Hi there!
First off, my name is Steven. I'm 23.
I'm 6'5 - 6'6 (depends on the time of day) and 225 lbs. I used to play keeper for soccer, basketball, and tennis, but I've been getting a little out of shape lately.
I was just thinking of asking some nutrition questions on the open forum, but then I saw some of your posts, so we'll see where my mind wanders to as I write this.
I haven't been lifting weights for about 6 months, so I've seen a huge drop in muscle mass, but I started lifting again about 3 weeks ago.

My main question is about nutrition. . . I don't necessarily need the small details pointed out, but general suggestions would be helpful.
Currently I know my diet is horrible. I started trying to cut out raw sugars, other than some natural sugars with breakfast, though I don't know that that's necessarily right either.
My first step has been to reduce my calories from liquids. . . 7-8 sugary drinks down to 0-1, but now I don't know what to do with myself during the day. I have a tendancy to like to taste what I drink, so that has gotten me in trouble. I should probably just curb that habit, but do you have any other suggestions of drinks with flavor, but few calories?

Diet
What I currently eat:
Breakfast: I started eating eggs. . . that's about it, but other than eating bananas if I'm on my way out the door, I don't really know what else, in general, I should be eating for breakfast. (I still eat toaster strudels. . . x.x)
Lunch and Supper: I have been noticing my trend to eat greasy foods, with excessive portions of red meats, few veggies/fruits, and lots of starches/carbs.
Snacks: :/ sugary foods, nachos, some fruits, nuts, nutrigrain bars. . . I have bad habits.

How often should I really be eating? Should I just be ditching the whole idea of "main" meals, and having more, smaller meals, rather than a few excessive meals with snacks between? I know my diet seriously needs help, though sometimes I'm at a loss of what to do.

Nutrition
Regarding your previous post about vitamins--(14405)--is it plausible to work in daily vitamins/minerals into a regular diet, and are there any advantages to doing so rather than taking vitamins (eg. possible organ strain from high concentrations of certain vitamins/minerals)?
Would you suggest glucosamine as a supplement for high impact exercise? I understand that studies regarding its efficacy are in conflict with one another, though the idea of increasing a precursor to cartilaginous tissue as a preventative measure makes sense to me. . .

Workout
Presently I am only lifting weights, doing ab workouts, and playing tennis for exercise. . .
I have yet to test my maxes, so I'm not sure about the percentages. . . do you test maxes for things like curls, tricep extensions, etc?
My general rotation looks something like this (with scattered/unset rest days) [6 main exercises a day with 3-5 sets per exercise of 4-8 reps or until exhaustion on each set. . or more reps in the case of body-weight exercise)


Day 1: Chest/Triceps
Bench Press (warmup, ~60%, ~70%, ~85%, ~75%, ~60%)
Dips (3-4 sets of max reps--no weight belt)
Tricep pull-downs (machine, fairly constant weight, 3 sets)
Chest fly (warmup, 70%, 80%, 90%)
Other chest/tri exercises: skull crushers, tricep extensions, machine bench, machine fly.

Day 2: Biceps/Shoulders
Regular Curls (80%, 80%, 70%)
Hammer Curls (same)
Shoulder flys (warmup, 70%, 80%, 70%)
Full supination curls (60%, 70%, 80%)
Shrugs (50%, 70%, 90%)
We pretty frequently do machine workouts for some of the other exercizes. . . though we try to use cables if we use machines.

Day 3: Legs
Squats
Block jumping/plyometrics
Weighted calf-raises
Leg extension/retraction
Hip adduction/abduction machines
(This day seems to get skipped out of hatred the most so I'm not sure on weights or approximate max percentages)

Day 4: Abs/Lower back
This is a concentrated day of abs and lower back. . .
Dead lift
seated lower-back machine,
Ab twist machine (3 sets 20 reps)
I really don't know names for much of our exercises, but this is our abdominal focus day. . .
We usually finish with the "ab-ripper" workout from p90x if you're familiar.

I'm really not sure how better to structure our workouts, or if I'm getting enough variety in the exercises. . .
How would I transition from one workout schedule to another?
Should I have a specific plan of exactly what I am going to do before I get there?
I'm also trying to keep my fast twitch muscles going, but I don't really know what I should do for training, and to what extent or in what manner I should do cardio.

Bahh. Sorry if this was a haphazard post.
I appreciate any help you can give me!

Hey there.

I'd be glad to help you.

First of all, let me try to itemize everything to avoid clutter:


1. Diet - given your height/weight and goals, I will be giving you this:


http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=406743805
3,000 calorie diet w/ 40/40/20 macros



2. Vitamins - I would suggest taking the vitamins I illustrated previously. They will not hurt you, even in high concentrations. You would need to take obscene amounts of vitamins to have negative effects. As far as glucosamine, I would advise trying Universal Animal Flex which is a good joint support product with virtually everything you need in it, including glucosamine.


3. Workout - Given your current plan, I'd like you to move over to 5x5 training in order to build maximum strength.

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=345300636
5x5 plan


After approximately 4-8 months of 5x5, you should have a good enough platform for which to move onto hypertrophy.

Furthermore, you don't need to actually do 1RM discovery of curls and other minor exercises. However, you can estimate your 1RM based on the rep weight you do.

Your recommended whey protein?

Yes lol.

Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Natural.

Also, as alternatives, egg protein is a good choice.

For vegans, pea protein is alright.

Any brands a little less expensive?

Thank you. Considering how long I've been without lifting, I assume I don't really need to try to avoid hitting a plateau in that short a period of time.
I like the look of the diet, and I'll start tomorrow morning with that. I may need to visit the grocery store :P.
With the 5x5 plan, do you mean I should follow those muscle groups as well? Thank you.
I'm debating about taking some "before" pictures as motivation to keep in shape. Idk though. We'll see ^.^

Hey Raynor,

Feel like I might be starving myself on this cut. Looking for some advice.

Currently trying to eat the same thing every day except for dinner. Routine helps me stay on track.

Been eating-

Breakfast- Protein Bar and an Apple

Lunch(4 hours later) Greek yogurt/berrie/banana smoothie.

Snack (usually 2-3 hours after lunch) Two hardboiled eggs or a protein drink whichever I can get

Dinner- Some protein with veggies or a salad with lots of meat.

B4 Bed- Casein Protein drink.

Seems like between snack-dinner I am dying I feel so burnt out I am starving to death it feels like.

Currently doing 6 days in the gym 1 off, on top of lifting I kickbox 2-4 times a week for 60-120 mins.
6'1
Male
235lbs
24 years old

Thanks a bunch in advance.

What are your thoughts on Alpha Brain?

hey there Raynlords

not sure if youre a IF fan or not but hopefully you have a little knowledge on it, ive read a number of articles and threads on various websites and over the weeks im slowly getting convinced to atleast try it


wondering if you could clear a few things up with me...




I work 9-5, eating window 12-9pm, train fasted in the morning before work

1) if I'm on a calorie reduced diet + training fasted, is there an issue here with my body using my muscle for energy? Or is this minimal? Or is it advisable to train after work inside my eating window?

2) does it break my fast if I had a pre workout in the morning? What about a fat burner? What about water with pure carb powder?

3) how are the diminishing returns if you were to lessen the eating window thus increasing your fasted period? Would you better off cutting more calories than fasting for longer?

And also whether having dem fish oils in the morning will try break the fast? How bad is this :s