Started weights programme in gym - Some questions/advice please

Kenny_D

I started back in the gym on monday. I'd never really done weights in a gym before (mostly cardio/swimming) but I'd done a bit of P90X before and got some results I was pretty happy with at the time:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055977376

I tried getting back into P90X but found I wasn't enjoying it as much so decided to get myself to the gym. I'm a pretty skinny guy (67kg and about 5ft 10) and I want to try build some lean muscle, increasing my weight and ideally getting my bodyfat percentage back below 10% (currently 12%, was about 8% in p90x pics above).

I think I eat pretty clean and my current diet would look something like this:

Breakfast:
2-3 eggs scrambled with 2 slices wholemeal toast or
1 bowl porridge with a banana and some honey and a protein shake with 8oz skim milk

Mid Morning:
Handful of unsalted mixed nuts or protein shake if I haven't had one for breakfast

Lunch:
Salmon/Chicken fillet with a salad and low or non fat dressing or
Beans/Poached eggs on toast or
3 (2 whole, 1 white) egg omellette (again depending if i had eggs for breakfast) or
Ham Salad sandwich
1 square of 70% chocolate

Mid Afternoon:
Handful Mixed Nuts

Post-Workout:
1 Recovery-XS shake or Hurricane-XS (Both from myprotein)

Dinner:
Salmon/Chicken/Turkey/Steak and veg/brown rice/brown pasta/salad

I drink a coffee in the morning and sometimes another 30 mins before workout for a caffeine boost. I also drink maybe 2-3 cups of black tea with low fat milk and sometimes peppermint tea instead. I drink about 2-3 litres of water every day in work and don't really drink anything else like lemonade. Alcohol I can give or take, not pushed, sometimes I'll have a few drinks once or twice a month but I'm always thinking about the crap and calories in beer so will try drink spirits/diet coke if I can. I take a small amount of omega 3 and vitamin e supplements and am waiting for delivery of some more multivitamins.

Right so that kinda covers my diet. Now onto my new workout plan.

This is my routine starting into it for 2 weeks then I have another assessment. Each exercise is 10 reps and 1 set which will move up to 2/3 sets after the first few sessions:

Warmup:
15 mins on cross trainer then a few stretches

Dumbbell Squats (15kg per hand) (Pretty tough, not used to these)
Single Arm Shoulder Press (12.5kg) (Maxed out at 10, tough)
Chest Press on flat bench (12.5kg per hand) (Struggled to get last 2 reps)
Upright Rows (10kg) (Wasn't too bad)
Seated EZ Bar Bicep Curls (12.5 kg) (Pushed hard for last 2 reps and felt good)
DeadLift (no weights yet, just the bar) (Need to work on my technique before adding weight)
Calf Raise (50kg) (Not too bad)
Dumbbell Lunges (Single 10kg dumbbell outstretched) (Felt it more in my shoulders than my legs from holding the dumbbell out)
Leg Curls (25kg) (This was ok)
Dips (struggled with these)
Chin Ups (Not much problem here, do these at home)

Cooldown:
10 mins on treadmill and then some stretches

I did the above routine on monday and doms kicked in yesterday and is still quite sore today in my neck/shoulders and quads (bit of stiffness/pain walking).

I bumped up my protein/carb intake a bit after monday to try help with recovery and also did the 1 hour stretch video from P90X last night which felt nice then took some zma and cottage cheese/peanut butter before bed last night to try get some good rest/recovery overnight. Still sore today though and I had aimed to be back in the gym today (was hoping to go every 2 days).

So I'm wondering, should I go back today or leave it another day for the doms to reduce?
Anything I can do today to improve recovery time or reduce doms?
Is there anything different I should be doing or any tips in general for starting into a routine like this? (I'm pretty new to this kind of stuff so any help/advice is really appreciated).

My instructor is sound and I think it looks like a good programme for a nice full body workout. There's also more work on it for in a few weeks time.

Thanks


EDIT:
Gave it an extra days rest and got in some extra sleep and good food. Quads were still a little sore but knocked out my routine a little easier than the first day. Did a lot more stretching afterwards as well and I don't feel half as bad today. Back to the gym tomorrow

Kenny_D

I got a reassessment done today and have some questions.

My initial weight was 67kg @ 12.1% bodyfat
Today I am still 67kg but @ 10.9%

So according to this: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/lbm_calculator.htm , I gained 3 pounds of lean body mass in a month.

Is this below average/normal/above average?
Should I keep eating the way I am at the moment or increase my calorie intake?

My goals are to try and bulk pretty cleanly and stay relatively lean. I'd like to pack a few more pounds onto my frame so I don't look so skinny. Am I on the right track here? I'm not too worried about putting on a little extra fat if it will help build lean muscle mass faster but I find its nice to stay lean and see some results and definition as your bodyfat drops.

It's my first time with a proper gym routine so want to do it right

On a side note, it looks like my left rotator cuff is knackered so have to work on building that back up. I still have full range of motion but its pretty weak and it clicks and pops a lot with any extension of the arm above my head. Any tips/suggestions really appreciated on what I can do to try and sort this out

Hanley

How was your bodyfat measured? If the numbers are legit, it seems like good enough progress. Happy with the improvement in appearance?

You could probably get away with increasing kcals since you're quite light and lean. Would lead to more muscle quicker in all likelihood.

As for your rotator cuff, shoulder problems do not automatically mean rotator cuff issues. The 4 rotator cuff muscles all originate from the scapula and attach to the humerus, so how well your rotator cuff works is larget going to be dictated by scapular function too.

Kenny_D

BF% measured using this exact machine:



Now I'm not sure thats as accurate as a good old caliper measurement but the machine read 12.1% 4 weeks ago and with the same settings now reads 10.9%. I deffinitely feel a bit leaner after the 4 weeks and have got a little bit of definition back so yup I'm deffinitely happy with the improvements so far.

I guess what threw me was I was expecting to go up in weight with my attempts to eat much more food in the last few weeks but as long as I'm gaining lean body mass I guess that's good enough for now. I'm noticing some small increases in general bulkiness in my upper body which looks a bit healthier I think than the pics from my p90x days. I presume my bodyfat will stop dropping at a certain point and my overall weight will go up.

I think its my rotator though, my trainer tried a few different motions with my arm to see where the weakness was. I noticed it when doing one armed dumbbell swings