How to increase gains in the gym nutrition or exercise?

[ValiantSalvatore]

I have a problem when working out and with nutrition in general, I am working out quite actively for the last 7 months I had a few breaks in between and played around with my workout habit it is quite stable now. I tend to go 4-5 times a week doing mostly body weight exercises, also training with the freeletics app and hybrid strength so focusing on muscle building and explosiveness.

There are a few problems that I have, one is I am just now correcting a few exercises and I am loosing the amount of repetitions that I can do, for instance I can do 10 pullups or a bit less, let's say 8 and but when I stretch out my ellbows fully as athlean x advices I can do two at most. Also, the gym is very very very small, so it lacks some good equipment. 

My training mostly consists out of HIT exercises (high intensity exercises) and lifting, for instance one workout could be:

Warm up 2-5 mins:
knee highs, jumping jacks, planks, switching planks + other rather small exercises like windmill my arms forwards and backwards or leg raises etc.

Actual training for e.g I did today:
5 rounds:
5 clapping pushups
30 knee highs
5 knee jump burpess
40 seconds break

Then a new round of exercises called Poseidon (2/4 of that)
20 pullups
20 pushups
15 pullups
15pushups

Then 25 jumps.

This would be one day. 

Weight lifting exercises I do are:
deadlifts max = 80kg
backsquats max = 100kg ( farthest I went are 120kg)
bent rows max = 40 kg
bench press max = 50 - 60 kg

Results after 7 months:
I did loose 2-3% of body fat I did not loose any weight. 
I can lift 50kg more with backsquats at the beginning I did 60 or 50. Now I do 100+
I generally feel more fit and more psychological and social benefits, let's say mental health benefits.
That is about it. 

Nutrition:
I took the advice from @Michael569 to mainly use Sucrose products (IIRC!) so, I am not buying any products that are not full whole grain, dinkel wheat etc. 
What I mostly eat is whole grain noodles like spaghetti with tomato sauce and a bit of cheese to cover protein intake.
In the morning I eat oatmeal with some peanutbutter again for protein and to last till lunch.
In the afternoon it depends since buying stuff here is difficult, because I am stuck in the students dorm on a mountain or hill. 
So, I buy mostly nuts and eat them solely or I eat the leftovers from cooking so agian noodles for instance or others stuff.

For e.g what I also eat is brown rice with veggies and tofu, or the same ingredients as curry, or the same ingredients as fried rice with some cheese for instance.
Seldom I cook potatos and eat it with spinache, I often also use an egg or two to the rice or to the leftovers to boost my protein intake.

Stats:
I will use EU metrics.
191cm
90~kg (1kg less or more)
13,6% body fat
BMI is 24.7 (73kg - 93kg is normal) 

I looked sueprfically at some pictures and decided that I want to get below 10% body fat I started with 15-16% body fat, also I am not sure what is more important body fat or bmi as an index for health and or progress. Since, my BMI does worry me a bit, especially since I am not loosing weight and eating less.

My calorie intake to loose 0.5kg for each week would be around 2300 kalories. I don't think I eat that much, but on some occasions, people offer me food and I just eat it. Also soon the cafeteria will open again, so I will eat their not so healthy food again. 

Any advice ? Cooking all the time is a bit difficult when the kitchen is small, I do want to do a challenge where I teste a new recepie a week, but for now I am doing other challenges. For e.g stretching for meditation (and of course exercise).

I follow thenx, a German channel (smart gains), and athlean x on youtube, but I am somehow dissapointed with my progress. 

Is reducing my exercise for instance from 4-5 times to only one or three times a week that bad ? I did this now twice over the span of 2-3 weeks, so I lost 1 month plus of subsequent training.

What would be more important in this situation exercise or nutrition ? Other advice ?






 

Edited August 6, 2019 by ValiantSalvatore

[Consilience]

Athlean is not the great imho. Dude is jacked but that doesnt always mean much.

Look into 3dmj ok youtube. They have an absolutely phenomenal series on nutrition and exercise. To make gains, both are needed. They’re a bodybuilding coaching group, but the principles still apply for non bodybuilders.

Ill link the series below but just a fair warning, it's very information dense so be prepared. However taking the time to understand these principles will absolutely pay off.

 

 

[ValiantSalvatore]

@Consilience Thanks, a ton! I By the mere look of things this will definitely help !

[Michael569]

15 hours ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

I took the advice from @Michael569 to mainly use Sucrose products (IIRC!)

sucrose? nonononono  sucrose is a white processed sugar, when did I say that? I agree with the wholefood sources but stay away from sucrose as far as you can. 

[ValiantSalvatore]

@Michael569 Thats the point I forgot, there is so much information about this and I am interested in so many things. I'll remember that for now to stay away from sucrose, I confused complex carbohydrates with surcose somehow. 

That is quite clear for now and forever ! 

[Consilience]

6 hours ago, Michael569 said:

sucrose? nonononono  sucrose is a white processed sugar, when did I say that? I agree with the wholefood sources but stay away from sucrose as far as you can. 

For gaining muscle, sucrose isnt anymore or less effective than more complex carbohydrates. For overall health, there may be better carb sources. 

[Michael569]

27 minutes ago, Consilience said:

For gaining muscle, sucrose isnt anymore or less effective than more complex carbohydrates. For overall health, there may be better carb sources. 

well, in the end glucose is glucose but what differs is the glycemic load of a meal that is rapidly absorbed against a meal with low glycemic load that is gradually absorbed, feeds microbiota and prevents a CV incident through vascular damage. 

[Hello from Russia]

2 hours ago, Consilience said:

For gaining muscle, sucrose isnt anymore or less effective than more complex carbohydrates. For overall health, there may be better carb sources. 

It is less efective. Because you can eat more nutritious food instead of it and it will give a boost to your nervous system. It's not only about macronutrients, it's about micro too, especially intake of things like potassium and magnesium. You begin to appreciate it when you see how folks like Arnold trained (I Highly recommend to read his encyclopedia of bodybuilding by the way if you're serious about your pursuits), he calculated almost every calorie and tried to eat as less empty or nutrition poor foods as possible, same did Bruce Lee. Even when he was bulking up. He would eat like 4k calories of super nutritious foods which would give him a ton of energy and nervous system strength so he would train like a champion, lift big and grow much. Compare his approach to how most people in conventional society train and behave. They use "bulking up" as an excuse to shit 50% of their daily calories with sugar and wheat products. Then they wonder why they don't achieve much with their "bulking" and suffer from various health consequences

Edited August 7, 2019 by Hello from Russia

[ValiantSalvatore]

@Hello from Russia Well what do you recommend for food intake is the plan I wrote above enough, my coach with the app will end in 4 weeks, so I will have to re-plan all of this, since I am at a dorm and train at the gym of the university there is no one I can ask and there are only a few people with a lot of gains. 

What I know is from the app to take in 30gramm of protein each meal so 90 grams approx a day. Or I calculate it precisely IIRC it's 2gram for 1kg of weight, so I would need to eat 180 grams of protein, so 60 gram each meal. I am not sure if this is to much, so I took the advice from the app ( the app said both) and I try to eat around 30gram of protein each meal, I am not sure if I hit the mark but I eat around 20 gram at least. 

What strengthens the nervous system ? Besides supplements like cordycepts that help to strengthen the nervous system (?) against stress reponses and enhances resistance. 

I mainly drink water or tee, mostly some green tea varient, which are supposed to help and boost fat loose even, but on a minor scale and IIRC it's an open debate if it helps or not. 

Edited August 7, 2019 by ValiantSalvatore

[Consilience]

2 hours ago, Hello from Russia said:

It is less efective. Because you can eat more nutritious food instead of it and it will give a boost to your nervous system. It's not only about macronutrients, it's about micro too, especially intake of things like potassium and magnesium. You begin to appreciate it when you see how folks like Arnold trained (I Highly recommend to read his encyclopedia of bodybuilding by the way if you're serious about your pursuits), he calculated almost every calorie and tried to eat as less empty or nutrition poor foods as possible, same did Bruce Lee. Even when he was bulking up. He would eat like 4k calories of super nutritious foods which would give him a ton of energy and nervous system strength so he would train like a champion, lift big and grow much. Compare his approach to how most people in conventional society train and behave. They use "bulking up" as an excuse to shit 50% of their daily calories with sugar and wheat products. Then they wonder why they don't achieve much with their "bulking" and suffer from various health consequences

Look into Alberto Nunez. He is a professional natural bodybuilder who would eat poptarts during his contest preps. Zero effects on his physique because one’s physique is primarily determined by the energy balance of your diet since your physique is an energetic output. Obviously eating like shit will eventually catch up to you because you wont be able to train as hard, but thinking simple sugar is bad for building muscle is just inaccurate. Moreover, there is more and more research coming out indicating our understanding of glycemic load is incomplete. Individual’s response to sugar is dependent on genetics, activity level, how much protein and fat was consumed with the meal, and microbiota. 

 

Anecdotally, Im someone who’s eaten plenty of wheat and sugar and had very good gains both with building muscle and strength. It’s much more nuanced than simple sugar is bad. 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Consilience

[Consilience]

1 hour ago, ValiantSalvatore said:

@Hello from Russia Well what do you recommend for food intake is the plan I wrote above enough, my coach with the app will end in 4 weeks, so I will have to re-plan all of this, since I am at a dorm and train at the gym of the university there is no one I can ask and there are only a few people with a lot of gains. 

What I know is from the app to take in 30gramm of protein each meal so 90 grams approx a day. Or I calculate it precisely IIRC it's 2gram for 1kg of weight, so I would need to eat 180 grams of protein, so 60 gram each meal. I am not sure if this is to much, so I took the advice from the app ( the app said both) and I try to eat around 30gram of protein each meal, I am not sure if I hit the mark but I eat around 20 gram at least. 

What strengthens the nervous system ? Besides supplements like cordycepts that help to strengthen the nervous system (?) against stress reponses and enhances resistance. 

I mainly drink water or tee, mostly some green tea varient, which are supposed to help and boost fat loose even, but on a minor scale and IIRC it's an open debate if it helps or not. 

Aim for 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. There wouldn’t be any negative health consequences unless you have a problem with your kidneys. But just drink plenty of water and you’ll be fine.

Best practices to strengthen the nervous system are hatha yoga and meditation. Both of these really help balance and mitigate the stress of resistance training, besides helping with contemplating the existential nature of reality  

[ValiantSalvatore]

@Consilience Is eating less worth it my physique naturally is quite athlethic, I am focusing on building muscles and becoming lean, I will see what the last 4 weeks of the coach entail. I can see my abs etc. when I look in the mirror but not when I look down lol, so I am a bit frustrated with my results. 

7 months surely is enough time, any workout regiment that you would recommend ? The coach will be over in 4 weeks and I am not sure if I will start another round of a new coach etc. 

I do pratice meditation, I am not flexible enough for hatha-yoga yet. So, I can't pratice that.
 

39 minutes ago, Consilience said:

Both of these really help balance and mitigate the stress of resistance training, besides helping with contemplating the existential nature of realit

I've transcended it partially with LSD  

Edited August 7, 2019 by ValiantSalvatore