Feels like im getting nowhere!

[infanti]

so ive had a gym membership for about 3 1/2 years. Since September last year ive started to really try, where as beofre that i only did whatever i had to do to basically stay the same, whilst eating and drinking whatever i want.
I'll break it down for you to keep it easy to understand.

Aug 2007 - got a gym membership

Aug 2007 to Jan 2009 - went 3 days per week and did a full body workout in a 1hr to 1 1/2hr session, did have the occasional week off when i was on holidays or couldnt be bothered. Never once considered the maccas i was having was bad, i just ate what i wanted.

Jan 2009 to Oct 2009 - dropped back to maybe 2 days per week and occasionally had a week off, somtimes longer.

Oct 2009 to Apr 2010 - lost my licence and went once in 6 months. Was riding 60-80km per week though.

Apr 2010 to July 2010 - went back to the standard 3 days per week doing full body workouts, started to watch what i ate.

July 2010 - Sept 2010 - got sick of getting nowhere and decided to crank it up. Started going 6 days per week doing something like this:::

Mon- Chest and Tri's Tues - Back and Bi's Wednesday - Abs and Cardio
Thurs- Chest and Shoulder's Fri- Tri's and Legs Sat- Back and Bi's
Sun- Rest!

Sept 2010 - NOW (Feb 2011) Taking protein shakes pre and post workout, and adding creatine on days where ive had plenty of water, still doing similar 6 day/week workouts.

Basically as long as i didnt work out a muscle the day before, i decide what im going to do as im on the way to the gym, depending on how i feel.

As you can see in the pictures im not really cut or that musclely and still have a bit of belly fat.

Long story short im sick of feeling like im running on the spot, and want to at least workout right and eat right. BTW, my intensity when i am working out is pretty good.

Feel free to glance over the pictures and feel sorry for me, or by all means comment away and feel free to say whatever you want, i'll take any advice atm.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[infanti]

1st is Jan 09.......2,3,4 are Oct 2010........last 4 are Feb 2011 (NOW)

 

[Jeffmendesoars]

you seem to be on a good track; keep with it; pictures show improvement.

 

[infanti]

you seem to be on a good track; keep with it; pictures show improvement.

Hmmm, well firstly thanks. Yeah ive notived some improvement too but thought it would be more by now. I guess i'll just stick at it and keep the foods right. Might give Paleo a crack for a few weeks and see if i feel/ look better.

Can anyone offer a quick guide for splitting up my week for workouts??????????? I dont really do legs much coz i run and ride but i want a good solid guide for what to do during the week, eg. Monday - back and bi's...Tuesday - Chest and Tri's, ect. I just want to get back to basics, keep it simple and then just up the intensity of my workouts.

 

[Turtledrummer23]

Usually when you do a work out that is more specific to an area or set of muscle groups (so anything that's not a full body work out) you want to push in one direction and then the same day pull in the other. So more going with the concept of monday - chest/back (because the chest pushes the opposite direction that the back pulls) then tuesday - shoulders/biceps/triceps (because again the biceps and triceps are opposite motion).Wednesday could be a legs day if you want to. and then thursday- chest and back again and friday- shoulders/bis/tris. Take the weekend off of lifting and just run and ride.

The concept behind pushing and pulling is hypothetically if you push one way then when you're pulling with muscles that work in the opposite direction as you go through the work out you don't wear down a smaller muscle group that aids the larger or vice versa and not get full potential of work on specific muscle groups. For example, if you do chest and tris, the tris help push out when you are doing bench but then later when doing triceps your tris have already been slightly worked and you can't give 100% on that muscle.

The other main concept in the above routine is rest. Rest is critical when you are building muscle because you are tearing it apart so it can be rebuilt stronger, but you do need to allow time for the rebuilding to happen. With the schedule I posted you get 2 days rest on MAJOR muscle groups, before working them again which is nice. Plus you get to take the weekends off and just run and bike which tends to be more relaxing workouts anyway.

In the end for the most part any sort of work out will get you results as you obviously know from the results you are seeing and overall this is just my opinion that I've pieced together from some online articles and a few college classes. Let me know what you decide and how you like the routine.

Good luck.

 

[Turtledrummer23]

Oh and I guess I didn't really address the abs issue and if you wanna know where I'm on that just let me know but I really don't feel like posting it unless you feel my previous advice is sound haha.