I am starting a beginner weight routine and I want one I can do long term. I have chosen not to do SS or SL because I want to add mass and am not looking to be a powerlifter or compete in strength sports.
I want to be reasonably strong within the next few years and put on some muscle. I have very small arms, delta, upper back, big legs and big belly. Having never seen anyone use SS and come off it looking good I bought the 5/3/1 simplest strength edition and it made quite a bit of sense.
I like the gradual approach where I can build some biceps and widen my shoulders and slowly build up to some reasonable goals strength wise.
I have tried to balance pushing and pulling movements and added some isolation movements to add some size because I want to look good and have more than 12 inch guns at 190lbs
How does this look? By the way those are the accessories, obviously I will be doing the main lifts with 5/3/1 numbers, I am going to start quite light.
Oh I am too heavy/not strong enough to do chin-ups, pull-ups and dips, so thats why I have skull crushers and curls in to build the arms and have rows and lat pulldowns to strengthen the upper back, which is by far my weakest body part and it is leading to rounded shoulders and back pain.
Buy the Beyond book. Inside is a 20 weeks BBB outline that will get you big and very strong instead of reasonably strong. Pay attention to your diet and condition with a weight vest, prowler, hill or just walking down the street.
[quote]NoGi1 wrote:
I can’t do chin-ups, the BBB challenge calls for 5x10 chin-ups, he says no substitutions for exercises.[/quote]
Do them in sets of 2 or 3 if you have to. Just get 50. The only way to get better at chins is to do them.
I do believe somewhere (though now I can’t find it) that he said one could substitute lat pull downs if the trainee is too weak to do pull ups. I’ll keep looking for that.
[quote]NoGi1 wrote:
I can’t do chin-ups, the BBB challenge calls for 5x10 chin-ups, he says no substitutions for exercises.[/quote]
Do them in sets of 2 or 3 if you have to. Just get 50. The only way to get better at chins is to do them.
I do believe somewhere (though now I can’t find it) that he said one could substitute lat pull downs if the trainee is too weak to do pull ups. I’ll keep looking for that. [/quote]
a couple of singles and I am done, 5 is impossible for me at my current level. I was 9 stone and a runner before i got injured. Now I am near 14 stone with hardly any muscle. It is like a skinny guy having 70 pounds strapped to them, bodyweight stuff is pretty much out of the question.
a couple of singles and I am done, 5 is impossible for me at my current level. I was 9 stone and a runner before i got injured. Now I am near 14 stone with hardly any muscle. It is like a skinny guy having 70 pounds strapped to them, bodyweight stuff is pretty much out of the question.[/quote]
You sound defeated right out of the gate. Maybe that’s just frustration? IDK. POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE MAN!! YOU have to make it happen no matter what. Here’s what I recommend.
On that pull up bar you tell yourself that you WILL fucking do “X” pull ups. it will happen as sure as the sun comes up. If that is 1 P.U. now, who cares. Make that one rep the best rep you got. THEN switch to inverted rows. MOST ANYONE can do those. OR buy an average band at Elite fts and do band assisted pull ups. If you are lucky, some gyms have a weight assisted pull up machine. Use it. Just get the work done. Pull ups are awesome and should be a staple in everyones regimen but they are not because they are hard. Your hard work WILL pay off. Stick with it!
[quote]NoGi1 wrote:
I can’t do chin-ups, the BBB challenge calls for 5x10 chin-ups, he says no substitutions for exercises.[/quote]
i suck at those to. so to get more volume i am doing rep ladders. i start with 1 rep, then 2, then 3 and so on. after my top set i go back down 1 rep a set.
i found whatever the top set is, square that number and that is the total number of reps. so work up to a set of 7. i also find i can do more in a single set this way than i can any other way. so i get more reps in a set and more volume. win win there!
OP with your attitude you will never succeed. Keep that attitude and you are guaranteed to fail. Right now you need to look at yourself hard and tell yourself it can be done. Do assisted pullups with a band. Do inverted rows, but most of all change your attitude towards training. Believe in this shit or fall by the wayside
If your too fat and weak to do more than one pullup, start with one, work on getting stronger overall and less fat. Real change takes time, hard work and the work ethic to do it. Quality hard work + quality food + good sleep + time = progress. Follow this formula for a couple years and get back to us.
So I am like 30% body fat at around 185-190 lbs and just went to test my 5 rep max for the overhead press, it was 93 pounds, which is fucking pathetic. I want to get lean and get stronger and I have no clue how to rely go about doing it. Would it work doing low carb on 5/3/1, would it be good to do 5km runs on the days I am not doing it? There are so many conflicting messages I’m really confused about how to proceed.
Fuck it doing this. 2800kcal, hiit or sprints on the off days as well as some grappling.
I figured having low calories wouldn’t help with recovery or building any muscle so I figured that a recomnp might be better, losing any more muscle wouldn’t make me look any better or help me be more in shape.
Just for reference Jim says in his BBB 3 month challenge article “if you can’t do 10 reps of a chin up, do lat pulldowns instead.”.
As for losing fat, that happens through diet, but don’t try to go overboard eating a 500+ kcal deficit while trying to do the BBB challenge or something, use your head or you’ll just feel like shit and not get anywhere. As for conditioning I can’t recommend the prowler enough, hill sprints and rowing machine also worked well for me, better and more fun than distance running if you ask me.
I would not try to do everything at once. For the lifting program, as many folk have said, Boring But Big Challenge or basic Boring But Big template, and just do what you can with the pullups/latpulldown.
Regarding getting leaner, you will have to set your priorities between building muscle and losing fat, but whatever you decide you will want to be on a solid lifting program. That said, I would suggest starting with the BBB lifting, and start eating better (more meat and veggies, less unnecessary carbs). You can add in more work and adjust diet over time, but it may really help to have that solid base to focus on the lifting and the obvious diet stuff you should be doing in any case.
Dieting is the easiest shit in the world. Honestly I dont know how people fuck it up. Whats better for you for breakfast? Eggs and oatmeal or pancakes? For lunch, chicken with some veggies or chinese food at the mall? Dinner, a steak, sweet potato and broccoli or a pizza from dominos…you know what to eat and what not to eat
So I have spent all day reading the nutrition articles on here. It was pretty helpful. I like the tracking calories and macro nutrient way of approaching diet as opposed to all of that hippy stuff about avoiding bread and pasta. So I will be doing that. I am going to eat at a 100-150 calorie surplus rather than eating at a deficit.
I am going to do the 4 day a week wendler split and 2-3 days a week running and grappling.
As well as focusing on diet and the main lifts I want to focus on building up my back and my arms. I saw some good progress a guy with a similar frame to me made by approaching the assistance like this
[quote]NoGi1 wrote:
So I have spent all day reading the nutrition articles on here. It was pretty helpful. I like the tracking calories and macro nutrient way of approaching diet as opposed to all of that hippy stuff about avoiding bread and pasta. So I will be doing that. I am going to eat at a 100-150 calorie surplus rather than eating at a deficit.[/quote]
One recommendation I’ll make is to generally disregard stuff that looks like it was written by a bodybuilder. A lot of it is unnecessarily technical for a beginner that wants to put on some size. My recommendation is to avoid the scale and judge yourself using a mirror and your belt. If you look at feel better while your belt gradually gets looser than you’re doing it right.
I’d recommend to not do longer distances (5km), particularly if you’re slow and/or your running form sucks. I didn’t listen to my body and gave myself runners knee because I was too slow and plodding. Additionally, longer distances will put more demands on your recovery and sabotage your efforts.
I got better results by going short distances 1 to 1.5km while focusing on form and speed. I used intervals until I could do a full km without my form breaking down. I also recommend alternating with bike work as it puts less stress on your body and puts less demand on your recovery. I was able to sustain the above while doing the BBB program although it did require me to listen to my body and some days that required me to quit once my speed/form started to brake down.
Grappling should be fine since it’s generally done in intervals.
Stop focusing on problem areas and just focus on general strength. Let things build naturally and forget the bodybuilding bullshit for the time being.
IMO, you’ll get better results following a 3x/week full body routine than a 4 day split, but if you insist on doing a 4 day split then just do the Boring But Big 3 Month Challenge linked above. By following the program you’ll learn more about training than you will by simply reading articles, and once educated you’ll have a better understanding of what articles apply to you and which don’t (and, which are pure bullshit).
