Hey everybody,
What training program do you suggest for a beginner? My goal is to lose fat. I would prefer a simple program, meaning, my gym is at my office and it isn’t equipped with all the fancy equipment a full gym has. For example, we have Smith machine to do bench presses and squats. Also, is it better to work a different body part everyday, or a full body program?
Hi Chivas,
I am just starting as well, I currently do a 2 day split, mon is chest, shoulders and tric, tues is legs, back and bicep, wed is rest, thursday the chest routine, friday is rest and sat is leg routine. Cardio is 6 days a week - 45 min.
Not sure if this is the way to do it but so far I have dropped 10 lbs.
You CANNOT do squats or bench presses on a smith machine; only hideous, dangerous bastardizations of these productive free-weight movements…
If you don’t have/can’t possibly gain access to free weights, you would be far better served with body weight drills, working the whole body daily
E.g.
Dips, Chins, Pullups, Dive-bomber pushups, regular/one-armed pushups, Hindu Squats, Ski Squats, Pistols, Bulgarian Squats, etc… there is an endless list of super-productive bodyweight exercises you can do.
And getting good at masculine exercises like pullups, one-armed pushups, pistols and the like will leave you much, much stronger, healthier (although I know there is debate about the safety of pistols,) and more muscular than you can ever get fucking around with a smith machine…stay far away from it!
Best of luck
your goal is to lose fat? same here.
the posts above are good advice, especially the 2nd one because it would be better for you to stick with body weight exercises if your only option is using a smith machine.
the most important factor, however, is eating right. i still have problems with it, but i’m slowly getting there. make sure you try to avoid all the unhealthy crap that everyone says is bad. eat lots of vegetables, fruits, and especially protein. limit yourself on the carbs, but make sure you have enough to function correctly and to have energy to work out.
there are some good articles about clean eating, but i’m not too sure what the names of them were. i bet someone else could find them for you.
good luck w/ reaching your goals!
-joe
just go ahead and lift as much as you can. when you gain mass, you’ll find that restricting calories just a little will reduce your body fat %.
the more muscle mass you have the higher your BMR (basal metabolic rate)… so, if you eat the same with more muscle mass, you will automatically lose more weight.
long story short; just work out and it’ll come.
Where can I find these body routines? I do lift weights and have a pass at the local gym but there are some days where I simply want to do something else, these body routines sound like something I should be incorporating into my workout.
A guy named Paval Tsatsouline at dragondoor sells some great books for body weight workouts. one of his was T-jacked here and reviews are available.
Personally, if you are going to get serious about getting into this sport, eat the cost of a gym membership and use a full range of equipment available. It’ll allow you do the exercise you hear / read about here, instead of trying to use a smith machine for. . . anything. If you get into it, stick here with T-mag. Ask a ton of questions, read anything and everything that comes this way. Dont be afraid to try something you have never done. This site will not let you down.
BTW, I like EDT for fat loss, muscle gain , whatever. Charles Staley is such a smart guy, you really cant go wrong with him.
Where can I find EDT?
Chivas, if you are a beginner with no weight training experience forget about EDT or any other advanced program. Ramo and jo3 gave you some very good advice. Start with mastering the basics and read everything you can get your hands on from reputable sources like t-mag). Begin with Shugart’s Dawg School: Basic Training for Beginners.