Need a new fitness/nutrition regime

[bopinator]

I'm 17 and over 2008 I think I basically stopped growing, I haven't gotten any taller over the past year and my feet have stopped growing too ( I think). The thing is I seem to be eating the same kind of things that I have all my life yet I'm starting to put on weight, also I was out of rugby and BJJ for 2 months in the middle of last year due to a mixture of bronchitis, conjunctivitis and just sinusitis.

Right now I am 5 foot 9 roughly(maybe a bit taller) and I way around 176 pounds. I realise this is quite heavy but I do think that I have a fairly big frame, the thing is I was about around 10 pounds lighter in may last year. So I've decided to start on a new overall fitness/nutrition plan and I was just windering if it seems suitable (e.g. too hard or too easy etc.):

Excercise wise I plan to train BJJ atleast 3 times a week 4 if I have time. I want to run around 3 times a week aswell (atm I've been doing it about twice a week) Basically when I run I do fairly intense interval training (for myself atleast) up to 2km(dunno how much that is in miles) or over. On top of that I fit in a bodywieght workout whenever I can (a couple different sit-up variations, pushups, squats, sometimes burpies.)


With weights atm I'm doing just a full body workout with dumbells consisting of Bench press, bicep curls, tricep and trap excercises that I can't recall the names of, squats with the dumbels and Rows (for my back muscles I think). I realise this workout really isn't that great but I don't usually have a gym membership. I do this routine usually twice a week.

Diet wise I had a fairly healthy diet but I feel that I was eating way too many HGI carbohydrates. Im trying just to work on eating lots of small meals with what I think I should eat based on what I've read here and other places. I only started doing this today.

Just for good measure I'll give a little timetable of what I have eaten and when I have eaten it as a sample.

9:30: 1 boiled egg and an orange.
11-12: BJJ training Drinking gatorade during and after.
1:15: A small handfull of nuts.
1:30: I was bored so I made a bit of a workout: got in my pool swam to the end of my pool and back (only approx 16 meters.) pulle myself out did 10 burpees, had a 10 sec break and repeated alternating between 10 burpees and 20 squats.
2: A piece of chicken a bit smalle than my palm and half a medium sized cucumber.
4: Half a cheese and tomato toasted sandwich with capeseed bread I think and a peach.
My families going out for chinese later tonight so it'll be interesting to see what I do with that but I'll update this thread later.

I would really like any and all useful advice as I really appreciate the insight that some of the forum members on this sight have when it comes to health and fitness.
Thanks.

[andrewa]

Hi bopinator. My first impression is that you're not eating enough food and certainly not enough protein. But I think the important question to start with is this - What is your specific goal as far as your weight training? Is it to gain muscle? To improve your BJJ game (do you plan on competing in BJJ?), To lose fat?

[Emevas]

176 at 5'9 isn't heavy.

Your routine is sporadic and has no form or structure as far as I can tell. As the above poster said, for what reason are you training?

[Cullion]

I'm a fraction shorter than you (just a touch under 5'9"), and I've had visible abs at 190lbs.
Whether or not you're 'out of shape' at that weight depends on how much of it is muscle and what you can actually do.
It would be normal to put on weight at your age, and through much of your 20s.

Your routine and diet will decide whether that weight is muscle or not. It doesn't sound like you're eating enough for breakfast to me, but I'm not a nutritionist and I don't know what exactly you're trying to achieve.

[bopinator]

Yes yesterday was stupid I ate way too little, I've actually looked over the past few months and I feel that I probably don't excercise rather than having a bad diet. I'm gonna scrap the whole diet thing as I just don't see it ending well and just steer away from the High GI carbohydrates etc.

I'm not really "fat" I don't have abs as when I have fat it collects in that general area, my legs seem to be naturally a lot stronger and bigger than the rest of my body. Really what I want to do is lose weight so I can compete in the weight division below me for BJJ but I'm starting to think that doing weights training and bulking up to the top of my weight class might be a better idea.

I feel that I manage pretty well in BJJ my body has become used to the short explosive bursts aswell as the short breaks typical in a BJJ match, I've started running recently and when 'm running as hard as I can I run 2 km in 10 minutes but am exhausted afterwards, which I assume is quite bad.

[judoninpo]

I agree with the above posters,you don't eat much for a 17 y.o. guy,it's quite natural to gain weight until the age of 20(maybe even 21-22)since your muscular and skeletal system is still growing to a full adult size.My advice is increase your protein intake(eat more low fat turkey and chicken breast,and generally lean meat,nuts,yogurt etc) and try to take a fair amount of carbs(rice,sweet potato,oats etc),divide your nutrition plan to at least 5 meals a day,increase your weight activity and you should be okay

[elipson]

The fact that you're exhausted after running isn't bad, it means you are actually getting a good workout instead of being lazy. Your time isn't all that good though. Check out some of the other threads on running in this forum, but to get you started try running for longer times at a slower pace. At least if your goal is fat burning.

If you want to increase your speed/explosiveness, forget the long distance running and do shorts sprints, focusing on your acceleration.

I personally prefer long running, as I feel this helps my cardio endurance while rolling. When I was playing rugby I did 50/50 long running-sprints.

[socratic]

The fact that you're exhausted after running isn't bad, it means you are actually getting a good workout instead of being lazy. Your time isn't all that good though. Check out some of the other threads on running in this forum, but to get you started try running for longer times at a slower pace. At least if your goal is fat burning.

I seem to remember reading a fair bit of literature that suggested interval training was the best by far for fat-burning, something like 9 times better than steady-state cardio like long-distance running would be. I suppose then if his goal's to lose fat, then wouldn't just sticking with sprint intervals be his best option?

[elipson]

You may be right about that.

I was thinking that he was looking to increase his cardio during bjj, as well as burn fat.

Must have been tired when I posted that.