New to IM

Malachor · 04-18-2003, 05:56 PM

Hi everybody

My name is Todd, I'm nearly 18 years old, I'm a junior in high school and I've been lifting since freshmen year. I've found that lifting is really about the only thing I cared about over these past few years. I plan to make a living off of it in some way, but I don't know what yet or how. Anyways, I feel that I have a decent foundation in bodybuilding knowledge. I've read quite a bit about it and I'm confident that I know more than your common joe, but of course I'm no pro. However, I know next to nothing about nutrition. I eat a lot of everything. The only guideline I try to follow that I know is at least a lb of protein for every lb of body weight. I don't eat breakfast, I know I need to and I try to eat less more.

For my goals,

Arnold sums up everything I want to look like. Put my head on his body and you got what I'm aiming to achieve, physically. As of now, I have not been thinking about competing as I'm still building up. I guess once I start getting to where I want to be I might think about competing.

My training is pretty inconsistent though. I lift mostly at school. I have a weight training class and we lift 3 days a week, MWF. I work hard when I'm in there, but in this past year I let my ego take over a little and I wanted to become a bench monster aiming to bench 300 this year. I'm not too far off from that, my max was 255 last time I did it about a month ago, but I'm stronger than that now. I have some equipment at home to lift. I have a Bodysolid multistation machine that my parents bought my freshmen year and I used that religously for the first 5 months then I slumped off for a few months. Last summer I bought a 300lb olympic freeweight set from Sports Authority. I think that's my best investment thus far. I also bought a bench that can decline, flat, and incline. It has a leg curl/leg extension attachment and a preacher curl attachment, but my arms are too long to use the preacher curl attachment. I wish I was more educated when I bought the bench because it's not a very good bench for serious lifting. The stays are too close together which prohibits me from taking my usual wide grip. However, since I mostly lift at school it's not much of a problem. I'm just about your typical gym rat. I focus more on chest and arms than legs and back. My arms and chest have seen the most improvement than anything because I'm the most consistent with them.

The good news is that in this past week I've changed my attitude. I've cut out soda from my diet, I'm starting to squat again and I want to add more exercises for muscle groups. I always have known that I was skimping out, but I wasn't that serious. I'm sorry that I can't provide pictures right now, but I can tell you, my back and legs are my most pathetic areas that need training especially my back.

Here is a run down of what I was doing before.

Monday:

Flat bench: 4-5 sets of 5 taking the last set to failure.
Squats: 3 sets of 5-10 reps
Power cleans: 3 sets of 5

Tuesday: off

Wednesday:
Lat pull: 3-4 sets of 8-12
Standing Bicep Curls:3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Hammer curls: 1-3 sets
laying curls from lat tower: 3 sets of 5-8reps
forearm work both supinated and pronated: 3 sets to failure

Thursday: off

Friday:

Close-grip Bench:3 sets 8-10reps
Pushdowns: 3 set of 8-10 reps

Overall, that's a pretty pathetic workout, but I did bust my butt doing it. Not everything was set in stone. I never really had a set schedule for what I wanted to do in the past two years. The first 5 months that I talked about earlier when I worked out at home I did a much more ranged base for exercises on the bodysolid, but I didn't do much weight and all the sets/reps for each exercise were pretty much the same. I couldn't do much for legs or chest though using it as i could get much out of the machine bench and all I had was a standing leg curl and a seated leg ext. on it. I love the leg curl and leg ext it has though.

I'm almost done!!!

Here is the measurements I have taken over the course of working out. These are flexed measurements.

Starting Measurements: 15 years old

Chest:38
Thighs:22
Calves:15
Arms:13
Waist:32
Weight:165lbs
Height:6'2

16 - 3/12/02

Chest:41
Thighs:24.5
Calves:16
Arms:15
Waist:34
Weight:196lbs
Height:6'2

17 - 1/20/03

Chest:44.5
Thighs:25.5
Calves:16.7
Arms:15.6
Waist:39.7
Weight:220lbs
Height:6'2

17 - 3/12/03
Chest:44.5
Thighs:26
Calves:16.8
Arms:16
Waist:39
Weight:233lbs
Heigh:6'2

Some of the measurements might be off a few centimeters or so as I might not have correctly been measuring, but I tried to stay in the belly area of the muscle.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. It was probably boring, but I'm serious about making it in this sport for myself and to help others. Like I said at the top, it's about the only thing that makes me happy, I'm always thinking about it, and it's the only thing I've stuck with so far.

From reading around on these forums for the past few days I can tell their is some very educated, caring, and helpful people here that I hope I can share friendship. It's nice to get outside help from seasoned lifters and I hope I can return the favor.

Thanks again!

Todd

Malachor · 04-18-2003, 06:05 PM

by the way, the only thing i take besides food is a multivitamin and mineral supplement, if you want, i can post the nutritional facts.

also, it might seem when you look at the 39 inch waist that i'm fat. i can assure you that i'm not fat, but i did put on a little tummy from eatting so much. i've lost probably an inch or so on my waist just this week from cutting out soda and fast food.

i'm going to start the ab program i came up with when i was 15 and i had a good set of abs/obliques.

i'm sorry if this was the wrong place to post a introduction to myself.

thanks again!

tjwes · 04-18-2003, 07:49 PM

Welcome Todd.I don`t want to be the one to burst your bubble but you have some pretty high aspirations there.Set small range achievable goals ,such as becoming more consistant since this seems to be a problem for you .Take baby steps,we all can`t be Arnold.Have a dream and pursue it.If you can become great enough to make a living off the sport that`s great,but be realistic at the same time.I don`t mean to discourage you in your efforts,but we all probably had the same idea at one time ,mostly when we were 17 or so.Keep training hard and never give up and you`ll create a good physique.All you can do is your best.

Scotty the Body · 04-19-2003, 10:59 AM

Hey Todd, welcome to the site!

It looks like you know a little something about lifting but just need a little tweaking to get you going in the right direction.
Firstly, your routine needs work, your doing the right things but I think you'd benefit doing one or two body parts per day instead of doing a hodgepodge of this and that.

As far as your goals, its great that you have them, we all need something to shoot for as it keeps up motivated into coming to the gym even when we don't want to.
One think you should know, if you do want to be a pro body builder like Arnold, you WILL have to use AS along with many other drugs, so be aware of that and keep your goals realistic as tjwes said.

Malachor · 04-19-2003, 11:27 AM

thanks

i know my workout is pretty hodgepodge, i plan on adding some new lifts and making some adjustments. i've been wondering without any set path lately.

as for looking like arnold, that's a long term goal and a dream. i wouldn't be true to myself if i said i only wanted to look half as good as him. i like to think like a realist/optimist and i know that the chances of achieving what arnold did was pretty slim, but you can't damn yourself before you even start!

some of my semi short/long goals right now are bringing my legs up with my upperbody and getting a back.

my immediate goals are to setup a solid schedule that i can build off of. also to figure out more about nutrition and meal times. school kind of interfers with having 6 meals a day so i have to work around that. who needs school?

about doing legs and chest on the same day.. that's kind of a requirement for the weight training class i'm taking. i will have to talk to coach since i've already taken the class 4 times he might make an exception for me. i'm not complaining about getting to workout in a thoroughly decent gym for free though!

**Prince** · 04-19-2003, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Malachor
However, I know next to nothing about nutrition. I eat a lot of everything. The only guideline I try to follow that I know is at least a lb of protein for every lb of body weight. I don't eat breakfast, I know I need to and I try to eat less more.

Diet and nutrition is one of the most important aspects of bodybulding, start reading! You should not skip breakfast, when you awake you have basically been fasting for 8 or more hours, you need food!

Arnold sums up everything I want to look like. Put my head on his body and you got what I'm aiming to achieve, physically. As of now, I have not been thinking about competing as I'm still building up. I guess once I start getting to where I want to be I might think about competing.

That is great to aspire to be a champion, however that is a BIG long term goal. You should set smaller, achievable goals. Also, keep in my mind Arnold was a geneitc freak, very few poeple have the genetics to look as he did, no matter how many drugs you take. Competition is great, just make sure you go watch a few shows, including pre-judging, before you ever enter one.

My training is pretty inconsistent though. I lift mostly at school. I have a weight training class and we lift 3 days a week, MWF.

If you want to build a championship physique conistency is a major key, not only with trainig, but diet as well. You cannot miss a meal and you cannot miss a work-out if you want to continue to progress.

I work hard when I'm in there, but in this past year I let my ego take over a little and I wanted to become a bench monster aiming to bench 300 this year. I'm not too far off from that, my max was 255 last time I did it about a month ago, but I'm stronger than that now.

If you goal is bodybulding then forget trying to be a "bench monster", that is what powerlifters do, and it will not get you very far in size gains. There is no need for a bodybuilder to ever do a set that is below 4 reps. Also, you risk injury by doing 1RM on bench, and that is the worst thing for a bodybuilder, it will set you back weeks or months in your progress. Bodybuilders care about size, not strength.

I have some equipment at home to lift. I have a Bodysolid multistation machine that my parents bought my freshmen year and I used that religously for the first 5 months then I slumped off for a few months.

How are you going to be as great as Arnold if you "slump off"?

Last summer I bought a 300lb olympic freeweight set from Sports Authority. I think that's my best investment thus far. I also bought a bench that can decline, flat, and incline. It has a leg curl/leg extension attachment and a preacher curl attachment, but my arms are too long to use the preacher curl attachment. I wish I was more educated when I bought the bench because it's not a very good bench for serious lifting. The stays are too close together which prohibits me from taking my usual wide grip.

Use this equipment when you are unable to train at the gym/school. A lot can be done with a weight set and a bench.

However, since I mostly lift at school it's not much of a problem. I'm just about your typical gym rat. I focus more on chest and arms than legs and back. My arms and chest have seen the most improvement than anything because I'm the most consistent with them.

I did the same thing when I was in high school. Balance is important, do not neglect your back and legs they're the largest muscles in your body.

The good news is that in this past week I've changed my attitude. I've cut out soda from my diet, I'm starting to squat again and I want to add more exercises for muscle groups. I always have known that I was skimping out, but I wasn't that serious.

Great, that sounds more like a winning attitude! Squats are a key exercise, keep doing them.

I'm sorry that I can't provide pictures right now, but I can tell you, my back and legs are my most pathetic areas that need training especially my back.

Get on it.

Here is a run down of what I was doing before.

I did not bother commenting on that routine cause it's not very good. I suggest you look around here at some of the routines. You can try this routine if you like: http://ironmagazine.com/modules.php?...article&sid=29

Overall, that's a pretty pathetic workout, but I did bust my butt doing it.

I agree, and just because you're training hard, does not gaurantee progress, you have to train intelligently.

Not everything was set in stone. I never really had a set schedule for what I wanted to do in the past two years.

You should, in fact you should change your routine every 4-6 weeks, it can be simple changes like an increase in reps, but a change is necesssary. The body tends to adapt every 4-6 weeks, so you must change your approach.

The first 5 months that I talked about earlier when I worked out at home I did a much more ranged base for exercises on the bodysolid, but I didn't do much weight and all the sets/reps for each exercise were pretty much the same.

Doe not sound very productive.

I love the leg curl and leg ext it has though.

[b]They're great isolation exercises, but not that great for mass. Squats, SLDLs, leg press and lunges for mass.

Here is the measurements I have taken over the course of working out. These are flexed measurements.

Starting Measurements: 15 years old

Damn! Don't you play football? You're a big teen, although along with your weight gain I see that your waist measurement went up quite a bit, I assume there was quite a bit of fat gain?

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. It was probably boring, but I'm serious about making it in this sport for myself and to help others. Like I said at the top, it's about the only thing that makes me happy, I'm always thinking about it, and it's the only thing I've stuck with so far.

You're welcome. Keep reading, learning and training, and eventually you will reach your goals!

From reading around on these forums for the past few days I can tell their is some very educated, caring, and helpful people here that I hope I can share friendship. It's nice to get outside help from seasoned lifters and I hope I can return the favor.

Thanks
You're correct, we have a lot of knowledge here, and we all do this voluntarily, so yes we all care and like to help others.

Malachor · 04-19-2003, 12:22 PM

most fat gain was in the tummy area. if i remember correctly, i was at around 205lbs of LBM and 20 pounds of fat.

every six weeks at school we do BF so i will give you the numbers in about 3 weeks or so. i don't expect them to be that great.

i've been hounded to play football. i would, but that would get in the way of my training!

i'll post my new plan for a workout for you guys to review in a little bit

Malachor · 04-19-2003, 12:51 PM

Monday - Chest&Shoulders

Flat Bench
185x8
205x8
225x6
245x3-4

Incline
135x8
155x6

Military Press
3sets of 6-8reps

Upright Rows
2 sets of 8reps

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Legs&Biceps
Crap legs working on building them

Squats
135x6-8
135x6-8
185x5-6
205x3

Leg Press
3 sets of 8-10 reps

No leg curl at school right now...can i do hamstrings when I get home? after my workout, i'm home in about 30 minutes and i could do curls then.

Barbell Curls
65x8
85x8
85x8

Laying Preacher Curls
2 sets of 8

Thursday - Rest

Friday - Back&Triceps

Pulldowns
120x8
140x8
160x6

Pullup bar is broke at school

I can do seated cable rows, tbar rows, or just regular bent-over rows

Seated rows
120x8
140x8
160x8

Bent-over rows
135x6-8
135x6-8

Power cleans
3sets of 5

Skullcrushers
3sets of 6-8reps

pushdowns
3 sets of 6-8reps
-----

Since I'm a natural bodybuilder, I don't like to do too many muscle groups on the same day that do not go along with the main muscle group that I'm working. I picked biceps to go with leg day because of time restrictions on mondays and fridays. I only have about 22 minutes to lift on these days, but that time is enough to get the job done. On wednesdays, I have about 45 minutes to workout. That is plenty of time for me right now. I like to go heavy and in good form. I find that works the best for me right now. I think this is a decent workout to build off of. I picked the weights and sets to minimize overtraining, but good enough to thoroughly work the muscles. This is what I plan to use, but please comment if you have any suggestions! Thanks!

04-18-2003, 05:56 PM	#1
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184	New to IM Hi everybody My name is Todd, I'm nearly 18 years old, I'm a junior in high school and I've been lifting since freshmen year. I've found that lifting is really about the only thing I cared about over these past few years. I plan to make a living off of it in some way, but I don't know what yet or how. Anyways, I feel that I have a decent foundation in bodybuilding knowledge. I've read quite a bit about it and I'm confident that I know more than your common joe, but of course I'm no pro. However, I know next to nothing about nutrition. I eat a lot of everything. The only guideline I try to follow that I know is at least a lb of protein for every lb of body weight. I don't eat breakfast, I know I need to and I try to eat less more. For my goals, Arnold sums up everything I want to look like. Put my head on his body and you got what I'm aiming to achieve, physically. As of now, I have not been thinking about competing as I'm still building up. I guess once I start getting to where I want to be I might think about competing. My training is pretty inconsistent though. I lift mostly at school. I have a weight training class and we lift 3 days a week, MWF. I work hard when I'm in there, but in this past year I let my ego take over a little and I wanted to become a bench monster aiming to bench 300 this year. I'm not too far off from that, my max was 255 last time I did it about a month ago, but I'm stronger than that now. I have some equipment at home to lift. I have a Bodysolid multistation machine that my parents bought my freshmen year and I used that religously for the first 5 months then I slumped off for a few months. Last summer I bought a 300lb olympic freeweight set from Sports Authority. I think that's my best investment thus far. I also bought a bench that can decline, flat, and incline. It has a leg curl/leg extension attachment and a preacher curl attachment, but my arms are too long to use the preacher curl attachment. I wish I was more educated when I bought the bench because it's not a very good bench for serious lifting. The stays are too close together which prohibits me from taking my usual wide grip. However, since I mostly lift at school it's not much of a problem. I'm just about your typical gym rat. I focus more on chest and arms than legs and back. My arms and chest have seen the most improvement than anything because I'm the most consistent with them. The good news is that in this past week I've changed my attitude. I've cut out soda from my diet, I'm starting to squat again and I want to add more exercises for muscle groups. I always have known that I was skimping out, but I wasn't that serious. I'm sorry that I can't provide pictures right now, but I can tell you, my back and legs are my most pathetic areas that need training especially my back. Here is a run down of what I was doing before. Monday: Flat bench: 4-5 sets of 5 taking the last set to failure. Squats: 3 sets of 5-10 reps Power cleans: 3 sets of 5 Tuesday: off Wednesday: Lat pull: 3-4 sets of 8-12 Standing Bicep Curls:3-4 sets of 5-8 reps Hammer curls: 1-3 sets laying curls from lat tower: 3 sets of 5-8reps forearm work both supinated and pronated: 3 sets to failure Thursday: off Friday: Close-grip Bench:3 sets 8-10reps Pushdowns: 3 set of 8-10 reps Overall, that's a pretty pathetic workout, but I did bust my butt doing it. Not everything was set in stone. I never really had a set schedule for what I wanted to do in the past two years. The first 5 months that I talked about earlier when I worked out at home I did a much more ranged base for exercises on the bodysolid, but I didn't do much weight and all the sets/reps for each exercise were pretty much the same. I couldn't do much for legs or chest though using it as i could get much out of the machine bench and all I had was a standing leg curl and a seated leg ext. on it. I love the leg curl and leg ext it has though. I'm almost done!!! Here is the measurements I have taken over the course of working out. These are flexed measurements. Starting Measurements: 15 years old Chest:38 Thighs:22 Calves:15 Arms:13 Waist:32 Weight:165lbs Height:6'2 16 - 3/12/02 Chest:41 Thighs:24.5 Calves:16 Arms:15 Waist:34 Weight:196lbs Height:6'2 17 - 1/20/03 Chest:44.5 Thighs:25.5 Calves:16.7 Arms:15.6 Waist:39.7 Weight:220lbs Height:6'2 17 - 3/12/03 Chest:44.5 Thighs:26 Calves:16.8 Arms:16 Waist:39 Weight:233lbs Heigh:6'2 Some of the measurements might be off a few centimeters or so as I might not have correctly been measuring, but I tried to stay in the belly area of the muscle. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. It was probably boring, but I'm serious about making it in this sport for myself and to help others. Like I said at the top, it's about the only thing that makes me happy, I'm always thinking about it, and it's the only thing I've stuck with so far. From reading around on these forums for the past few days I can tell their is some very educated, caring, and helpful people here that I hope I can share friendship. It's nice to get outside help from seasoned lifters and I hope I can return the favor. Thanks again! Todd
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184

04-18-2003, 06:05 PM	#2
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184	by the way, the only thing i take besides food is a multivitamin and mineral supplement, if you want, i can post the nutritional facts. also, it might seem when you look at the 39 inch waist that i'm fat. i can assure you that i'm not fat, but i did put on a little tummy from eatting so much. i've lost probably an inch or so on my waist just this week from cutting out soda and fast food. i'm going to start the ab program i came up with when i was 15 and i had a good set of abs/obliques. i'm sorry if this was the wrong place to post a introduction to myself. thanks again!
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184

04-18-2003, 07:49 PM	#3
tjwes "You Can`t Flex Fat" Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 456 Photos: 8	Welcome Todd.I don`t want to be the one to burst your bubble but you have some pretty high aspirations there.Set small range achievable goals ,such as becoming more consistant since this seems to be a problem for you .Take baby steps,we all can`t be Arnold.Have a dream and pursue it.If you can become great enough to make a living off the sport that`s great,but be realistic at the same time.I don`t mean to discourage you in your efforts,but we all probably had the same idea at one time ,mostly when we were 17 or so.Keep training hard and never give up and you`ll create a good physique.All you can do is your best.
	My Website: http://www.geocities.com/timbuktuweights/ My Forum: http://timwescott.proboards18.com/index.cgi

04-19-2003, 10:59 AM	#4
Scotty the Body I'm Dead Sexxxxy!! Elite Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Canada Posts: 4,970	Hey Todd, welcome to the site! It looks like you know a little something about lifting but just need a little tweaking to get you going in the right direction. Firstly, your routine needs work, your doing the right things but I think you'd benefit doing one or two body parts per day instead of doing a hodgepodge of this and that. As far as your goals, its great that you have them, we all need something to shoot for as it keeps up motivated into coming to the gym even when we don't want to. One think you should know, if you do want to be a pro body builder like Arnold, you WILL have to use AS along with many other drugs, so be aware of that and keep your goals realistic as tjwes said.
	Cool

04-19-2003, 11:27 AM	#5
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184	thanks i know my workout is pretty hodgepodge, i plan on adding some new lifts and making some adjustments. i've been wondering without any set path lately. as for looking like arnold, that's a long term goal and a dream. i wouldn't be true to myself if i said i only wanted to look half as good as him. i like to think like a realist/optimist and i know that the chances of achieving what arnold did was pretty slim, but you can't damn yourself before you even start! some of my semi short/long goals right now are bringing my legs up with my upperbody and getting a back. my immediate goals are to setup a solid schedule that i can build off of. also to figure out more about nutrition and meal times. school kind of interfers with having 6 meals a day so i have to work around that. who needs school? about doing legs and chest on the same day.. that's kind of a requirement for the weight training class i'm taking. i will have to talk to coach since i've already taken the class 4 times he might make an exception for me. i'm not complaining about getting to workout in a thoroughly decent gym for free though!
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184

04-19-2003, 12:22 PM	#7
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184	most fat gain was in the tummy area. if i remember correctly, i was at around 205lbs of LBM and 20 pounds of fat. every six weeks at school we do BF so i will give you the numbers in about 3 weeks or so. i don't expect them to be that great. i've been hounded to play football. i would, but that would get in the way of my training! i'll post my new plan for a workout for you guys to review in a little bit
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184

04-19-2003, 12:51 PM	#8
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184	Monday - Chest&Shoulders Flat Bench 185x8 205x8 225x6 245x3-4 Incline 135x8 155x6 Military Press 3sets of 6-8reps Upright Rows 2 sets of 8reps Tuesday - Off Wednesday - Legs&Biceps Crap legs working on building them Squats 135x6-8 135x6-8 185x5-6 205x3 Leg Press 3 sets of 8-10 reps No leg curl at school right now...can i do hamstrings when I get home? after my workout, i'm home in about 30 minutes and i could do curls then. Barbell Curls 65x8 85x8 85x8 Laying Preacher Curls 2 sets of 8 Thursday - Rest Friday - Back&Triceps Pulldowns 120x8 140x8 160x6 Pullup bar is broke at school I can do seated cable rows, tbar rows, or just regular bent-over rows Seated rows 120x8 140x8 160x8 Bent-over rows 135x6-8 135x6-8 Power cleans 3sets of 5 Skullcrushers 3sets of 6-8reps pushdowns 3 sets of 6-8reps ----- Since I'm a natural bodybuilder, I don't like to do too many muscle groups on the same day that do not go along with the main muscle group that I'm working. I picked biceps to go with leg day because of time restrictions on mondays and fridays. I only have about 22 minutes to lift on these days, but that time is enough to get the job done. On wednesdays, I have about 45 minutes to workout. That is plenty of time for me right now. I like to go heavy and in good form. I find that works the best for me right now. I think this is a decent workout to build off of. I picked the weights and sets to minimize overtraining, but good enough to thoroughly work the muscles. This is what I plan to use, but please comment if you have any suggestions! Thanks!
Malachor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 184

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode