[quote]ninjaboy wrote:
I agree with Otep about the multivitamin being worthless IF you are getting enough servings of fruits and veggies a day (10-15). So, good diet =worthless multivitamin, bad diet= possible benefit from multivitamin. With your diet, you probably don’t need the vitamin.[/quote]
Juicing might be a good idea for vitamins and minerals. It’s expensive, especially organic, but it’s helpful. I’m talking about juicing mostly veggies you wouldn’t otherwise eat or eat in large quantities (spinich was my juice veggie I never eat otherwise).
[quote]GripAndRip wrote:
I didn’t catch your two post workout carbs… just your whole wheat bun and a potato…[/quote]
That meal (burger, potato, yogurt) is post-workout.
Speaking of yogurt: I’ve been eating Yoplait’s light yogurt. Looking at the ingredients, some of the stuff listed looks… scientific (eg high fructose corn syrup). I’ve been wondering if it’s something I should drop from my diet.
[quote]You should have carbs with breakfast, it might slow your fat loss a bit but its really important to keep you awake and motivated especially at your stage.
The rest is okay… I tend to agree with the other poster that you should split your carbs up also so you aren’t having a bun potato and pasta in the same sitting.
Don’t go overboard with the carbs… its a fine balance and experience will help you most.[/quote]
I’ve already started adding a 1/2 cup of oats in the morning, and I’ll probably look into the Kashi cereal the next time I’m at the store.
As far as splitting up the carbs go, does it matter which meal I add carbs to? I’ve heard that you shouldn’t eat too many carbs after the first 4 hours of being up. This early on, is that a guideline I should concern myself with?
[quote]I’m roughly the same build as you ~166lbs 5"10.5: do you mind sharing the weights that your doing your program at?
Thanks and good luck[/quote]
For a good portion of the exercises, I’m using dumbbells in the 35-45lb range. Curls and flies are at 25lbs. (Probably not hugely impressive numbers, I know.)
Thanks for the help.
[quote]wirewound wrote:
ninjaboy wrote:
I agree with Otep about the multivitamin being worthless IF you are getting enough servings of fruits and veggies a day (10-15). So, good diet =worthless multivitamin, bad diet= possible benefit from multivitamin. With your diet, you probably don’t need the vitamin.
Juicing might be a good idea for vitamins and minerals. It’s expensive, especially organic, but it’s helpful. I’m talking about juicing mostly veggies you wouldn’t otherwise eat or eat in large quantities (spinich was my juice veggie I never eat otherwise).[/quote]
How about a greens supplement? I know Berardi recommends Greens+.
Heh… its not that 35-40lbs is an unimpressive range for curls and flies. It’s that curls and flies are unimpressive exercises.
About the Greens+… IME, people get scared of not getting enough vitamins, and think they need to take something to ensure general health. I stopped taking my multi about a year ago, and haven’t had a problem since (I do, however, daily eat three servings of veggies). Berardi recommends Greens+ because it’s got a high antioxidant value (I forget the scale). TC Recommends against it because it’s got a bunch of ingredients (grasses mostly) that are either useless or increase endogenous production of estrogen. If you’re concerned about missing some vital nutrient, and you’re not too concerned that you’re wasting your money, grab some Biotest Superfood. Greens+ is probably cool too, although Superfood kicks it’s ass and takes it’s name and girlfriend.
[quote] Cavan wrote:
As far as splitting up the carbs go, does it matter which meal I add carbs to? I’ve heard that you shouldn’t eat too many carbs after the first 4 hours of being up. This early on, is that a guideline I should concern myself with?[/quote]
Yes.
I respectfully disagree with GripAndRip. After the first couple of weeks of being on a low-carb diet, your body adapts to using fats for fuels. Granted, your carbs might not be low enough to force this conversion, but if not, then you should be getting enough carbs to power your brain and body throughout the day.
That said, I don’t necessarily have a better idea as to what causes your lethargy.
[quote]Otep wrote:
Heh… its not that 35-40lbs is an unimpressive range for curls and flies. It’s that curls and flies are unimpressive exercises.[/quote]
Because they’re isolation exercises? But I guess I won’t be doing much of them anymore since I plan on starting Starting Strength within the week.
I have to say this part of my diet hasn’t exactly been a top priority. I’ve mainly been focusing on eating the right amount of carbs/protein/fat to grow muscle and look better, while eating clean.
[quote]Cavan wrote:
As far as splitting up the carbs go, does it matter which meal I add carbs to? I’ve heard that you shouldn’t eat too many carbs after the first 4 hours of being up. This early on, is that a guideline I should concern myself with?
Yes.
I respectfully disagree with GripAndRip. After the first couple of weeks of being on a low-carb diet, your body adapts to using fats for fuels. Granted, your carbs might not be low enough to force this conversion, but if not, then you should be getting enough carbs to power your brain and body throughout the day.
That said, I don’t necessarily have a better idea as to what causes your lethargy.[/quote]
Well, like I said, I did add some oats with breakfast a couple days ago. I’ll have to try to see if I notice anything different with my energy levels. (I did notice that after my workout yesterday, I still felt like I could’ve done more, whereas I’m usually exhausted by the end, so maybe that’s a good sign.) Heh, I never thought diet would be the most difficult part of getting into shape for me.
Then again, perhaps this is just something unrelated to diet.
Just an update:
I started Starting Strength this week:
Squat 3x5 - 75lbs
Bench 3x5 - 85lbs
Deadlift 3x5 - 115lbs
I have a feeling I could’ve increased the weight on all of the exercises a little more, but it took several sets to find a weight heavy enough, and I might’ve exhausted myself somewhat by that point. (I underestimated my strength a lot, apparently.) But, that might not be an entirely bad thing as it allowed me to focus on form more than if I started immediately with the heaviest weight I could lift. When I do Workout B, at least I’ll have a better idea of what weights I can lift.
My initial impression of the workout is that, while it’s less sets than I’m used to, it’s still certainly taxing. Strangely, I also felt like I accomplished more, but maybe that’s because I was surprised to see that I could lift larger weights than I figured for my first attempt (never thought I’d break 100lbs on any of them). However, I think I’ll be adding some of the accessory exercises sooner rather than later.
Like I said, it’s less work than I’ve been doing up until this point, so I definitely think I could do more than just the 15 reps each workout. I’ll probably wait on that a week or two so I can continue to focus on my form though.
And a note on my diet: I’ve added a bowl of cereal (Kashi Go Lean) in the morning and a cup of (skim) milk to a few of the meals. That boosted the amount of calories I take in per day by about an additional 470 calories a day. I’ve already put on 4-5 lbs.
It’s good you’ve started Starting Strength.
It’s also good that you’re enjoying it.
It’s good that you’re eating more.
Life is good, you should make excellent progress. Keep us posted.
Yeah, unfortunately, I think I’m going to have to cut the milk. My stomach has been bothering me the past few days, and I didn’t make the connect until I posted that that might be what’s causing it.
Anyways, thanks again for the help. It’s greatly appreciated.
So I’ve been doing Starting Strength for a couple weeks already. The amount of weight I can lift has increased every time I’ve done it so far, so it’s keeping me happy in that regard:
Squat: 125
Bench: 105
Deadlift: 150
Press: 75
Row: 110
The unfortunate thing is I tweaked something in my inner left thigh. I think when I started out, I didn’t have the best form on the squats (this happened once before when I did a dumbbell lunge stupidly). This means I’m going to have to cut out the squats (and maybe deadlifts) for a few days and concentrate just on the upper body.
Since that’s leaving me with only one or two exercises per workout, any suggestions of what I should add for the time being? Yesterday, I just threw in some additional arm and shoulder work with the press and row. I figure I’ll only have to avoid lower body work for maybe a week or two, but I don’t want to slack off in the meanwhile.
I’d keep the squats and deadlifts, just go lighter.
Much lighter, depending on the severity of the injury.