Critic My Workout And Diet

Ok im 21 turning 22 and i would like to have a six pack by april if thats possible. haha... ok so lil bbackground..

im 21 5" 8" 150lbs.. i had 19% body fat about 6-8 months ago and for the past 3 solid months i have been working out and doing alot of cardio so i dunno what it is now. i used to have muscle and 15" arms but now im down to 13". im starting to get my muscle back and getting healthy.

my diet consumes of:
9:00 am: cereal with 2% milk in morning
10:00 am: banana or some fruit
10:45 am: strawberry yogurt
12:00 pm: lunch - 1/2 fish sandwich from carls or 1/2 homemade chicken sandwhich with lettus and wheat bread.
12:30 pm: some more fruit - banana or apple
1:30 pm: yogurt
2:30 pm: second half of sandwhich or whatever meal i had for lunch
3:30 pm: some more fruit
4:30 pm: bag of almonds or peanuts
5:30 pm: GYM
7:30 pm: small dinner with some meat beef chicken or fish
9:00 - 9:45 pm: another small meal of dinner
11:00 - 11:30 sleep

i know this isn't the best DIET but its a good start and for the 90% ive been staying healthy staying away from candy and junkfood and cookies and such... this diet needs to be adjusted but how? Should i be taking Protein shakes in between during the day? what kind of protein?

WORKOUT Routine:
Cardio
treadmill: 15 min run
1 min walk - 3.0
3 min run - 5.8
1 min walk - 3.5
3 min run - 6.3
1 min walk - 3.5
3 min run - 6.8
1 min walk - 3.5
2 min sprint - 7.5

Stairmaster
10 mins - Fat Burner - Level 8

WORKOUT
1 Day - Biceps and Triceps
2 Day - Shoulder and Back
3 Day - Chest

Within a given week i workout abs twice a week and rest 1 - 2 days a week.


My OVERALL GOALS ARE: to lose fat overall, gain or not lose any muscle, Get rid of my man boobs (medium but annoying), and naturally a six pack.

ALLL SUGGESTIONS AND CRITICSM is welcome, i would greatly appreciate any help.


i want my six pack :jump1:
 
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9:00 am: Grapefruit with 1/2 cup oatmeal (sweatened with stevia)

10:30 am: handful of unsalted peanuts

12:00 pm: lunch - 1/2 fish sandwich from carls or 1/2 homemade chicken sandwhich with lettus and wheat bread (that wheat bread is probably not real wheat. Enriched Wheat flour is no..no).

^^^^^I would have piece of grilled chicken/lean meat with one these brocolli/spinach salad/2 whole eggs/low fat cottage cheese

2:30:protein bar (low net carb and fat)

5:00: Lean meat/fish with one of these salad/brocolli/2 egg/whites/lowfat cottage cheese

9:00: Handful of peanuts,seeds,scoop of low sugar peanut butter,maybe a small salad or 4 oz lean meat.

11:00 - 11:30 sleep


I would eat egg whites,protein shakes,tuna for fillers in between to keep full. You will cut fast eating like this and you'll need to learn your body. We can't judge your diet. You must flucuate calories and intake as you learn how your body acts.


1 Day - Biceps and Triceps
2 Day - Shoulder and Back
3 Day - Chest
4 day- Legs??????????You want to be fit and speed fat burning? Legs are very important. Very large muscles and will help burn those calories.

I could feed you tons of help. I'll get back to this. I need to go eat now...lol
You made me hungry for a tuna wrap!!!
 
You really need to reconsider your weight workouts. You're already working your legs as it is, and the upper body workouts don't add to the immediate goal. You aren't doing enough cardio, either.

If you want a six pack in that little time, you're going to need to add 2-3 x week core workout, restrict your dietary intake of calories under 75% of what you need for homeostasis to drop your fat down under 8%, and enjoy being sick and feeling like crap the whole time.

My suggestion would be to set a different goal, or at least change your timeline. What you want is not in your best long term (health) interests.
 
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The workout isn't suited to your goals, but I would definitely ADD some leg workouts - move towards full body <cough> squats </cough>. If you start with your goal and build your routine to fit it, you'd never have a bicep/tricep day.
 
You really need to reconsider your weight workouts. You're already working your legs as it is, and the upper body workouts don't add to the immediate goal. You aren't doing enough cardio, either.

If you want a six pack in that little time, you're going to need to add 2-3 x week core workout, restrict your dietary intake of calories under 75% of what you need for homeostasis to drop your fat down under 8%, and enjoy being sick and feeling like crap the whole time.

My suggestion would be to set a different goal, or at least change your timeline. What you want is not in your best long term (health) interests.

ok then my goal will be extended to september. more cardio? damn how much cardio can i do... i dont kno thanks for the suggestion though

The workout isn't suited to your goals, but I would definitely ADD some leg workouts - move towards full body <cough> squats </cough>. If you start with your goal and build your routine to fit it, you'd never have a bicep/tricep day.

i will be adding leg workouts. i think thats what ive been missing... never have a bicep tricep day? what u mean?

is my diet ok?
 
I mean a bicep/tricep day supports 1 goal - building biceps and triceps. It doesn't give your body a significant workout, which is what you need to meet your goal. You need to engage large muscle groups and sweat. That won't happen on a bicep/tricep day.
 
I mean a bicep/tricep day supports 1 goal - building biceps and triceps. It doesn't give your body a significant workout, which is what you need to meet your goal. You need to engage large muscle groups and sweat. That won't happen on a bicep/tricep day.

that is tru. sometimes i include abs and recently i have been doing 20-30 minute cardio before. should i slipt bi's and tri's? put tris with chest and bi's with shoulder and back?
 
ok then my goal will be extended to september. more cardio? damn how much cardio can i do...

Aside from vanity, the six pack thing is more about your total body fat as a percentage of your body mass and where that fat gets deposited than anything else. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have stronger abs. Plenty of NFL linemen have fantastically strong abs, but six packs are pretty rare on people like Jonathan Ogden. At the other extreme, I know plenty of Pilates and Yoga gurus who don't have six packs either, and they generally have the strongest cores of anyone on the planet.

With the former in mind, I was thinking you probably ought to try (uninterrupted) 40 minute cardio workouts (but no swimming, mammals have this physiological response to being in cold water that does fun things to your metabolic regulation), and give yourself at least two complete rest days a week. You are going to lose weight from this, as well as some muscle mass.

Some other suggestions to prevent injuries and plateaus:
Vary what you do from day to day so you never repeat a cardio workout in a week (within two weeks would be even better) to prevent injuries and to keep challenging your body.

If you can, exercise outdoors as much as you can, off concrete if you're on foot. Don't be ashamed to take fast walks, instead of running. (Fast being 5-6 mph, at least 4.5 mph). It's a nice change of pace from running and doesn't send shock waves up your legs through your spine.

Do intervals. Hit it hard and fast for a minute, take it easy, and just as your heart rate is starting to slow, hit it hard again. Repeat, puke, and rinse. :)
 
is my diet ok?

It's a good start, but try the suggestions here for some tweaks:
5 Food Fixes for Flat Abs

While that article mentions women more then men, but don't be put off by it- the suggestions are still relevant for men. There are a ton of good to great ab articles linked off that story, without the nonsense you see repeated over and over and over again in Rodale Press or Weider Publications.
 
my suggestions:

#1 Eat green vegetables. Broccoli and Spinach should be staples of a weight loss diet

#2 Use plain unsweetened yogurt and add your own strawberries instead of pre-made strawberry yogurt(you might be doing this i couldnt tell from your original post).

#3 Drop the wheat bread, 95% of the breads out there are highly refined and contain high fructose corn syrup and other 'bad' ingredients

#4 Same goes for the cereal, check the ingredient list, usually the fewer ingredients the better.

Some foods I would consider adding to the diet are: cottage cheese, eggs/egg whites, natural peanut butter, oats
 
The advice above regarding the shift in weight program to more core style lifts is spot on. If squats, lunges, deadlifts, and presses aren't the basis of your workouts, you won't get the positive effects of working those big muscles in compound excercises. Did you notice the emphasis on the posterior chain and legs there? Forget bis and tris...you will work those plenty with chins, dips, presses, etc.

At 5' 8" and 150lbs, you are not heavy at all, but the weight is not really coming from enough lean mass...BF is too high, as you've admitted, and the abs will never show up until it get's waaayyy down below your current level. So, in looking at your diet description, I'd say you are not getting nearly enough protein to support the kind of weight program being suggested, and you are too heavy in the sugars/simple carbs. Fruit is okay in moderation, but it's pretty simple sugar in reality. Flavored yogurts can be the same way. Peanuts are simply high in fat, and therefore calories.
Up the protein, concentrating on whole food sources, while supplementing with whey around your workouts, and the cottage cheese type source around your evening/last meal.
Definately remove all the "bad" fats that you can (that includes switching from 2% milk to skim) and add "good" fats. Get those EFA's in your system through fish oil and flax oil. Get the liquid forms of both.

Back on the original comment about abs... I have a 19 year old boy, who is a world class middle distance runner. Runs for a major university that is a powerhouse track program. Trains hard every day with some amazing strength coaches. BF is about 5% at most. Played football in high school and very strong. HE HAS NO ABS SHOWING TO SPEAK OF. Just genetic I guess for him. They are there, and they are strong, and his skin seems paper thin over obviously tight muscle, but they don't ripple. Just keep that in mind and don't get discouraged if you don't get abs like Chillen. He is a freak. (no offense chillen, but you know you are):D

I also agree that the cardio side is inadequate for your goal. Any "fat burner" level I've ever seen on any machine is simply a joke in terms of intensity. I'm not a big fan of marathon cardio sessions, and I've had tremendous success with 30 minute sessions that include about 20 minutes of intense HIIT series. Just take to heart the reccomendations about rest...don't mess with cardio on lifting days, unless its 10 minutes or so of pure warmup. You need recovery time from all the different workout sessions. Nothing wrong with upper/lower splits either. When you start doing legs, you might find that at the beginning you will be too sore to do cardio the day after, so you might schedule your HIIT cardio days before the leg split. I say this from experience!

Good luck. Spend some time reading different posts here and you'll learn a lot.
 
my diet consumes of:
9:00 am: cereal with 2% milk in morning
10:00 am: banana or some fruit
10:45 am: strawberry yogurt
12:00 pm: lunch - 1/2 fish sandwich from carls or 1/2 homemade chicken sandwhich with lettus and wheat bread.
12:30 pm: some more fruit - banana or apple
1:30 pm: yogurt
2:30 pm: second half of sandwhich or whatever meal i had for lunch
3:30 pm: some more fruit
4:30 pm: bag of almonds or peanuts
5:30 pm: GYM
7:30 pm: small dinner with some meat beef chicken or fish
9:00 - 9:45 pm: another small meal of dinner
11:00 - 11:30 sleep

On the food:

For the cereal, choose a whole grain cereal with no or minimal added sugar, like plain oatmeal, or plain oatmeal where you add your own fruit or nuts or spices. If you prefer cold cereal, consider shredded wheat (not frosted or flavored) or Cheerios or store brand clones (the original low sugar kind, not the newer varieties that have a lot of sugar). Try 1% or skim milk instead of 2% milk.

For the yogurt, choose plain yogurt and add fruit if you wish. Pre-flavored yogurts tend to be high in added sugar.

For the home made sandwiches, make sure that the bread is whole wheat bread (where whole wheat is the first ingredient). Many "wheat" breads are made with refined flour ("enriched" and/or "unbleached" are common descriptors, as is just "wheat flour"), which is less nutritious than whole wheat because the bran and germ are removed. Try putting more vegetables (tomatoes, red onions, chiles or pepperocini) in your sandwich to make them more interesting; spicy mustard is a good, low calorie condiment to put on a sandwich.

Try to avoid eating at fast food restaurants. If you must, avoid burgers and anything that is breaded and fried (which usually includes most or all fish and chicken sandwiches). However, many of them do have a grilled chicken sandwich that is not as bad as the rest of the stuff there (avoid mayonnaise or other high calorie sauces). Carl's Jr.'s nutrition guide is here: ; it appears that the best sandwich there is the Charbroiled BBQ Chicken Sandwich.

Nuts are generally good for you, but are very calorie dense. If you are trying to lose fat to show six-pack abs, be careful with them.

Eat more vegetables.

For meat choices, be sure to choose the leanest of land animal meats (particularly when it comes to red meats, whose fat tends to be the worst kind). Fish fat is generally good for you, but, like nuts, you may need to watch the calorie intake if you are trying to lose fat. Of course, meats (and vegetables) should not be breaded and fried.
 
WORKOUT Routine:
Cardio
treadmill: 15 min run
1 min walk - 3.0
3 min run - 5.8
1 min walk - 3.5
3 min run - 6.3
1 min walk - 3.5
3 min run - 6.8
1 min walk - 3.5
2 min sprint - 7.5

Stairmaster
10 mins - Fat Burner - Level 8

That does not seem like very much cardio, given the speeds listed for the run sections. Or are you a beginner for whom those speeds feel like you are going all out 90+% effort? If the run speeds feel like you can keep running for long periods of time (aerobic zone), then you might as well run continuously at that pace for longer, or increase the speeds of the intervals for HIIT (which, for a non-beginner, would alternate 90+% effort sprints with 70-80% effort runs).

Beyond formal exercise sessions, try to incorporate exercise into your daily life. See if you can add walking, running, or bicycling into your commute to work, school, or gym. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. When going to the store, don't waste time looking for the closest parking space to the store; park in the empty area and walk in.
 
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