A few things I would like to say in terms of advice Snarf .. I've been training for years and have leanred much along the way..
First I will start with the supps I take:
- Non-dairy protein supplement (SunWarrior or Vega)
- Creatine Hydrochloride (better absorption w/out the water retention, no cycling required)
- L-Glutamine w/Taurine
I eat a very healthy diet so no need for multivitamin, you don't absorb most of the minerals/vitamins from a multivitamin anyway so imo waste of money.
Doing an overhaul in your diet and exercise is awesome and I congratulate you guys on turning a new leaf! But this is what I have learned from helping many people get into shape and watching people try.
- It's great that you have the strong motivation but don't do too much too fast. Going to the gym 5 days a week is tough for most advanced athletes and starting off your routine at 5 days a week will lead to 'mental' fatigue and ultimately failure. Start slow, 2 days at first, stick with that for 3 months and if you do than throw on a 3rd day. Training is physically demanding of course but the thing that most people don't realize is that it is even more mentally challenging. Starting out too fast from the gate will not teach you anything about perseverance it will mentally challenge you too soon too much that you will start taking days off and eventually stop going altogether, trust me on this. It is very rare that someone can start out of the gate at 5 days a week and keep that up, it almost never happens, if so you are a rare breed.
- Don't overdue it on the supplements, stick to the basics and eat well. If you are trying to bulk up and put on large amounts of muscle, eat your healthy fats and lift heavy. If you are going for lean muscle, lift moderate to heavy or variations and mix in some cardio but don't lose all your fat or muscle will be hard to build if you are too lean.
- Find ways to motivate yourself constantly, do research on different ways to attack your body and stay positive, building muscle takes time and it is a gradual process.
- Make sure you take a week or two off every 8-10 weeks to avoid major plateaus and then change up your program, new exercises, different rep range, even differing rest days.
- SLEEP! Muscles grow when you sleep, if you aren't getting enough or are over training and not giving your muscles days off all your efforts will be for not.
Best of luck! Hit me up with any questions if you want, I have a ton of knowledge in this area.
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A thousand sheep are louder than one man. As long as the Survivor-watching sheep outnumber the thinkers, nothing will change. - BD
