Advice With Keeping On Track

[cal92scho]

Evening all,

In the past month I have joined a gym, and have gone very regularly, there are just a few things I would would like advice with to keep everything ticking over and progressing steadily. The overall aim is to get a bit more defined and a bit larger, I'm not all too familiar with the bulking/cutting phases, as so I have been trying to have fat loss and hypertrophy running in tandem.

At the moment I am 5' 11", 75KG, and 11.6% BF, RMR is 75 kcals per hour
I supplement with Impact Whey, Creatine (5g per day after 20g x5 days loading phase) and BCAAs (5g before and after a workout). Protein intake is around 150g per day, calories around 2200 per day

I do a full body workout 3 times a week, I agree this isn't perfect but it does all have to fit round College and a Job, I would consider breaking this down into 3 split routines if the common advice is to do so, every muscle trained does around 60 reps, in a 2x10x3 split, of varying weights. Sessions comprise 90 mins of weights with around 30 mins fast cardio (METS of around 16), I would agree that this may be too much but don't see how it can be lowered, other than lowering rest periods (1 minute down to 30 secs?), or lowering the amount I do per session.

A critical evaluation of my workout, supplementation and what I can do to get bigger and more toned would be really appreciated. None of this stuff is even mentioned in A Level PE!

Thanks in advance for the help!

[neilw42]

I would say that 2 hours is too long to be in the gym. A good guide is to do around 20-25 sets per session. Working out for more than an hour is generally bad as your levels of the stress hormone cortisol increases after this which is detrimental to muscle growth. A full body routine is probably fine to start with but you might want to do a split instead e.g. legs and abs, back and bis and chest and tris. If you are really busting your ass on these body parts then an hour will be enough.

Try separating your cardio out from your workouts too as this can hamper recovery. A metabolic conditioning session or intervals is better if you are pushed for time. 45 mins of weights and 15 mins of intervals and you will be done in the gym in half the time.