Overall, Nick has given really good advice, but I would disagree on a few points.
Originally posted by Nick Forrer
Hi UK monk
Protein- avoid mince meat, burgers, bacon, sausages etc. Stick to chicken, turkey, ham fish etc. Also whey protein powder is good (it has a better amino acid profile than milk/egg or soy protein)- I mix it with milk, yogurt and banana. Eggs whites are another source of protein (avoid the yolks).
Agree completely on the meat thing, but not the eggs. You need the yolk to get the complete amino acid chain (i.e. full protein). There’s a lot of fat in the yolks, so use several egg whites and just one egg yolk - overall this will be much better.
Carbs- stick to brown rice, brown bread - its okay to have pasta and potatos- just dont go over the top. Avoid processed, refined ‘white’ carbs.
Agree completely. Also, wholegrain breads are even better than brown.
Drink skimmed milk and water. Avoid soft drinks. Diet drinks contain Aspartame- which is linked to cancer - so avoid.
Try not to go OTT with fruit juice either-it has high amounts of sugar.
The sugar in fruit juice is fructose, not refined sucrose, so it’s not nearly that bad for you. I know you said don’t go OTT, which is good advice, but I just wanted to point out that fruit juice is actually really good for you. Just make sure it’s fresh whole fruit juice with no added sugar, preserves, etc. And don’t go OTT. 
Avoid caffeine.
Actually, caffeine has been proven to help break down fats in the system. I wouldn’t recommend more than one cup a day however.
Eat loads of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Amen! The more raw, the better!
Dont eat any of the following- crisps/chips, chocolate, soft drinks/soda, sweets/candy- in fact any fast food or junk food whatsoever.
Can we have another amen!
In short wherever possible try and minimise saturated fat and simple sugars (unfortunately these are the two things that taste good!) as well as processed/prepackaged/frozen/fried foods.
The fresher the better!
AMEN brother, I can feel the love ion here tonight!
Eat small meals throughout the day- liitle and often!
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Dont eat a lot late at night.
Good advice. Anything not digested before you sleep will be stored as fat.
Do your cardio first thing on an empty stomach. It should be low intensity high duration i.e. about forty minutes- I recommend either cycling or swimming- running may hurt your knees/ankles (especially if you are overweight), skipping is too high intensity to be properly aerobic.
Low intensity high duration is not necessarily the best. These days people are leaning a lot more toward higher intensities and intervals. Do a Google on HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training. It’s great stuff!
Persevere- Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Possibly the best advice so far!
In terms of weight training I think anything from a 6-12 rep range is okay but you must go to failure on every set you do i.e. to the point where you literally cant lift any more. Also less is more- dont do loads of sets- 2 or 3 is sufficient per body part- Ater 10 years of weights I just do 1 work set plus a couple of strip sets when i have reached muscular failure.
I would advise against muscular failure all the time. Use it occasionally, but train up to your pre-established limits.
Make sure you have good lifting technique- dont rely on momentum or ancilliary muscles to take the work load of the target muscle- lift slowly and under control- emphasis the negative protion of the lift/range of motion as much as the positive portion
As a general rule never work the same body part two days in a row- in fact I would avoid doing weights two days in a row- it will depend on other individual factors though i.e. recovery ability, stress levels, hours of sleep, diet, MA training schedule etc.
keep a training journal of your reps/ sets/ poundages- this will allow you to monitor your progress and measure the effect of any changes you may make.
Keep it simple - avoid fancy routines- stick to bread and butter compound lifts-squat, bench press, dead lift, chin ups and a few isolation excercises - hamstring curls, bicep curls, calf raises.
And one final Amen, children!
A good book is ‘Brawn’ by Stuart McRobert or ‘High intensity training’ by Mike Mentzer.
Hmmm. Don’t know these - might have a look myself.
