Hi, What do you think of my plan

[Roy]

Hello All,

Thanks for taking the time to read my thread, I appreciate any help and advice you can give me on my work out plan and diet.

Anyway onto what I am looking for. Currently I am about 6ft 3 and I weigh 78.1 kg as of this morning and my last BF scan where i was this weight a couple of weeks ago i was 12.5% BF. My wish is to slim down a small bit to about 10% BF and gain some definition in the abs (Maybe 8-9% BF if that is what is needed for me) and then slowly begin to increase my muscle mass as I am for lack of a better word "weak" in the upper body department

I eat healthy as it is but i am inexperienced in gaining muscle and more so in losing fat tbh.

I would say i am a pretty active guy as I have mixed martial arts 5-6 days a week and I go to the gym 3-4 times a week as well.

When i get down to my desired BF percentage i was thinking about beginning the process of trying to slowly add muscle even if say my abs weren't really there yet.

I must also note that by the time i get home I often have only 10-20 minutes before martial arts starts so cooking big meals is out of the question and I will begin by holding up my hand and admitting here that recently i have been using the myprotein meal replacement sachets or general protein shakes to do me before i rush out the door. Though i am still trying to cut down and i never go hungry, i genuinely haven't been starving myself hehe. I just come back from my workout and if needed i would have something quick and healthy but the majority of times i am not hungry at all.

To do so I am told i will need to get more calories in my system, I read on one site about 3200 calories a day for somebody of my height and BF to begin to gain muscle. So i have just ordered one or two products to help me from myprotein - scottish oats and instant milk protein (I have some whey protein as well already) and my current plan is this.

Morning

Before Work - instant milk protein + scottish oats + Semi skimmed milk shake ( I reckon this will give about 620 cals per time)

I normally get to work and have a cup of water and a banana and ceral but with the oats i will cut out the cereal as i hear oat shake is nice and filling.

Mid Morning

I will be bringing in some chicken and wholegrain rice and sweet corn in as a mid morning snack - I wouldn't mind advice on portion size for calories needed, i am currently going for 100g of chicken and 100g of rice but i just pinched that from sample meal from myprotein. I may have an orange here as well.

Lunch

I normally have a sandwich such as - beef + grated carrot + sweetcorn or something. Some folk think the combo odd but i love it Also normally I have a bit of fruit and a cup of water and a low fat yogurt pot as my sweet tooth treat.

Mid Afternoon

I was wondering if just more chicken and rice would be acceptable for this. Maybe also an additional piece of fruit.

Evening

Here is where i will likely get told off hehe I was thinking of another oat shake with either instant milk or whey protein, i am not sure which is best for this as i will normally be drinking it before i have to run out the door so the energy is used up quick so i dont know which protein is best.

After my workout i would like to have either another oats shake or pure protein shake (protein choice again leaves me unsure for this shake as it is right after a workout) and maybe a milk protein shake before bed.

So what do you guys think, am i making a lot - i guess so hehe - of rookie errors and not getting enough of xyz or getting to much of something. Would this provide me with enough calories to gain muscle but not overload me or am i going to be trying to bulk up on not nearly enough and fail hehe. I figure with 3 oat shakes it would roughly give me 1800 calories leaving only 1400 to have during the rest of the day.

As for working out my plan was to use MMA in conjunction with the gym to try keep fit but gain muscle. However i am not sure despite reading about if this is possible, trying to keep trim and develop a 6 pack - i.e. burn fat or keep it at a certain percentage, so i am burning calories - whilst putting on lean muscle. At the gym i was going to focus on various weight exercises and do them 3-4 times a week each time focusing on 1 muscle group and train to exhaustion there before switching to another the next time so that my muscles have a chance to repair. However i am unsure if this is the best technique and i was wondering if the frequency of my martial arts would interfere with my muscles repairing even though not all classes are as intense as others etc.

So baring in mind my goal is to increase muscle mass whilst trying to get and maintain a 6 pack and my BF i was wondering if i would be going about it the right way. I don't intend to "bulk" i.e. get fat to try and convert it to muscle later as i read an article in t-nation that suggests the way i am trying to go about it is much more effective but i would like feedback from you all please.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my thread and any comments you leave are appreciated

[Martin Brown]

What do you do in the gym mate?

[Roy]

Hi,

I try to vary it up every few weeks but currently i am doing combinations of squats, shoulder press, chest press machine, biceps cable machine curls, triceps pushdown, seated row, bench press, leg press, pushups, bench dips, crunches, various core positions such as the plank etc.

I wont claim i do all of those every time but normally i go in and depending on what i did last time i may try and pick a few of them. Normally i start with squats with dumbbells as i hear they are great, then the seated row then to the cable machine at the gym to work on biceps and/or tri-ceps, then to the leg press machine then to the chest press machine and maybe then do some bi-cep curls or bench dips before hitting the mats and focusing on ab work out, push ups and core work.

I generally try to do as much as i can each session with about 2-3 exercises per muscle group i am trying to work per visit depending on availability of machines and benches - rather than my plan to gain muscle of working 1 group to exhaustion - mainly because with the days i go i rarely go 2 days in a row to the actual gym so i hope the muscles recover with a day off inbetween etc.

So apologies if i am meant to have a set work out schedule but as i have said i do try and do 2-3 exercises per muscle group but if you think i need to have a set schedule of the same exercises each and every time rather than a general one where i do a couple set exercises each time such as squats and a few different ones for each group i am more than willing to admit i am in the wrong and change