No food while training...

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Shnarea187

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Hey guys, I'm not only new here but also in the Bodybuilding sport,

I've been training for 5 weeks with a mate who is more advance than me but is showing me the ropes at the same time,

thing is i haven't been eating at all, we train 5 days a week sometimes 7 (if wed like to work on a certain body part extra) with 1 meal a day, due to work and all

i've seen great results i've lost a fair bit of weight 6 kilos to be precise and my body is starting to look good, im 178cm, my weight was 95.6 now its 89.5, and im starting to look a tad lean,

My question is, Is the way im training bad? all i do is lift and never cardio, though im losing weight quick and shoulders, arms, chest are getting bigger, is it okay to continue like this or should i start getting some food in me lol.

I am completely new at all this and would really appreciate the information :)
 
Cardio strengthens heart and lungs. Whenever doctors check you out they examine these not your biceps so I would say everyone should do cardio. It doesn't have to be a marathon a week, just a few sessions of working at an intensity that keeps the heart pumping well for 20 minutes or so, this can be walking to the gym or back if you want.
There are circuits you can do that turn weights into cardio, by eliminating rests, dropping intenstity and working the whole body using the BALS (Back, Arms, Legs, Stomach) rota. An example would be
Back - Deadlift
Arms - Press ups
Legs - Squats
Stomach - Elbows to knees
Minute of each until you have done 5 times through, warm up and mobilise before, cool down and stretch after, voila cardio. If you actively enjoy walking, running, cycling etc. these are a good addition too.

Training everyday is known as over-training. If you want to build muscle the system is hit it hard, hit it fast, leave it alone. Recovery and growth happen at rest without it you lose some benefit, even marathon runners have rest days.
If you are doing it for the love of it more than anything else, go ahead but be aware that you are over-training and will gain less than others more traditional.

You need fuel for your training, and much as the evidence regarding weight loss benefits of eating little and often rather than less frequently within each day are inconclusive, the availablity of energy for training is far better if eating more often. This doesn't have to mean eating more if you are wanting to drop weight, you could simple spread your food out over the day. I say I am on one meal a day, with breaks for training and sleep, basically I am always eating.

You are new to this and will make mistakes, these become less frequent with experience, they don't disappear. Learn from these and even better learn from others who have already made them.
 
Before adopting any form of exercise, it is important to be aware of your body capacity. Whether it is cardio or weight training, giving rest to your muscles is extremely important.
 
Cardio strengthens the heart muscle! So twice a week minimum would be good!
U must eat 3 to 6 times a day but of course the proper way!
A healthy diet is very simple ! Respect the servings and you will lose weight easily!
During the day don't go over:
6 servings of carbs ( 2 slices whole weat bread for the breakfast, 2 granola cereal bars as snack, 2 1/3 cup of brown rice or pasta for lunch)
2 servings proteins ( 1 egg, turkey slice, cheese slice or salmon slice for breakfast, 1 slice chicken or fish or tuna on the size of the palm of your hand)
2-3 servings of diary food ( 1 small cup of milk + 1 yogurt)
1 bowl of cooked vegetables dring lunch
2 table spoons of nuts as a snack
Always a soup or Salad for dinner
Try to always eat early and on time
 
The "gains" you're speaking of are knows as "Newbie gains". This is simply your body reacting to an extreme that you aren't used to. Lifting 7 days a week is not a good idea. Even pro's don't train that much. After a while, your joints will catch up with you and begin to get sore, and you will stop seeing gains in what you're lifting because you simply aren't giving your body enough time to recover.

As far as your diet is concerned, if you aren't eating enough to keep up with this decadent amount of training you are doing, your body will turn inward for it's nutrients and it can begin to damage your muscle looking for what it needs to sustain itself.

Eat three meals a day, and cut your actual lifting back to no more than 4 days a week. A layout of what you could work and when goes as follows.

Monday - Chest
Tuesday - Back
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Legs
Friday - Arms
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Rest.

This will give you a good amount of recovery time for each body part before you go back and hit it again. A full two days, at least, between Back/Chest and Arms, as your arms are affected by your back and chest workout and vice versa.

Remember, rest, recovery and diet are far more important than what you actually do in the gym.
 
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Eat enough carbohydrate food the day before and find things that are easy to eat or consume and that sit well in your abdomen every morning hours.
 
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Over training is not determined by HOW many times you workout in a week but BY your bodies ability to RECOVER from the stresses imposed. If your program is properly periodized, your nutritional requirements are met, and you get enough rest then you can DEFINITELY train 7 days a week WITHOUT over training. Much science decrees that it is almost impossible for the average person to over train. The issuses they perceive to be over training are in actual fact usually poor exercise programming, lack of appropriate nutrition and not enough rest, which doesn't mean taking 3 days a week off of the gym... get these things in order and you have no fear of over training...

how do I know this... because I do it and have many people doing it as normal practice. It's not for everyone but if your serious and this is your sport or preferred activity then then it can be done successfully. Your body and mental state will tell you when it is time for a day off. Which most people take on occasions when life gets in the way and they have to see to some other task for the day instead of training.

One thing is glaringly obvious tho and that is that your NOT eating enough. If you get the appropriate macros into your program you'll grow like a weed.

Cardio when your trying to bodybuild is counter productive to muscle gain. High repetition workouts are better for your conditioning than any steady state cardio, and will at the same time increase your vascularity, aid in muscle recovery and repair and keep your heart and lungs strong and functioning at optimum levels. I have not done a stitch of cardio in 20 years and have a resting heart rate of 59 bpm and bp of 122/ 82. My wife has not done a stitch of cardio in 2 years and is losing 1lb a week while keeping caloric intake at 1800 cals/day currently (under guidance from a bodybuilding nutritionist) for a competition in the near future, AND keeping her hard gained muscle mass.

Cardio has it's place in the life of endurance athletes and the masses of the sedentary population but not body building.
 
Kiwi

Agree with some and not with other stuff you say here, same old story as normal.
Over training is not decided by frequency of training, totally agree. However If I was to do squats to my max daily I would end up over-training, because I am too stupid to keep in mind that I will have to do it again the next day and will give it hell. This will mean that my body will still be repairing from this by the time I get to the next days training so hitting it again will build scar tissue rather than useful clean muscule tissue. Training at a lower intensity would mean I could do this without any issue, and as goldfish has pointed out this is what the program is looking at doing, however I hate moderate training with a passion so would rather not do stuff like this.

Recovery requires, rest, nutrients and like it or not time. The more damage you have caused the more of each you need. If you are sensible and results focussed you will moderate and be able to recover fast, this is usually the realm of body builders. If you are not as smart, enjoy going too far, have a life where rest is an expensive luxury over training becomes part of normal life and progress is slower. Normal rule of thumb is if you are training a body part that is still aching to the point you feel stiff you are over training, a little left over aching is fine.

Cardio doesn't have to be steady state. It is anything that keeps the heart and lungs challenged for a sustained duration. High rep work over extended period is therefore cardio. You have never taken time off doing cardio, hence your good heart health. The misunderstanding of what is and isn't cardiovascular training is very common. This may be seen as a negative slant on your training, it isn't. It is showing that you are being smart enough to take care of the muscles that matter most, not many die of weak biceps, but weak hearts kill every day.
There is no-one anywhere with any training aims who should actively avoid cardio in any form. Look after the you heart using plodding style or high rep weights, whatever you prefer, but do it.
 
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