Pep's journey into feeling/looking healthy

M

mcpep

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Hello there thank you for reading this journal, apologies for the length of this initial post, trying to get all my info out there :)

I stumbled across this site whilst looking for weight loss advice etc.. I've read hundreds of post on here and picked up a ridiculous amount of good advice, with a massive amount of it coming from Steve :D I think I've got most of the basics nailed, but thought I'd start my own journal to share my thoughts about my journey and pick up some more shit hot advice, sweeeeeeeet :)

My story. I'm male, 31 years old, from Manchester in the UK, smoked and partied my way through my 20's, have now given up smoking after 16 years, although I still like to party every now and then as its good for the soul ;) Rarely though nowadays.
Stopping smoking gave me the impetus to try and get physically fit for the 1st time in my life! I've never been very overweight or super-unhealthy, but always had a small potruding beer belly and quite never fancied running a marathon.

I'm 5"10 (I think), currently 175 lb, down from a heaviest of about 185. I've lost 3lb of that in the last month or so. I'm aiming for something like 155-160, I think although I'm not sure. Basically I'd just like to be healthy and lean, feeling and looking. Not particularly bulky, although once I reach my target weight I may want to bulk up slightly.. Priorities though are riddance of belly, for good :D
I'm pretty sure I'm motivated enough to do it, I've been going to the gym 3-5 times/week most weeks since March, and I realise this is a long term, never ending journey!

So..

Diet
My diet is very good! I love to cook and don't really eat any processed food at all, I typically spend 2/3 hours in the kitchen daily preparing tasty fresh food. My typical days intake would be:
Breakfast
2 Shredded Wheat with Skim milk
Morning snacks
apple, banana, ryvita with extra light garlic&herb spread and cherry tomatoes
Lunch
Probably leftovers from previous nights healthy main meal. Sometimes home made spicy chicken pasta pot (brown pasta). + Strawberries+blueberries for dessert
Afternoon snacks
Fruit- cherries/grapes.
Pre-workout
Banana and/or apple
Post-workout
Whey shake if resistance or HIIT
Main evening meal
Varies, but usually one of (all home made): Spicy chicken/prawn curry, Spicy chicken+salad+yoghurt in pitta
Diced apple in yoghurt for dessert (so filling!)
Evening
If I get peckish usually a pitta with some low fat hummus.

Drinks-wise I only ever drink water, apart from alcohol socially maybe once weekly, and I drink a hell of a lot of water, sometimes I think too much!! Love the stuff.

I think I may have to adjust my diet, at the moment I'm definitely consuming lots less calories than I ever have before. My desk job gets boring, and I eat to relieve it, this used to be with crisps & chocolate but is now with fruit. I have calorie counted for a few days here and there to get an idea of what I'm consuming, but if I'm honest I think I'll have to do this in a more serious manner soon so I can get right to my goal weight. My problem being I like to eat nice stuff

Exercise
The main reason I'm starting this journal is for exercise advice, although diet advice is definitely also welcome :)
I still consider myself new to the gym (only started seriously in the last 8 months or so) so any help is very gratefully received :)
My program definitely needs more structure, but at the moment I'm just trying to attain a level of base fitness, so that I can go on to refine my workouts for maximum progress towards my goals!! Years of smoking and little/no exercise didn't give me the best starting point.
Currently I do the following:
Cardio
At the moment I play badminton once a week, and do 2/3 days cardio in the gym , mostly SS, usually treadmill. I can now do 5km at 7.5mph (which takes 27min) :D Quite pleased with this as 5 minutes on the treadmill used to kill me when I started. I also use the cross trainer, not to keen on the rower or bike at the mo although hope to change that.
I have also tried some HIIT. I've tried it on the treadmill, not easy but I still like it despite it having a bad rep in some circles. I would typically do warmup, then 30s @ 11mph, 90s at 4mph, repeat 6 times then warmdown.. It hurt :D However it sometimes gave me tight hamstrings/other muscles in my legs, so I decided to leave it until my general condition is better..
Moved onto HIIT on the cross trainer, again warmup, then 30s at full resistance going hell for leather, then 90s at just over 1/4 resistance, repeat 8ish times then warmdown.. This was much more doable. Not done it for a while but will try and get back into it I think. Would Steve or anyone else recommend more HIIT or perhaps more LISS until base fitness has improved?
Resistance Training
I'm still finding my feet and at the moment using machines, but will definitely change to free weights soon. I'm trying to install a program where I do 4 sets of 6ish reps, at a weight where I can manage 6, but 10 would not be possible... I'm concentrating on low rows, chest press, pull downs and shoulder press, as these seem more like compound exercises, rather than bicep curls etc.. Again I must stress I am very much a novice in resistance training. I definitely intend to get into the free weights, I think soon I will lend some dumb-bells off a friend to practice form, then once I feel more comfortable do the same in the gym consulting an instructor.
One thing is I've read Steve amongst others sing the praises of Dead lifts and squats with bar bells etc.. Not sure this is really possible in my gym, the only barbell is within a frame, so it can only slide vertically up & down and not go below a certain point. Good for safety, not sure if its good for standing exercises etc.. Never see anyone do them, only bench presses. So I need to figure out what to do there.
Anyway any advice on how to formulate my program so I can get going on something regular and useful will be very gratefully received indeed.


Right this post has gone on for long enough, if you have any advice on my diet / program please fire away, or just want to say Hiya then please do :D I will sort out a pic for a bit of before/afters at some point too!

WOO quite excited about becoming part of this excellent community! Thanks!
Pep x
 
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well done getting started with your diary :)

you can do deadlifts and squats on the smith machine (the machine you described) but it is not ideal.
 
Cheers and cheers for posting :D

Aha yes I can see why the Smith machine isn't ideal and like I say no one at that gym appears to do anything using it, without the bench..
Its a small gym but until I move house I'm stuck there... So I might be limited in some of the basic lifts I can do? (ie standing barbell exercises)

Can you recommend any other good compound exercises? I suppose squats are possible with barbells? Is there a deadlift equivalent?

At the moment I'm just trying to maintain lean bodymass whilst I go on a calorie deficit. And would like to start thinking about which free weights exercises to learn! So thanks again to anyone who helps :)
 
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the reason you don't see anybody using the smith machine for squats and deadlifts probably has more to do with people not wanting to do deadlifts and squats than it has to do with the machine.

The smith machine at the gym I go to is almost always in use for squats so I usually have the power cage to myself :D

Smith Deadlift
deadlift using a smith machine

Smith Squat
squat using a smith machine

Exercise & Muscle Directory is a great site for seeing how to do most of the common exercises and includes small videos showing correct form with different pieces of equipment so you can choose a suitable exercise for the equipment you have access to.
 
Aha! Looks like I'll have to break the mold and get in there then eh :D

Thanks for the resources, highly appreciated!
 
Welcome to the forum pep!

From what you have written, it sounds like you a great concept of what it takes to hit your goal! I am with you though, and it seems difficult to find areas to wedge in vegetables into my diet. However, some easy steamed veggies make a great side to dinner, or some raw veggies to snack on between main meals. However, I'm confident you have a good grasp on what you want to do, so I'll here here cheering you on!
 
Cheers Andy :D I spotted that your journal started at the same time as mine so have been having a look and popped a post on there, best of luck with your journey!!! And yes, I LOVE steamed veg, if I have a meat/veg/potato type meal its usually with brocolli/carrots steamed for 5 mins, absolutely delicious :D


Back to the Smith machine dilema, now I know the name I've been reading up on it a bit, including this useful thread http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-through-exercise/23007-smith-machine-vs-free-weights.html ..
As a result I'm thinking I don't want to get into doing squats and deadlifts on this apparatus really. I want to learn the proper form for these exercises and I think that starting out on a Smith machine might be a bad way to learn. SO I think I'll leave it for the standing exercises, but maybe do some chest presses etc.. on it..
Can anyone recommend decent compound exercises using dumbbells?? I assume there's a variation of squats, wondering about something that works the same area's as the deadlift too...

Ta :D
 
DB straight leg deadlifts (don't bounce and start light)
DB Squats + varients eg. single leg, split squats
Lunges

just a couple of sugestions. There is also plenty of isolation exercises as well
 
Cheers will look those up :D Hard to know where to start having never used free weights at any level before...

Initially I am trying to stick to compound exercises while I lose another 10 - 15 lbs, then after this maybe isolate and work on specific muscles.. I got the impression this is the way to do it from other posts although am open to all suggestions of course :)
 
Trusylver gave you some good advice.

With the diet, obviously calories come first and are very much goal dependent. If you're looking to shed more fat, which seems to be the case, you have to be in a deficit. If you're looking to add appreciable muscle, you're going to need a calorie surplus.

That doesn't mean you have to count calories... though many do. It simply means if things aren't heading in the planned direction over time, you need to adjust accordingly.

Once the amount of food is "right," fitting the right amounts of nutrients goes a long way toward your goals. If you were carrying a lot of fat it wouldn't be such a concern but the fact is you aren't obese so, when dieting looking to optimize your physique, it becomes very important to ensure muscle preservation.

On the nutritional front, one of the primary drivers of muscle preservation is adequate protein consumption. So what I'm saying is, while calories or food quantity are always the foundation, food quality is also extremely important.

On the protein front, 1 gram per pound of goal body weight is a decent metric to use.

From there, eating high nutrient foods like fruits and veggies is a good idea. If you don't like veggies, you can supplement with something like Greens+ or the like but I'd much prefer you learn to eat veggies.

Healthy fats and fibers are also important.

At 5'10, your goal weight seems low to me but it's all personal preference. You seem to have the right mindset on ya. Don't let the scale be the determining factor of what you're doing in terms of diet and training. Rather, use the reflection in the mirror and how you feel. I've seen guys chase having abs all the way down into ridiculously low weights. And when/if they finally expose them, the rest of them looks frail and unhealthy... and that's just silly.

On the training front, your cardio plan sounds fine. There's a great middle ground between LISS and HIIT and that's with tempo training. It's very well written by a buddy of mine, Matt Perryman.

The nut of it is, you don't actually *need* any cardio for fat loss. I certainly suggest it, but I think people really overanalyze things to death. Some LISS, some HIIT, and some interval or tempo training during the week is probably a good idea. There are times when one is better than the other, and vice versa. And do what you're comfortable with... there's really no reason to push things to a point where you're injuring yourself or your heart is about to explode.

On the lifting front, there's a lot you can do with dumbbells. Pretty much everything you can do with a barbell can be done with a DB.

For legs some good exercises include:

Squats (body weight squats, db squats, goblet squats, etc)
DB Deadlifts (conventional deads, stiff leg deads, single leg deads)
Glute Ham Raises
SHELCs
Glute Bridges
Lunges (forward, side, reverse)
Split Squats (traditional or bulgarian)

I could go on and on.

I'd simply put something simple together on paper and focus on learning a few compound, basic movements with light weight. Once you're 110% comfortable with form and execution, start focusing on getting stronger with the lifts.

Something like a fullbody routine 2-3 times per week is probably a good idea. How you structure is really up to you... the possibilities are endless. For instance, you could do the same routine 3 times per week, but vary the load/intensity each time (so you could have a medium, light, and heavy day for instance), you could make a unique routine for each day you train, you could vary your reps on each individual day.

If you're training each part and/or movement 2-3 times a week with the basic movements, focusing on something between 5 and 10 reps for 3-5 sets per exercise, and striving to improve your weights over time, then it's pretty hard to go wrong with anything that falls into that realm.
 
I'll also add, if you'd like me to lay something out on paper for you, I certainly will. If that's the case though, don't take it as set in stone though. I'd be doing it only so you can put everything you've read in the stickies and everything I mentioned above into something concrete... helping you tie it all together.

Plus, what's right for you today won't be what's right for you "tomorrow."
 
Hey Steve thanks for the in depth response, it is massively appreciated and will be taken on board :D Cheers to Trusylver too, and anyone else who helps out. All this advice off people who are massively in the know is very helpful.

Yes I'm definitely looking to cut at the moment so may have to work on the deficit.. As I said in my initial post I'm consuming less calories then I ever have, so maybe a bit further tweaking will do. However I've lost maybe 6 lbs in 4 months so that seems a nice steady rate..
I think I do need more protein, I've been trying to eat smoked salmon as a snack on Ryvita this last week, and I do eat a lot of chicken breast (lunch&dinner). I'll get on FitDay and work out my exact grams and adjust as necessary. I'm quite sure the quality of the food is good, all fresh ingredients/nothing from a package/box, tons of fruit/veg, although I will try to eat more veg snacks instead of just included in main meal..
The only thing missing being nuts which I've cut out for calorific reasons, to be added back into the diet when I'm not trying to achieve a deficit.
At the moment I'm only consuming a Whey drink if I do resistance/HIIT training, that sound about right for someone who's cutting??

Hmm yes my weight goal maybe a bit low. I think I'm just after ridding the belly (not necessarily abs bursting out, just slight flab bulge-gone).. So once I've achieved that then at that point I may wish to add some more lean body mass! Had this small belly since I was 21 or something tho, can't wait to get rid :D

Will definitely look into tempo training thanks for the link! I am interested in HIIT although realise its not the only thing that works. I figure in a month or 2 when my base fitness is up there I'll get into it more then.. I will definitely always include some cardio in my program tho, from an unfit person to being able to run 5km feels good :D And I like the afterbuzz of happiness/incread energy you get from cardio!

Again will definitely research/read up on the exercises you've mentioned there.. I feel after 3 months working with the machines I'm ready to plunge into free weights, despite that section of the gym being slightly intimidating to an absolute novice such as myself.
I think I like the sound of a full body workout 2/3 times a week, this is roughly what I've been doing but using machines.. So, as per your offer, if you could put something of a starters program down on paper for me I would be massively grateful!! From this I'll hopefully be able to figure out what feels good for me a bit more and then expand on this eventually. But yes to have something to start with would be very useful as my knowledge of specific freeweight routines is very poor.. Not for long though :D

Wow to think, after a couple of months of lurking and reading literally hundreds of posts/stickies on this forum and body-improvements forum (I don't do much work at work haha), its quite exciting to be now getting help from the author of so many of them :D
I realise what you say isn't set in stone dude and I'm looking forward to being in a position to modify my program dependant on what I feel I need to do.. However yes your help in getting me started on my training program (which I intend to keep up permanently) is pretty facking sweet, and massively appreciated. So once again, cheers, and have a top weekend :D
 
mcpep said:
I'm quite sure the quality of the food is good, all fresh ingredients/nothing from a package/box, tons of fruit/veg,.....
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By quality, I don't only mean naturalness and healthiness of the food choices. I also mean, for example, what proportion of your calories are coming from protein.

The only thing missing being nuts which I've cut out for calorific reasons, to be added back into the diet when I'm not trying to achieve a deficit.
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Nuts do pack a caloric punch. I eat them when cutting, but I love nuts. As long as you make them fit into your "model" of calories and nutrients, they're doable.

But if they don't, you still need some healthy fats. At the very least you should be popping some fish oil.

At the moment I'm only consuming a Whey drink if I do resistance/HIIT training, that sound about right for someone who's cutting??
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That's not a question I can answer. Protein powder use is not based on whether you're cutting or not. What you need to be concerned with is absolute amount of protein you're consuming per day. If you're not intake adequate amounts, you might consider supplementing with more powder.

Will definitely look into tempo training thanks for the link! I am interested in HIIT although realise its not the only thing that works. I figure in a month or 2 when my base fitness is up there I'll get into it more then.. I will definitely always include some cardio in my program tho, from an unfit person to being able to run 5km feels good :D And I like the afterbuzz of happiness/incread energy you get from cardio!
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Makes sense.

Again will definitely research/read up on the exercises you've mentioned there.. I feel after 3 months working with the machines I'm ready to plunge into free weights, despite that section of the gym being slightly intimidating to an absolute novice such as myself..
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The majority of people have no clue what they're doing. They may think they do, but they don't. Plus, even if they do, they're busy training so they're not going to waste time worrying about what you're doing.

I wouldn't sweat it.

I think I like the sound of a full body workout 2/3 times a week, this is roughly what I've been doing but using machines.. So, as per your offer, if you could put something of a starters program down on paper for me I would be massively grateful!! From this I'll hopefully be able to figure out what feels good for me a bit more and then expand on this eventually. But yes to have something to start with would be very useful as my knowledge of specific freeweight routines is very poor.. Not for long though :D
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Day 1 - Heavy - 3-4 sets of 5-6 reps (heavy)

Goblet Squat - Video & Video & Mandatory Reading

DB Bench Press - Combine these two videos to best understand 1 & 2

DB Row - Vid 1 and you could do them like this

(Assistance)

Day 2 - Light - 5-6 sets of 3-5 (light/fast)

Split Squat - Vid

Overhead Press - Vid

Pullup (or pulldown) - Pullup & Pulldown

(Assistance)

Day 5 - Medium - 3-5 sets of 10-12

Goblet Squat (or Leg Press)

Incline DB Bench - Vid

DB Row (or Seated Cable Row) - Seated Cable Row

(Assistance)

(Assistance) means smaller isolation exercises. Most people are going to go straight for biceps and shoulders here, but I'd also make the suggestion to not ignore corrective work for the upper back/scapula and hips. You could also throw core specific work in here as well.

If you're doing the vanity stuff for arms/shoulders/calves or what have you, 1-3 sets of 8-15 would be plenty.

And before diving in, note that you need to be 110% comfortable with the movements. Spend time learning the movements with very light weight or no weight at all, not worrying about sets and reps, until you are proficient. Then start something structured like this. And remember, this is not written in stone.

Wow to think, after a couple of months of lurking and reading literally hundreds of posts/stickies on this forum and body-improvements forum (I don't do much work at work haha), its quite exciting to be now getting help from the author of so many of them :D
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Ask and you shall receive. :)

This is why I'm here.
 
Hi there,

Apologies its been so long since I've updated, I've been away for my summer vacation amongst other things!

I've now been doin the program as laid out by Steve for 3 weeks or so. I'm getting there with the exercises and feel that my form is getting better, bit shaky at 1st but now getting the hang of it!

Few questions:
Why is there a need to have a heavy, light and medium day?? Anything other than the heavy day feels like cheating to be honest :-D Although I'm still not up to my max at all, still figuring form, it still feels much better if I'm pushing myself to my limits...

Can anyone provide pointers to a few good isolation exercises I could be doing with DB (for the Assistance)?? I'd like to work my core some, and other areas that will improve overall fitness/stability/flexibility. Not too bothered about working on my arms etc.. just yet.

That aside thanks for reading :)
 
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