Background
I used to play football in high school and college; used to be fairly strong. (Squatted over 550, benched just under 350) Took off from working out and started smoking for 4 years and found myself overweight and miserable. Aprox. 6’0 310 and unhappy.
I quit smoking about 3-4 months ago and decided to start lifting again. So this is my second and a half month I’ve been working out with the routine listed below. I’m down to 280-285 or so and looking better. (Can see the difference in my neck and shoulders; lost 3-4 inches on my waist) My muscle mass has gone up; benching 110 Dum bells (4-6 reps). Squatting 315 (2-3 sets of 6) I haven’t been pushing much higher cause of my knees. (Not as young as I once was)
Next month I’m going to be cutting. I would like to keep as much muscle as possible. I have a lot of weight to lose obviously.(Goal is 215-230 by end of December, so 50-60lbs in 3 months) My plan is to run in the mornings 3 days a week with higher reps on exercises; followed by running / biking after the workouts. Also running more on days off.
Workout routine
Warm up consists of 10mins on treadmill / elliptical, followed by 10 minutes of stretching.
5 Days a week – (Sets consist of 10-8-6-4 reps –higher or lower depending on how I feel)
Chest / Triceps (7 sets)
Back / Biceps (7 sets) Traps (3 sets)
Shoulders (7 sets)
Biceps / Triceps (7 sets each)
Legs (7 sets)
I usually mix in a day off before and after the leg days to give my biceps and triceps rest. I also do a P90X AB ripper X exercise 3 times a week. (This thing freaking destroys me)
Example of my Diet (with a multivitamin in the morning)
* I also eat things like peanuts, egg whites, cottage cheese as miscellaneous snacks*
Morning: Raisin brain cereal / skim milk. Or 4 eggs / two pieces of toast/ cottage cheese
Mid morning snack: yogurt or EAS low carb protein shake
Lunch: Sandwich (light mayo, ham on health nut bread) soup / chips
Mid afternoon: Pure protein bar / banana
- Workout -
Protein shake with Glutamine / banana / strawberries / apple juice / graph juice Or just the shake and water
Diner: Lean Chicken Breast with rice and a veggie / pasta Or Fish with rice / pasta and a veggie
I have a couple questions:
What do you guys think? Does anyone see any big holes? Supplements?(I would like to stay as close to natural as possible) I know I haven’t been as strict as I should be with my diet but hey I’m not in a cutting mode.
I will be stricter about what I put in my body come next month. I will be eating high protein low carb foods. (Egg whites, chicken, cottage cheese, flax oil) aiming for 250-300g of protein and under 50 carbs a day; haven’t really thought of counting calories.
I will continue to run before and after workouts during my cutting cycle.
Is there anything that anyone recommends so I don’t lose a crap ton of the muscle I put on? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I used to play football in high school and college; used to be fairly strong. (Squatted over 550, benched just under 350) Took off from working out and started smoking for 4 years and found myself overweight and miserable. Aprox. 6’0 310 and unhappy.
I quit smoking about 3-4 months ago and decided to start lifting again. So this is my second and a half month I’ve been working out with the routine listed below. I’m down to 280-285 or so and looking better. (Can see the difference in my neck and shoulders; lost 3-4 inches on my waist) My muscle mass has gone up; benching 110 Dum bells (4-6 reps). Squatting 315 (2-3 sets of 6) I haven’t been pushing much higher cause of my knees. (Not as young as I once was)
Next month I’m going to be cutting. I would like to keep as much muscle as possible. I have a lot of weight to lose obviously.(Goal is 215-230 by end of December, so 50-60lbs in 3 months) My plan is to run in the mornings 3 days a week with higher reps on exercises; followed by running / biking after the workouts. Also running more on days off.
Workout routine
Warm up consists of 10mins on treadmill / elliptical, followed by 10 minutes of stretching.
5 Days a week – (Sets consist of 10-8-6-4 reps –higher or lower depending on how I feel)
Chest / Triceps (7 sets)
Back / Biceps (7 sets) Traps (3 sets)
Shoulders (7 sets)
Biceps / Triceps (7 sets each)
Legs (7 sets)
I usually mix in a day off before and after the leg days to give my biceps and triceps rest. I also do a P90X AB ripper X exercise 3 times a week. (This thing freaking destroys me)
Example of my Diet (with a multivitamin in the morning)
* I also eat things like peanuts, egg whites, cottage cheese as miscellaneous snacks*
Morning: Raisin brain cereal / skim milk. Or 4 eggs / two pieces of toast/ cottage cheese
Mid morning snack: yogurt or EAS low carb protein shake
Lunch: Sandwich (light mayo, ham on health nut bread) soup / chips
Mid afternoon: Pure protein bar / banana
- Workout -
Protein shake with Glutamine / banana / strawberries / apple juice / graph juice Or just the shake and water
Diner: Lean Chicken Breast with rice and a veggie / pasta Or Fish with rice / pasta and a veggie
I have a couple questions:
What do you guys think? Does anyone see any big holes? Supplements?(I would like to stay as close to natural as possible) I know I haven’t been as strict as I should be with my diet but hey I’m not in a cutting mode.
I will be stricter about what I put in my body come next month. I will be eating high protein low carb foods. (Egg whites, chicken, cottage cheese, flax oil) aiming for 250-300g of protein and under 50 carbs a day; haven’t really thought of counting calories.
I will continue to run before and after workouts during my cutting cycle.
Is there anything that anyone recommends so I don’t lose a crap ton of the muscle I put on? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
