Bio: 5'8, 154lbs
I have been doing serious weight training and cardio for a few years now in an effort to get leaner. Throughout the past few years I have tried to fine tune my weight exercises and cardio. The issue i am having is that I have hit a road block to my goal of getting lean enough to see well-defined abs. Well-defined being relative, I am not looking to compete in a contest with them, all I want is to see cut obliques and separation in the rectus abdominis I am going to list what I am doing currently and if anyone has any suggestions to help me achieve my goal, I will take them.
Exercise: 3 days a week
I do the same cardio exercise during all my workout sessions. I sprint for a minute and follow that up with a 20 second cooldown. Next I use a special boxing kit that offers resistance link: (). I mimic boxing actions such as jabs and punches for about 60 seconds. The last part of my cardio is a cool down that involves declined push-ups and 60 reps of jump roping. All of this I consider to be 1 set of cardio. I repeat this 3 times=3 sets which takes about 25min including rest. I use to do a lot of endurance running at a moderate pace of about 7mph on the treadmill for 25min. I switched over to high intensity exercises just to change it up, since I have not seen much results from the treadmill. I follow up cardio with weight training.
Monday: cardio; back and shoulders, abs~1 hour total workout
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: cardio, chest, triceps, biceps, abs~1.5 hours total workout
Thursday: off
Friday: Legs, cardio, abs~45min total workout
Sat&Sun: off
On my off days, I am very active in that I will go outside and play a sport of some sort such as tennis or football.
I am pretty confident with my weight training exercises since, I did a lot of research and use to be on a power lifting team. Most of my body is pretty cut except my abs. My abs show mild definition and from feel there doesn't seem to be much fat there, just enough to cover up my abs. I believe I have constructed a fairly challenging ab routine, however, I am open to suggestions. In short I do ab exercises such as: captain's chair, leg raises (lying on a bench), declined crunches with a 30lb dumbbell, lumberjacks/woodchoppers and a few others making the ab routine last about 10-15min.
Diet: I stick to a pretty strict diet I would like to describe in detail
Mon,Wed,Fri(workout days): I workout in the mornings, so for breakfast I will have about 75-100grams of whey protein shake with skim milk () after my workout. I found it's between 500-700 calories for breakfast. I eat lunch at work which is about 500 calories worth of oatmeal and milk. For dinner I will have a ham sandwich (whole-wheat) and a bowl of oatmeal running about 900 calories.
Total: 1900-2100 calories
Tue,Thur,Sat,Sun: For breakfast I will have a can of tuna (200 calories). For lunch I will have a ham sandwich (whole-wheat) with a few tbsp of peanut butter on the side (700 calories). For dinner I will usually have another ham sandwich (whole-wheat) and a bowl of oatmeal (900 calories).
Total: 1800 calories
This is my current workout routine and diet. I know my diet is carb heavy, but it's all complex carbs. There are alot of opponents and proponents for eliminating carbs from a diet. My understanding is that too few carbs puts the body in a fight/flight state in which it grasps fatty regions making it increasingly difficult to lose fat. I know it comes down to creating a calorie deficit to achieve fat loss, however, it seems difficult not knowing my true BMR. Sorry for the length, but I wanted to explain in full detail for you to fully understand my routine and diet and point out where I am going wrong. Thanks for your time.
I have been doing serious weight training and cardio for a few years now in an effort to get leaner. Throughout the past few years I have tried to fine tune my weight exercises and cardio. The issue i am having is that I have hit a road block to my goal of getting lean enough to see well-defined abs. Well-defined being relative, I am not looking to compete in a contest with them, all I want is to see cut obliques and separation in the rectus abdominis I am going to list what I am doing currently and if anyone has any suggestions to help me achieve my goal, I will take them.
Exercise: 3 days a week
I do the same cardio exercise during all my workout sessions. I sprint for a minute and follow that up with a 20 second cooldown. Next I use a special boxing kit that offers resistance link: (). I mimic boxing actions such as jabs and punches for about 60 seconds. The last part of my cardio is a cool down that involves declined push-ups and 60 reps of jump roping. All of this I consider to be 1 set of cardio. I repeat this 3 times=3 sets which takes about 25min including rest. I use to do a lot of endurance running at a moderate pace of about 7mph on the treadmill for 25min. I switched over to high intensity exercises just to change it up, since I have not seen much results from the treadmill. I follow up cardio with weight training.
Monday: cardio; back and shoulders, abs~1 hour total workout
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: cardio, chest, triceps, biceps, abs~1.5 hours total workout
Thursday: off
Friday: Legs, cardio, abs~45min total workout
Sat&Sun: off
On my off days, I am very active in that I will go outside and play a sport of some sort such as tennis or football.
I am pretty confident with my weight training exercises since, I did a lot of research and use to be on a power lifting team. Most of my body is pretty cut except my abs. My abs show mild definition and from feel there doesn't seem to be much fat there, just enough to cover up my abs. I believe I have constructed a fairly challenging ab routine, however, I am open to suggestions. In short I do ab exercises such as: captain's chair, leg raises (lying on a bench), declined crunches with a 30lb dumbbell, lumberjacks/woodchoppers and a few others making the ab routine last about 10-15min.
Diet: I stick to a pretty strict diet I would like to describe in detail
Mon,Wed,Fri(workout days): I workout in the mornings, so for breakfast I will have about 75-100grams of whey protein shake with skim milk () after my workout. I found it's between 500-700 calories for breakfast. I eat lunch at work which is about 500 calories worth of oatmeal and milk. For dinner I will have a ham sandwich (whole-wheat) and a bowl of oatmeal running about 900 calories.
Total: 1900-2100 calories
Tue,Thur,Sat,Sun: For breakfast I will have a can of tuna (200 calories). For lunch I will have a ham sandwich (whole-wheat) with a few tbsp of peanut butter on the side (700 calories). For dinner I will usually have another ham sandwich (whole-wheat) and a bowl of oatmeal (900 calories).
Total: 1800 calories
This is my current workout routine and diet. I know my diet is carb heavy, but it's all complex carbs. There are alot of opponents and proponents for eliminating carbs from a diet. My understanding is that too few carbs puts the body in a fight/flight state in which it grasps fatty regions making it increasingly difficult to lose fat. I know it comes down to creating a calorie deficit to achieve fat loss, however, it seems difficult not knowing my true BMR. Sorry for the length, but I wanted to explain in full detail for you to fully understand my routine and diet and point out where I am going wrong. Thanks for your time.
