diet and/or exercise help

I am training for my police testing coming up and am required to run a timed 2 mile course. I am trying to add lean muscle mass. I eat healthy and maintain a healthy lifestyle and do ciruit training 3 times a week. I am 6'3 and at 185, but would like to be around 190-195. The problem is I run 2-3 times a week at 3 miles and it makes it pretty challenging to add mass. I just started this week with creatine once a day and whey twice a day. I think I am on the right track? Any good solid advice would be helpful.

First things first, you are headed in the right direction. Check out www.rosstraining.com awesome site for combat sports. Also check out www.bodybuilding.com another good site(just remember the forums and articles are geared towards you purchasing supplements. Anything by John Berardi, Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler are solid in my book(google them to get reads). Get an account at www.fitday.com(its free) and plug in your activity,daily food, and it will give you calorie info. Google metabolic expenditure to figure how much calories you need in a day. Start by eating 50-100 extra calories per day. If you dont gain any weight go up to 150,next week 200,etc till you figure how many calories you need to put on muscle(not fat right??). You can add the extra 5-10 lbs with the right diet. Is it neccesary to do 3 miles each run? Could you do say a day of tabata intervals,A day of sledge work, and a long distance(3+miles) split for cardio and conditioning? Also consider swiching to oly style lifting instead of your circuit training. A good read for you would be The New Rules of Lifting. Check it out, and good luck!

thanks man, ya i used to run in college so i know sprinting and some interval work would help. what kind of carbs should i be looking to munch on? i already get a pretty good balance of protein and eat alot of tuna and peanut butter. thanks for the links.

Carb choice depends on your body type in my opinion...if you tolerate simple carbs i would try to have a starchy carb(potato,pasta,rice) at each meal. If you don't handle simple carbs well, or for general health(or just to have more nutritional value) I would focus on whole grains-higher fiber carbs(oatmeal,brown rice,sweet potatoes,yams,wwbread-ezekiel bread is awesome,kashi&other high fiber cereals,to name a few...) I would also try to eat vegetables and fruits throughout the day,at each meal if possible. Lean proteins,of course are great...but dont forget about beef. I think to many people skip steak because of fat, but the sat.fats in beef will help with testestorone production.Same for eggs,eat your yolks!! Plan your day according to fitday I promise you will see results. Are you having your whey around your workouts? I would mix it with milk,for a blend of protein. I take a scoop of whey with dry milk powder in my shaker to the gym. I mix with h2o for the ride home. I hope this helps. Were you a long distance runner or sprinter in college?

i am taking whey in the morning after my workout and then one before i go to bed. usually use water as i think it absorbs faster. i ran cross country in college and especially with the circuit lifting i eat non stop, but am constantly burning calories. olympic lifting is alway something that has worried me, simply because i know i will need perfect form as some of those exercises are pretty tough. if i were to try the oly lifting, what kind of cycle would you recommend? m-w-f or m-t, th- f?

i would train with weights first, and finish with cardio(intervals,sledge work,etc) 2 days a week. I would lift hard but brief,concentrating on compound exercises, for a total body workout. If you feel up to it perform supersets, cut rest between sets whatever you feel. If you want to improve your run time devote a day(or two?) to that. Eat just over your required amt to not gain fat. be sure to get ample rest and eat clean nutritionally sound food. As far as whey take that immediately after your workouts, and maybe even right before you lift . Right before bed is a waste of whey, due to how fast it is absorbed into the bloodstream. You are better off with casein(milk protein) at this time. I am a little bigger than you(225) but I have 12 oz cottchz+2 tblspoons natty PB right before bed. Also, we havent discussed this yet but make sure you are drinking alot of water and are eating between 1 and 2 grams of protein for each lb of BW.
A quality mutivitamin would be good as well. I have used creatine and seen gains but it causes me to hold water , I also have used glutamine, which I always have postworkout when I lift .
also you mentioned whey with water due to its fast absorption....have you ever had whey with carbs(dextrose,gatorade pwdr,etc) The insulin spike would have the fastest absorption into muscles. I like milk ,banana&whey though as a fast/slow rate of absorbtion

lol good call on everything you have said. i do take vitamins, omega 3's, and drink a ton of water so that's all good. i guess with the oly lifting i may try to stick to deadlift, squat, power clean, and bench. do that 2x a week and throw in a couple extra exercises give or take. thanks for the advice, it has been a major help. fitday is sweet too.

Be sure to switch up your weight routine periodically. I HIGHLY reccomend the book, New Rules of Lifting. It is a tremondous tool with routines to fit goals/body type. Good luck feel free to let me know your progress....were are you located,anyway? Im in upstate SC.

ya i do that from time to time and i will prolly check out that book. in missoui.

Cool. good luck....

Maybe you can try to lift after your cardio. Doing cardio after you lift will make you lose muscle mass.

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Posted by Lifes

Maybe you can try to lift after your cardio. Doing cardio after you lift will make you lose muscle mass.

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Actually I think you might have that backwards, But I could be wrong. In the event you just ran 3 miles for time, I dont think your going to lift much weight immediately,or enough to stimulate muscle growth. Likewise, if you just lifted heavy weight, olympic and compound lifts for over 1 hour straight with little rest time, you probably arent going to be able to do much in the way of cardio work-at least not for very long. The trick is to work heavy and hard enough to stimulate your muscles(20-45 min.) then hit some intervals to burn some fat(5-15 min.) Then have they whey shakes discusssed above and you should be good. If you concentrate on 3 mile runs alone you will lose muscle no matter how much you lift. You gain muscle when you rest not when you lift,run,walk,etc...
Now Lifes if you mean doing cardio in the AM and lifting PM that can work but takes up alot of time in daily schedule. Everyones different, and what works for some doesnt work for others. I wouldnt run 3 miles unless I absolutely had to, end of question. I will however do 10 sets of Tabata intervals on different peices of cardio equipment for 5 or 6 rounds with no rest in between just 10-15 seconds walking from one station to the next. It might total 3 miles distance