Just tryin to get in Shape. Help?

[Phry]

I'm 5'9" 150lbs 24 year old male. I have a little gut that I'm tryin to get rid of. Not only that but I just wanna get in shape, build a little muscle and definition and get a body that doesn't look like one of a 12 year old girl. Not saying I wanna build wicked muscles and be ripped... Yet, but I just wanna get started. I've spent the last 20 years of my life eating whatever the crap I wanted to and as much as I wanted to. And for the past 9 months I've been chuggin tons of freakin beer every weekend...

Well now I wanna try to get in shape and shiz... I figured the first thing I should do is fix my diet. It's kind of hard to follow this diet on the weekends when you're hanging out and going crazy with your friends, but I manage to follow this diet 5-6 days a week. I've been doin this for only 3 weeks though and I really don't feel like giving up any time soon. Here's my diet:

Breakfast. 7:30am.
1 Serving of Oatmeal.
Glass of Skim Milk.

Snack. 10:00am
1 Banana.

Lunch. Noon.
1-2 Servings of Grilled Skinless Chicken Breast.
3-4 Servings of Random Veggies such as Broccoli, Green Beans, Peas, Cauliflower, Carrots, and/or Brussels.

Snack. 3:00pm
1 Hard Boiled Egg.

Dinner. Between 7pm - 8pm.
1-2 Servings of Grilled Skinless Chicken Breast.
3-4 Servings of Random Veggies such as Broccoli, Green Beans, Peas, Cauliflower, Carrots, and/or Brussels.
Roughly a big bowl Salad with some Cherry Tomatoes w/ Soy sauce as dressing.
Glass of Skim Milk.

I also drink about 2 Liters of water a day. Sometimes a little more...

I tried to calculate my BMR and I got roughly 2500. I also tried to calculate my calorie intake and I got roughly 1500. If I did this wrong, feel free to correct me please.

Other than working on just my diet... I've been doing about 50 Pushups in the morning when I wake up for work at roughly 6:40am. 20/15/15. Then also doing 50 Situps. 20/15/15. I know that's not a lot but heck, it's early!

After I get off work at around 5:00 - 5:30pm, I do around 120+ pushups in the following fashion. I do 15, rest 30 seconds, do 14, rest 30 seconds, do 13, rest 30 seconds, etc. Then when I get to 0 I try to max, which doesn't really go so well cuz I'm too freakin tired. Then I also do the same with my Situps after resting for about 10-15 minutes. Then if it's nice out I bike for around 45-60 minutes, depending on where I'm going. I try to bike as much as I can if the weather permits me.

Well, that's pretty much it. Any advice on any ways I could change my diet or my workouts?

 

[Trainer01]

It would be good to get into some cardio work and build up your metabolism, also look into muscular hypertrophy programs, this will help you build some muscle and also help decrease body fat levels. On my blog I have the set and rep range as well as exercises for hypertrophy. I also have the calculations you need to do to work out how many calories you should be getting each day. So feel free to check it out. I hope it helps. Get a program and stick to it and remember to give it time =)

 

[evan]

I figured the first thing I should do is fix my diet.

Then you're already ahead of the curve. A poor diet all too frequently sabatoges many people's attempts to better their physique. One thing I would say is that your diet is lacking some good carbs and good fats. It seems like mainstream diets have everyone scared of eating carbs or fat. However, your muscles will need both of those, in addition to protein, in order to build. Try a serving of brown rice with dinner and some avacado.

I would recommend weight training. If you don't have access to weights or would like to build yourself up with bodyweight exercises first. Continue with pushups but also do pullups and bodyweight squats. Plus, there are a million ab/core exercises you can do.

 

[Phry]

Then you're already ahead of the curve. A poor diet all too frequently sabatoges many people's attempts to better their physique. One thing I would say is that your diet is lacking some good carbs and good fats. It seems like mainstream diets have everyone scared of eating carbs or fat. However, your muscles will need both of those, in addition to protein, in order to build. Try a serving of brown rice with dinner and some avacado.

I would recommend weight training. If you don't have access to weights or would like to build yourself up with bodyweight exercises first. Continue with pushups but also do pullups and bodyweight squats. Plus, there are a million ab/core exercises you can do.

I'm not a big fan of Avocado, anything else I can eat instead of that? Should I just eat what I'm eating now and add that to it? Seems like I'm eating a lot less calories than what I need.

What are bodyweight squats? I just don't know what exercises to do exactly since there are so many of them out there, haha.

 

[evan]

Avocado is my go to thing for good fats. I haven't looked into alternatives. Hopefully someone else on the forum will chime in with a decent alternative.

I agree that you're probably eating less calories than you need. You should calculate your BMI and add/subtract as necessary. I think your diet is pretty good, I'd just add onto that.

Bodyweight squats are just like regular squats, just without any weights.

 

[Phry]

Avocado is my go to thing for good fats. I haven't looked into alternatives. Hopefully someone else on the forum will chime in with a decent alternative.

I agree that you're probably eating less calories than you need. You should calculate your BMI and add/subtract as necessary. I think your diet is pretty good, I'd just add onto that.

Bodyweight squats are just like regular squats, just without any weights.

Alright sweet, how do you think everything else in my routine looks? Pretty decent? I guess I could add to it?

 

[evan]

Alright sweet, how do you think everything else in my routine looks? Pretty decent? I guess I could add to it?

I'd add to it. There are a few pushup variations (i.e. - with your feet up on a chair), several pullup variations, and as I said earlier, a million different ab/core exercises (planks, bicycle crunches, leg lifts). Add to that those bodyweight squats and some back extensions and you'll have a solid routine. If you hit each exercise hard, you'll probably want to limit yourself to every other day, or 3 days a week, to allow pleanty of rest. It's during rest that your body recovers and builds muscle, which makes rest periods extremely important.

Oh, and a good source of good fats - olive oil. I don't know how I forgot that one.

 

[Phry]

I'd add to it. There are a few pushup variations (i.e. - with your feet up on a chair), several pullup variations, and as I said earlier, a million different ab/core exercises (planks, bicycle crunches, leg lifts). Add to that those bodyweight squats and some back extensions and you'll have a solid routine. If you hit each exercise hard, you'll probably want to limit yourself to every other day, or 3 days a week, to allow pleanty of rest. It's during rest that your body recovers and builds muscle, which makes rest periods extremely important.

Oh, and a good source of good fats - olive oil. I don't know how I forgot that one.

Well, I gave avocados another try and they're actually a lot yummier than I remembered them being, haha. I usually don't give resting time for myself except for the weekends, but I go nearly 5 days straight... Is that bad? Haha.

 

[Waitwhat?]

Try to eat a carb and protein and unsat fat at every meal if you can like you're doing on your big meals. For example: banana + handful of almonds. Hard boiled egg + handful of baby carrots. salad + peices of salmon. apple + 2% cottage cheese.

 

[evan]

Well, I gave avocados another try and they're actually a lot yummier than I remembered them being, haha. I usually don't give resting time for myself except for the weekends, but I go nearly 5 days straight... Is that bad? Haha.

5 days in a row is not necessarily bad, but you do want to rest each muscle group before hitting it again. So you can train multiple days in a row, but alternate muscle groups.

If you're going to work your entire body on each training session, then I'd do that Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays only.

However, considering that you're doing body weight exercises and not lifting weights, you might be able to get away with 5 days in a row.

It's kinda funny how your tastes change as you get older.

 

[Phry]

Try to eat a carb and protein and unsat fat at every meal if you can like you're doing on your big meals. For example: banana + handful of almonds. Hard boiled egg + handful of baby carrots. salad + peices of salmon. apple + 2% cottage cheese.

Somewhat allergic to almonds and raw carrots and apples... So that won't work. I love Salmon though, I could totally go for that... I just don't know where to fit it in... Lunch or Dinner?

Yeah, I have some dumb bells but I just don't know what I could really do with them except for the simple stuff I guess. Maybe I should work with those as well huh? Haha.

 

[evan]

All I have are dumbells and a bench. You can do just about anything with them. How much weight do you have?

 

[Phry]

All I have are dumbells and a bench. You can do just about anything with them. How much weight do you have?

I just have two 20lbs dumbbells.

 

[steveyraff]

Phry, I'm so glad to have found your post because i was just about to post something the exact same! I'm pretty much in the exact same position as you. I am 25, about 5'7 and weigh about 130lbs. I'm slim built, not fat but not skinny either. The only problem is that i have no muscle definition at all and i'd just like to see what it feels like to have a little tone. As you say, I am not after huge muscles either, i just want to look good with tone and definition.

My diet is not terrible as i am already a big fan of fish and veg etc and don't eat junk food, but its just something that up until now i haven't put much thought in to. Also, like you - I am still young and i still enjoy my weekends so I have to admit quite a bit of beer drinking can be done over friday and saturday night lol (Its my only vice!).

I have no idea whatsoever as to how to exercise to find what I am after! I presume i need to start with some kind of daily exercise routine and build it up over a duration of time ? ?

I know they are probably not necessary but I was pretty interested in buying a Multigym. Does anyone know if they are any good and if they will cater to all exercise I need ? Again, i know they are not needed but i think haivng some device like this to use will make it a bit more fun or something for me. I was looking at the York Vertical Multigym.

Thanks for your time everyone!
Steve.

 

[Waitwhat?]

Phry, I'm so glad to have found your post because i was just about to post something the exact same! I'm pretty much in the exact same position as you. I am 25, about 5'7 and weigh about 130lbs. I'm slim built, not fat but not skinny either. The only problem is that i have no muscle definition at all and i'd just like to see what it feels like to have a little tone. As you say, I am not after huge muscles either, i just want to look good with tone and definition.

My diet is not terrible as i am already a big fan of fish and veg etc and don't eat junk food, but its just something that up until now i haven't put much thought in to. Also, like you - I am still young and i still enjoy my weekends so I have to admit quite a bit of beer drinking can be done over friday and saturday night lol (Its my only vice!).

I have no idea whatsoever as to how to exercise to find what I am after! I presume i need to start with some kind of daily exercise routine and build it up over a duration of time ? ?

I know they are probably not necessary but I was pretty interested in buying a Multigym. Does anyone know if they are any good and if they will cater to all exercise I need ? Again, i know they are not needed but i think haivng some device like this to use will make it a bit more fun or something for me. I was looking at the York Vertical Multigym.

Thanks for your time everyone!
Steve.

http://training.fitness.com/weight-training/multigyms-39938.html