Strong and big-trying compound mostly.

[Mongo44]

I have been sedentary most of my life. At 6'2", 275lbs and age 44. 6 months ago decided I needed to get in shape or die a fat, weak slob.

I found this site and started doing 5x5 compound lifting and changed my diet to eating like a horse but sticking to Meat, Dairy, Veggies, Fruit.

Typical day is a meal every 3 hours for around 4000 calories.

Breakfast 5 eggs, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 slice onion, 3 cups spinach, pepper.

Protein shake with 4 cups of milk

Cottage cheese with pineapple

Protein shake with 4 cups of milk

Chicken with bok choy and a banana.

Tuna with spinach and pepper.

Gives me around 250 grams of protein a day.

Workout consists of:

Monday and Thursday:
Bench 5x5
Incline bench 5x5
T-Bar rows 5x5
Bent over barbell rows 5x5
Overhead barbell press 5x5
Barbell curls 3x5
Close grip bench 3x5
Hang clean 3x5-these wear me out completely but feels good.

Tuesday and Friday:
Squats 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Leg press 3x5
Calf raises 3x5

I try to add 5 lbs to every exercise each time. I started with empty Olympic barbell to get my form right for each exercise.

Currently I'm at 185 Bench, 185 Squat, 225 Deadlift, 125 Overhead press.

I have noticed a change going on with my body as my clothes across the back and chest are tighter, my thighs are tight in my pants, but I still have my gut and have remained around 275 lbs. My pants are a little loser around the waist but not what I thought they would be.

I have been giving this program about 60% intensity and I am ready to really start increasing my weights and going for it.

Any changes or advice you'd make I appreciate it.

 

[x~factor]

At age 44, I'd take it easy and do less exercise per workout. Not so much the leg workout but the Monday and Thursday workout agenda. You could easily cut that workout in half and still be exhausted at the end if you keep your intensity high through out. At 44, one bad injury could sideline you for a long while and that would suck.

 

[2B1]

What is your current goal?

 

[Mongo44]

My current goal is to add as much muscle as possible. I'm not too worried about the fat as I can diet that away later and from what I have read I need a slight calorie excess to build muscle.

I would like to do bodyweight on bench, squat and deadlift.

Getting strong and Big is my main goal right now. Lose some fat down the road a little after I feel like I'm on my way strength wise.

 

[Marat]

There's too much volume going on here.

Look into a program like Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe to get you going.

 

[MyK]

4000 calories!!!

what is your lean body mass? use that to calculate your cals

 

[pwloiacano]

I am also 44 years old. I just started working out about 12 months ago, after a long layoff from the sport.

My advice to you is to train each bodypart once per week. At our age, that is more than enough to produce results if you are performing the exercises correctly. If a bodypart is still sore by the next time you are ready to train it, DO NOT do it. This means that you are not recovered enough. This will lead to overtraining and you could actually lose muscle mass or even worse injure yourself.

Be careful how you train. As stated by x factor , one injury could sideline you for quite a while.

My routine looks like this:

Saturday: Chest / Calves
Sunday: Back / Traps
Monday: Delts (there are times I may skip this workout if my shoulders are too sore from benching)
Tuesday: Arms / Calves
Thursday: Legs

 

[Mongo44]

Thank you very much for the responses.

I used a couple different calorie calculators that showed I needed around 3700 calories a day to maintain my weight with my work and exercise level. Am I wrong in thinking I need a few hundred extra to build muscle mass which puts me around 4000? Also-in entering my weight into those things should I use lean body weight instead of my full weight of 275?

I started in the very beginning doing only Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press and Rows 5x5. It seemed like my progress was slow so I added a few exercises.

I will try the advice given and cut back to those and see how it goes for a few weeks.

I do put off working out if I'm still sore or just feel worn down and think my body needs some extra rest. I hate getting old.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[MyK]

Thank you very much for the responses.

I used a couple different calorie calculators that showed I needed around 3700 calories a day to maintain my weight with my work and exercise level. Am I wrong in thinking I need a few hundred extra to build muscle mass which puts me around 4000? Also-in entering my weight into those things should I use lean body weight instead of my full weight of 275?

I started in the very beginning doing only Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press and Rows 5x5. It seemed like my progress was slow so I added a few exercises.

I will try the advice given and cut back to those and see how it goes for a few weeks.

I do put off working out if I'm still sore or just feel worn down and think my body needs some extra rest. I hate getting old.

Thanks again everyone!

yes

 

[ihateschoolmt]

Yea use your lean mass. 4k calories would make you gain weight.

 

[SloppyJ]

Seems like you want to gain muscle, but you get dissapointed when the weight isn't coming off.

Why not diet down to a better weight then try to start adding mass? While you diet down, weight train and keep the fatloss slow and steady and you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[Gissurjon]

Seems like you want to gain muscle, but you get dissapointed when the weight isn't coming off.

Why not diet down to a better weight then try to start adding mass? While you diet down, weight train and keep the fatloss slow and steady and you shouldn't have a problem.

yea man i agree. 275 at 6'2! i would lose some serious fat and at least get in some kind of cardiovascular health going before you start going at the weights full force. im pretty sure a doctor would tell you the same thing. i would get myself out of the heart attack "risk zone" before you do anything if i were you

 

[njc]

Yeah youre going about it backwards friend. At your size, definitely cut first....and THEN bulk.

 

[Mongo44]

Muscle burns more calories then fat. Wouldn't it make more sense to add as much muscle as I could as fast as I could and then the cutting phases would go much easier since I have more muscle burning more calories.

If I start with a cut first then I lose more of what muscle I have and I end up having to rebuild muscle that was already there.

Not being obstinate-just want to make sure I'm getting this right.

I enjoy and value all the opinions. Thanks.

 

[Mongo44]

Also-changed my routine to Bench, Rows, Overhead press on Monday, Thursday and Squat, Deadlift on Tuesday, Friday.

At 44 I feel my body still gets enough recovery with 72 hours between workouts.

Doing 5x5 with progressive loading. Done this last two workouts and feels better.

 

[ihateschoolmt]

It would be best for you to cut and keep protein high, you will won't loose any muscle at all if you cut right. Having more muscle isn't going to help you loose fat as easy as you think. You only loose weight if you have a caloric defect on a consistent daily basis.

 

[Gissurjon]

Muscle burns more calories then fat. Wouldn't it make more sense to add as much muscle as I could as fast as I could and then the cutting phases would go much easier since I have more muscle burning more calories.

If I start with a cut first then I lose more of what muscle I have and I end up having to rebuild muscle that was already there.

Not being obstinate-just want to make sure I'm getting this right.

I enjoy and value all the opinions. Thanks.

yea you might lose some muscle by cutting the fat off but keep in mind that a 6'2 guy at 195 and 8% BF looks hell of alot better than he would at 250 and 15-20 % BF (ive been both).

but seriously, if you been sitting down for most of your life like you said you should try to get atleast relatively "healthy" before doing anything as extreme as heavy weight training. given the fact that you havent worked out much in your life and therefore probably dont have alot of muscle built up, you are seriously over weight... and over 40.