Am I on the right track??? Fat Loss / Muscle Gain

[t-girl]

Hi! First of all I want to say that I have learned a lot from you ladies. I have been working out and changed my diet for a month now. I am 115lbs, 5’3”. My goal is to lower my body fat and gain muscle. My body fat is 26%. This is what I am doing for exercises:

Monday-A

Chest Press
Incline Press
Chest Fly
Tricep Press
Abs
30 minutes treadmill at target heart rate

Tuesday-B

Lat Pulldown
Bicep curls
Seated Row
Abs
30 minutes stationary bike at target heart rate

Wednesday-C

Leg Extension
Leg Curls
Hip Flexor/Extender
Lower back press

Thursday
A
Friday
B
Saturday & Sunday rest


This is what I have been eating:
Protein shake with a banana
A bowl of either cream of wheat, oats, yogurt or whole wheat toast

Ham or turkey sandwich or can of tuna with whole wheat crakers
Asparagus or carrots
Orange, pear or apple

Protein bar

Protein shake

2 egg white + 1 whole egg in whole wheat bread or wheat tortilla or salmon and veggies or can of tuna or chicken and veggies

Protein shake


It seems like I haven’t reduce my fat. And I can see the beginning of some definition mostly on triceps and shoulders but not a whole lot. Do I just need to be patient? Or am I doing something wrong that will never get me to my goal of losing body fat and gaining muscle. To me it seems like I’ve hit a plateau. Pleeeeease help me out!

Beforehand I thank you for your help.

[emunah]

What are your sets/reps, and rest intervals for those? The split is only one part of the story.

What are the total calories, protein, carbs, and fats in GRAMS of what you are eating?

[t-girl]

I'm doing 3 sets of 10-12 reps with one minute rest.
1200 calories
122 g carbs
100 g protein
glutamine twice a day
multi-vitamin once a day

[emunah]

I think you need to eat more. How much fat are you getting? I think you're getting too much 'fake' protein: have real food.

I think your split is ineffective and your reps are too high for your goals. I would include some lower reps. Why are you only working your legs once a week? You should be doing squats and DLs, not those machines (especially that flexor one...waste of time and doens't work the the muscles it says it does). You also have no vertical push movement like a shoulder press in there.

[SwellGirl]

Hi Emunah,

I'm still learning too so could you explain why her split is ineffective and why training legs once a week isn't enough?

Thanks,

SwellGirl

I think you need to eat more. How much fat are you getting? I think you're getting too much 'fake' protein: have real food.

I think your split is ineffective and your reps are too high for your goals. I would include some lower reps. Why are you only working your legs once a week? You should be doing squats and DLs, not those machines (especially that flexor one...waste of time and doens't work the the muscles it says it does). You also have no vertical push movement like a shoulder press in there.

[t-girl]

I think you need to eat more. How much fat are you getting? I think you're getting too much 'fake' protein: have real food.

I think your split is ineffective and your reps are too high for your goals. I would include some lower reps. Why are you only working your legs once a week? You should be doing squats and DLs, not those machines (especially that flexor one...waste of time and doens't work the the muscles it says it does). You also have no vertical push movement like a shoulder press in there.

Thanks emunah. I think you are right. I don't eat much fat, I know you need it but subconsciously I avoid it. Could you or somebody else reading this help me out with a more effective split? And you are right on the leg thing. I haven't notice any change. I will definitely take your advice!! Thank You!!

[emunah]

Well, she is only working muscles once a week. Muscles grow by a combination of intensity, volume, and frequency. Her frequency is low for legs.

I prefer an upper/lower split alternating push/pull in the upper body in a periodization routine. The body has two planes: vertical (think lat pulldown) and horizontal (think bench press), as well as two movements: pushing and pulling. You want to include equal amounts of both.

Periodization means working in multiple rep ranges. Hypertrophy, strength, and metabolic. Which ones you choose depends on your goals. How you periodize your plan can also vary...some people like mixing rep ranges in one workout, others do it by day, others by week. Either by day or week are usually the best choices.

So for example, what I did the other day for one of my upper body routines:

Bench press: 6x5 (horizontal push)
Superset with BB rows: 6x5 (horizontal pull)
Military press: 4x8 (vertical push)
Superset with lat pulldown: 4x8 (vertical pull)
Bicep curls

My second upper body day would switch the dominant exercises:
Push pull: 6x5 (vertical push)
Superset with Pull-ups: 6x5 (vertical pull)
DB press: 4x8: (horizontal push)
DB row: 4x8 (horizontal pull)
Tricep extensions

That was done Monday and Thurs. Tuesday and Friday are leg days, and alternate dominant HIP exercises or QUAD exercises in a similar fashion. I only work two days in a row to give my CNS a break. The total volume is good for muscle growth without risk of overtraining, yet my frequency has doubled. Given that muscles need 48 hours of recovery, I also have given them enough time to recover completely before the next workout.

[SwellGirl]

Wow, that is incredibly helpful, emunah, many, many thanks.

Well, she is only working muscles once a week. Muscles grow by a combination of intensity, volume, and frequency. Her frequency is low for legs.

I prefer an upper/lower split alternating push/pull in the upper body in a periodization routine. The body has two planes: vertical (think lat pulldown) and horizontal (think bench press), as well as two movements: pushing and pulling. You want to include equal amounts of both.

Periodization means working in multiple rep ranges. Hypertrophy, strength, and metabolic. Which ones you choose depends on your goals. How you periodize your plan can also vary...some people like mixing rep ranges in one workout, others do it by day, others by week. Either by day or week are usually the best choices.

So for example, what I did the other day for one of my upper body routines:

Bench press: 6x5 (horizontal push)
Superset with BB rows: 6x5 (horizontal pull)
Military press: 4x8 (vertical push)
Superset with lat pulldown: 4x8 (vertical pull)
Bicep curls

My second upper body day would switch the dominant exercises:
Push pull: 6x5 (vertical push)
Superset with Pull-ups: 6x5 (vertical pull)
DB press: 4x8: (horizontal push)
DB row: 4x8 (horizontal pull)
Tricep extensions

That was done Monday and Thurs. Tuesday and Friday are leg days, and alternate dominant HIP exercises or QUAD exercises in a similar fashion. I only work two days in a row to give my CNS a break. The total volume is good for muscle growth without risk of overtraining, yet my frequency has doubled. Given that muscles need 48 hours of recovery, I also have given them enough time to recover completely before the next workout.

[terracotta]

Since you are at a low weight for your height, this suggests to me that you are skinnyfat (high bodyfat percentage due to low muscle mass). I recommend you read my article on recompositioning for those who are skinnyfat here.

[98shadow]

EMANUH

what do you do for leg workouts - I like your push pull split
Might try it