[jakester8722]

This is for weight training and nutrition:
I guess I have a lot of questions. I just want to know everything I should know that will help me with my weight problem (fat percentag). I just started taking Designer whey protein and Micronized Creatine powder. I take two shakes a day, one after workout and one before I go to bed, is that sufficient? Should I be taking anything else with those to help me gain lean muscle and lose body fat? ( because as of now I am 234lb with a body fat percentage of 34%, I have been struggling for a while with my weight, but I want to get back into lifting and gain that lean muscle). I usually do my cardio, then my free weights, but sometimes I'm lost as what to do for a good lean muscle gaining workout. What workouts should I do, and what should I eat?

[NomNomNoodles]

Your work out nutrition is wrong here. You should be taking some protein pre-work out, during and after. Roughly 12g, 12g, and 25g respectively. Most people tend not to care about nutrition during work out, but I find that it gives that extra oomph to increase performance.

I'm not too sure about consuming anything right before bed if either. That sounds more like something a bodybuilder would do but you should probably check to make sure. I get the feeling that it'd just convert into fat while you're sleeping.

5 meals a day to keep your metabolism up and running. Follow the food pyramid at least loosely.

As for the actual work out, what exactly are you doing right now? It would be easier to give you advice if you had an actual log that we can see and comment on. Generally, increase your free weights by 5lbs (2kg) if you can do more than 8-12 reps easily. Your last few reps should be extremely difficult.

[Eileen G]

At your stage, the most important thing to get right is your diet and your calories. Cut down the white carbs (sorry, forget the food pyramid for now, it's great for competitive athletes, not if you are cutting), and eat more green veg, and good quality protein and fats.

One whey shake post workout is plenty. All you need is enough to repair the muscles you have micro-damaged while lifting.

Whey before bed is not ideal. If you need more protein, then cottage cheese is a slow digested protein which will feed your muscles for hours. Whey is digested too quickly. Apart from immediately after lifting, real food is better than whey.

You need to change your routine around. Warm up, then lift weights. Lift hard, concentrating on compound lifts like squat, bench and deadlift. Go for about 3 sets with 8 reps at 80% of 1rm. Do cardio after lifting, not before, or you will use up muscle glycogen you need for your weights.

Ideally have a couple of days a week where you do cardio only, and make them intense sessions. Forget the rubbish about fat burning zones. More intense cardio will burn more calories, including more fat calories than LISS.

What are you eating right now? What does it all add up in terms of calories, protein, fat and carbs? Do you have an active or a desk job?