Female beginner in need of advice

[TylerJ]

Hey guys,

I'm a 22 year old female student and I really want to become stronger, healthier, leaner and gain some serious muscle.

I'm currently 119lbs, 5'5 with a horrendous bodyfat percentage of approximately 25. my goal is to change that to ATLEAST below 20%, then far far less...lose some fat and gain muscle. I want to focus on full body but areas i'm especially concerned about are my abs and glutes.

I have some experience with weight training so I have the technique down...but i've never really -seriously- put it to use.

My current deadlift is 50kg (pathetic, I know ) for 4 sets of 6.

I honestly don't know where to start to begin this journey in regards to what I should be eating and a new training plan! I'd love to become serious in this.

Hope that all made sense, I didn't know what to ask for advice for first as I sort of need advice on all areas of this change.

 

[Powermaster]

My current deadlift is 50kg (pathetic, I know ) for 4 sets of 6.

50kg deadlift is a great start!

Check this out: http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/new-members-begin-here/97077-read-me-first-homework-1-newbies.html
There's a wealth of information there to get you started on fixing your diet and training right.

 

[bjg]

Diet diet diet diet
in the gym:
cardio 10 mns treadmill -then weight training high reps 30 minutes- then cardio 30 minutes

 

[TylerJ]

Thankyou guys i'll read the link Powermaster posted and get on with that before I post again.

 

[ckcrown84]

My advice is horrendously simple, but it will work.
lift weights for like 30 mins 3-4 times a week and throw in some body weight exercises or two...or six.
You are a student? Good. join palates class, step class, cycling class, any of those type things that are offered at your campus gym. Find one that is intense and stick to it!
if you are extra motivated workout twice a day. cardio one time, and more anaerobic weight or body weight exercises the 2nd time.

diet: eat healthy. its boring i know... hell I just crushed a box of fruit roll-ups and a big bag of M&Ms... but, that ain't gonna give me no six pack

 

[CowPimp]

First off, I wish you the best of luck on your journey. Making changes in one's body isn't easy, but extremely rewarding when you reach your goals. I will also say that you are a little hard on yourself. 25% body fat is not horrendous for a female. Keep in mind that women keep a substantially higher amount of fat on their bodies in order to maintain normal endocrine function.

With that said, I usually suggest to women to "lift like a guy." However, based on your deadlift, it sounds like you're already doing that. Kudos to you. Make resistance training an important part of your program, and prioritize it higher than cardio. Cardio is great for burning calories, but you can accomplish the same thing by monitoring your caloric intake. Resistance training, however, is very important for maintenance of muscle mass, which cardio does not preserve (Unless perhaps you already have a very low amount of it).

Why don't you lay your exercise routine out for us so we can critique it. In the mean time, go read the stickies to give yourself a starting point. Try my stickies, P-funk's, and the newbie guide written by built. Also, post up your diet and read the stickies in the diet and nutrition section.

 

[Usealittle]

^^^ reps

^^^^ this.... work out like a guy for sure. its the only way for you to build muscle. the only thing i would say foryou to do is stop deadlifting, at least stop goin heavy. on a women a narrow tiny midsection is desiraable. i do believe DLs build the midsection. use DL more for reps,form and cardio. other then that anything a man does you should to.

 

[Pittsburgh63]

Check out Built's site... Best advice I can give you.

Got Built? » Basic whole-body workout

 

[TylerJ]

First off, I wish you the best of luck on your journey. Making changes in one's body isn't easy, but extremely rewarding when you reach your goals. I will also say that you are a little hard on yourself. 25% body fat is not horrendous for a female. Keep in mind that women keep a substantially higher amount of fat on their bodies in order to maintain normal endocrine function.

With that said, I usually suggest to women to "lift like a guy." However, based on your deadlift, it sounds like you're already doing that. Kudos to you. Make resistance training an important part of your program, and prioritize it higher than cardio. Cardio is great for burning calories, but you can accomplish the same thing by monitoring your caloric intake. Resistance training, however, is very important for maintenance of muscle mass, which cardio does not preserve (Unless perhaps you already have a very low amount of it).

Why don't you lay your exercise routine out for us so we can critique it. In the mean time, go read the stickies to give yourself a starting point. Try my stickies, P-funk's, and the newbie guide written by built. Also, post up your diet and read the stickies in the diet and nutrition section.

Thanks for the input the training plan I'm planning on using is as follows, definately feel free to pick apart and critique:

Monday:
warm up with extended lunges, side lunges, lunges with twist (hope i named those correctly), some Monster walks and some muscular activation

4x6 50kg deadlift
4x6 20kg front squat
4x12 paces of unilateral plate carries
4x10 20kg hipthrusts (not with my shoulders on the floor, but they're on a bench/platform of some sort)

finish off with 30 seconds (1:30 total) of plank, and side planks

wednesday: same warmup
4x6 pushups (I want to do more..but i'm currently still real bad at them)
4x10 5kg (in each hand) overhead dumbbell press
4x6 20kg barbell rows
4x6 ...I want to say pullups, but I can't do them yet, so instead at the moment I start lifted and try to stay up and slowwwly bring myself down. I can't do this one away from home, would inverted pullups be better as I -can- do those here.

Friday:
same as monday

Should I add cardio on rest days?

 

[TylerJ]

^^^ reps

^^^^ this.... work out like a guy for sure. its the only way for you to build muscle. the only thing i would say foryou to do is stop deadlifting, at least stop goin heavy. on a women a narrow tiny midsection is desiraable. i do believe DLs build the midsection. use DL more for reps,form and cardio. other then that anything a man does you should to.

Hey
I'm not too worried about my waist gaining a bit of girth . My main focus is strength and bodyfat%
I could be wrong but from my understanding DL's are a fantastic compound strength exercise that effects multiple muscle groups and I wouldn't want to lose out on by turning it into a cardio exercise. Also, eventually (...focusing on eventually lol) i'd like to move onto cleans and jerks/snatches.

 

[TylerJ]

My advice is horrendously simple, but it will work.
lift weights for like 30 mins 3-4 times a week and throw in some body weight exercises or two...or six.
You are a student? Good. join palates class, step class, cycling class, any of those type things that are offered at your campus gym. Find one that is intense and stick to it!
if you are extra motivated workout twice a day. cardio one time, and more anaerobic weight or body weight exercises the 2nd time.

diet: eat healthy. its boring i know... hell I just crushed a box of fruit roll-ups and a big bag of M&Ms... but, that ain't gonna give me no six pack

thanks for the great advice! I'm thinking about joining boxing at the university...I went once but my shyness has sort of stopped me going again even though i absolutely loved it (silly I know) Step class also looks fun

 

[TylerJ]

Check out Built's site... Best advice I can give you.

Got Built? » Basic whole-body workout

wow, I'm liking this setup, it seems so simple/logical and nicely put together! Thankyou for linking

 

[Pittsburgh63]

wow, I'm liking this setup, it seems so simple/logical and nicely put together! Thankyou for linking

No problem.. She's a Moderator on this board as well.. if you do some searches you'll find all kinds of great info that she has written. She helped me design an entire diet outline and workout routine for my Wife... and she's had great results over the last few months.

 

[CowPimp]

Thanks for the input the training plan I'm planning on using is as follows, definately feel free to pick apart and critique:

Monday:
warm up with extended lunges, side lunges, lunges with twist (hope i named those correctly), some Monster walks and some muscular activation

4x6 50kg deadlift
4x6 20kg front squat
4x12 paces of unilateral plate carries
4x10 20kg hipthrusts (not with my shoulders on the floor, but they're on a bench/platform of some sort)

finish off with 30 seconds (1:30 total) of plank, and side planks

wednesday: same warmup
4x6 pushups (I want to do more..but i'm currently still real bad at them)
4x10 5kg (in each hand) overhead dumbbell press
4x6 20kg barbell rows
4x6 ...I want to say pullups, but I can't do them yet, so instead at the moment I start lifted and try to stay up and slowwwly bring myself down. I can't do this one away from home, would inverted pullups be better as I -can- do those here.

Friday:
same as monday

Should I add cardio on rest days?

Looks good overall. You can alternate between weeks, such that you do your first workout on MF one week, then W the next week. The second workout gets performed W one week, then MF the next. So you just alternate every session.

Loading parameters and exercise selection looks reasonable enough. What is your plan for progression though? Do you try to take weight up? Do you try to increase reps? Sets?

For pushups, I mentioned something similar in another thread for doing pullups, but you can use a ladder. That is, do sets smaller than what you have prescribed there, but scattered throughout your workout. So instead of 4 sets of 6, try to get in more volume by doing 10 sets of 3, or something similar. Over time you can start progressing that to 10 sets of 4, 5, or whatever you can get to. You can also try doing pushups in a smith machine. Set the bar height and do them with your hands on the bar. Over time, you can lower the bar to make the lift harder. It's no different than adding weight to an exercise. If you can do a few regular pushups great; if not, then try starting with the modified smith machine pushup and making them more difficult over time.

Cardio on your other days will certainly help with fat loss assuming you keep your diet in check. More calories above maintenance burned = more fat gone.

 

[Usealittle]

Hey
I'm not too worried about my waist gaining a bit of girth . My main focus is strength and bodyfat%
I could be wrong but from my understanding DL's are a fantastic compound strength exercise that effects multiple muscle groups and I wouldn't want to lose out on by turning it into a cardio exercise. Also, eventually (...focusing on eventually lol) i'd like to move onto cleans and jerks/snatches.

You are right about the compound exercise and if your not worryed about the midsection then go for it. Besides if you want to do olyimpic style lifting your gonna need the back strength.

good luck