I need your help & knowledge..

True_Blue

Alright there guys,
I’m a long time lurker, first time poster.

From what I’ve been reading here, it’s seems you lads are a sound bunch of skins, and great for the advise.

So I’m posting to try get a little for myself.
Same old story, want to lose weight and get in shape.

I’ve recently joined a gym and want to get to training as soon as.
I was hoping if I posted up a few details, you guys could help with a decent enough program for myself.

I’m about 5’8 - 5’9 (male) and weigh just over 14 stone. I wouldn’t call myself overweight but I do have a belly (most likely from the all beer) and I really want to get rid of it!!

I’m not totally clueless about weight/cardio training, but I do have a lot to learn.

I was thinking something like chest & biceps on Mondays, shoulders & triceps on Wednesdays, back and legs Fridays, and use the Tuesdays & Thursdays for cardio, jogging/skipping etc.

I think I could manage this timetable, I’m not totally out of shape, I did play a little football/rugby etc on the weekends with the lads a year ago or so and I’d do a few push-ups and chin ups before heading to bed, I found I quickly developed a little ’size’, nothing major mind you.

Sometimes when I, say get out of the shower I can see a little definition around the shoulder area, and if I do say 20 push ups my chest gets pumped and looks more defined.. For about 30 seconds ; ) I sometimes can make out 2 or 3 abs if I suck in really hard (really hard) even under the belly.

I have this frustrated feeling that I have good things to work with, but it’s all trapped under stupid fat! Gr.

What I’m trying to say is, I think my body responds well to training, and if I hit the gym hard I think I could get great results.

My biggest problem and where I’m totally clueless is,
1, what exercises to be doing and
2, what to be (and not to be) eating.

Is benching best for my chest? Etc What’s best for my shoulders? Etc What do I do for my back? etc Legs? Etc Abs? traps? What machine is what? What’s the big thing with wires people are pulling on, what’s that working? Ahhh it’s all so confusing.

I’d love some advise on what exercises I should be doing for what, if you know what I mean.

I understand my food intake is very important also, but when I hear you guys talking about calories etc it gets very confusing..

I’ll try give you an insight into my diet, it’s pretty much the same stuff everyday

Breakfast
10am
2 slices of brown bread with butter
1 natural yogurt
1 glass of OJ
Sometimes a croissant or scrambled eggs 2


11am
One of those nutrigrain bars or a banana

Lunch
Between 12 - 1pm
Brown bread sandwich with butter, turkey, salami and grated cheese.
Oxtail soup

Dinner
Between 6 - 7pm
2 packets of koka noodles (sometimes more)
(sometimes with waffles/white bread)
Sometimes I’ll just get a take away.

From 8pm onwards I’d manly just drink tea/coke and snack on chocolate.

I know this isn’t a healthy diet. And I should mention I drink about 10 cups of tea with brown sugar a day..

And for the beer, I'd say i drink about 20 bottles of beer over the weekends.
(i'd drink during the week to if there's a match on, ya know yourself)

My diet tends to get real **** over weekends, i'd maybe eat 4 packs of noodles a day and a take away also.

That's just about it..

So, if you’ve make it this far, you’re a better man then me.
All advise will be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

celestial

Welcome dude!

From your post I know you've got exactly the same body type as myself. I'm also 5'8" - 5'9" and while I've never hit 14 stone I am 13 stone - and have been for years. However, over the past year I've made pretty significant changes to my body - losing quite a bit of fat (weight hasn't changed - I've dropped fat and gained muscle - balancing things out) and gained lots of 'definition', most notably in my arms/shoulders and legs - and in my back especially lately!

Our body type 'acts' in a pretty specific way - and here's the bad news followed by the good - no, wait - great news! It loves holding onto fat but it also loves building good old hard muscle. In other words, if it had its way it would be fat for life, but it will gladly add muscle with even a little resistance/weight training - that explains your 'I do some push-ups at night and can see a difference' comment.

Don't get too caught up with calories, cable machines in the gym just now. I'm gonna make it realllllly simple for you with a plan that if you implement, you will see results and will have you back here thanking me in 3-4 weeks;)

Koka noodles, brown sugar, coke, take aways have no place in this plan (quelle surprise!!) Seriously, drop them. OK, more realistically - restrict junk to one take away every four weeks. There. I'm being nice.

So, once you've removed the junk/processed sugar garbage, you're sucking diesel already. Nutrigrain falls under the processed garbage category by the way - so lose it.

Looking at your eating patterns, it looks like you aren't eating anything between lunch at 1 and dinner at 6? Change that to have 5-6 small meals per day, every day. That's gonna be breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack.

For meals, base them around meat, fish, veg and small amounts of wholegrain carbs (brown bread, brown rice, brown pasta).

For snack, base them around unsalted nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts etc) and plain natural yoghurt. Have some fruit too.

Diet is always gonna be more important than exercise, but exercise is still tremendously important of course. Keeping it simple again...

Learn these lifts:

Bench press, dumbbell rows, deadlift, squat.

Do them 3-4 times per week for the 4 weeks. Throw in some cardio too - maybe 1-2 x 30 min sessions per week.

How does that sound for the next 4 weeks?

Colm_OReilly

Please please please don't break your body into separate parts! Use big, compound lifts - squats (not on a smith machine!), deadlifts, presses, benching. Good bodyweight stuff like dips, push ups, pull ups, sit ups, lunges etc are also golden.

Here's a novice routine you might enjoy.

Colm

Gumbyman

Hey! Welcome and congratulations on your new resolve. Celestial speaks much wisdom there. One thing that might help you is to start a log. Keep track of everything you eat on a spreadsheet or the like. Every day update it with every snack, meal and sneaky treat. This will help you to see what you are putting into your body and also it may deter you from falling off the wagon when you know you are accountable to yourself. Also in this log keep track of all the exercise you do - weights and frequency. From experience it gives you something to build on (you may even compete against your self of the past) and after a while you can set your goals and they are there in black and white.

Try to get as much protein into your diet as you can. If you are doing weights you need protein otherwise you wont be able to build and repair muscle. The more muscle you build, the higher is your bodies metabolism at rest so you will burn up food and calories faster and the fat will fade away.
High protein foods = chicken, turkey, nuts, egg whites, tuna, tofu etc. Maybe get a protein shake for after gym workouts.

Good luck!.

True_Blue

First of all, thank you all very must for all the replies; they’ve all been very helpful.
Celestial, thank you very full for the detailed response, I’d to keep re-reading it to take everything in.

I’ll check up on bodybuilding.com and find some exercises for the following you listed.
Bench press, dumbbell rows, deadlift, squat.

I just have a few questions, how many sets of each should I do, and how many reps?
For example, if I do 3 sets of 8-10 reps on the bench, should I repeat this with the bench inclined and declined?

This goes for all the exercises, the sets and reps are a confusing one.

Colm, thanks for your reply, I’m interested why you think I should spilt the workout up into different parts?

Of course you know what your talking about, it just seems that a lot of my friends work out that why, which explains where I got the idea of doing it that way.

Oh and the link was extremely helpful.

Gumbyman, cheers for the diet tips also. I know what I have to do as far as dieting goes, once I get the workout plan clear in my mind I’ll be away... And most likely back here in 4 weeks thanking ya Celestial.

Colm_OReilly

Isolation type exercises and split routines ame about for a number of "reasons".

Physiotherapists etc needed to rehab a particular muscle post injury, and to do so requires moving it in a specific way, so the muscle way isolated from the rest until the fibres grew back in the correct alignment. People said "hey, doctors are doing this, it must be good!"

Bodybuilders (who rely on vitamin S a lot) used these to achieve the proportions and definitions that were in vogue that year.

Advanced athletes (powerlifters/weightlifters) had reached a stage of adaptation that they needed to split up their workouts, had a particularly weak bodypart/section of movement that needed attention to hit new levels, or needed to train around injuries and still grow/compete. People said "hey, advanced guys are doing this routine, I should as well!"

Machines were invented, and a very good marketing group made the current fitness industry.

There's a good argument here for whole body routines for the novice (which is what you are, and what most people are when it comes to strength/fitness adaptation)

The reason why people really don't like guys altering Rippetoe's novice program is because the target audience of this program doesn't know anywhere near enough about training to make appropriate adjustments. You'll see newbs who are 135 lbs complaining about their "bicept peaks", and they want to train their upper-inner chest because it's a weak point. This is laughable simply because their entire body is one big weak link! In reality, they aren't really weak, they are simply untrained.

The flip side is that anyone who actually needs any type of specialized instruction is already well-trained and conditioned, and they have identified true weak points...well, they shouldn't be using this program's template! They have specific needs that require addressing. The novice's only "specific need" is to get bigger and stronger overall. The target audience is not someone who actually has weak points, the target audience is someone who hasn't been training long enough to know what a true weak point is.

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html is a good resource for learning the lifts, there's a good deal on the press and deadlift.
http://www.strengthmill.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36 has a sticky on squat faults that you can reference.

Also, youtube "Squat Rx" videos - good instruction there as well.

Let me know if you've any other questions,
Colm

True_Blue

Thanks again guys for the helpful advise. At the moment I’m still just doing cardio (jogging etc) I want to have my training plan sorted before I start, so I don’t get lost and disheartened.

After reading Gumbyman’s post about keeping a log it reminded me that I did use to keep a log of what I use to lift, I tore the apartment apart and finally found it today.
Here’s what it reads like..
It's about a year or so old i guess.

14 of the 2nd
Bench press
40kgs set 1 = 4 reps
30kgs set 2 = 6 reps
30kgs set 3 = 5 reps
Flies
10kgs set 1 = 8 reps
Bounces (on bench)
60kgs set 1 = 17
60kgs set 2 = 19
60kgs set 3 = 12
Bent over row
30kgs set 1 = 12 reps
40kgs set 2 = 10 reps
40kgs set 3 = 8 reps
Lat pulldown
70kgs
Set 1 = 8
Set 2 = 7
Set 3 = 6
16 of the 2nd
Military press
25kgs set 1 = 5 reps
20kgs set 2 = 4 reps
15kgs set 3 = 6 reps
(all assisted)
Military press (behind head)
15kgs
Set 1 = 8 reps
Set 2 & 3 = 5 reps
Upright row
15kgs set 1 = 12 reps
20kgs set 2&3 = 5 reps
Close grip bench press
20kgs set 1&2 = 7 reps
Set 3 = 5 reps
Dips
Set 1 = 9 reps
Set 2 = 10 reps
Preacher curl
20kgs
3 sets of 5 reps
21 of the 2nd
Bench press
30kgs set 1 = 10 reps
35kgs set 2 = 8 reps
35kgs set 3 = 8 reps
Flies
10kgs set 1 = 115 reps
Bounces (on bench)
65kgs
3 sets of 20 reps
Bent over row
40kgs set 1 = 8 reps
40kgs set 2 = 8 reps
40kgs set 3 = 12 reps
Lat pulldown
70kgs
Set 1 = 10
75kgs Set 2 = 8
75kgs Set 3 = 7
Dead lift
40kgs
Set 1 = 6 reps
Set 2 = 4 reps
Set 3 = 5 reps
23 of the 2nd
Military press
15kgs set 1 = 12 reps
20kgs set 2 = 8 reps
20kgs set 3 = 6 reps
Military press (behind head)
20kgs
Set 1&2 = 6 reps
Set 3 = 8 reps
Upright row
25kgs set 1 = 6 reps
25kgs set 2&3 = 7 reps
Close grip bench press
25kgs set 1&2 = 8 reps
Set 3 = 6 reps
Dips
Set 1 = 15 reps
Set 2 = 15 reps
Preacher curl
25kgs
3 sets of 7 reps
There’s a gap in the log here
Bench press
45kgs
2 sets of 6 reps
1 set of 6 reps
Preacher curl
25kgs
2 sets of 8
1 set of 4
Military press
25kgs
3 sets = 8/7/7
Behind head
25kgs
3 sets = 5/4/4
Bent over row
40kgs
3 sets = 8/8/6
Deadlift
40kgs
3 sets = 8/5/4

I dont know if it helps in anyway. i was impressed I got up to benching 45kgs and pressing 25kgs after 3 or so weeks.
Well considering I remember starting on 30kgs and it being a killer for me.
Or is that the norm for everyone?

I just wanted to post this to see if it indicated what weight I should be lifting now.

oh and i looked at those pull ups, are they like the military press except ya lift it over your head?
Is it cool to do those, squats and the like alone? I just always see spotters, and as i plan on hitting the gym before work when it's empty and all that, i hope it ain't a problem.

I never really did squats or leg work before as i've pretty soild legs as iit is.
I've never done any calve exercises but my calves are pretty developed.

Celestial, when you say:
Learn these lifts:

Bench press, dumbbell rows, deadlift, squat & do them 3-4 times per week for the 4 weeks.

Do you mean do that all in the same session, and repeat it 3 - 4 times a week?
And should I do them in 3 sets like I was a few years back?

Listen guys, thanks again, I know I’m sounding very native and annoying at this point.

Colm, thanks for those links, I’m trying to read as much as I can. It’s a mad new world I tell ya.

True_Blue

Oh and, would it be a good idea to take a protein shake after lifting, even tho I'm trying to lose weight?

Colm_OReilly

I dont know if it helps in anyway. i was impressed I got up to benching 45kgs and pressing 25kgs after 3 or so weeks.
Well considering I remember starting on 30kgs and it being a killer for me.
Or is that the norm for everyone?

Yes, you are a novice. Novices can make rapid, linear progress. Enjoy it while you can.

Learn these lifts:

Bench press, dumbbell rows, deadlift, squat & do them 3-4 times per week for the 4 weeks.

Do you mean do that all in the same session, and repeat it 3 - 4 times a week?
And should I do them in 3 sets like I was a few years back?

No, you don't need to split up your program. We discussed this already and gave you a program. Here it is in simpler form. Please do this.

oh and i looked at those pull ups, are they like the military press except ya lift it over your head?

I've no idea what you're talking about here. A pull up and press are completely different exercises.

I never really did squats or leg work before as i've pretty soild legs as iit is.

You have to squat or you're a pussy Seriously though, squats are a total body workout, and cause those oh so wonderful hormones to get released to make you big and strong. Simple. As.

I just wanted to post this to see if it indicated what weight I should be lifting now.

Your previous program was ill designed (too many exercises) and ill implemented (heavier lat pull down than dead, for example) so it can't really help you determine which weights you ought to use now. Start at a manageable weight, increase it each workout, and you'll figure it out. But start.

Oh and, would it be a good idea to take a protein shake after lifting, even tho I'm trying to lose weight?

No. Sort out your diet. Practically everyone who comes along and asks about shakes and supplements has a poor diet. Sort that out first and it will do wonders for you.

Listen guys, thanks again, I know I’m sounding very native and annoying at this point.

I don't know if you sound native or not I'm from Dublin but have an American twang to my accent anyway. And you're not annoying, what's annoying is the amount of misinformed cr@p you've been fed. But I guess that's why I'm here, to save you the BS I went through.

Now, put down the Men's Health magazine, promise me you'll never read it again, and start squatting.