New - Where to Start?

[starseed]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new here and to working out and would love for advice.

Stats:

Male - 30yo - 6' 6" Tall - weight 275 - Great Genes

Workout History:

I've been a good fifty pounds over weight for quite some time. Started going to the gym two years ago, but it's only been a few months now where I go regularly (it's fun and addictive at this point). I've lost a lot of weight and still working on it. I've been working out my upper body one day for about 1 1/2 hours and my lower body the next day for about 45 min to 1 hour. I do 100 sit ups and 60 weighted sit up for my abs every day I go. After every work out I do cardio for 30 mins. I go to the gym 3-5 day a week, average 4 days a week.

Diet History:

I ate high carbs most of my life because I didn't know any better, but now I eat the following on an average day:

Protein Drink
High Fiber Cereal
Protein/Fiber Bar
Fish/Veg. Dinner
Small Desert
Weekends are free to eat whatever

I mainly try to eat protien/veg./fiber and my goal at this point has been to loose weight, but that is changing.

Current Goals:

I really want to keep loosing the extra fat firstly, but I'd like to build my muscles too. I'm clearly loosing fat, building muscle, and getting stronger, but I don't know if I'm really getting the most out of my workouts or diet.

Any advice, comments, or recommended links would be very helpful and appreciated. I really don't know what kinds of workout routines are available, best diets for my goals.

 

[Yanick]

Firstly, about your diet. You should go over to the nutrition section, post up your current stats, goals, body type, age, typical day's diet. You'll get tons of help.

About your routine, you should try and keep your workouts to about 1 hour or less. Reasoning behind that is that with longer workouts you run the risk of overtraining you Endocrine system(no i won't have any sources to back this statement, but gimme a few days,and until then, i got it from The Analects of ParDeucius).

I would also switch the routine to either a push/pull, where one day you work your chest, triceps, shoulders and about 3 days later you work your legs, back, bi's. This is a common newbie routine, and most PT's that i've talked to told me they give this routine out to newbies, also my weight training teachers always give this routine out (not that i put much faith in either of the two groups, i don't see how this could be bad for a beginner).

Your other option would be a three day split:

Chest, Tri's, Shoulders
Back, Bi's, Traps
Legs

The latter would be better IMO. After a few months on one of those routines, and after you have mastered the core exercises (benches, rows, presses, squats etc), you can move on to different routines, like 5x/week split and all that.

Other people on here will give you tons of advice.

 

[Freeman]

Welcome starseed!

My piece of advice....always ask questions..ask everyone and anyone. Don't be afraid to try something new. You have to experiment with what works best for you. There are some basic guidlines i.e. don't overtrain, get your rest (biggest IMO)....and tweak your diet to best serve your goals...Good luck!