6 ft 2 10 stone - started at gym today

booooring!

So I joined the gym today and found it extremely tough. I got showing around the gym for half hour when quiet and did one two reps of each machine with the guy showing me them.

Off I went on my own and did 1*6 of bicep curls - 10KG each
pec fly machie 1*6 15 KG
1*6 of bicep curls - 10KG each
pec fly machie 1*6 15 KG
and 2*6 10 KG above my head

I could do no more. I had no energy in my muscles. I'm pretty sore now. Main reason for gym is bulking up as I look very very skinny in a shirt or t-shirt.

Okay enough of this anyway but main thing I'm looking for is a workout plan that anyone could advise. I'm going to buy a 50 KG dumbells with bar as well from Argos to do a bit at home as well.

Also looking for a nutrition plan if anyone has anything they can recommend.

Current Diet.
Breakfast - 2 Boiled Eggs - 3 Weetabox
Lunch - Subway or Burito
Dinner - 1 KG of baby potatoes with chicken and brocolli.

Anyone any recommendations on diet and workout plan

Mr. CooL ICE

You're only working out the muscles you can see in the mirror. That will lead to muscle imbalances and bad posture. You listed nothing involving your back or legs.

Best thing for you is to book a session with a personal trainer and learn how to use a barbell for the main compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, etc). This costs money, but in terms of time spent in the gym, those exercises are your best bang for buck.

If you're dead set on just using machines and dumbbells, look at doing cable rows/dumbbell rows and lat pulldowns/pullups for your back. Goblet squats or dumbbell lunges with single leg deadlifts for legs, etc. Not exactly a complete list of exercises, but its better than just pumping the guns.

Regarding food; that seems like a lot of potatoes, but overall, it's hard to tell if that's enough food without knowing the exact quantities. If you want to bulk, you probably have to eat more. You could snack on fruit and nuts along with drinking a glass of milk with each meal to up the calories.

booooring!

Nicolas Cage wrote: »

You're only working out the muscles you can see in the mirror. That will lead to muscle imbalances and bad posture. You listed nothing involving your back or legs.

Best thing for you is to book a session with a personal trainer and learn how to use a barbell for the main compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, etc). This costs money, but in terms of time spent in the gym, those exercises are your best bang for buck.

If you're dead set on just using machines and dumbbells, look at doing cable rows/dumbbell rows and lat pulldowns/pullups for your back. Goblet squats or dumbbell lunges with single leg deadlifts for legs, etc. Not exactly a complete list of exercises, but its better than just pumping the guns.

Regarding food; that seems like a lot of potatoes, but overall, it's hard to tell if that's enough food without knowing the exact quantities. If you want to bulk, you probably have to eat more. You could snack on fruit and nuts along with drinking a glass of milk with each meal to up the calories.

Thanks for the advice, very novice at this. Yea I think I'll do those deadlift things at home with the 50KG barbell and dumbell I'm getting from Argos. I'm going to give the lat pulldowns a go tomorrow and the leg machines. Yea it really is a 1KG bag of baby potatoes I eat a day and not putting on any weight. I'll drink a pint of milk with the meal as well and start eating the nuts as well.

Ri_Nollaig

booooring! wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, very novice at this. Yea I think I'll do those deadlift things at home with the 50KG barbell and dumbell I'm getting from Argos. I'm going to give the lat pulldowns a go tomorrow and the leg machines. Yea it really is a 1KG bag of baby potatoes I eat a day and not putting on any weight. I'll drink a pint of milk with the meal as well and start eating the nuts as well.

Don't waste your time with the Argos stuff.

Stick with the equipment in a gym [get a trainer to show you how to squat/deadlift/bench/overhead press properly].
If you want, in time you can make a home setup but do so with some proper weights.
You will very quickly out grow a 50KG barbell.

deadybai

Create a youtube account and subscribe to their channel. Everything you need to know is in one of their videos. You can follow the workout plans from their site.

https://www.youtube.com/user/buffdudes

If your're bulking your going to need to eat a caloric surplus which is eating more calories then you burn a day. Try eating 6-8 small meals a day. Have Breakfast - Mid Morning Snack - Lunch - Afternoon snack - Dinner - Evening snack. Cut out eating a subway for lunch as its junk . You are underweight so try and up your calorie intake to put on weight.

You should be able to complete 3 sets so you are probably lifting too heavy to begin with ( Everyone is very sore after the first day because your muscles arent used to lifting at all). Generally you should be able to 3 sets of 10 reps on each exercise. If you doing 10kg and can only do 2 sets then reduce to 7.5kg and do 3 sets. You should be barely able to complete the last set if at all. Once you are able to complete the 3 sets comfortably its time to move up the weights

JJayoo

How many times a week will you be gyming?

booooring!

JJayoo wrote: »

How many times a week will you be gyming?

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

johnnyskeleton

Maybe do a bit of cardio as well? If you do a 10 minute jog/cycle before upper body/back weights or a rowing machine if doing leg weights you will be warmed up, the blood will be pumping and the endorphins will be flowing. You may find that the weights are easier to do / less exhausting if youve done a bit of a warm up.

Then again, you may not. Try different things, but only stick to what works for you.

I assume the current diet is a sample day and youre not eating the same meals every single day? If you are, maybe get more varieties of foods e.g. brown rice and beef?

JJayoo

Coolio best thing is to keep it basic at the start. So Full body workouts following Push/Pull/Legs

Push = Chest/triceps/shoulders
Pushups
Single Arm Dumbbell shoulder press
Tricep rope extensions

Pull = Back/biceps
Lat pulldown
A Row movement = cable rows or dumbbell rows
Dumbbell Bicep curls

Legs
Bodyweight squats
Walking lunges
Reverse lunges

Sample Workout, Monday
Pushups X 5 sets pushing yourself to level 7 of difficulty/effort = on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is you collapsing
Lat Pulldown x 5 sets = level 7
Reverse Lunges x 5 sets = level 7
Single arm shoulder press x 3 sets = level 7
Row movement x 3 sets = level 7
Bodyweight squats x 3 sets = level 7
Bicep curls 3 sets to failure
tricep rope extensions 3 sets to failure

For the Wednesday workout you keep the sets and level of difficulty but swap the order so
Single shoulder press 5 sets
Row movement 5 sets
Bodyweight squats 5 sets
Pushups x 3 sets
Lat pulldown x 3 sets
Reverse lunges x 3 sets
Curls and triceps x failure

Gyming is a learning experience but sometimes you can get bogged down as there is so much info flying about. Also when people join a gym they sometimes feel like they have to do certain exercises such as Bench/Squat/Deads and while these are excellent exercises they are still just tools to perform a certain task = make you stronger/build muscle and these goals can be achieved with the workouts I have listed above. The movements listed above are also simple exercises to master and many can be done at home on a day that you don't feel like going into the gym.

Diet wise you need to gain weight, simple as that, so if you aren't gaining weight = eat more. I would get a weighing scales and weigh yourself in the morning to track if you are gaining weight. Don't try and change your diet too much, a bulking diet should be easy/enjoyable so look for easy ways to add calories. An extra 2 glasses of milk, some extra butter on your spuds, some biscuits, nuts, some extra fruit. Very easy to add an additional 600 calories to your diet without much effort.

reklamos

I would say if you are starting give enough time to recover or you will not be able to train properly.
When I started I needed at least 2 days to recover so there was no way I could train same muscle groups every second day.
My advice is to break week into:
Monday: Upper body
Wednesday: Lower body
Friday: Upper body

Warm up and do not jump onto the heaviest weights you can lift. Gym machines minimize your chances of injury but at the same time they limit your training to specific muscles and more importantly you do not learn proper form.

I'm not against gyms but I cannot focus there unless I'm on my own. There is way too many distraction for me.
So I have mini gym at home(pull up bar, squat/dip rack, barbell and dumbbells). As someone posted before Argos is not the place to buy equipment but there are plenty ads online for used stuff.

booooring!

reklamos wrote: »

I would say if you are starting give enough time to recover or you will not be able to train properly.
When I started I needed at least 2 days to recover so there was no way I could train same muscle groups every second day.
My advice is to break week into:
Monday: Upper body
Wednesday: Lower body
Friday: Upper body

Warm up and do not jump onto the heaviest weights you can lift. Gym machines minimize your chances of injury but at the same time they limit your training to specific muscles and more importantly you do not learn proper form.

I'm not against gyms but I cannot focus there unless I'm on my own. There is way too many distraction for me.
So I have mini gym at home(pull up bar, squat/dip rack, barbell and dumbbells). As someone posted before Argos is not the place to buy equipment but there are plenty ads online for used stuff.

Thanks for this. Had a free personal trainer today to go through a plan and he advised no more than 2*8 for each exercise for the next five weeks due to my size or I will get serious muscle fatigue or could seriously injure myself with muscle tear or just suffer from exhaustion and to take two days off in between sessions.

After five weeks I can move up to 3*8 and take one day of in between sessions. (2 if still needed)

After that five weeks is up I can move up to 4*8 . I can gradually move up more reps when I feel comfortable.

He also gave me great diet tips on hitting the 3000 calorie mark and how he reminded me that it will take time and you have the rest of your life to build muscle so start off slowly.

So I think I'm going to follow his advice. I can't do more than 3*8 for the first ten weeks. Seems like a plan! Anyone any advice?

reklamos

Sounds like a plan. If you stick to it your body should adapt in 10 weeks.
Be careful with free weights and learn good form. If you train in the gym ask someone to spot you, if you do at home record on phone and watch afterwards. As I said already increase weight gradually but learn the correct form first or you will suffer later.

pheasant tail

Lads to most gyms have a personal trainer or such to show you about when starting off?