Next Step.. Gym? Also food advice?

[iVTR]

Alright lads,

Since christmas I've been working out pretty often. I've got down into a nice routine now and different exercises ect and feel I've outgrown my bedroom..

I have dumbells, and a long bar which I'm now on 30kg, benching 4 sets of 20 reps.

I feel as though my body is looking much better and noticeably stronger! I'm about 10 stone 80 and looking much more muscular.

The only thing I've been doing is eating really well, like healthy foods. And lots of meat when I can, I also have a 'recovery shake' now and again after really hard workouts.

I'm wondering what the next step is? It takes me so much longer now to feel the burn on the exercises I do, (quite a lot, and i vary them don't just do the same stuff)

I'm looking to get stronger.. and ultimately that 6 pack of course! Haha. Should I be eating specific foods before? Never been on this whey protein hype but maybe I should be? Think I need to join a gym,

interested if anyone else has been in this situation but I feel I'm at a level now where I wouldn't make a cock of myself at the gym!

Cheers

[smiith]

I'd be looking at joining a gym, and getting someone on here or there, to do you a decent routine, working different muscle groups each day..

You will definitely want to look at benching more weight, for less reps.. When i started 2 months ago, i was doing 3 sets of 10, at 40kg, now doing 3 sets of 10 at 60, or 10 10, then 8 reps at 70kg..

as for the 6 pack, abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.. So things like a calorie deficit, losing more than you put in, during the day..

I'm not taking any sort of suppliants at the moment, but i eat 3 chicken fillets with a meal, of steam bag veg, and them, or fish instead..

Thats about the best i can give you with my limited knowledge, sure a few people on here can direct you to a decent workout.. There was a thread with a real good plan in, I'll have a quick look for it for you

[matt_vtr_15a]

Definately need to join a gym, or invest in a lot more weights.. gym is more cost effective short term and gives you a much wider range of equipment unless you are investing some serious money which just wouldnt be suitable for a bedroom set-up.

You need to organise a routine that suits you, targetting all of your muscle groups whilst allowing recovery. Look in the sticky at the top of this forum section it gives an idea of peoples diets and workouts, there are many ways to approach both, and its trial and error until you find which best suits your lifestyle.

If you want to add some mass you really need to bring those reps per set right down to 8-10 maximum and obviously lift heavier, you need to be lifting heavy enough that you are going to failure inbetween your 8th to 10th rep and if you can hit the 10th rep in your last set then you need to up your weight.. thats how i train anyway...

When i move up a weight i'll usually fail on my 8th rep and then eventually fail on 9th and 10th and then move up again, it keeps you motivated and your body is constantly being pushed and challenged... which creates steady progress. This may take several weeks or soo to find your sweetspot on the weights right for you, once that is sorted you're all good.

With such a limited amount of weights your rep range has obviously increased and increased until you have reached a plateau... which is now. So yes it is time to join a gym.

Don't concern yourself with other people in the gym, i block them out unless they have a tight ass and teddies...

A lot of people ego lift in gyms, throwing weights around that are too heavy with poor form. Practice good form, you know what you can lift, so increase that weight a little and make sure you are comfortable, slow and controlled reps...

I judge nobody in the gym, especially trying to better themselves or people lifting weights in a controlled manor. It's the idiots throwing weights around and trying to be alpha fucking twats that come across as the cocks! Storming around the gym, trying to attract as much attention as possible.

I wouldnt take any pre-workout supps etc until you have found your rhythm within the gym in terms of weights and rep range etc.

BCAA's, glutamine, l-carnatine, creatine, fish oils and multivitamins are a general base of supps which you might want to look into!

At your weight you have no reason to be in a calorie deficit, eat clean but make sure you are above your maintenance calories and lean bulk.

It's hard not to go on as there is a lot that can be said to your queations, hopefully this helps a little.




Good luck!

[iVTR]

Seriously appreciate that lads, exactly what I was after! Real useful stuff, thankyou!

Time to get researching!

[Davyy]

I've been looking around on uk-muscle and as you are a beginner you should be doing dead lifts, squats, presses etc first of all, and shouldn't be doing isolated muscle routines.

[Gashman]

It all depends on what works for you, big compound exercises are a good basis to start with but I find my body reacts better to isolation exercises.

Also I feel you can set up a better workout/recovery regime using isolation exercises,

Also don't be scared to be different in the gym, as matt said don't worry about what others do/thing. I constantly get asked questions and funny looks cause I don't do the norm,

Be careful of overtraining particular muscle groups aswell as it will inhibit growth, a good example of this is the chest/tricep day everyone has! Triceps are working with chest so where is the need to hammer them after?

[McGuire86]

Originally Posted by Gashman

Triceps are working with chest so where is the need to hammer them after?

Because you are not isolating them. Working with the chest will just pre exhaust them, then you isolate them afterwards to beat them down even more. The whole point of bodybuilding is to break down as many muscle fibers as possible whilst working them so they will grow back bigger and stronger.
Alot of people forget the difference between weightlifting and bodybuilding.

[Gashman]

Yeah I completely understand how it works, but I mean you see people in my gym training triceps harder than they would any major muscle group.

I find splitting my days into chest/bicep, shoulders/ tricep, back/abs, legs more beneficial

[Gashman]

Like I said at the very beginning of my post thou, it is also down to what works for you personally.

[matt_vtr_15a]

Originally Posted by Gashman

Yeah I completely understand how it works, but I mean you see people in my gym training triceps harder than they would any major muscle group.

I find splitting my days into chest/bicep, shoulders/ tricep, back/abs, legs more beneficial

i train these muscle groups exactly the same to, just my preference..

used to train chest and tri's / shoulders and bi's but noticed better gains since switching these around...

[McGuire86]

I don't understand how you can train Chest with Bis then a few sessions later Tris because this way the triceps would take even longer to recover as you have worked them not so long ago with chest. It's why you shouldn't really train opposite muscle groups. You go to the gym to injure your muscle fibers and let them grow outside of the gym..

And to the OP I wouldn't worry about isolation exercises to start off with, personally I would concentrate on 3 times per week using compounds only for the first 6months. This will give you strength and thick dense muscle and bulk. Then later on you can redefine your physique and add isolation exercises to it.

[Gashman]

I see your logic but I have noticed good gains since making the switch,

Matt you ever tried fst-7 training?

[Davyy]

I've been doing isolation but started just strong lifts today.. Shit my deadlift form is bad!

[McGuire86]

Then lower the weight

[Gashman]

Need to get that form nailed for deadlifts

[matt_vtr_15a]

Originally Posted by Gashman

I see your logic but I have noticed good gains since making the switch,

Matt you ever tried fst-7 training?

Not tried it myself but with the likes of jay cutler and phil heath giving it a go you can't knock it till you try it i suppose... will be looking to mix up my workouts in about a months time so I may look into it a bit more and see if it's ideal for me! Have you??

Mcguire, i do see what you mean and I originally trained that way, just does really seem to work for me. I train chest/bi's monday and shoulder and tri's thursday.. sufficient recovery time in my opinion and I feel i can just get that bit more volume in and really attack my bixeps and triceps more!!

[McGuire86]

Fair enough man, wasn't in response to you anyway lol. But for the OP I wouldn't suggest doing that to begin with. Stick to compounds !

[matt_vtr_15a]

Originally Posted by McGuire86

Fair enough man, wasn't in response to you anyway lol. But for the OP I wouldn't suggest doing that to begin with. Stick to compounds !

Agreed mate, i didn't and it really hindered my progress in terms of building a firm solid base to start with...

[Jazz]

I've always trained chest & tris one day, and then back and bi's another for the reasons McGuire has stated.

Trying to eat well but right now I'm getting 5-6 hours a sleep tops which just isn't enough for recovery. My younger brother who I train with gets almost twice the hours sleep I get during the week and his muscles are exploding with size and definition right now.. I've got some decent definition but I'm struggling to put on any real size even though my lifts are increasing and I can only put that down to poor recovery.

[Gashman]

Fst training is awesome matt, give it a try mate you won't be disappointed. I have some useful info on training plans for it if you need them