Hello everybody

[Riot]

Hi everyone.

I have been lurking for a while and just registered on here. Thanks for all the information on your stickies and posts. Really like flicking through the journals. This is my main reason for joining too. I am going to keep a log of my progress on here to help keep me motivated and on track.

I'm 36 6'1 and currently on 89kg after my latest diet. I have my body in a nice lean (for me anyway) state and am looking to stack some muscle on.

I generally workout without much surplus as always paranoid of getting fat so this has held me back I think. So I'm going to up my daily calories by 10% this time, keeping it nice and clean, and hope it will lead to some muscle and not just turn me into a fat bastard haha.

 

[NbleSavage]

Welcome to UGB! Nice intro. Keeping a log is a great way to stay focused and disciplined. Ye tracking yer macros during yer bulk? Tell a bit about yer training as well if ye like some feedback on that front.

 

[Riot]

Thanks.

I have been hitting cardio quite a lot to get my weight down but I will be cutting some of this back out as I was putting myself in a deficit overall to lose weight.

I am going to split my training to 3days on 1day off being:
Shoulder Chest and Triceps
Back and biceps
Legs
^ I will do lighter cardio each day as I enjoy it and helps keeping my health, I have a desk job and can have very low steps if I do t go running. I will also do some ab workouts throughout.

My current weakest point is my shoulder. I have had shoulder stabilisation surgery after a few dislocations and it's left me with reduced range of motion and weakness (trying to improve this) so I struggle with lateral raises shoulder press and rear delt excersises.

I generally hit each muscle group with 3 different excersises and in the 3x 8-10rep range.
I don't do deadlifts or barbell squats as I don't feel confident my form is good so I stick to either dumbells or machines to help control movements.
I have been slowly adding weight and my chest and arms have improved but shoulders have not moved but I didn't expect them too yet. Ive obviously been neglecting legs... Very crap at legs but am working them now but get cramps quite a lot and end up having to quickly whip my legs out from under the machines and I'm twitching like a mother ****er haha. Just started taking taurine as it's supposed to help I've read.

I use my fitness pal (free) to track my macros and this has been a godsend when losing weight. I found that dropping cals and getting my carbs low really help me lose weight. I think I have a mental block on adding carbs now though and see these as evil foods... This needs to change but I'm going to still stick to wholegrain rice and sweet potato as my main source of carbs.

My goto meals are:
Breakfast
Omelette / poached eggs on 1x small brown dry toast
Or
Porridge with whey mixed in

Lunch
Chicken breast fried in 1kcal coconut spray (should oven but takes ages) wholemeal rice
Or
Tuna and couscous

Dinner
Some sort of protein, chicken steak or prawns
Carb, rice noodles or sweet potato
Veg, mainly broccoli or stir fry style veggies

Through the day I will have some form of snacks:
Some whey with either water or milk depending on cals left
Quark with berries
Grilled chicken that I wrap and keep in fridge as snacks about 100g
Hard boiled eggs (not normally on egg breakfast days)
Tins of tuna

I've been hitting low cals or around 1600 at the lowest to shed the weight. My daily is calculated at 2700 but that seems too high, could be my paranoid brain though not wanting to get fat. But building up to it now.

 

[stonetag]

Welcome to the UG. Sorry man, but I think I would kill someone if I was on your diet.

 

[Riot]

Welcome to the UG. Sorry man, but I think I would kill someone if I was on your diet.

Haha, I see that, I have always been a stubborn son of a bitch and when I started I tried to read up on what's good and tried it. I hated it to begin with but I honestly look forward to my meals now. I add franks hot sauce to some meals and brown sauce to my eggs to make it better but generally keep it all good apart from that.

 

[CJ]

Welcome, and nice intro. First time I've ever seen anyone say they are bulking on porridge and quark! :32 (18):

Have you tried farmer carries, or any weighted carry variation for your shoulders? They'll be worked hard isometrically, and could be helpful to you. I'd also suggest looking into light Turkish Get-ups, they're a great shoulder health movement.

 

[Riot]

Welcome, and nice intro. First time I've ever seen anyone say they are bulking on porridge and quark! :32 (18):

Have you tried farmer carries, or any weighted carry variation for your shoulders? They'll be worked hard isometrically, and could be helpful to you. I'd also suggest looking into light Turkish Get-ups, they're a great shoulder health movement.

Totally forgot but yes my physio told me to do these and also holding a weight in the air in front of me, should to elbow level with floor elbow to hand pointing to ceiling and then walk around keeping the weight perfectly center, supposed to help build the supporting muscles.
Can't believe I forgot these!

 

[CJ]

Totally forgot but yes my physio told me to do these and also holding a weight in the air in front of me, should to elbow level with floor elbow to hand pointing to ceiling and then walk around keeping the weight perfectly center, supposed to help build the supporting muscles.
Can't believe I forgot these!

Maybe external rotations and face pulls could help you too.

 

[Riot]

What kind of macro ratios do you use to bulk on P/C/F %?
I was using 40p/30c/30f when dieting.

Increasing cals to 2700 put carbs at 203! Still scares me. Protein 270g and fat 90g

 

[Riot]

Maybe external rotations and face pulls could help you too.

Yeah got both of them in my routine right now. Rotations on shoulder and face pulls on back day

 

[andy]

Hi mate!!

Lot's of food, take calories high and do lot's of heavy campound movements making sure your form is good ofcourse.

good luck

 

[CJ]

Carbs don't make you fat, chronic over consumption of calories does. There are a million vegetarians out there, who eat 70% or more of their calories as carbohydrate, who aren't fat. Add athletes to the list too.

I'd consider your 200g of carbs to be a low day. :32 (20):

 

[Riot]

I see people on here eating 4k calories but I guess you are shifting a lot of muscle around all day so your daily sustain calories will be way higher than mine are, is aiming for +10% calories about what I should aim for. I guess you can only turn so much surplus into muscle before the rest starts sitting as fat.

 

[CJ]

Add the 10%, you'll be fine.

270g of protein is alot. It's not bad, but it's more than you need. If you find that you're lacking energy, but don't want to raise calories, shift some protein to carbs or fats.

There's no magic macro ratio, it's what works for you and what you like. Set your calorie target, set your protein in a reasonable amount, then split the rest between carbs/fats however works best for you. My suggestion would be to stay away from the extremes though.

 

[Riot]

Add the 10%, you'll be fine.

270g of protein is alot. It's not bad, but it's more than you need. If you find that you're lacking energy, but don't want to raise calories, shift some protein to carbs or fats.

There's no magic macro ratio, it's what works for you and what you like. Set your calorie target, set your protein in a reasonable amount, then split the rest between carbs/fats however works best for you. My suggestion would be to stay away from the extremes though.

That's a good point, I raised protein as it helped reduce my hunger when dieting. But training harder I will most likely need to add more carbs and fats to support this.

 

[snake]

Welcome to UG!

CJ has ya hooked up with some good advice. Don't try to eat 4k cals or you will get fat at this point. Unless you physically can not do it, you need to add in squats. You can post a vid of your form and guys will help. You don't need to put on a massive amount of weight on the bar right away, it will come in time but Squats are king buddy.

 

[Riot]

Welcome to UG!

CJ has ya hooked up with some good advice. Don't try to eat 4k cals or you will get fat at this point. Unless you physically can not do it, you need to add in squats. You can post a vid of your form and guys will help. You don't need to put on a massive amount of weight on the bar right away, it will come in time but Squats are king buddy.

Cheers, I'll see how self conscious I feel propping my camera phone up while squatting **** all next to some dude bending the bar next to me haha. If I do I'll put it in my journal

 

[ScottyP]

Welcome to UG

 

[Beserker]

Ssssqqqqquuuuuaaaaaatttttttssss!
Does a body good.
Welcome to the UG!

 

[nightster]

Welcome!!!