Fitness - Goals and support

Well i'm back on Sythe. before i was banned, i was a fat kid and legit did nothing all day. During the last 6 months I have been losing weight, I started from quitting and controlling soft drink intake, and only have soft drink when i'm getting drunk at parties, last 3 months been going to gym 2-3 times a week.

Fitness has changed my life completely, It's my way to release stress and also angry, from issues I had with my own life.

Some of achievements i'm most proud of are:
200 KG on leg press (never thought i would get to it)
Being able to bar bicep curl 35 KG (I'm weak, goal is 45 by the end of year, but i'm proud of this)
I'm able to sleep more effectively due to me quitting soft drink
Making new friends (Social anxiety)

I'm starting to get used to my strength training and looking for away to start cardio, Planning to start running on Friday with a old mate of my.

I'm looking for help on what I can do to improve my training, such as different cardio methods and also are protein shakes even worth it?

 

I'm not into gym much but this seems impressive and I wish you best of luck achieving your goals.

 

Protein shakes are needed depending on diet more than anything. I typically only take them if I'm not going home immediately or I'm going late at night since typically because I make my own meals I target my protein intake that way. On the topic of cardio I usually jog around 7k daily (average) but lately it's just been too damn hot to just be outside for no reason so I've got my cardio through playing soccer and burpies (sucks) hope this helps

 

Thanks @Wortel, I'm still working on deadlift, my posture is terrible so it's actually really hard for me to do (38kg max so far)

@Entrr thanks man, Yeah Idk I will talk to my mate who buys them on whats the best for starter.

 

I have some information that could benefit you. What is your age, height, weight? You will need to calculate how many calories you need to simply maintain, and work with these numbers. You will need to calculate your macros such as protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Drink at least 1-1.25 gallons of water per day.

Protein shakes only help to fill the gap if you can't reach your protein macro with food alone. I recommend eating natural food to achieve your goals and only supplement when necessary.

When it comes to supplements, I recommend a good multivitamin, and fish oil. Everything else you don't necessarily need until you build a solid foundation.

Your metabolism will adapt to ANYTHING you give it over time. This will make it extremely pertinent to finding your numbers and slowly cutting the calories back over the span of a few months if cutting is your goal. Same thing goes with bulking. Don't eat a bunch of shit because you want to gain weight. The scale is yet a number and should be ignored except for tracking what you've done for yourself that particular week.

When it comes to cardio, I would recommend 2 HIIT training sessions and one MISS training session per week. Too much cardio will essentially have you "hit the wall," meaning that when you DO get lean, cardio will not necessarily have that great of an effect due to you building a tolerance to it. Your body adapts to anything you do with it. Be weary of advice like "don't eat past 8 PM" or "you HAVE to do so much cardio per week." All of this is bullshit bro science.

 

Thanks man thanks for information, only problem I only eat food my parents eat me, planning to move out next year with mates and i'm going to be the cook should help a lot.
age - 18
height - Actually don't know I'm not short but i'm not tall in the middle
weight? 83-86kg Haven't checked about a week

 

I would recommend learning to cook as early on as possible. Let your parents know your goals, and potentially offer to cook for them maybe once or twice a week. I'm sure they would support your goals! If you have no other option, I would keep track of your macros through something such as myfitnesspal.

Here is a nice calculator I would recommend using:

Calculate Your Macronutrients Intake!

I would higher the carb and fat intake slightly until you can assess your metabolism. You can eat virtually anything as long as it fits your macros. Don't go over the numbers, and you should be in good shape.

 

Alright, Thanks man!, i'm going to start to learn to cook in about 2 weeks or when holidays begin.

 

Cutting out the pop does wonders for starters

 

Protein shakes are not needed per se, but I find they make obtaining your required calories easier - I find drinking my protein shake as I walk back from the gym, then cooking something with carbs in it (pasta usually) is a really good post workout meal.

As for strength, going from 35 to 45 in bicep curls isn't a large step - you'll definitely be able to do it within the year. By advice for this generally, would be to focus on compound lifts (especially your back, since most back exercises will engage the bicep). But for bicep specific techniques. Don't do more than 10 bicep reps (I don't do more than 6-8) - I've found that's the best way to strengthen your biceps. Also, incorporate negative reps into your workout. You can either do your regular curls until fatigue (6 reps), then swing the weight up, and bring it down like a normal curl but very slowly, all the way until your arms extend to the floor, then swing it up again (you're swinging it up not as a curl, but just to reposition the weight). The key is to bring it down slowly. I guarantee that you'll find that technique effective. Alternatively, you can just do negative reps from the beginning, Select a weight that you cannot curl (or that you can only do 1 or 2 at best), and then do as many negatives as you can. Or a combination of both techniques.

As for cardio, as far as I know, HIIT is the best - do that. But you'll want to vomit. Good luck.