taking fridays off.

My upper routine is something like this:

4 sets bench press (until failure, if I reach 12 reps without failure I start over with higher weight, between each set I take a 1 minute rest)
4 sets lat pulls (until failure, same as above)
4 sets military press (until failure, same)
4 sets seated rows (until failure, same)
2 sets of 15 flys
2 sets of 15 dumbell curls
2 sets of 15 tricep extension
2 sets of 15 preacher curls
3 sets of dips (each set until failure)

My lower routine:

4 sets squats (until near failure, never acheiving more than 12 reps, 1 min rest)
4 sets deadlift (until near failure, same as above)
3 sets of 10 straight leg deadlift
3 sets of 10 weighted lunges
3 sets of 10 leg extension
3 sets of 10 leg curls
3 sets of 10 calf raise

Each workout takes me roughly an hour to complete.

I also do a 30 min ab workout on upper body days consisting of:
4 sets of 10 russian twists with a 25lb plate on a steep incline
3 sets of 10 weighted situps on a steep incline
3 sets of 10 back extension
3 sets of 12 horizontal leg raises.

As I said I also run anywhere from 5 to 12 miles depending upon the day. Typically two of these days are high intensity running (a race, an interval workout, a tempo run).

However being a freshman college student mantaining a healthy deit is difficult. In my room the only cooking device I am allowed is a microwave, I have very limited fridge and freezer space, and don't have my own car so I cannot frequent grocery stores. Not to mention the cafeteria doesn't over that many good choices.

An example of a typical days eating:
breakfast:
3x packets of microwaved instant oatmeal
16oz of skim milk
banana

snack:
100% whole wheat bagel
apple

after lifting:
16oz skim milk
orange

lunch:
baked/grilled chicken or fish (depends what the cafe has)
vegetables or salad (depends on cafe again)

before running:
1x packet of mircowave oatmeal
apple

dinner:
sandwich (whole wheat bread, turkey, lettuce, and tomato)
vegetables (depends on the cafe)
16oz skim milk
fruit (apple, banana, orange, or peach... depends whats available)

I also probably consume a gallon+ of water throughout the day.

I am looking for some more meal options that either don't need to be refridgerated or can last a long time in the fridge. Any advice on anything is appreciated. thanks.
 
Welcome to the boards.

Some advice- For the exercises I wouldn't recommend going to failure. You will make better gains if you choose a weight/set/rep scheme where the last rep is achievable.
 
Welcome to the boards.

Some advice- For the exercises I wouldn't recommend going to failure. You will make better gains if you choose a weight/set/rep scheme where the last rep is achievable.

This isnt always the case, and I dont totally agree with you. There is nothing wrong with going to "momentary" failure on sets.
 
This isnt always the case, and I dont totally agree with you. There is nothing wrong with going to "momentary" failure on sets.

I guess its just opinion then; I still wouldn't recommend going to failure every workout though; especially with the number of exercises this guy has in one workout and all that running.
 
Hello, I recently came upon this board and after reading through many, many threads decided to create my own journal in hopes of getting some critques and feedback.

Some background: I am an 18 yr old male college student. I run on my school's cross country and track teams competitively. I typically run 50-60 miles per week and lift 6 days a week (split upper/lower body days).
Right now I am 5 ft 9 inches tall and weigh 135, despite my low weight I am fairly muscular and strong for my size.

My goals are to optimize my overall health and fitness, to improve my functional strength and endurance (running orriented), and possibly to add 5-10 lbs of lean muscle mass (over a long period of time).

Lifting wise I alternate upper body and lower body days, taking fridays off.

My upper routine is something like this:

4 sets bench press (until failure, if I reach 12 reps without failure I start over with higher weight, between each set I take a 1 minute rest)
4 sets lat pulls (until failure, same as above)
4 sets military press (until failure, same)
4 sets seated rows (until failure, same)
2 sets of 15 flys
2 sets of 15 dumbell curls
2 sets of 15 tricep extension
2 sets of 15 preacher curls
3 sets of dips (each set until failure)

My lower routine:

4 sets squats (until near failure, never acheiving more than 12 reps, 1 min rest)
4 sets deadlift (until near failure, same as above)
3 sets of 10 straight leg deadlift
3 sets of 10 weighted lunges
3 sets of 10 leg extension
3 sets of 10 leg curls
3 sets of 10 calf raise

Each workout takes me roughly an hour to complete.

I also do a 30 min ab workout on upper body days consisting of:
4 sets of 10 russian twists with a 25lb plate on a steep incline
3 sets of 10 weighted situps on a steep incline
3 sets of 10 back extension
3 sets of 12 horizontal leg raises.

As I said I also run anywhere from 5 to 12 miles depending upon the day. Typically two of these days are high intensity running (a race, an interval workout, a tempo run).

However being a freshman college student mantaining a healthy deit is difficult. In my room the only cooking device I am allowed is a microwave, I have very limited fridge and freezer space, and don't have my own car so I cannot frequent grocery stores. Not to mention the cafeteria doesn't over that many good choices.

An example of a typical days eating:
breakfast:
3x packets of microwaved instant oatmeal
16oz of skim milk
banana

snack:
100% whole wheat bagel
apple

after lifting:
16oz skim milk
orange

lunch:
baked/grilled chicken or fish (depends what the cafe has)
vegetables or salad (depends on cafe again)

before running:
1x packet of mircowave oatmeal
apple

dinner:
sandwich (whole wheat bread, turkey, lettuce, and tomato)
vegetables (depends on the cafe)
16oz skim milk
fruit (apple, banana, orange, or peach... depends whats available)

I also probably consume a gallon+ of water throughout the day.

I am looking for some more meal options that either don't need to be refridgerated or can last a long time in the fridge. Any advice on anything is appreciated. thanks.

How are you going to break this routine down during the course of the week?
Have you configured your Calorie needs?

Once you break the routine down I will take a look at it and give an opinion.
And, if you havent configured your calories, I can help you do this.



KEEP Rocken!



Rock it!
 
Your diet doesn't look too bad. At least your don't have junkfood in there. I think you need more protein though. And to add a post-workout shake like Whey Protein and a simple sugar like dextrose or a bannana.

I like how you drink alot of water. That is a good habit.
 
Also for a last meal this is really good for you:

2 glasses of skim milk
Peanut butter
Cottage Cheese

The Slow protein is good for you before bed.
 
Mon, Wed, Sat: Lower body workout

Tue, Thur, Sun: Upper body and abs

On lower body days I run in the morning, the other days I run before dinner. I usually lift in the early/mid afternoon. My only classes are m-w-f from 8:00-12:30.

I checked out my caloric needs on some online calculators and they come out to anywhere from 2600 to 3200 depending on "my activity level" If there is a better way to estimate this I would appreciate it.

As for lifting, I was always told during high school that going until failure on the primary lifts was the best to build strength, I have tried to research this but there seems to be a lot of disagreement, I am open to suggestions.

Also by chance would a place like Walgreens sell whey protein, its really the only store within walking distance of here.

Thank you all for the comments and help.
 
I have made some adjustments after the first week.

I now plan on having a three day rotation looking something like this:
Day1 upper body, Day2 lower body, Day3 rest

Cross Country season just ended and I am in the middle of taking 5 days off from running before starting to build up again. Right now I am eating around 2600 cals a day with a 45/35/20 Carb/Protein/Fat ratio (I track what I eat through fitday). This is spread throughout 5-6 meals during the day.

Once I start running again I might up my carb and cal intakes. Also I have been drinking a quart of skim milk and eating a banana as a post wo meal. Is this a good alternative if I don't have access to any type of protein supplement?
 
Last edited:
Back
Top