Thread: new member - helpful suggestions?

Hiya,

First I've got to apologise for registering as both Jolanta & Amanda, I had trouble when I changed my email so now I use Amanda (my name is double barrelled Amanda-Jolanta).

I've been reading through the messages and found some interesting stuff already but I still need some help with my routine. I'm 5"4, 8 stone and I'm finding it difficult to build muscle. I either go from one extreme to the other. I had an eating disorder for five years and over the past year I've kept a steady weight but whenever I've tried to build muscle, I've always ended up losing it instead.

I drink 5litres of water a day which is good but my diet is not that great although I don't eat any sugar and only a small amount of fat. My only carb intake is through wholewheat grains, which I get from two slices of wholewheat bread with no butter. My protein intake is quite good despite being a vegetarian. I have to cheat a little and eat turkey since I don't like eggs and I've eaten fish for so long, it's coming out my ears. A typical day's intake would be two slices of brown toast, 200g of lean white turkey breast, 1/4 melon, 50-100g steamed veg.

I work out 5-6 times a week - my routine is something like:

Mon - 15mins stretching-yoga/30mins boxing/10min cool down

Tues- 45mins running with blasts of high-low intensity/seated chest press/lateral pull down/DB incline/DB chest fly/DB tricep curls/10-15min stretching-cool down.

Wed- warm up/20mins rowing/squats/front lunges etc/20-30mins yoga/cool down

thurs - home: DB bicep & tricep workouts

fri - warm up/15mins skipping/ weights used on tuesday/30mins running

sat - warm up/45mins shadow boxing/15mins swim-moderate

sun - 3-5hr uphill hike (moderate incline)

This routine varies from week to week & there are other weights and workouts I use but can't remember them all. I think I'm doing too much cardio to gain any muscle but when I get told to eat more as well as do less cardio, I start to panic that it's all gonna turn to mush.
Also, my biceps are muscular but they look disproportionate cos my triceps are not as powerful. Any ideas what I could do?
Sorry about the long note, just trying to give as much info needed to gain an idea of what kind of things I need to do.

Thanx
Amanda

Originally posted by Amanda
A typical day's intake would be two slices of brown toast, 200g of lean white turkey breast, 1/4 melon, 50-100g steamed veg.

Well, I think its safe to say your pore diet is the reason your not able to put any muscle on.
I would strongly recomend that you also drop a little cardio and take at least one or two days off a week to recover.
Here's a copy of a reply from W8 to another Female member that may apply to you as well.

Check out the nutrition board as well for some more help in the diet.

Originally posted by w8lifter
First of all...welcome to IM...and you've made great progress so far!

Both your diet and routine need a little work



Remember that muscle is more dense than fat...as you gain muscle (from working out) and lose bodyfat, the scale may not change. It's all about body composition here, not body weight! What's important are those skinfold readings...make sure those keep getting smaller...and your clothes keep fitting better and better.



Ok...I hope you don't mind, but I'm about to rip your diet apart Special K is crap...in fact all breakfast cereals are. I'd switch this to regular old fashioned oats w/o sugar. There's no protein in this meal either. You want to make sure you're getting a good balance of protein, slow burning carbs and healthy fats in every meal. Eating more frequently, 5-6 smaller meals a day, is also going to help FAT-loss.
Read these threads and the shopping list for more info. Then I'd suggest you take a look at some of the girls journals here for meal suggestions. You are not eating enough food....and until you start, your progress will be slow, if it even goes anywhere. If you're body thinks it's not getting food, it's not going to shed the stored energy (fat).



You're right...a virtual hodge-podge This doesn't look like an upper/lower split...unless I'm reading it wrong? Here's how I would change it:

Monday

BB Front Squats
Rear Lunges
Hack Squat
Leg extension
Seated Calf Raises

Tuesday

Machine Back Row
Machine Chest Press
Cable Lat Pulldown
DB Chest Fly
Bent-over Cable Row (or use BB if you can)
Incline DB Press

Wednesday

Abs
Cardio

Thursday

Leg Press (legs high)
Forward Lunges
Smith one-legged Lunge
Leg Curl
Standing Calf Raise

Friday

Seated DB Shoulder Press
Prone DB Lateral Raise (over a swiss ball)
Standing Lateral Raise
Tricep Pressdown
Cable Curl
Lying Tricep Extension
DB Curl

One set of 10-12 repetitions of each exercise. You must go to muscle failure on each exercise. If you are not struggling w/ the weight by rep 7, you are not lifting heavy enough to fail at 12. Stop and add weight, and start over.

If you're in shock about only doing one cardio session per week....read closet cardio and consider 30 second intervals of skipping in between exercises...instead of doing 40 minutes all at once on a machine....till you come to the conclusion that cardio ain't all that on your own

Hope that helps a bit ...And remember...just my opinion and what I'd do w/ you