Exercise/Gym/Diet Program Help

[ACB95]

Hey,

I'm 17 years of age and approx. 188cm (6 ft 2) and 78 KGs. I've recently finished school and as a result I'm going to be joining a gym to stay in shape. Firstly, can anybody help me with creating a workout plan for different areas, are there any websites which can help me with this as I'm mainly wanting to focus on leg strength and fitness. I'm a pace bowler in cricket and anything to help me gain speed would be a main focus point other than just staying fit.

As well as this I'm also seeking help with my diet, I eat pretty well at the moment but at my age and current situation what should I be consuming more of? Any help would be much appreciated and any websites would help a lot!

Finally, I'm hoping to gain feedback on my soon to be exercise program which is shown below;

Monday morning: Gym
Monday afternoon: Indoor Cricket
Tuesday morning: Gym
Tuesday afternoon: Cricket training
Wednesday morning: Rest
Wednesday afternoon: Indoor cricket and Indoor soccer
Thursday morning: Rest
Thursday afternoon: Cricket training
Friday morning: Gym
Friday afternoon: Rest/Volleyball
Saturday: Cricket - All day
Sunday: Rest day

I'm hoping to work on different areas over the 3 days I attend the gym.

Thanks in advance, any help would be great as I can set out a set routine to ensure I stay fit and healthy.

Alex

[TigerBoy]

Your program is pretty packed, but it rather depends on how 'vigorous' your cricket training is (shouldn't be a problem at all if its mainly skills work). Your back-to-back gym days on Mon & Tue could be a problem unless you are very careful to split your efforts (eg upper body / lower body). Your main aerobic sessions are your soccer and (optional?) volleyball, so I think you could safely use your gym time primarily for strength work.


Workout
The primary thing you can do for leg strength is squats. I would strongly recommend you only do this after you've had personal instruction though.

If you can, book a session with a trainer (my gym gives you some sessions as part of the membership package). That way you can get shown how all your gym's particular kit works (which can be off-putting if its new) and also get a good program tailored for you.

In terms of what you do, don't forget 'core'. Everything you do relies on a strong middle section, so make sure you are doing a decent bit of mat work that includes crunches, planking, medicine ball passes, leg raises and things like that.
Body parts you work on depend on what you feel you need personally (either to help you with your sports or for vanity ;-)). I combine squats, deadlifts, shoulder press, bicep curls, tricep push downs, lat pull ups, vertical rows, various shoulder things with light dumbells plus the core routine, spread over 3 or 4 sessions a week. This gets combined swim training 3x a week and lots of crosstrainer work.

Diet:
You might need more protein if you are trying to build muscle (so I 'graze' on milk, eggs, peanut butter sandwiches) - you are aiming at roughly 150g proten for your body weight (advice ranges from 1.2 -2g protein per kilo bodyweight).
Carbs are usually hard to avoid, but if you do find you 'run out of steam' it could be you need to increase your carb intake. A quick google will find you sites with tables or apps to calculate your calorie balance if you want to really be scientific.

Hope that helps.

[ACB95]

Your program is pretty packed, but it rather depends on how 'vigorous' your cricket training is (shouldn't be a problem at all if its mainly skills work). Your back-to-back gym days on Mon & Tue could be a problem unless you are very careful to split your efforts (eg upper body / lower body). Your main aerobic sessions are your soccer and (optional?) volleyball, so I think you could safely use your gym time primarily for strength work.


Workout
The primary thing you can do for leg strength is squats. I would strongly recommend you only do this after you've had personal instruction though.

If you can, book a session with a trainer (my gym gives you some sessions as part of the membership package). That way you can get shown how all your gym's particular kit works (which can be off-putting if its new) and also get a good program tailored for you.

In terms of what you do, don't forget 'core'. Everything you do relies on a strong middle section, so make sure you are doing a decent bit of mat work that includes crunches, planking, medicine ball passes, leg raises and things like that.
Body parts you work on depend on what you feel you need personally (either to help you with your sports or for vanity ;-)). I combine squats, deadlifts, shoulder press, bicep curls, tricep push downs, lat pull ups, vertical rows, various shoulder things with light dumbells plus the core routine, spread over 3 or 4 sessions a week. This gets combined swim training 3x a week and lots of crosstrainer work.

Diet:
You might need more protein if you are trying to build muscle (so I 'graze' on milk, eggs, peanut butter sandwiches) - you are aiming at roughly 150g proten for your body weight (advice ranges from 1.2 -2g protein per kilo bodyweight).
Carbs are usually hard to avoid, but if you do find you 'run out of steam' it could be you need to increase your carb intake. A quick google will find you sites with tables or apps to calculate your calorie balance if you want to really be scientific.

Hope that helps.

Cheers mate! Very helpful.

In terms of my cricket training it isn't full on but there is fitness work and a lot of focus on my bowling which adds to how vigorous it is.

I'm thinking about changing the Tuesday gym day to Wedneday giving me a day in between to rest. I'm hoping to also combine strength work with aerobic such as the cross trainer and treadmill.

Cheers again, will take on board all of your advice