medazolam82

I have been going to the gym for about 5 months now.
I am 5'5" and weigh 55-57kg. My build was slim but people have noticed a change in my chest and arms as they have gotten bigger.

What I would like to achieve is to maintain or even get a bigger chest and arms and develop a decent 6 pack. I am confused as the best way to proceed.

If I am growing arms/chest and back then my diet needs to be rich in protein carbs and a bit of fat. People say I should cut down on cardio if I am trying to gain mass (muscle)

would the best way be to train hard and keep up the diet so I get a decent size and then do more cardio to burn away the fat over the abs. I can see a 4 pack developing but the fat needs to be burned a bit more.

cheers for your help.

Chris4Pez

Post up both your diet and also your training program e.g what you do on what days and we will go from there

medazolam82

ok

Breakfast:

2 Slices of wholemeal toast (margerine) and one fried egg white. Cup of tea with 2 sugars

Lunch

depends on whats arround sometimes get a 6" vegie delight from Subway or get a chicken burger

Dinner

1/2 glass protein shake before workout and half an omlette
After workout whole glass of protein shake and the remainder of the omlette

The omlette has 4 eggs, (4 egg whites and 1 yolk) red, yellow and green peppers.
with each serving of the omlette I have wholemeal bread with margerine (i cant beleive its not butter)



Workout

Always spend 7 mins on cross trainer and do 2km. I have found that if I hold the static arm support it doesn't affect my biceps.

Chest

benchpress 45kg 10 reps, 3 sets
chest press 49kg 10 reps, 3 sets
chest fly machine 52kg 10 reps, 3 sets
incline chest machine 49kg 10 reps 3 sets
Dumbells 17.5kg each 10 reps 3 sets just do them on the flat

Biceps

Bar with 22.5kg 3 sets of 21 reps. Each set comprises of low level going to mid (7), then mid level going to chest (7) and then low level to chest without stopping at mid.
I have a chin up bar at home and try and do about 4 sets of 10 through out the day

Triceps

45kg using the rope 3 sets of 10

Legs

Leg press 70kg 3 sets of 10

Back

Seated row

Abs

45kg on the ab curler machine 3 sets of 20
Ab crunch 25kg 2 sets of 10
do situps when i can be bothered but not often.


My routine is that I wont work the same muscle groups in a row.

I spend a whole day doing chest.
Biceps and legs
Triceps and shoulders and back

I'll do a set of abs everytime im at the gym.

Chris4Pez

Then when you want to drop BF so your 6 pack is showing you can cut your calories or your fat intake so your body fat percentage drops allowing your abb's to be visible!

Chris4Pez

as for your routine IMO i think your over training your abb's and also your chest in comparison with the rest of your body and i know this is due to these being the areas that you want to grow but honestly if you dont train in proportion then you can cause problems within yourself generally and also your posture as well, if you want my advice what i would do is compound movements like BOR,OHP,Dead-lifts,Squats and Bench then your whole body will grow including the areas where you want but with the added bonus that your not going to look out of proportion and not going to have an imbalance within your posture!

thestudbeast

Looks like too much training and not enough food.

Chris4Pez

I would train something like 3 times a week, Monday Wednesday and Friday with something along the lines of Monday do Dead-lifts and bent over row, Wednesday do something like OHP and bench and Friday so squats etc (just an example how you do it is up to you but i wouldn't train more than 3 times a week though that will be plenty!)

Tall

15 sets for chest and only 3 sets for Legs? Boy oh boy...

+1 for Chris4Pez for keeping it simple.

You need to eat more...

Breakfast: Protein + Carbs
10.30am: Protein + Carbs
12.30pm: Protein + Carbs
3pm: Protein + Carbs
5pm: Protein + Carbs
Before bed: Protein + Carbs

Oats, Eggs, Wholewheat Toast, Rice, Chicken, Beef, Fish, Spuds, Sweet Spuds etc etc etc

Routine:

(Warmup before you start lifting...)

Monday:
Deadlifts 5x5
Chins/Lat Pulldowns 5x5
Rows: 5x5

Wednesday
Squats 5x5
Stiff Leg Deadlift 5x5
Calve Raises: 5x20

if for whatever reason you can't squat, then substitute Leg Press for Squats.

Friday
Incline Bench 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5

medazolam82

my legs arnt that bad. I used to live in sheffield for 5 years and had no car and used to walk everywhere. Did 3 miles minimum on the weekdays. (Sheffield is very very hilly) My calfs are pretty thick. But i take your point on board. Everythings gotta be balanced.

I appreciate these things won't happen overnight. How long are we talking 2 years?

Cheers

Tall

To get to where...? You'll see good progress in 6 months on a simple routine and good diet.

Oh and for some reason everyone thinks they have good legs and that they don't need to train em... Any Leg/Hip/Back exercises such as Squats/Deadlifts are a simple effective way of adding mass to the whole body.