Realistic for a 40 year old?

[lambrettalad]

Hey everyone hows it going?

I've been keeping fit on and off for the last few years and I'm 40 this year and decided to knuckle down and keep it regular.

I am 6'1, slim build and weigh about 170lb.

Ive been following a routine of compund exercises since January, I eat fairly healthy and supplement my diet with 2 MP whey protein shakes and 1 serving of MP Max Creapure.

This is my routine:
Full Squats - 3 Sets x 6-8 Reps
Deadlifts - 3 Sets x 6-8 Reps
Bench Press - 3 Sets x 6-8 Reps
Bent-Over Rows - 3 Sets x 6-8 Reps
Military Press - 3 Sets x 6-8 Reps
Pullups/Chin-Ups - 3 Sets x As Many Reps As Possible

My weight is normally around 161lb but In the last month I have gained approx 10lb in weight (creatine water retention?).

My plan is to hopefully continue to gain weight over the next couple of months then to change my routine to cut body fat, but for now its time to bullk up.

Sound realistic? Advice is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[chill9]

Routine sounds fine. How often are you training?

As for gaining weight, we can't tell without seeing your diet and macros.

[banxy85]

yeah you will gain weight due to water retention on creatine, even 10lb is possible.....is there a reason this weight gain puzzles you when you say your on a bulk???? lol

Routine's okay, all the basic movements you need...how many days a week is this repeated???

I would suggest only doing deads + squats on alternative days, doing them on the same day means you wont be able to go as heavy and those are 2 exercises that you want to give your max effort. Either do them on alternate days or alternate the weight e.g. day 1 light squats heavy deads day 2 heavy squats light deads if your set on doing both each day

[lambrettalad]

Hi chill9 thanks for the reply.

training 3 times a week, forgot to add 10min warm up on the rowing machine.
diet is:
porridge in the morning, 1 serving of MP Max Creapure, multivitamin, cod liver oil.
1 hour to 1 1/2 hours in the gym.
MP whey protein shake and a banana.
chicken and brocolli for lunch.
piece of fruit.
Evening meal varies but its normal hot meal with Vegetables.
MP whey protein shake and a banana before bed.

The problem I have is I work on the rigs and my meals are governed by what is on the menu at the time, I try to eat healthy and keep it low fat and the only time that I miss training is if I am travelling but I try to train as soon as possible when I arrive.

I dont know what you mean by macros.

Cheers

[chill9]

3 times a week is good for your routine I think.

Food content looks ok, you should work out your macros though. Macros are the protein, fat and carbohydrate content of foods. You can work out how much of each you need and then adapt your diet accordingly. Most people go by 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight, carbs higher on workout days and fat low, carbs low and fats high on rest days. That's up to you, depends what you want to do.

Don't worry about low fat it's a myth. Check out the thread below.

Why Fat Doesnt Make You Fat..

[lambrettalad]

so to work out my macros I would just weigh my food, look at the labels and add up the content of each through out my day to get an overall total at the end?

[chill9]

You need to work out your BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate), just search for BMR calculator on google. Then using the harris-benedict equation or equivalent, multiply your bmr by your activity level to work out your maintenance calories. As you want to increase your weight you should add calories on top of that, most people go for 500 as that equates to 1lb a week increase in weight. You will need to keep an eye on that, not putting enough weight on up the calories, much more than 1lb a week and some fat will have been added and you will need to decrease them.

This sounds complicated, but it's really easy.

Once you have done that you can work out your macros. This is where everyone has there own ideas, I personally aim for 200g of protein a day (1.2g of protein per lb of bodyweight). On rest days I have less 50g of carbs and then fats make up the rest of the calories. On training days I have less than 50g of fats and then the carbs make up the rest.

So approximately;

1g of protein = 4 calories
1g of Carbs = 4 calories
1g of fat = 9 calories

So lets say I need 2800 calories on a workout day,

200g of protein = 800 calories
50g of fat = 450 calories
grams of carbs = (2800 - 800 - 450)/4 = 387.5g

Now that I have that I can plan my meals accordingly, so I avoid high fat foods, have lots of high protein high carb meals like chicken sweet potato and veg. I look at the nutritional info and find the macros to suit my diet. After a while you get to know whats in what and you wont have to plan that much.

Hope this helps man

[lambrettalad]

Quote

yeah you will gain weight due to water retention on creatine, even 10lb is possible.....is there a reason this weight gain puzzles you when you say your on a bulk???? lol

It doesn't puzzle me I am more bothered that the weight I am gaining may just be water, I'd like to think it is just muscle! lol

on your advice I have changed to alternate dead lift/squats on different days although if I feel like I havent quite pushed myself I throw a light set in of the the alternate excercise.

@chill9 I am trying to work out my macros and food intake, when I think I have sussed it I will post it up for your critique and advice

cheers