# My First Journal......



## Emmz (Dec 5, 2004)

Hey Guys-

I'm a newbie...not only to this site but also to weight training. I've only been doing it since about July, and so far, I'm loving it! I'm not as advanced as a lot of you guys, but you all seem very knowledgable about this stuff...so please, take it easy on me, but I'm needing all the critiquing as possible!! 

So, to start off, my biggest fault is my diet. I haven't known how to eat right for a very long time, and it's very tricky starting over, as I'm sure a lot of you know. However, this past week, I've been trying especially hard, and am liking the results- I'm in a better mood, and am energized for the whole day, instead of just parts. 

I'm 5'4, 158lbs. I haven't had a BMI test yet, and am thinking I should get one, it would be beneficial...can you guys explain to me exactly how they're conducted??

My workout routine is as follows-

Mondays- Leg Day
Squats
Free Leg Press
Leg Curls
Calf Raises

Tuesdays- Chest Day 
Bench Press
Cable Flys
Dumbbell Flys

Wednesdays- Cardio Day 
Treadmill (walking)
Elliptical Trainer
Stepper/Stairmaster
Treadmill (running)

Thursdays- Back Day 
Dead Lifts
Lat Pulldowns
Cable Rows
Shrugs

Fridays- Arm Day 
Forward Raises
Lateral Raises
Bent Over Raises
Dips
Tri. Pushdowns or Skull Crushers
21's

My goal is to lose a bunch of fat, and gain muscle (I'm sure that's a lot of people's goal!). So far, the gaining muscle has been going relatively well, but the losing fat hasn't been that great. I've started to up my cardio, doing kickboxing at least once a week, and sometimes adding a run after my regular workouts. 

Any advice would be great!! I'll post what I'm eating tomorrow. Thanks guys!! I'm hoping this place will keep me on track, and motivate me!

-Emma (Emmz)


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## Cold Iron (Dec 5, 2004)

For your diet, post a sample of it in the diet and nutrition section. Plenty of good people to help you here...

GL


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## Egoatdoor (Dec 6, 2004)

Arnie's left nu said:
			
		

> For your diet, post a sample of it in the diet and nutrition section. Plenty of good people to help you here...
> 
> GL


Why not post it here so we don't have to do searching for it?


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## Egoatdoor (Dec 6, 2004)

I have some thoughts, but I want to make sure I understand your situation. How old are you? You just starting training a few months ago. Were you ever involved in any type of athletics before? Do you work and if so, what general type of job? What time of the day do you train?


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## Emmz (Dec 6, 2004)

Don't worry- I'll post my diet in BOTH places....then nobody will have to search if they don't want too!!

Egoatdoor- I'm 17, and female, if no one had figured that out yet...
I played city baseball since I was 11, and houseleague since I was 5, so I've always played some sort of sport. I also played volleyball heavily for awhile, but then concetrated only on baseball. In '99 I messed up my shoulder pretty badly and could no longer play either baseball or volleyball. So far, the only exercise I've had problems with it was on the Shoulder Press...if I steer clear of that, it seems to be ok. 
I work 5 days a week, most regularily in a retail store, but also on a farm (oh ya...I rode horses since I was 6, and did some pretty labour intensive work on that farm up until Jan. of this year). Now I don't really do anything to difficult, but occassionally I help my friend out at his construction place. 
I usually workout around 7 @ night, due to the fact I go to school all day, and then work in the aft. 

Hope that helps, and I'll try to have the diet up by this evening!


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## simbh (Dec 6, 2004)

I recommend checking out the diet and nutrition section and check the sticky thread ... It will explain what ratio calories you should eat if you want to cut , and that is what I believe would be best for you. If you stick to what they say , youll be eating more than enough in a day , and youll loose weight , take it from me , I already lost the fat 

As for the shoulder , I have the same problem as you. I dislocated mine a few years back , and I can no longer throw a baseball (I used to be a pitcher) ... For that , I recommend doing some rotator exercises to strenghted up that shoulder and you might be able to do some shoulder press with a machine... Thats what I do. Anyways , hope I could of been more help , Im just not tooo familiar with the womens diet and training ...

Good day , and good luck


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## Emmz (Dec 6, 2004)

SimBh- Hey, thanx for the info about the sticky, I'll be sure to check it out! Ya...I was a catcher. Do you have any rotator exercises that you reccommend? I'll be willing to try anything. I wish I could play again!! 

Back to my journal...I've been eating better today, I managed to get a lot more small meals in, instead of a few big ones. Plus, the meals I ate today were a lot more healthy then previously. My energy levels are still up, and I can't wait to go to the gym!! Will post again after my wo. 

-Emmz


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## Emma-Leigh (Dec 6, 2004)

Hello and welcome!! 

It is good to see someone so young starting with lifting! You are obviously one smart chicka!  Too many girls stay out of the weights room because they think it is a 'guys' thing and, in all truth, females benefit 1000 times more from weights than guys do!

About BMI - Well, this is a simple calculation you can do at home. It is simply a formula you use to calculate if you fall in the healthy weight range. It is really not that helpful to people with lots of muscle mass as these people obviously weigh MORE - which means they can sometimes get 'obese' readings! 

If you are thinking about a bodyfat reading - well, this is also not all that significant at first and, although it can be a good measure of progress, it can sometimes become a 'distracting' number... Something that you can fixate on and it can cause more problems than it is worth!

If you do want to get a starting measure then they can usually do this at gyms if you ask... They will probably have scales or calipers. There is also a website where you can enter your measurements and it spits out a number at you:

www.mybodycomp.com

The actual % reading it gives you is not really that accurate, but it gives you a 'trend' over time (so if the numbers are going down then that is a good thing!  ).

I also wouldn't recommend you do this more than once a month though. And always do it first thing in the am, on an empty stomach, after using the bathroom...


I agree that it sounds like your shoulder is a rotator cuff injury. This can turn into a pretty chronic injury - so be careful and stay away from those overhead movements until you get those muscles strong enough to stabilise your joint (the rotator cuff muscles are the muscles that sit around your shoulder blade and hold it in place so it helps to stabilise your shoulder).

I would recommend going to a physio if you can. They can work the tension out of the front of the joint and give you specific exercises for your specific case... Sometimes the degree of damage will mean the exercises some people can do are not suitable for your shoulder.


Anyway - Good luck with it all and if you have any questions just ask!


Emma-Leigh


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## simbh (Dec 6, 2004)

Id love to tell you how to do them , but its kinda hard to explain , goes much better with pictures . Just post in the training section for some rotator cuffs shoulder exercises , Im sure someone will give you a link with some exercises. There was a thread with some links about 2 weeks ago , but I couldnt find it ...


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## Emmz (Dec 6, 2004)

Emma-Leigh- Thanks for such a welcoming hello! (Nice name btw...my real name is Emma!)
In reality, I've always loved the gym, but have never really had a reason to go, because I'd done so many other things. But once those stopped, and I wasn't feeling as good, or looking as good, I thought it was time to do something! Also, a very good friend of mine has lost about 100lbs. through his weight training regime, and I was just in a motivational time...now I just feel awful is I can't get to the gym, and I love going!! 
Thanks for the link, and I'll be sure to check it out when I get a chance!

SimbH- Will do, thanks!!

So- my next question to all of you out there- what do you think of my program? Do you think it will get me to my goal, or do you have any suggestions? I'm more than willing to change...like I said before, I don't know a whole ton of a lot...I'm learning, slowly however! 

-Emmz


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## Emmz (Dec 8, 2004)

So, my computer hasn't been letting me on long enough to type this all out, but i think i fixed it...so here goes!!

Monday- Leg Day

Squats- 60/15 (warmup)
         -130/12
         -160/10
         -170/8
Leg Press-225/12
             -250/10
             -260/8
Leg Curls-75/12
            -80/10
            -85/8
S. Calf Raises- 200/12
                  -210/10
                  -220/8
                  -100/15

So, all in all, I thought it was a good workout. I was feeling great during it, except for when my leg started seizing during the calf raises...I think I'd been hitting it a lil' too hard the past couple weeks, and my leg just couldn't take it anymore. It's not so bad tonight...I've been lightly stretching, and just taking it easy on it..."

So here's my diet for Monday, you guys have to tell me what you think of it!

M1- 2 slices oat bran toast w/2tsp of peanut butter
    -glass of oj
M2-cup of green tea
M3-chicken noodle soup
    -plain bagel w/butter  
    -green tea
M4-protein bar
M5-protein bar
M6-1/2cup soy milk (vanilla)*
    -6 peach slices*
    -3 strawberries*
    -2 tbsp tofu*
    -1 tsp. flax*
*it was all a shake

I know there's a bit of repetition in it...normally I won't eat 2 protein bars, but I couldn't get a hold of anything else (I was at work unexpectedly). But let me know what you think of it, and how I can improve...
Thanks a million!
-Emmz


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## Emmz (Dec 8, 2004)

*Tuesday*

Another great workout today, I feel really energized at the gym now, moreso then I ever have. A couple of the exercises I haven't had great form in...so I kept the weight the same and tried to improve form. 

Tuesday- Chest Day
Bench Press- 20/15 (warmup)
                -60/12
                -65/10
                -70/8
Cable Flies-30/12
               -35/10
               -35/10 (I've been working to improve my form on these..so my weight usually stays around the same)
Dumbbell Flies-25/12
                   -30/10
                   -30/5 (working on form...plus a guy grabbed me from behind and screwed up my concentration....i hate people who only come to the gym once ever 5 months, and think that i'm the same!!  )

Diet was alright..forgot to write it all down though.

-Emmz


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## Emmz (Dec 8, 2004)

Didn't make it to the gym today...woke up this morning puking all over...puked all morning, and slept all afternoon. I think if I had gone, I would have fallen over (cardio day). So I'll just do my cardio tomorrow, with back day. 

-Emmz


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## sara (Dec 8, 2004)

Emmz said:
			
		

> So, my computer hasn't been letting me on long enough to type this all out, but i think i fixed it...so here goes!!
> 
> M1- 2 slices oat bran toast w/2tsp of peanut butter
> -glass of oj
> ...



*Good Luck and welcome to IM  *


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## sara (Dec 8, 2004)

Sorry you not feeling well today


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## Egoatdoor (Dec 8, 2004)

Emmz said:
			
		

> Hey Guys-
> 
> I'm a newbie...not only to this site but also to weight training. I've only been doing it since about July, and so far, I'm loving it! I'm not as advanced as a lot of you guys, but you all seem very knowledgable about this stuff...so please, take it easy on me, but I'm needing all the critiquing as possible!!
> 
> ...


Its hard to make a definitive judgement without knowing your true bodyfat %, but it appears from your height and weight plus what you said about wanting to "lose a bunch of fat" that your bodyfat % is high and needs to come down significantly. Under that assumption, my opinion is that you need to adjust your routine so that there are fewer weight workouts and more cardio. I would also suggest going to higher reps than what you showed in your posts of the last couple of days.

Your routine has four days of weights and one of cardio, though you did say you run some days after weights. As a relative newcomer and with your personal goal, I do not think you need to be training with weights 4 days and ESPECIALLY do not need to be allocating one whole workout to 3 chest exercises and a whole workout on arms. These types of splits are for advanced trainers who are also training at very high intensity and thus need to limit the volume of work they are doing in a workout.

So, my recommendation is to trim the routine to 3 days. The split is up to you, but a sample might be 1) Chest and triceps 2)Legs and shoulders 3) Back and biceps. Rest at least one day between workouts 2 and 3 because squats can fatigue the lower back and thus negatively affect your back workout if you do it the next day.

I would do at least three days a week of cardio, with one or two days after weight training ( but do not do cardio after training legs) and one or two days by themselves.

Your rep scheme seems to be more towards a powerlifting bent and I do not think that is the right thing at your early stage and also given what you want to do with your physique. I think you should up the reps to 12 and a even better thing would be mixing in some 15 or 20 rep days in your leg routine say once or twice a month. I am not saying that you should drop the weights so much so that they are very easy, but use weights in which the last set is a bit challenging on the last couple of reps. This higher rep scheme will work better in burning fat, while also allowing some gains in lean muscle.

I am confused about the exercises you listed on Friday for arms. The first three exercises are shoulder exercises, not arms. Am I right on this?

Finally, diet is also very important and you seem to be admitting some faults in this area. Its late right now and I have to get to bed. I'll send another post on this subject and the diet you just posted in the next couple of days.


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## Egoatdoor (Dec 13, 2004)

Emmz  said:
			
		

> So here's my diet for Monday, you guys have to tell me what you think of it!
> 
> M1- 2 slices oat bran toast w/2tsp of peanut butter
> -glass of oj
> ...


Your schedule with school and work are a challenge in keeping a really good eating program. The protein bars are a reasonable alternative when you are in school or working and thus cannot eat a meal of "real food". I do think you need to eat more at breakfast. 

Your body has been resting ( sleeping) for many hours without any nourishment. Now combine that with the small breakfast of toast, peanut buutter and juice and when you get to lunch hour, the body has gotten almost no fuel for probably more than 14 or 15 hours. The body needs fuel in the form of food, calories, protein, carbs and even a little bit of fat so that it can operate properly plus to give you the energy to get you through the day and to also fuel the energy so that your workouts are more productive. And the best way to give it this fuel is early in the day so it can be used as you burn energy in your school, work and workout activities.

If you like oatmeal, add a small bowl of oatmeal along with the toast and juice and maybe even some fruit like a peach, an apple or a banana.

Also, if it is at all possible, make meal number 6 a whole foods meal when you can, rather than a shake. Have a chicken breast, a can of tuna(packed in water) or some other protein source, along with some fibrous green vegetables and/or brown rice and a slice of whole wheat bread. This will provide much more nourishment and vitamins than shakes.


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