What would it take to be a Brazilian international footballer?

What steps should i take to make a perfect workout and diet for me?

• I am a cross country runner, and a footballer. My hopes for the future are to start dabbling into boxing/MMA. I am in pretty good shape, but I am skinny and would like to get bigger and stronger while still retaining my speed. My workout schedule as of now is soccer practice after school everyday (more cardio then anything), and at night I max out on push ups before i go to sleep. I want to find a strength workout, plyometrics workout, and diet that works for me. What steps should i take to make a perfect workout schedule and routine for me? Thanks in advance.

• Answer:

  If possible, a great thing you could do would be to try to find a fitness trainer--maybe a coach or someone who works with you in football or XC--but a coach would be a great first step towards finding a customized workout based on your abilities and skill levels. You don't say what your age is, but assuming that you're in your teens or even early twenties, you have to keep in mind that your metabolism is probably sky-high, especially given your athletics. Initially, this could make it difficult to put on weight. No matter what, to get big, you need to ingest enough calories to fuel your body and then some extra. As such, a good first step would be to try to eat more...I know it sounds simple, but it can be hard! Try to eat 5-6 times a day, and focus on eating HEALTHY foods...while it's okay to eat an entire pizza every once in a while, focus on whole-wheat carbohydrates to fuel your athletic activities, fruits and vegetables to get the right nutrients, and protein sources to help build your muscle. Again, given your high activity level, you might also consider consuming power bars, protein drinks, gels, etc. if you don't already to help consume more calories without a huge bulk of food. Now...about the workout! Something that's important to keep in mind when you're trying to bulk up is that aerobic activities for an extended period of time cause your body to go into fat-burning mode, not into muscle-building mode. Guys who want to bulk up and don't need to lose fat should limit running on a treadmill, for example, to no more than twenty minutes a day. Since it sounds like soccer practice is something you have to do, that's fine, but don't go all-out doing tons of other aerobic exercise. Instead, focus on strength training. If you have access to a gym, go and simply start lifting (again, under the guidance of a coach or fitness trainer, if at all possible!)--chest press, bench press, free weights, whatever--and do that for about thirty minutes a day. Focus on doing each movement slowly and with control; no need to do them as fast as possible, as that will be too much like cardio! If you don't have access to a gym, focus on what you can do with your own body weight--push-ups, sit-ups, squats and lunges, etc. Consider buying a free weights or barbell set to intensify your workout. Plan on doing weight training about three days a week. Similarly, monitor your weight approximately once a week to ensure that you are eating enough to sustain your activities. If you need ideas for how to shape your workout, google and youtube are your friends--as well as any guys at the gym who look like you want to look and might be willing to lend you a hand! One website, cheesy though it may sound, that has really excellent workouts, both for the gym and for home, is menshealth.com. Good luck! Remember to be patient with yourself; results won't happen overnight, but you will see them in 8-12 weeks.