Right... this is a little scary. I have posted a little, and read quite a lot, so feel the time is right to post what I hope to be the starting point of my development to come.
I aim to be 100% honest.
OK, hi!
My name is Rich, I am 20 and I am a qualified Personal Trainer, which by my own admission means that I am very undereducated in a specific bodybuilding sense. I no longer work within fitness, where I used to teach many different classes including spin and circuits amongst others. I now work within Public Relations, which means my diet has had the chance to improve hugely.
I have a 20 month old daughter, Maia, who is amazing beyond words.
I am extremely passionate about health and exercise, and feel very strongly against the rising obesity levels and general attitude regarding exercise and healthy nutrition. (I think I succeeded in writing that without going off on one...!)
With the intro out of the way, I have three very simple goals, in this order:
To look good,
To enjoy exercise and sporting activity, and
To improve sporting performance (rugby and funnily enough, gymnastics)
I plan to enter the Men's Health cover model competition by the year after next, with a view to succeeding in my attempt at some stage in the year after that if not the first attempt. I have always been interested in fitness modelling, whether realistic or not
.
I am 6'1" tall, and weigh bang on 13 stone. I am unsure about my bodyfat % as I haven't had it measured for quite some time, but would guess it to be about 13-14% based on the bodyfat sticky in this section. I have some separation between delts and chest, but little else.
I have been training since I was 15, but cannot honestly say I have trained to my full potential, nor been as educated or as dedicated to it as I should have been. I spent most of my first year in the gym I have now returned to sat on the shoulder press machine, watching other people train, with very little knowledge. Since age 11, I always imagined myself; like a typical young sportsplayer, as a professional in my adulthood. I played a fairly good standard of rugby (County - Gloucestershire), including this year (Under 20s), and dedicated myself to that, breakdancing, and more recently gymnastics more than I did weight training. I have only been more serious about weight training for the last 2 years or so, since working at a gym where I was immersed in the environment. Even since then, i have looked back and thought 'why did I train like that?', or 'why did I eat that food?'!
On that note, I have only recently, since being a part of this forum realised my nutritional mistakes, or the facts that in my opinion have been stunting my progress. We all know that we need protein, but I was not aware just how much I should have been consuming until about two or three weeks ago. My carb count was not where it should have been, which in my naivety I thought would help me lose bodyfat alone. I have also been through stages of real unhappiness with my physique like many on here, I'm sure. I have had two main injuries: one, a recurring dislocation of my left thumb, which has had me in cast three times, and was operated on last year, and two, a shoulder injury, which I was told could have been due to rugby, which was believed to be a bicep tendon injury - this one still plays me up a bit on chest press action and lat raises in particular, where I worry my form is not as tight as it should be.
My diet is now the following; please, please critique. I have only been following this for two weeks, so still too early to tell how it's going, I feel. I always ate a fair amount of chicken and tuna, but two things are for sure: 1, it's now become an autonomous action (that of feeding myself tuna) and 2, I'm spending way more than I was!
Will invest in some more protein when I get paid (used USN Whey previously). I have some 'Test-Drive' tribulus, but do not use it - am really uneducated as to benefits (I was given them by a friend who hadn't even opened the tub).
Meal One - 7am Calories Protein (g) Carbs (g) Fat (g) Bowl of oats 300 10 54 6
Meal Two - 10am Tin of tuna 138 33.8 0 0.2
Pineapple Cottage 279 27.0 25.8 6.3
Cheese 20 Almonds 104 3.8 3.6 9.1
Orange I have no idea!
Meal Three - 12.30am Tin of tuna 138 33.8 0 0.2
3 Weetabix/120g 296/200 10/6 54/40 6/2.5
Brown Rice Banana Meal Four - 3.30pm Tin of tuna 138 33.8 0 0.2
Salad 30 0 0 0
3 Boiled Eggs 150 18 1.5 15
Meal Five - 6pm 2 100g Chicken 300 60 0 6.2
Breasts 150g Mixed Veg 51 4.2 10 0.6
Bowl of oats 300 10 54 6
Meal 7 - 9.30pm 2 100g Chicken 300 60 0 6.2
Breasts Brown rice (100g) 166 5 33 2
TOTALS 2762.5/ 253.9/ 237.9/ 68.95 2666.5 257.9 223.9 65.45
OK, still with me? Good... thanks
!
Routine:
I currently train 4 times a week, on Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun. I split my session into:
Legs, Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms
I walk 3-4 times a week for about 40 minutes taking my daughter to and from nursery and then walking into work, and run to and from the gym about a mile away about twice a week, driving other times.
Here is my routine. I mostly drop set on the last set of each exercise, usually by about 75% of what I was doing (usually has me perform another 5-6 reps). I rest for about 1 and a half minutes in honesty. Unless indicated otherwise, I do 2 sets of 8-12, and 1 of 6-8, then straight into the dropset:
Legs: Squats or Leg Press - 3 x 8-12
Leg Extension
Straight leg deadlift
Calf raises
Superset V-Sits
+ Crunches - 3 x 45 seconds, 1min rest
Chest: Flat DB Press
Incline DB Press
Cable Flyes/DB Flyes
Machine/Smith Decline Press
Back: Widegrip Chin-ups - 2 x 8-10, 1 x 6
Seated Rows
Close grip pulldowns
Deadlift
One arm rows
Shrugs
Shoulders: DB Press
Cleans - 3 x 8-12
Lat raises
Rear delt flyes
Smith shoulder press
Arms: Alternate seated bicep curl
Preacher curl
Forearm curl (supinated)
Dips
Tricep pressdown
Well, here's the pics anyway. Please critique, I feel my weakest areas are:
Calves, chest, abs, and biceps. Not to say everything doesn't need to improve!
PICT0296.JPG PICT0300.JPG PICT0302.JPG PICT0306.JPG PICT0271.JPG
Hope to get chatting to some of you soon, any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated
. I think that's everything...!