Skip to main content

What should I do?

Advise on my workout program and physique

BrunoDeGois
BrunoDeGois g Bruno Gois
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2017
Posted

Hi Scott and members of MS forum,

 

I started to workout from scratch 14 months ago and so far I managed to lose 10kg, built muscle mass, increased strength and improved overall health. Before that I wasn't into fitness at all so I'm still learning lots of basic stuff , therefore I would appreciate very much advise from you or members of the forum. 

The photos below is my current body composition that I managed to shape by following online workout programs and also watching some of your video tutorials & tips. This is the actual workout program I have been following:

 

Workout A

Incline Bench Press

Flat Bench

Shoulder Press

Lateral Raise

Rope Push Down

 

Workout B

Chin Up

Sumo Deadlift

Bent Over Flyes

Dumbbell Curls

Hammer Curls

 

 - Heavy lifting on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (rest 2 mins between sets and 3 mins between exercises)

 - Boxing on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 45 mins (started a week ago. Before that I used to either walk, run or do HIIT once or twice a week)

 

I did not add more leg exercises besides Sumo Deads because I have thick legs and would like to shape them more like athletic style. The program above suits me well but I feel like I should add a couple more exercises to increase strength and muscle mass specialy on my chest, shoulder and back as I am a tall man and reckon a "V" shape is certainly the way to go in my opinion. 

However my body hasn't changed at all for months which makes me confused. I want to pick one of your programs or add more exercises in my current program but I am not sure whether I cut, lean bulk or, if possible, lean bulk and cut at the same time.

 

With regards to nutrition, my daily caloric intake for maintenance is 3058. For cutting and building muscle mass I was wondering if somewhere around 2300-2500 cals, 130-150g carbs, 150-190g protein & 60-70g fat would be the best to stick with for the next months?

 

Thanks all for your time!

Cheers

Bruno

 

N/A
jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted

Bruno,

 

My recommendations would be the following:

 

1) You need more compound movements for back, and legs.

 

2) You must train legs directly via squats as large muscle group training increases testosterone levels and burns a lot of calories. Your concerns about your legs are misguided. You may be fortunate in that you don't need to do as much leg training to make them grow like someone else (me for example) but you still must train legs directly - squats, leg presses, etc.

 

3) You are not doing any hamstring, calve, or ab training. You need to train your entire body to maximixe size gains and body fat loss.

 

4) Your rest periods are too long. Training for strength does not produce leaness. There are very few low body fat power lifters. You need to increase the intensity and decrease your rest periods to no more than 60 seconds. This causes metabolic stress which burns fat and builds muscle. You must decide to either train for hypertrophy and leanness or muscle strength - not both.

 

5) Your carbs are too low. You should try carb cycling where you increase your carbs on workout days and lower them on rest days. You keep protein consistent every day. Fat intake is higher on rest days and lower on workout days such that you still meet your daily macro counts.

 

6) When natural, you can't cut AND build significant muscle at the same time. You have to choose one. If you want to cut, you need to run a 250-500 calorie deficit each day. To gain size, you need to run a 250-500 calorie surplus. Carb cycling is affective in that it still gives your body higher carb days which are critical to powering your workouts and building muscle and also includes low carb days where your body can turn to dietary and body fat for fuel. When your carbs are too low, your body will not build as much muscle. When your carbs are too high, you will not get lean.

 

7) I would try a Push/Pull/Legs or Push/Pull type full body workout adding a bit more exercises and completing your workout in no more than 60 minutes. You are almost there with what you are doing now but you need a bit more compound lifts and your rest periods are too long.

 

This is a long as slow process when natural. Even though you have 14 months invested, you are still learning and I have highlighted some of the mistakes you have been making over that time, in my view. This is normal. Even after 34 years of lifting I am still learning things both with nutrition and training. Weightlifting is a journey not a destination.

 

John

 

 

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: BrunoDeGois

Hi Scott and members of MS forum,

 

I started to workout from scratch 14 months ago and so far I managed to lose 10kg, built muscle mass, increased strength and improved overall health. Before that I wasn't into fitness at all so I'm still learning lots of basic stuff , therefore I would appreciate very much advise from you or members of the forum. 

The photos below is my current body composition that I managed to shape by following online workout programs and also watching some of your video tutorials & tips. This is the actual workout program I have been following:

 

Workout A

Incline Bench Press

Flat Bench

Shoulder Press

Lateral Raise

Rope Push Down

 

Workout B

Chin Up

Sumo Deadlift

Bent Over Flyes

Dumbbell Curls

Hammer Curls

 

 - Heavy lifting on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (rest 2 mins between sets and 3 mins between exercises)

 - Boxing on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 45 mins (started a week ago. Before that I used to either walk, run or do HIIT once or twice a week)

 

I did not add more leg exercises besides Sumo Deads because I have thick legs and would like to shape them more like athletic style. The program above suits me well but I feel like I should add a couple more exercises to increase strength and muscle mass specialy on my chest, shoulder and back as I am a tall man and reckon a "V" shape is certainly the way to go in my opinion. 

However my body hasn't changed at all for months which makes me confused. I want to pick one of your programs or add more exercises in my current program but I am not sure whether I cut, lean bulk or, if possible, lean bulk and cut at the same time.

 

With regards to nutrition, my daily caloric intake for maintenance is 3058. For cutting and building muscle mass I was wondering if somewhere around 2300-2500 cals, 130-150g carbs, 150-190g protein & 60-70g fat would be the best to stick with for the next months?

 

Thanks all for your time!

Cheers

Bruno

 

Great response from John has pretty much everything covered!

 

When you say you want to 'shape' your legs, that will probably come down to losing bodyfat. While they may be big, they may lack definition because you're carrying to much bodyfat in that area, so add in some of the exercises John recommended and check their progress as you lose fat.

 

I would cut at more like 2700-2800 calories if you want to maintain as much muscle as possible. Given you've been training for 14 months, you may not be able to maximize newbie gains and gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. However, you don't want your deficit to be too large or you'll risk losing too much muscle mass. A 200-300 calorie deficit gives you the best chance of maintaing muscle while reducing your bodyfat.

 

What are your thoughts on trying something like the PPL split?

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
BrunoDeGois
BrunoDeGois g Bruno Gois
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2017
Posted

Hi John and Scott,

 

Thank you so much for getting back to me and for the detailed feedback.

 

As you both suggested the PPL program, I decided to give it a try on Monday and it was great, intense and it did made me sweat. My arms (mainly triceps) and chest were still pumped on the next day. So I will stick with this program for the next 12 weeks and hopefully I will finally see the six pack after that – by the end of summer (never too late). However I couldn’t lift the same weights as before so it naturally forced me to drop weight probably because of the intensity / short rest.

 

As for the program routine, I hope it is all good to change it a little bit because I just can’t go to the gym on weekends as it is close to work but far from home. Also I want to keep doing boxing (not boxing fit). So I’d like your advise on the routine below as well Scott, please:

 

  • Push, Pull, Legs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
  • Boxing on Tuesdays and Thursdays
  • Add an extra day (Saturday or Sunday) to do HIIT or hiking or play sport or even go out for a long walk.

Back to weights, would be okay to start with a lower weight and increase it on the last sets? If I feel like I can’t lift properly should I reduce the weight a little bit AND if I feel like I can increase it again in the next set would that also be alright?

 

I am used to the RPT system where I lift the heaviest weight in the first set and drop around 10% in the second and then again in the third last set.

 

As for the intervals, sometimes I don’t have enough time to organise the next exercise due to the short rest time. When I am unable to use a machine / equipment because someone’s using it, what would you advise me to do? For example, I couldn’t use the olympic bar for the chest exercise as a couple took over it so I then used dumbells instead.

 

Regarding my legs, I think they have better shape than my upper body but I understand I need to burn some calories in this area too. Not trying to run away of leg exercises but considered to do only "key exercises". I will stick with the program though and then decide what to do next once I achieve my first goals.

 

Sorry, I’ve been quite busy these days but I will get back with the meal plan as soon as I can. For now I am trying to eyeball what I eat but adding more carbs as of this week.

 

Cheers

Bruno

 

 

N/A
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: BrunoDeGois

Hi John and Scott,

 

Thank you so much for getting back to me and for the detailed feedback.

 

As you both suggested the PPL program, I decided to give it a try on Monday and it was great, intense and it did made me sweat. My arms (mainly triceps) and chest were still pumped on the next day. So I will stick with this program for the next 12 weeks and hopefully I will finally see the six pack after that – by the end of summer (never too late). However I couldn’t lift the same weights as before so it naturally forced me to drop weight probably because of the intensity / short rest.

 

As for the program routine, I hope it is all good to change it a little bit because I just can’t go to the gym on weekends as it is close to work but far from home. Also I want to keep doing boxing (not boxing fit). So I’d like your advise on the routine below as well Scott, please:

 

  • Push, Pull, Legs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
  • Boxing on Tuesdays and Thursdays
  • Add an extra day (Saturday or Sunday) to do HIIT or hiking or play sport or even go out for a long walk.

Back to weights, would be okay to start with a lower weight and increase it on the last sets? If I feel like I can’t lift properly should I reduce the weight a little bit AND if I feel like I can increase it again in the next set would that also be alright?

 

I am used to the RPT system where I lift the heaviest weight in the first set and drop around 10% in the second and then again in the third last set.

 

As for the intervals, sometimes I don’t have enough time to organise the next exercise due to the short rest time. When I am unable to use a machine / equipment because someone’s using it, what would you advise me to do? For example, I couldn’t use the olympic bar for the chest exercise as a couple took over it so I then used dumbells instead.

 

Regarding my legs, I think they have better shape than my upper body but I understand I need to burn some calories in this area too. Not trying to run away of leg exercises but considered to do only "key exercises". I will stick with the program though and then decide what to do next once I achieve my first goals.

 

Sorry, I’ve been quite busy these days but I will get back with the meal plan as soon as I can. For now I am trying to eyeball what I eat but adding more carbs as of this week.

 

Cheers

Bruno

 

 

Don't worry too much about the weight you are lifting. Obviously it needs to be challenging and you want to be going about 1-2 reps shy of failure, but if you have to lower the weight as you progress through your sets, that's normal. It means you are achieving the muscle breakdown you want for re-growth.

 

So you shouldn't be able to lift more weight by your final set (except for the compound where the reps get lower as you go through the sets). Start with a weight you can handle, and if by the 4th or 5th set you have to lower it, that's OK. Lower the weight and finish the sets strong, and don't feel bad that you had to reduce the weight.

 

The way you are planning to do the program is fine - it may not be as beneficial as getting the frequency with training everything twice a week, but it'll be good nonetheless.

 

I would try to work in with other people in the gym if you can - you train in-between their sets and they train in-between your sets. If they aren't cool with that.. then yeah I guess you will have to substitute.

 

The meal plan is what will make or break your fat loss results so get it in check ASAP 😊 

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
muscular strength
 You must be a Member to view or reply this tread. Please Log In or become a Member .