Tom_4000 starts afresh...

[Tom_4000]

hello everyone!

Thought this would be as good a time as any to start a training journal; I've been training for a while now but to be honest it's all been rather informal - workouts written out on the back of leaflets and no diet plan to speak of!

I've been a member at my gym for a year or so, but kept losing focus whenever I started training because I never really knew what I was doing. But, after New Year (it wasn't a new year's resolution actually, just something I did!) I decided to go down and sort it out.

Since then I've been going to the gym at least three times a week, doing mostly weight training with a bit of cardio thrown in. As I met more people and learned more things my workouts got bigger and better - and recently I've really started to see some results; all of which have stirred me on to get even more into what I'm doing.

Hope I haven't already annoyed everyone with constant questions on the forums ; I feel I know enough now to get a good start on a new routine.

I don't have a detailed workout yet (as such) - I'm off down the gym tomorrow night to see what I can do. As for a diet, I'll whack one up when I figure out what the hell I'm doing!

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all you help so far guys. I know this will keep me focused!

Cheers, Tom.

[finlee]

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Hope I haven't already annoyed everyone with constant questions on the forums

yes you have, please vacate the forum

Nah welcome properly mate, get the journal going and keep it up! watch those gains come!

[James Copping]

Good luck mate.

[Scouse]

Welcome formally Tom,
Which gym do you use in Notts?

[Tom_4000]

I use the David Lloyd gym scouse - it's literally five minutes from my front door so there's no excuse to miss a session!

In fact, I'm off there in an hour or so, so I'll keep a check on what I do and get my split posted up asap.

[MartinM]

wo! how much does that set you back a month?

[Tom_4000]

not too much actually!

Ok, back from the gym... did a shoulder set with biceps, my left shoulder is caning now. It's so annoying - every time I do shoulder exercises, my left shoulder clicks - it doesn't hurt at the time but it wrecks after!! Think my shoulder joint's wierd; hope not tho.

Anyway, I worked out what I think is a good split for my training - feedback is more than welcome :

Monday; cardio day! A run, followed by a swim.
Tuesday; OFF
Wednesday; abs, legs (run 10 mins)
Thursday; shoulders, biceps (run 10 mins)
Friday; OFF
Saturday; chest, triceps (run 10 mins)
Sunday; back, biceps (run 10 mins)

EDIT: I'VE CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT THIS WORKOUT, SEE THE POST BELOW

[Tom_4000]

Ok, weekend's nearly over, and I've had a massive change of mind...

Over the weekend I did a lot of looking into HST (prompted by Martin), and I really want to give it a go. I don't know what guys on the forum think of the HST 'principles' but they seem well founded - and a full-body three day split would suit me exactly! Obivously I won't go into them here, but all the websites are easily found.

So - I'm going to the gym asap (hopefully tomorrow, although I did promise my mate I'd go to a gig with him....) to determine my 15, 10 and 5 rep maxes for each exercise on my list. Enlisted the help of my dad for this one!

I'm doing the following exercises 3 times a week, upping the weight in 2.5 kg increments each time. So, I'll start at around 87.5% of my 15 rep max, and my last set in the two week cycle will be 100% of this max. After 2 weeks, I'll be working with my 10 max, then my 5. After 6-8 weeks, I'm supposed to take a week off.

I know Bison has done a journal on using HST, which might be good to check out!

EDIT - By the way, I've planned this for two six-week cycles so far. The first of the two is a good, old-fashioned 'eat-as-much-as-possible' bulk. Then I'll add more cardio and a few less calories for the second cycle. Should (hopefully) have an effect for my holidays, lol!

[Tom_4000]

My Diet:

This has been super-hard to figure out, and there are massive variables, but I've nailed it down as close as I probably ever will ;

7.30am: oats with milk
banana

11.00am: a wpc80 shake made with skimmed milk

2.00pm: a lot of rice, with chicken breast and sometimes a light sauce

5.00pm: another wpc80 shake with skimmed milk (this is pre-workout on workout days).

(PWO: a shake of myprotein's creatine+ formula* - mostly dextrose, and I added maltodextrin myself - EDIT - now added wpc80 to this shake, 11th May)

8.00pm: I have no idea! But it's a healthy, balanced meal, between 700-800 cals.

10.30pm: a can of tuna with sweetcorn, or a big bowl of porridge. Or both.

This works out to a daily 2604 cals on average (or 2800 if I have a big evening meal and eat tuna and porridge before bed - although not at the same time ). According to something I saw somewhere (accurate!), this is about right for someone of my weight to be gaining weight (I currently weigh 73kgs - so I need between 2500-3000 to gain weight).

There's not too much fat in there, but there's enough, and I reckon there's a lot of protein. I might switch the semi-skimmed milk I'm using atm to skimmed.

As usual, any comments or recommended improvements are more than welcome !

*I wasn't actually going to use creatine until next year, but was persuaded by a friend to give it a trial run. If I don't like it, I'll stop.

[hailtotheking]

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not too much actually!

Ok, back from the gym... did a shoulder set with biceps, my left shoulder is caning now. It's so annoying - every time I do shoulder exercises, my left shoulder clicks - it doesn't hurt at the time but it wrecks after!! Think my shoulder joint's wierd; hope not tho.

Regarding your shoulder:

If it clicks and hurts, you may be letting your scapula elevate up and out too much when doing shoulder press, causing your rotator cuff tendons to be impinged between your humeral head and acrmion. This may be resonsible for the noise and pain. Basically, to stop this happening concentrate on pulling your shoulder girdle back and down before shoulder pressing, and holding that position during your shoulder pressing