Adarq.org

Are you saying I should take in a lot of caloies?

Why? Shouldve just said cereal 

Why? Shouldve just said cereal 

Haha, on no it's fine, it's just very detailed.  As far as your eating habits are concerned, you generally want to eat every 3 waking hours, and eat right when you wake up.  Obviously this is frequent, but it can be something like a banana.  If you look at your schedule, you are not eating from 5pm until 9am, in which case your body is going catabolic.  Obviously, eating is only part of the story, one of the other parts being your workout routine.

What do you think about something like p90x?  I help a few women I know with their diet and form on some exercises (they have asked me) and it has helped them get much stronger and lean up.  One of the best facets of something like p90x is that you can just follow along and press play.  I am not saying it's the only program, it's just pretty comprehensive and easy to follow.  If not there are many other programs out there. 

I've done the p90x plyometrics twice. I didn't put the rest of what ate in you can view it now. But I think I'll try p90x for the rest of my body.

As far as diet is concerned...your eating frequency is great, it's really a struggle to get the women I have worked with to eat more frequently.  However, with all the fast food stuff you probably already know you want to stay away from that stuff.  You want your foods to come from single ingredients.  When you cook (or buy food) the foods should come from single ingredients and not be processed.  If your body is trying to deal with all the processed food it will be trying to cope with these things rather than performing its normal functions.  I know it's hard to eat clean all the time, but I just wanted to give you the information.  I eat as many calaroies as I can but I eat from single ingredients and my body fat percentage is 9.5% at 181.  There are lots of people with lower body fat percentages than that but I don't really control my calorie intake.

The other major thing is you should take some whey protein immediately after you work out and possibly half a serving about 30 minutes before you work out.  You also should take a casein protein before bed.  These things will help you build muscle and slightly aid in recovery.  Protein is completely safe for you.  Also, you do not need to take weight gainer to be strong.  Adarq (of adarq.org) weighs like 150 some pounds and is very strong at 6'1" which is the same height as me (well I am 6.125, haha). 

It may be difficult to do, but it's also very important to sleep 8 hours a night, maybe sometimes 7.  I know this is an issue for a lot of people, but not sleeping is going to decrease alertness, reduce energy, reduce your fat loss, (as opposed to muscle loss when losing weight) and just generally keep you weak.

As far as your workouts are concerned I have some questions...

1.  Do you have all the required equipment for p90x including a dumbbell set with 1.25 or 2.5 pound weights?
2.  You only did the plyometrics before?  You didn't do the rest of the program?
3.  Were you trying to follow the 90 day program (6 days a week)? 
4.  Are you more concerned with strength or with toning? 

Also, if you get any tips from Adarq or LanceSTS I would write those down somewhere or save them to your computer becuase they are both very knowledgeable people.  Again, the p90x thing is not the only workout around, I just found it to be very effective for the few people I have worked with.  They have all gotten much stronger and have a very toned look. 

P90X is silly. If you want to become an athlete you better train like one!

it is not better to eat every 3 hours compared to eating 3 times a day!

diet-wise, fast food is not bad or worse than other food. it's usually more calorie dense and you can overeat easier. if you know that and don't go crazy with it you can eat "bad food" here and there. (health-wise is a different thing).



oh, and: don't do p90x !

Yeah exactly, the ideal athlete eats McDonald's three times a day with no snacks and no supplements.

Ok, this is the problem with online stuff.  You get people contradicting one another with no support.  I will get some studies up here next.  However, so I'm clear, it seems like you are advocating 1.  Eating fast food vs. whole foods doesn't matter and  2.  eat 3 times a day and not snack or eat every three waking hours. 

As far as the junk food, Adarq even has something up talking about putting junk in your body and "eating like an athlete" I just have to find it.  I agree she can definitely eat fast food especially if she needs to get some calories in there, I am saying all else equal, it's best to eat whole foods unless you can't get the calories.  Seriously can't believe you would advocate eating 3x a day rather than more frequently -"athletes" eat constantly - about 1,000,000 studies supporting this, I will get them just at work right now.  If you really want to put on some weight with good calories, you can go with a cytogainer and put on as much weight as you want.  It's a 2,000 calorie supplement.

Also, I said a NUMBER of times that p90x isn't the only program out there, I was suggesting it as something to help tone and work on some general strength which is what many women want.  If you guys have a program maybe you could share it with her instead of saying "not this" "not that" I'm just suggesting what many women want - getting toned and getting a little more strength.  Also, if you actually read what she wrote, she says she has a newborn, and one month of lifting experience, so maybe it would be more convenient to work out at home and easier to not perform technical lifts.  Anyway, you can do this for upper body below...maybe you guys will say not to do this too and provide no solutions.

http://www.adarq.org/forum/lancests-performance-blog/effective-and-time-effecient-upper-body-

then click on "Effective and Time Effecient Upper body *(and lower) Training for Athletes"

There is some good information in there.  Also, you should read over this, it's good for skinny athletes and will give a template you can follow.

http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/64-westside-for-skinny-bastards-part1.html

And, Raptor, you say were saying "if you want to become an athelete you better train like one" - although I agree, she actually said "I'm looking to get a stronger upper body" which could freaking mean anything.  It could mean she wants to get a little stronger and is mostly concerned about tone, which is exactly why I was asking her what her goals were.  I do not assume everyone has the same goals - that's why I was trying to ask her her goals.  P90x is great for toning and easy to follow, so if that's what she wanted I do not see the issue with it.  In terms of the workout  I was asking about what access to equipment she had in terms of a gym, squat rack, all that.

And, so we're clear, I just wanted to help this person, not argue.

When I say stronger, I literally mean stronger. Meaning I want to push people around not get pushed around! Does that make sense?
I have a bench here at home with a squat rack on it and over 300lbs in weights.