Training Beginner, need help with routines and supplements.

[ripperx]

Training Beginner, need help with routines and supplements. Well, everything really.

Hi all,

I just started working out with weights about 2 months ago and wanted to get some godo advice on routines and supplements. I am pretty active, but the last months I mainly worked and had ver little excercise so I put on some pounds. I am 5'10" and about 220lbs. Prior to the above 2 months, I started to do cardio for about 3 days a week for almost a month. Fastforward to now, my routine is MWF weights, and TTH cardio. Below is the stuff I do for different areas and their specifics.

Routine A
=======
Chest
----------
Pectorial Fly - 75lbs
Decline Chest Press (HS) - 90lbs
Incline Chest Press (HS) - 90lbs
Chest Press (HS) - 90lbs

Back
----
Lat Pull Down - 90lbs
Iso-Lateral Low Row (HS) - 90lbs
Iso Lateral Row (HS) - 90lbs
*HS = "HammerStrength Systems"

Routine B
=======
Biceps
------
Chamber Curl 204 - 60lbs

Triceps
-------
Cable Pull Down - 80lbs
Seated Dip (HS) - 140lbs

Deltoids
--------
Lateral Raise - 90lbs
Rear Delts - 90lbs
Iso-Lateral Shoulder Press (HS) - 70lbs


I do 3 sets of 10 for each during the routine. I basically alternate routines each of the MWF days. What do you guys think of these routines? Is there a good number of sets or reps to get the best results? Right now, I want a godo routine(s) that I can do on every other day like MWF while hitting the major areas. These are all machine type workouts and I feel I'm almost ready for some free weights to come in.

I've read that I should use a pyramid scheme to increase mass, what do you guys think? I'm also interested in including Whey protein into my workouts, but is there any thing I should look for or stay away from when I'm buying it? Is it best consumed within 30mins after a workout?

I'm also looking to include a routine for working on my legs as well, any suggestions? I'm sorry for all the qeustions, but I'm sorta new to all of this and found this forum very informative so far and very knowledgable. So basically, the things I'm really interested is:

1) A good or few routines that would fit a MWF schedule that will hit the major areas and give good results with the given recovery time.

2) Supplement, particulary 100% Whey and where's the best place to buy it cheap online or offline. BTW, I'm in San Diego, CA if that helps.

3) Can I use the GOPROS POWER-REP RANGE and SHOCK Program at this stage in my trianing?


If anyone can offer me any advice, I will greatly appreciate it.

Thanks all.

 

[CowPimp]

The first thing I noticed when looking at your routine is the lack of leg exercises. Add leg lifts, and lots of them. Legs are a huge part of your body, and you need to hit up each of the major muscles in your legs: quadriceps, hamstrings, gluts, and calves. My latest leg routine includes 6 different lifts for a total of 14 sets.

The correct number of sets and repititions depends on what your goals are. For pure strength 1-4 repititions seems to be the most effective. However, I usually shoot for 4-6 repititions because the chance of injury is lower, and I usually don't have a spotter. For building mass anywhere from 5-12 repititions could work well. You have to play around with different numbers of repititions to find what works best for you. I find the 6-8 range provides me with a nice mix of strength and mass. I try to switch up my rep ranges to give my body different types of stimuli.

Pyramid schemes are good, but not necessary. Just mix up the number of reps per set every few weeks, and you will be good to go.

I'm not sure what company makes good whey protein supplements, but I do know that it is best taken right after a workout. Whey is absorbed quickly, so that is why it works well directly after a workout.

GoPro doesn't really recommend using his routine this early in your training. I remember someone asking about using it after training for a year, and he told him not to use shock week. I know you're anxious to get big, but overtraining is highly possible with an advanced routine like this one.

A few more tips that I can offer you after looking over your routine:

Use more free weights:
You will develop your muscle better because free weights require the usage of a lot of different muscles to control and stabilize the lifts. As well, natural ranges of motion are the best. I hate machines, except maybe cable machines and leg machines.

Do more compound lifts:
Compound lifts work a lot of different muscles at once. As well, they will help you gain some good strength and mass quickly since you are still a beginner. Benchpress, military press, closegrip benchpress, barbell curls, deadlifts, squats, and straight legged deadlifts are the lifts I would definitely try to include in your routine.

Watch what you eat:
Besides the mention of whey protein, you mentioned nothing about nutrition. Eating is a HUGE part of weight training. You will gain nothing if you aren't giving your body what it needs to recover from lifting. Taking a multivitamin is a good idea. Try to eat your body weight in grams of protein, or a little more. More fat and carbs are also necessary, but I find protein is more important to focus on getting more of. Eat smaller meals every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism high. Try to avoid eating out so you can completely control the quality of ingredients.

Sleep more:
I know it's tough to get 8+ hours of sleep a night, but try to do it if possible. Your body heals itself while you sleep and rest, so this is very important.

Change your routine:
I change my routine at least every 3 months now, if not sooner. This includes lifts, rep ranges, maybe even the split you use. In fact, my most recent change in routine came only 6 weeks after the previous one. If you notice a dwindle in gains, then change your routine. Also, after a while you're going to have to reduce the frequency of your workouts. I was working the same muscles 3 times per week when I first started lifting. That's great, but after a while you need to only hit up each body part once per week. Some people need to hit each part twice, but you will learn your body better as you lift more.

Take a week off sometimes:
Sometimes you need to take a week off to let your body full recover. Besides muscle recovery, your joints, ligaments, and tendons also have to recover. I say take a week off every 3 months or so; most people seem to find that works for them. I usually wait more like 6 months, but that is just because I know my body a little better.

I think I covered most of what you need to know. Now, go lift!

 

[ripperx]

Wow, CowPimp thanks for the advice.

Do you think at this stage I can try and use the GOPRO power and rep week only and get some results? Will this be too instense and have an adverse effect on me? I feel that the routine I got right now is not distributed evenly. I mean, I got most of the arms and shoulders 1 day and chest and back the other. This mean that 1 of the routines will be doubled each week. What can I do to better seperate them? Maybe add add the legs in somewhere, to make it at like a 3 way split? BTW, what type of stuff do you do for your legs?

Thanks

 

[Larva]

if you want to try gopros , you can do p/rr/rr/s

but depending on your goals i would suggest more free weights but thats just my opinion. and work legs

 

[ripperx]

Larva,

Yeah, free weights is defintely my goal. I was thinking actually p/rr/p or maybe just p/rr/rr . For the power week, how much more weight should I do? Or is all the weeks based on the same weight ?

 

[CowPimp]

Originally posted by ripperx
Wow, CowPimp thanks for the advice.

Do you think at this stage I can try and use the GOPRO power and rep week only and get some results? Will this be too instense and have an adverse effect on me? I feel that the routine I got right now is not distributed evenly. I mean, I got most of the arms and shoulders 1 day and chest and back the other. This mean that 1 of the routines will be doubled each week. What can I do to better seperate them? Maybe add add the legs in somewhere, to make it at like a 3 way split? BTW, what type of stuff do you do for your legs?

Thanks

I'm sure you could use the basic concept of his routine. I usually just aim for a weight than I can do 4-6 times. I use the same weight until I can do about 10 repititons, then I up the weight so that I can only do 4-6 again. This way I get a mix of strength and mass training both every week. However, you have to see what works best for you.

I think it is a good idea to do legs on their own day, because of the number of large muscles involved. I also feel back is good to do on its own day, but not quite as necessary. A lot of people also like to do the chest on a separate day too. However, if you want to maintain a 3 day split, it is going to be hard. Here is the three day split that I was doing:

Monday: Chest & Biceps
Wednesday: Back & Triceps
Friday: Legs & Shoulders

If I had to do it again, I think I would change to the following:

Monday: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Wednesday: Back & Biceps
Friday: Legs

Here is the leg routine that I am going to start this week:

Squats x 3
One-legged Quadricep Extension x 2
Straight-legged Deadlift x 3
Hamstring Curl x 2
One-legged Dumbell Calf Raise x 3
One-legged Reverse Dumbell Calf Raise x 1

Squats and SLDLs are definitely my favorites. Squats hit up all of the upper legs, and SLDLs hit up the gluts, hams, and even your lower back.

 

[ripperx]

Cowpimp,

I like your previous 3 day split since I'm gonna start intergrating leg work into it. I kinda like how it is a little more seperated in terms of stress for the different areas you hit. I think the thing I left out is what are the best # of sets you should do? I know like you should do 3 sets, but by doing more will it have better results? Also, if it's not to much to ask, can you give me some specifics on your routine for the 3 day split? Like the #'s and type of training for those areas? For example like for Monday "Chest and Bicep", how many different type of training and what kind do you do for the chest and also the biceps? Also, is it good to like bike for like 30mins after weights? You have been very helpful so far, and I'm sorry for asking so much.

thanks again.

 

[Larva]

and the reason why i suggested that p/rr/rr/s is b/c thts what gopro suggest if you read throu that forum he gives advise for a beginner.

well with gopro work out you really got to know your weights, thats could be why its not recommended for beginners,
but for power week i would say keep with a weight that you can just get 4-6 reps with it.

 

[ripperx]

larva,

Can you link me ot that thread? Also, i would assume that during the "rr" weeks, I would lower the weight to do more reps then. Thanks for the info.

 

[Larva]

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12761&highlight=south+africa

 

[ripperx]

thanks larva,

I'm gonna use the beginner verison to put togther a routine for myself. The thing that I'm still wondering if for the rr week, do you just take the weight poundage down to were u can do the 10-12reps.

 

[Larva]

yeap your basically starting with low reps then working up like for instance

Incline Dumbell Press (with bench at 15% incline) 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Bench Press 3 x 8-10
Flyes 2 x 10-12

so you start out with what weight you can do for that many reps

 

[CowPimp]

Originally posted by ripperx
Cowpimp,

I like your previous 3 day split since I'm gonna start intergrating leg work into it. I kinda like how it is a little more seperated in terms of stress for the different areas you hit. I think the thing I left out is what are the best # of sets you should do? I know like you should do 3 sets, but by doing more will it have better results? Also, if it's not to much to ask, can you give me some specifics on your routine for the 3 day split? Like the #'s and type of training for those areas? For example like for Monday "Chest and Bicep", how many different type of training and what kind do you do for the chest and also the biceps? Also, is it good to like bike for like 30mins after weights? You have been very helpful so far, and I'm sorry for asking so much.

thanks again.

I usually try to do 2-4 different exercises per body part. Some parts need more attention than others. For example, I think the chest should have about 8-9 total sets at pretty high intensity. The back should have more like 12-14 (Rhomboids, lats, etc.). The legs should have something like 12-16. The biceps, shoulders, and triceps should have something like 5-8. These are just completely generalized guidelines. You have to to tune your workout to your body. At first, your workout isn't going to be perfect. After you tweak it a few times, then you will begin to see some excellent results.

 

[ripperx]

Cool Thanks.

I'm actually thinking about taking a break for the rest of the week and formulate a routine based on the the beginner's version of gopros. p/rr/rr. What do you think?

 

[Larva]

well i happen to like gopros workout it really kicks my ass, so its really up to you you can try it out and see if you like it, there are so many different ways. if its your first time working out ever. then some would suggest doing a full body work out 2 times a week or is i 3 i am not sure. but everyone is different and react to different things. so i would experiment and see what works.
good luck with what ever you go with

Besides working out , i hope your diet is good

 

[CowPimp]

Originally posted by ripperx
Cool Thanks.

I'm actually thinking about taking a break for the rest of the week and formulate a routine based on the the beginner's version of gopros. p/rr/rr. What do you think?

I think a beginner's version of GoPro's routine is unneccesary. However, I don't think it will hurt anything. Most likely you will gain just as much strength from more basic training methods until you get more advanced.

 

[ripperx]

thank cowpimp, larva

I'm gonna take a break for the rest of the week and build a routine around the gopro beginner version and the 3 day split you showed me cowpimp.

thanks

 

[CowPimp]

Originally posted by ripperx
thank cowpimp, larva

I'm gonna take a break for the rest of the week and build a routine around the gopro beginner version and the 3 day split you showed me cowpimp.

thanks

Glad to be of assisstance. Come back and let us know how you progress in the next few months.

 

[ripperx]

yeah, i will. I'm prob gonna start the routine next week. But I need to work on the routines this weekend. BTW, do you guys know if this is a godo deal for Whey protein? Pro-Rated by ProteinUSA . I can get this at Costco for 6lbs for $19.99 .

 

[twizted110]

ripperx,

so your lookin for some routines to make right? if you want i can dig out some of the old routines that i did about a year ago. just let me know cuz alot of the stuff me and my lifting partner and good friend we got outta a few differant flex mags.