nottingham28

Hey all

I'm new to training and have a few questions. I'm 5'11", 182lbs, always had a pretty strong physique around chest and shoulders.

1) My aim isn't so much to put on body mass - though I don't mind this if it's muscle - but to... a) firm what I already have into muscle; b) lose some off my waistline.

2) I'm by no means fat, but there's a bit of excess I'd like to get rid of. But my worry is, if I lose that by doing cardio etc, surely I'll lose weight from the other areas that I want to build (upper body etc) - are losing weight and building muscles two things you can't do at the same time?

3) I'm particularly keen on building my arms. A friend of mine who's a gym instructor gave me the below program and he assures me it's enough to see gains but to be honest it just doesn't feel like I'm doing enough work and have little faith in my arms building up given the little amount of work they're getting in this program. Can anyone give me some points on arm building, or articles I can read?

4) Here's my program - note, I've replaced pull-ups/pull-downs with since I only have bar/dumbbells and, from what I gather from exrx.net, this exercise works the same muscles as pull-ups/pull-downs

Day 1: squat, flat bench, OH press, bent-over rows, barbell pullover

Day 2: deadlift, incline bench, arnolds, bent-over rows, barbell pullover

Day 3: squat, flat bench or weighted dips, OH press, bent-over row, barbell pullover

So is that ok? Seems to be a lot of repetition with things like pullovers but for all I know that's good.

----------------------
Thanks in advance for any help

Witchblade

Spot reduction is a myth.

Build your entire body in a balanced fashion, not parts of it.

Read the stickies.

Compounds > isolation, especially for newbs.

Balance push and pull, and lower and upper body.

Replace pull-overs with chin-ups or lat pulldowns in your routine.

The routine looks not so bad, easily fixable. You're on the right track.

Weight change is controlled by diet.

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nottingham28

Thanks, but I have nothing to do pull-ups or chin-ups on. I'm working out of a garage here, with my barbell and dumbbells.

Will read what you suggested. Thanks.

Built

Where do you do squats?

nottingham28

Barbell Squat

Isn't this what's meant by squats?

SnowManSnow

I've observed enough to know she's concerned that you may be doing squats on a smith machine

tallcall

If you're using a squat rack, you can probably lock the bar and do your chin-ups on it.

I do horizontal pull-ups (also called supine rows) on Smith machines. I also sometimes do squats on them (not often, but when going for power I do it because I don't have a spotter).

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Built

Thanks SnowManSnow - ordinarily you'd be right on the money here, but nottingham28 said he's training out of a garage with only barbell and dumbbells, and had no place to do chins. My first thought was this:


tallcat, I don't train with a spotter either. No need to ever do Smith squats - and I'd ESPECIALLY avoid them when doing very heavy work. Just set the pins. If you don't have that, squat between two benches. Better than nothing!

SnowManSnow

DOH! Haha I missed