Thread: NEWBIE - Looking for your advise and input on what I am doing currently

Originally Posted by DOACanada

Hello All...

See my introduction in the introduction section (I can't post links yet as I am a new member) here is a brief intro of myself to provide context....

I am a 30 year old male, who has noticed that I can't eat like I used to and not see the effects!

I am 6'4", currently weigh 235lbs, average build, but certainly soft in the wrong areas! (actually are they any right areas to be soft?)

I am a recently new dad (8 months ago), and just quit smoking (1 month and going strong).

I am looking for some advice, and answers and hope I have come to the right place.

It has been a very long time since I regularly exercised / weight trained and things seem to have come a very long way!

Here is what I have started out doing right now. (Please understand my time is limited due to my 8 month old son and therefore about 1 hour each morning is my only time Monday to Friday).

So I realize I need to start out slow, or I would hate it and stop!!! Therefore I am only doing my workout TUESDAY and THURSDAY MORNINGS. So here is what I am currently doing and my goals.

WORKOUT
Start
1) Incline Press --> 60lbs 10 rep's 3 times 10second break between.

2) Arm Curls --> 50lbs 5 rep's 3 times 10 second break between. This is an isolation movement (movement involving only one joint). Although you may want to develop your biceps, isolation movements are best left for fine-tuning down the road after consistent training, at which point you can asses your physique's weak points. Compound lifts (more than one joint) elicit more growth hormones, so, even though lifts like rows and pullups work the biceps only secondarily (as opposed to directly, like in curls) your body will produce far more growth hormones, making your biceps bigger in the process. This is much more efficient way to train.

3) Running on Treadmill --> average speed 7.2mph; time 15 minutes (average distance achieved with this is 1.92 miles) Cardio is good to do, but I'd perform this either after your workout, later in the day, or (the way I like to do cardio) on an entirely different day.

4) Incline Press --> 60lbs 10 rep's 3 times 10second break between.
5) Arm Curls --> 50lbs 5 rep's 3 times 10 second break between.
Stop I don't see the need to include the same exercises twice in the same session.

Average time to complete above circuit - 45 minutes What about warming up?

GOALS
1) Increase Bicep size

2) Tone and Shape Pec's Sorry to burst your bubble man, but you can't "tone" and "shape" muscles. This is a very popular myth in weight lifting. How your muscles look depends on diet (i.e. bodyfat...this is the "toning" illusion..toning really is just losing bodyfat to make the muscle appear harder...certain rep ranges or exercises don't produce hard or soft muscle...the differences will only be strength/power versus endurance..not looks) and genetics. A lot of people think that squeezing at the top of cable crossovers will "tone" the inner chest, for instance. This is completely untrue. Also, while there are technically seperate muscles in the chest, you can't isolate upper/lower/outer/inner, etc. You can put the slightest bit more emphasis, but nothing noticeable. Using a variety of angles, grips, and resistance is just a good way to provide a variety of stumuli to your muscle fibers.

3) Increase Stamina (Doing this through Cardio)
4) Lose weight in process of toning and shaping Generally speaking, it's physically impossible to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously. The body is either in positive nitrogen balance (can produce new tissue) or negative nitrogen balance (unable to produce new tissue). This is determined by whether you're eating more calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight or if you're under that basal caloric level. There are three exceptions, however: if you're significantly overweight, you might build some muscle while dropping fat. One of our moderators, Built, use to be overweight and lost a lot of fat and gained 8 lbs muscle in the process; if you're a complete beginner you'll probably put on some muscle very fast with only minor fat gains; and, lastly, if you're using performance-enhancing drugs, you can put on mass amounts of muscle with little fat gain. Build the muscle first, worry about the fat later.

5) Run 3 miles in 15 minutes

Other Activities that add to exercise
1) I play hockey minimum 1 time a week for an hour long. Which is a pretty good cardio workout and leg workout (I think?)

Changes thus far.

I have been doing the above workout for 3 weeks now, I have found:
1) On the incline press I have been able to go up 10lbs to 60lbs from 50 lbs.
2) I have shaved my 2 mile job time down to about 16 minutes from 18 +
3) I have added a shoulder work out (sorry don't know what it's called so I will describe it) The bar is above my head and I pull it down behind the back of my head. This weight is set to 80lbs and I do 10 reps 3 times.

OK, That is what I am currently doing, I have altered my diet to cut out fat's, salts, and sugars where I can. I don't eat as healthy as I should yet, but I am making small changes as to not turn myself off of it.

Not a good idea. Diet myth buster: fats are crucial to your health, particularly for hormone production. You don't want any trans fats, and you want to keep your saturated intake in check (though some is good for the heart...you'd get a decent amount from eggs (1.5 g sat fat per large egg). However, polyunsaturated (omega 3 and 6) and especially monounsaturated (omega 9) are crucial to your health, especially if you plan on putting on muscle. Mono fat is a vital element of testosterone production. How you put together your macros (caloric ratio of protein to carbs to fat) is up to you, but I'd suggest at least 60-80g/day of primarily mono and poly fats.

Your input, advise and comments are more than welcome as I want to learn and improve, and achieve my goals.

Welcome to the board!

I admire your dedication to train in that short frame of time you have in your hectic schedule. You made a wise decision joining this board. We have many highly knowledgeable members.

You can see my comments above for some specifics. My biggest suggestion to you would be to train your whole body. I know you may want only the pecs and biceps, but, unless you want monstrous biceps and pecs, you'll achieve those goals much easier with a balanced program consisting primarily or exclusively of compound lifts. You'll also end up with a well-balanced, more appealing physique that will complement those pecs and biceps. Think of it this way: you may not realize but there are so many parts in the body that, when well developed, can create illusions by augmenting the appearance of other muslces. Some examples: wide thighs in combination with wide lats and shoulders make the waist appear smaller; a broad rib cage and thick delts make the PECS appear more developed. Well-developed tricep will make the biceps appear to be better proportioned as the arm will take on a much more aesthetique appearance.

Get the idea?

One more thing, the legs are composed of the body's largest muscles. Squats and deadlifts are (I wouldn't even say arguably as this is pretty much a unanimous conclusion amongst BBers) the best exercises for not only leg but full-body development (when done correctly, that is). Yes, squats and deadlifts will make your biceps and pecs grow.

Post your diet in the diet and nutrition section and let's get you started. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Phineas

Welcome to the board!

I admire your dedication to train in that short frame of time you have in your hectic schedule. You made a wise decision joining this board. We have many highly knowledgeable members.

You can see my comments above for some specifics. My biggest suggestion to you would be to train your whole body. I know you may want only the pecs and biceps, but, unless you want monstrous biceps and pecs, you'll achieve those goals much easier with a balanced program consisting primarily or exclusively of compound lifts. You'll also end up with a well-balanced, more appealing physique that will complement those pecs and biceps. Think of it this way: you may not realize but there are so many parts in the body that, when well developed, can create illusions by augmenting the appearance of other muslces. Some examples: wide thighs in combination with wide lats and shoulders make the waist appear smaller; a broad rib cage and thick delts make the PECS appear more developed. Well-developed tricep will make the biceps appear to be better proportioned as the arm will take on a much more aesthetique appearance.

Get the idea?

One more thing, the legs are composed of the body's largest muscles. Squats and deadlifts are (I wouldn't even say arguably as this is pretty much a unanimous conclusion amongst BBers) the best exercises for not only leg but full-body development (when done correctly, that is). Yes, squats and deadlifts will make your biceps and pecs grow.

Post your diet in the diet and nutrition section and let's get you started. Good luck!

Hold Crap!!!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!

As I said years ago I trained but that was to create fast muscle because of swimming.

Now I am looking to trim down and than work on growing and defining. I knew I needed to start somewhere and it certainly looks like I have found the right place.

I am not fooling myself into thinking that my approach will heed me results quickly, I am committing what I can and will hopefully see the results in time.

I truly appreciate the advise and information above, and will reconsider my approach and refine it more.

Next week I will go to three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) with the intent of including Monday and Friday also but again I want to start slow.

Phineas; Thank you for your valuable advise, my other question would be if you don't mind is, what would you see as being a good "schedule" for me based upon what I am doing now? Oh, and my apologies, I should of clarified, I cut out the bad fat's and kept the good fat's. My wife is in the food processing industry and gave me some input on good and bad fats.

Thanks again,
DOA

Originally Posted by DOACanada

Hold Crap!!!!
Phineas; Thank you for your valuable advise, my other question would be if you don't mind is, what would you see as being a good "schedule" for me based upon what I am doing now? Oh, and my apologies, I should of clarified, I cut out the bad fat's and kept the good fat's. My wife is in the food processing industry and gave me some input on good and bad fats.
DOA

Well, seeing as how time is an issue for you, I think a 3-day full-body split would be excellent. I do full-body three times a week, but I do one compound for each plane of motion (e.g. lower push, upper vertical pull, etc) each session. You won't have the time for this so let's split the planes of motion so you do three major compounds a session and maybe some minor accessory work. This way, you should be able to do a decent warmup and get through your whole session in an hour.

Because this is full-body and you're splitting the planes of motion in a 3-day split you'll need to alternate your workouts every 2 weeks to make sure everything is trained evenly. You can go with this program for a while and then, once you get a feel for how your body works, feel free to adjust as you like.

Also, don't train three consecutive days. Generally speaking, you shouldn't go more than two consecutive days, especially if you're training only 3 days a week. I'd go for something like Tues/Thurs/Sat or Mon/Wed/Fri or Tues/Thurs/Sun, etc

Anything marked with an asterisk means it's accessory work and you can drop it if you want. It's extra work that isn't crucial to your progress. Generally for aesthetique purposes.

Week 1

Tuesday:

Back Squats - lower push (quad-dominant)
BB Shoulder Press- upper vertical push (delt-dominant)
BB Bent-Over Rows - upper horiztonal pull (back-width, lat/rhomboid-dom)

*calf work
*isolation lift

Thursday:

Deadlifts - lower pull (ham/glutes-dominant (hip))
Pullups or lat-pulldowns (if pullups are too difficult) - upper vertical pull (back width, lat-dominant)
Incline DB Press - upper horizontal push (pec-dominant)

*isolation lift
*calf work

Saturday:

Back Squats - lower push (quad-dominant)
BB Shoulder Press- upper vertical push (delt-dominant)
BB Bent-Over Rows - upper horiztonal pull (back-width, lat/rhomboid-dom)

*calf work
*isolation lift

Week 2....

Alternate the sessions so Tues/Sat is Thursday's session from Week 1 so you're deadlifting twice that week, etc. You get the idea.

You also want to incorporate periodization. This just means altering your intensities, rep ranges, training techniques, tempos, etc. I think for now you shouldn't go too complicated, as you want to first establish a solid strength/fitness foundation on these staple lifts.

(the term "intensity" when used in BBing (bodybuilding) is not of abstract meaning but a measure of relative effort. It's based usually as a percentage of your one-rep max (1RM), which is the maximum amount of weight you can lift on a particular lift without breaking form. Another common way intensity is measured would look like this: 3 x 10 @ 12RM...this means you would perform 3 sets of 10 at a weight that would have you fail (muscular failure, not neurological..that would be your nervous system fails not the muscles) on the 12th rep (if you were to go to that point). This allows you to train at a high intensity but not so high that your CNS (central nervous system) begins to shut off certain bodily responses. This a healthier and more realistic approach to adapt than training to failure regularly, as many lifters tend to do.

So, your program structure could look like this...

Week 1/2 - 4 x 12 @ 50-60% (I normally lift at different intensities each week, but because you're altering your sessions to balance your lifts I think each lift should be performed at each intensity equally)
Week 3/4 - 3 x 8 @ 70%
Week 5/6 - 4 x 6 @ 75%
Week 7/8 - 3 x 5 @ 80-85%

Again, I'm not necessarily pushing this on you. You can just use this as a template if you like. Nevertheless, this will work well (assuming your diet is in check).