A little advice please.

[edmclaughlin523]

Although i'm happy with my results so far, i know they could be even better.

I'm currently trying lose more inches off my waist while gaining muscle mass in my upper body and arms. I'm over 40 and have a weak left shoulder due to an unrepaired muscle tear from 10 years ago, but i'm otherwise healthy now. I work out 3-4 times per week with each day focused on specific muscle groups. Each workout day also includes a 30 minute cardio warm-up and a 10 minute cardio post lifting session cool-down.

Diet: I am on a high protein diet with very few calories of empty carbs (i.e. no soda, white flour, etc). My protein intake is approx. 100g per day with a total of approx. 1800 calories.
Supplements: Syntha-6 Protein Powder an hour before my workout along with Creatine MonoHydrate. Post workout Amino-x

My exercises are always changing after a month to reduce the muscle memory factor.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to specific routines, supplements, using the supplements, and/or diet that could help me keep gaining mass while still losing those inches?

Thanks

[decu68]

Also over 40; gets harder as we get older; not that we are old by any means, it is just our bodies don't operate as effeciently as it used to in our 20's and 30's. Seems you are on the right track.

You don't have to change your workout every month; that is not necessary. Not a horrible thing but you normally you should look at changing your workout when you are not getting results anymore. To find a good routine that you are making gains on, milk it for all its worth. When stalling on a particular exercise you may wish to just change that out. You can add or delete reps/sets. You can change the order of the exercise; lots of little things as well.

Losing weight off the waist is HARD. This for most people is the first place they will gain the bad weight and the last place to lose it; and for many due to genetics, age, etc., they may never lose it. I have battled the same thing and only recently have made a big improvement in this area and that was due to finding out I had gluten allergies. By eliminating all breads, cereals, pastas, etc., I have lost now 2 inches since December; couldn't be happier. For somebody that doesn't have this problems this may not be what they want but I can guarantee it does help as these carbohydrates, especially as we get older, our bodies have a harder time burning them off even with cardio and lifting.

I can't recommend any supplements, that is a personal preference. I do take protein from time to time but have had no success with anything else and stay away from them as the majority is just hype and a drain on your funds. Plus supplements are just that, supplements as you can get most of what you need from foods. I do however take glucosamine and cod liver oil pills to help with joint pain; I find these do help. One of each in the morning and one of each at night.

You mention that you are wishing to gain more muscle mass in your upper body and arms; how much lifting do you do for your legs? You probably are already aware that the harder you work on your legs that more capable you will be to grow a stronger/larger upper body. And squats are the best exercise of all. As for larger arms, I have found that to really increase these you have to use isolation exercises. While compound exercises do incorporate the arms, they will never see their full potential unless you isolate them as well. And when working your arms you need to realize that you need to work more on your triceps than your biceps. The triceps are the foundation of the arms, the larger your triceps the larger your biceps can grow. Plus the triceps is the majority of the arm so the larger they get the larger your arms will be and look.

You probably have a good handle on this and is just something like the rest of us are doing; working one day at a time and trying to achieve some hard sought after goals. Keep driving forward.

[edmclaughlin523]

I hadn't thought about my legs because they've always been very strong. Carrying 35 lbs of extra weight around the waist and a previous construction job that involved almost 500 squats per day carrying 50 lbs helped train them. I'll try to incorporate legs into my routine because i'm getting very close to a plateau.

thanks for the advice.