New Guy needing help already. =P

[Hopetobefit]

Well like I said I am new to these forums. I might as well go ahead and tell a little about myself. I am 16 years old. I am 5'11'' and weight 230 pounds. I am playing football for my high school this year and am likely to start at middle linebacker. A little about my weightlifting. I currently have a bench 1 rep max of 205, squat 300, and powerclean 190 (starting working out about 2 months ago after a year out of football). With that I am here to achieve some goals. I want to lose some fat, while getting stronger and faster.

Anyways what I need help with is a little workout schedule. I have one in mind, but just want to know if that is healthy and if it will help achieve my goals. The weight training I am doing is with my team at school so I have to do them and can't change them.

Monday-Weight Training (Bench, Incline, and upper body auxiliaries) w/ abs
Tuesday-Weight Training (Squat, Powerclean, and lower body auxiliaries like
leg curls, leg extensions, etc.)
Wednesday-HIIT w/ abs
Thursday-Weight Training (Same as monday)
Friday-Weight Training (Same as Tuesday)
Saturday-HIIT w/ abs
Sunday-2 mile jog

Does anyone recommend that as a weekly workout? If not could you please state what I need to do differently. I do know that breaking the body parts like chest and tri's one day is best but the weight training I am doing is what my coaches have laid out for me and my teammates. I am just adding in the cardio and abs.


Thanks for any help.

[andy51]

That looks good to me. I have been using a similar workout and gained a lot of strength. The one thing that I would change would be to take out at least the jog on Sunday and maybe the HIIT on Saturday.

[Hopetobefit]

Just wondering why I would need to take out the jog and the saturday HIIT? Am I going to need more rest??

[andy51]

Ya, you'll need more time off. Your legs can take a good amount of time to recover, especially when you are hitting em twice a week.

[Hopetobefit]

Should I see some strength gains and some weight loss? Also just as a little info I take a whey protein powder and creatine monohydrate. Protein is post-workout and creatine an hour before.

[Jiddu]

You should find out how they help/work before taking them.

If you want weight loss you'll have to structure your diet accordingly.

[edit] strength gains will also depend on your routine, which would need to be more specific. Try and find out about training specific to your sport (our football is AFL so have no idea what the hell your position involves )

[Hopetobefit]

I did my homework on both Creatine and Protein before I bought them. I know that creatine monohydrate is put into the body which gives you more ADP (or is it ATP) so you can do more explosive movements (kinda like that). Anyways what I read is it helps you work out longer and harder and then helps you recover faster. The GNC guy told me I should also take protein post workout. He said it would help build muscle and repair the torn muscle fibers.

Dieting is most likely my problem. I go to high school so I have times where I can't go get something healthy to eat. I usually eat some cereal for breakfast. For lunch I eat the schools lunch. When I get home (3:00pm) I eat some fruit like a bananna or an apple. Then I eat dinner at around 7:00 and then nothing else. I know I am supposed to eat about every 3 hours but since at school if I was to eat every 3 hours it would be something bad like chips or something of that nature. Also I have never really dieted before. So what foods should I stay away from? Also about how many calories should I intake per day for a weight loss?

[andy51]

Bring food to school. Its not hard to pack a bag of almonds or something of that nature. When you are at home you should eat more. You need to eat after 7pm. I am assuming that since you are a high schooler like me you dont go to bed at 9. You need some food in that time gap to tide you over. Your body need food between 7pm and 7am when you get breakfast. During your sleep is when the body does a large amount of muscle fiber repair. So make sure you get your protein and good luck.

[Hopetobefit]

I guess I will need to start packing something good. Should I actually worry about counting the calories or just make sure I eat healthy. I am thinking maybe I should not worry as much about what I eat as to how much of it I eat.

[Optimum08]

linebacker is the best position ever...take pride in it...im guessing you are on a bulk so counting cals isn't really that important...just make sure you eat clean and eat a LOT...

[andy51]

Are you trying to bulk Im assuming? Then count to make sure that you're getting enough cals and protein in, but make sure you eat pretty clean. If you are on a harcore bulk you can slip up every now and then.

[FireBug]

Well, he does state that he is trying to loose "some fat". Although, I dont think this was your primary concern, strengh/speed right?

[Hopetobefit]

Well.... I do love football and want to excel at it and yes I agree Linebacker is my favorite position and I am fairly good at it (great at reads and a hella hard hitter if I must say so myself =P), but I have been mildly overweight for awhile now and would like to lose weight. I don't really want to lose weight as much as burn the fat I have and build more muscle. So I guess I want to be around 220lbs and be more cut and stronger and faster. I am doing a weight training program that my coachs have set up which is 4 times a week, 90 minutes a day. We work out for about 50 minutes and then the rest of the time we do agilities such as bag drills, sprints, suicides, etc. But yeah I guess I have two goals which don't really work too well together =(.. I want to get faster for football and being a linebacker you need some size. But I also want to get in shape because I have been overweight for about 3 years now.

[Hopetobefit]

My primary concern is strength and speed yes. But it is possible to lose my fat while keeping size and replacing the fat with muscle right? I would like to be about the same size as I am now, but instead of having a belly I want it to be more cut and with doing that I would be faster and I am gaining strength already. So my main question is whill that workout along with eating right make my bodyfat percentage go down and get more cut while staying the same size?



[edit]I know what bulking and cutting cycles are but I have never done either. I am not sure exactly what they achieve and which i should do. Could someone please explain for me?

[Jiddu]

Most up to date research is basically showing that a pre workout protein drink is better than post. Should be pre-digested tho to avoid "upset stomach".

Cutting is about losing fat while maintaining as much lbm as possible (or gaining in the near impossible case). I suppose it's misused a bit so that it can mean just losing fat.

Bulking is about putting on muscle without too much attention to bodyfat increasing.

[Hopetobefit]

How long would it take to digest the whey protein before a workout? I already take my creatine to school and take with water an hour before my workout. Should I take protein around that time as well?

I guess I should be cutting then. I am basically been bulking for the last 3 years. =P

[Jiddu]

Sorry, you can buy pre-digested protein. It's a filtration technique I think..

Should be noted that creatine at a particular time of the day doesn't really matter.

[Hopetobefit]

Everywhere I have read says to take creatine an hour before your workout so right as your workout started the creatine will be in your body working and after about 1.5 - 2 hours the creatine turns into creatinine which is the waste product of creatine. Also if you let creatine settle in water too long (more than an hour) it will also turn into creatinine which does you no good. You just get rid of it well you know how...