Doing well, looking for further advice - BodybuildingForYou

sandage · #1 (**permalink**) 01-29-2006, 04:23 PM

Hey,
I posted a little and read a lot on these forums around Aug - Sept last year. Learned a lot, got some good advice and it was getting to information overload so I left the forums.
However, I kept the advice. I got some advice to read Body for Life and follow that plan. I followed Body for Life to an extent. I will admit, not as strictly as I would like or should. My college lifestyle interferes!
Now, about 4 months (nearly 5) later, I have lost about 25 lbs. I'm happy with the results. The loss is still continuing so no complains. I am at 164lbs right now, pant size went from 38 to 33.
The loss continues, slowly but steadily. I would love to lose another 20 lbs or so. I am not looking to get built, just get some definition. I still have considerable body fat. My chest especially needs to lose weight. I don't do much chest workout, my muscles used to be the weakest in my body. Better now, I'll spend more time on them.

Now, I had a couple of questions. I know spot reduction doesn't really work but is there any certain workouts that will help my chests? Also, I have some extra skin and was wondering how long it takes for that to take care of itself. And whether I can do anything to speed up the process.
Also, I wanted to lose the next 20 in the next 2 months if possible, in time for summer. So, I will outline my daily routine:

Morning - wake up, work out followed by a protein shake

Around noon - Lunch, a sandwich with some veggies usually. Maybe soup.

Late afternoon, around 4 - A small mean, sometimes yohgurt with cereal or a granola bar.

Dinner - Usually chicken or fish, with vegetables. Occasional rice, less than once a week. Sometimes pasta or a burger (george foreman).

This is rough, since it depends on my classes. Lunch can be anywhere between noon to two, depending on the day. I always cannot work out in the morning after waking up either so I do it after my first class, around 10 or so.
I usually eat pretty bad on the weekends, plus drink. I will try to control this further in the future.
As for my workout, I usually do cardio on tue/thur/sat/sun. I try to do both sat and sun but sometimes it I miss one of the days.
I do weights on Mon/Wed/Fri. Usually Mon and Fri as upper body and Wed is lower body. I know lots of you break it down a lot more but I just followed the Body for Life framework.

Anyways, any questions/comments is welcome. Especially advice and critiques.

Thanks!
sandage

sandage · #2 (**permalink**) 01-31-2006, 04:42 PM

No advice? I know I can't be doing it all right!
-sandage

soccergrub · #3 (**permalink**) 01-31-2006, 06:54 PM

That's a lot of cardio. What kind of cardio are you doing? I'd take Sun off.

As to the excess skin, I think you may need surgery to ger rid of it especially if there is a lot of excess tissue. Not sure about this so maybe someone else will comment.

Compound movements for the chest are your best bet for chest development. Bench and all its variants, DB presses and dips.

From the looks of your diet it doesn't look like you're getting enough protein and overall calories. For a target wt. of 145 you should aim for 150-200g of protein spread over 4-5 meals. You'd have to do the calculations to work out your caloric expenditure. It looks like you're not getting any carbs before your workout and that's a bad idea. Also, what are you doing post workout? Are you taking any other supplements besides the morning protein shake?

wweforme · #4 (**permalink**) 02-01-2006, 05:36 AM

Cut out the drinking and eat clean all the time. Mix up your cardio too. Interval training is great!

sandage · #5 (**permalink**) 02-01-2006, 02:29 PM

Thanks for the insight.

soccergrub - I usually do the bike in the gym. HIIT for 20-25 mins.
My skin isn't excessive to the point I need surgery. Atleast I don't think so. Plus, I'm 20 so I think I'm still young enough, if given the time, for my skin to fix itself. I was just wondering if something is there to help along the process.
I will look into the chest compound movements. Thanks.
Ok, my diet. I am not tracking calories but I should. I'll start doing it now. I do think I am getting enough calories but you might be right about protein. Again, I'll start tracking it. I usually do my workouts with an empty stomach. I was under the impression that it is the best way to lose fat.
Am I wrong? After the workout, I just have the protein shake. And no, I do not take any supplements at all. I'm scared of any adverse health risks though I do understand some are worse than others. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

wweforme - Isn't interval training like HIIT? Or am I wrong? What do you mean by mixing up my cardio? As in run/bike/etc?
I do need to put more effort into my diet. I guess no one can really help me with that. Thanks for your comments anyways!

soccergrub · #6 (**permalink**) 02-02-2006, 11:32 AM

HIIT is the best for body composition changes in my opinion.

As far as supplements go I'd invest in some CEE to aid with your weight training and HIIT workouts. Mono works too but the water bloat might freak you out especially since you're looking to loose wt. I'd also look into getting dextrose to go with your protein post workout. Pre workout I wouldn't advise training on an empty stomach as this leads to sh*tty training instead eat a meal 1.5-2hrs before workout make sure you get a decent amount of complex carbs and protein with this. Train like sh*t look like sh*t.

Compound movements should always make up the bulk of your workout. They're much more demanding but the results are so much more rewarding.

sandage · #7 (**permalink**) 02-02-2006, 09:17 PM

Pardon my ignorance but what do you mean by body composition changes?

I will look into the CEE and dextrose. Do these have special brands or anything I can find online or in stores?
I work out in the morning, after waking up and before going to class. Its the best time for me to do it, for many reasons. Therefore eating 1.5-2 hrs before that isn't possible. Any other suggestions?
Thanks!
-sandage

Edit: Would Phosphagen be a good creatine? Do I take with the protein shake? The protein shake is whey protein with milk. Or how about http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/hp/creatine.html ?

Isn't dextrose essentially just sugar? If I am looking for a sugar high, wouldn't I want it before the workout?

soccergrub · #8 (**permalink**) 02-03-2006, 05:59 AM

Body composition refers to the ratio of lean muscle to fat in your body (BF%). One ot the goals weight training is increase muscle while decreasing or minimizing fat gains and thus decreasing BF%. This is easiest to do when you add lean muscle. HIIT in combination with weight training are excellent choices for this purpose.

Bulk CEE from Bulk Nutrition or ON Creatine are much better choices in my opinion. You can get dextrose from either Bulk Nutrition, Vitaglo (cheap

) or a local brewing store.

I workout in the morning also, 6:00am in fact so I share the same problem. There is no way in hell I'm getting up at 4-4:30 to eat a meal. At that time, I have other business to attend to

What I do is make a shake with approx 40g whey and 60-80g of dextrose and take about a 1/3 of it before I workout and then sip another 1/3 as I workout and wash down the rest immediately at the end of my worlouk. Dextrose is a sugar (glucose) and you're right it's not ideal before your workout but it's much better than nothing. Dextrose, however, provides an excellent source of energy duing and directly after your workout. I mix my creatine with my morning shake.

sandage · #9 (**permalink**) 02-03-2006, 12:31 PM

Thanks for all your help man.
Before my questions, I want to mention something. I am not looking to get 'built', so to speak. I want to lose my fat and get some definition. How strong are these supps? How would they affect me if 6 months later I stop taking them?
As for ON creatine, does it matter if its in powder or capsule form?
http://www.bulknutrition.com/?manufa...a&filter_id=35
That is what I am looking for, correct?
And as for dextrose, this is ok?
http://www.vitaglo.com/6925.html
I should be taking the dextrose before the workout and then mix in the creatine with the protein shake?
Also, creatine is not for losing weight, right? Rather for adding muscle? In which case, I probably should not just be looking at the weighing scale to measure success.

As for the time, exactly! While I do not go till 8, its the best time for me and I cannot go in the middle of the day.

As a side question, is the protein shake fine to take when I only do cardio? Currently, I only take it after weights. On the days I do cardio, I just drink some milk after it.

Anyways, thanks again for your help.
Are you a body builder or is this more of a health maintenance thing?

-sandage

soccergrub · #10 (**permalink**) 02-03-2006, 04:32 PM

Just get the 600g don't bother with capsules as they're more expensive and creatine is tastless anyway. I would recommend 2kg but you need to make sure you respond well to it first (actually does something for you).
Creatine is a supplement that I would recommend taking all the time (no cycling) and there are no studies showing adverse side effects in healthy adults. This supplement has been used extensively since the early 90's and it has a large body of evidence to support it. I started using it in 92 and I'm still kicking

Mix 5-10g with your during/post workout shake and enjoy.

CEE, is a form of creatine that is getting rave reviews from a lot forums and it has the added benefit of not causing the bloating often associated with mono. It does not, however, have the same scientific backing as monohydrate probably because it hasn't been around for nearly as long. I will probably try it when my 2kg tub runs out... it's already been a year.

As for the dextrose you have the right one. As I stated before it's not ideal preworkout but better than nothing. It's, however, ideal for during and post workout.

Creatine will improve your anerobic performance if you respond to it. Something like 30% of people don't respond well to it. It should give you anywhere from a 10-20% boost which will help you get that extra rep, run that extra lap and in turn build muscle. I wouldn't worry so much about the weighing scales I would instead judge sucess based upon my sucess in training. If you respond well to it you'll love it.

Yeah, I would take the protein/dextrose and creatine shake after running too. Afterall that's training too, right

and you'll need the same glucose and protein to replenish diminished stores and build/save muscle after running.

I'm more in it to stave of the effects of time and trying to look good at the same time. I'm also trying to improve my athletic performance but this is pretty much a pipe dream as I don't think my body can handle the strenuous workouts this requires. My current workout is kicking my ass

sandage · #11 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 10:56 AM

Sorry for the late reply, I had a busy week.

So you are saying CEE has no scientific backing besides a bunch of forums? Isn't that a little dangerous at this point? How serious is the bloating with mono?
You also say I should get a smaller quantity to see if I respond to it. How long does it take to see results? What kind of results should I expect?

I will definetly get the dextrose. You say its ideal during and post. What if I drink half right before the workout and the other half while working out? And then post workout, take whey with water and maybe creatine.

BTW, I should be able to pick up dextrose at a GNC or something, right? Doesn't have to be online?

Thanks!
sandage

krenalor · #12 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 11:52 AM

I have taken both CEE and mono, both work. Mono causes me to have about 6 pounds extra water weight and I had to load. CEE adds about 2 pounds water weight and I don't have to load. It's up to you, and neither is that expensive, so decide for yourself try them both in back to back months.
BTW, creatine does allow me about 10% extra and less soreness, it's worth it.

sandage · #13 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 10:11 PM

What do you mean by 'had to load'? I guess I will give CEE a shot.
-clegg

soccergrub · #14 (**permalink**) 02-11-2006, 01:24 AM

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