Intro and Need Helpful Newbie Tips

Training Beginners
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Hey everyone, I just wanted to do a quick intro and get any helpful newbie tips you might have.

I’m a 20 year old college student, and as far as my training history goes, I worked out 4-5 times a week all 4 years of high school, for football, but slacked off a bunch in college (I don’t drink, so don’t have a beer belly though, thank God! haha).

Giving PRs always seems like bragging to me and I do my best to try to at least /feel/ humble, but for a reference point I started out HS as a freshman weight in around 135, and graduated at a little over 200, and my height grew probably an inch or 2 from 6’ to where I am now at 6’2. So those were the good years; my max bench was 295 Junior year (I really just should have gone for 300 in retrospect, but I didn’t even know how much weight had been added by the time I maxed; my coach just made me do it).

Now I have no clue what my current max bench is, and I don’t really find it a useful measurement because I don’t really use my chest muscles for much anymore; they are great to push over a lineman, but I find biceps, triceps and abs to be more useful muscle-groups to track… that being said I shouldn’t neglect the bench but I find myself doing it as I can’t seem to find a committed gym-mate.

Speaking of which, last year my friend and I started a workout routine called “Buff For Bolivia” around this time, as we went to Santa Cruz, Bolivia for a service project / missions trip over Spring Break. It ended horribly as he stopped going quickly [like after 2 or 3 weeks] and I, after losing the accountability, lost motivation after 4 or 5 weeks.

I tell that story for a reason: this year, a different friend of mine is going to be (hopefully) accompanying me to the gym for a workout routine we’ve entitled “Cut for Costa Rica” as we’re going with a group to build an orphanage a bit north of San Jose.

It’s sort of a New Year’s resolution as well: we want to work out to be able to better do construction work there, but also to have more energy in general, be more disciplined with our time, and hopefully look better at the beach (although I have a GF as of recently who thinks I’m plenty “buff” as I am, but that’s another story).

Thanks for taking the time to basically read a lifting autobiography, hopefully it didn’t bore anyone to the point of being angry at my newbie-ness.

And as far as getting advice goes, I read all of Thibaudeau’s newbie articles, and found them helpful. After a few days of thinking and research, I decided to purchase some Surge recovery and Surge workout fuel (1 of each, chocolate and lemonade).

I got some cash for Christmas and didn’t see any point in investing it at this time, with the stock market in shambles, but that is yet another tangent I’ll avoid.

I hope everyone had a great New Year, and doesn’t get too fed up with the crowds at your respective gyms with the New-Year’s lifters (I’ve definitely been around for that).

Thanks again!
-Brian

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[quote]Bkelley06 wrote:
I started out HS as a freshman weight in around 135, and graduated at a little over 200[/quote]

Seriously awesome work. What’s the long-term goal? I know you said you’re “cutting for Costa Rica” now, but are you looking to get bigger as time goes on?

Neither do I. The standing military press is a better indicator lift.

Just checking, but, you do train legs at some point, right? Please don’t be “that dude” who just trains arms, abs, and chest.

Sounds like a great cause. Good luck with it. But what does the workout actually look like and what are you doing each session? And when’s the deadline? When are you headed down?

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Thanks for the feedback Chris!

I was definitely “that guy” 1st year of college, although in HS we were made to work out legs.

However since I started lifting again I have started learning I have muscles that can be sore in my back… ouch.

I’m heading out in early March, but hopefully the working out will become a good habit that will remain.

As far as the program I’m doing now: I feel like I lifted heavy weights a lot in HS, because of course we were all competing and watching eachother in the gym, what a joke.

But alas; I have matured (at least somewhat, I’d like to think) by now. I’m trying to focus on doing more reps with less weight, because I’ve already got the strength and a good amount of the muscle mass I want (except for on my back, that is). So I have been doing 3D-type shoulder workouts with low weight high reps (I think they are called 3D, not in one single plain, but like making shapes if you were to draw an imaginary line following the weight, if that makes any sense atall whatsoever).

For Biceps I do these things we’d call 21s in HS (when we’d do them 7x7x7): got s straight bar and put on a little weight, and standing, pulled the weight up to the halfway point (like horizontal) and then back down, but 12-15 times, without trying to use momentum. Then after the 12th or whatever rep, starting at the horizontal point (like where the first ended) and going up to vertical, like the second “half” of the full curl for another 12 or so; then next I’d do 12 full curls, all without any rest as 1 set. It’s pretty difficult and it has worked for me in the past (sorry for the long description; if I’d known the terminology of parts of a lift I would have saved you a bunch of time).

For Triceps and some shoulder/traps action I do upright rows with the same bar, usually using the same weight and going 3 sets of 12-15 again, then later on do some military press behind my neck to full extended, with the same bar and weight.

I thought about throwing in some light weight hammer curls for more bicep action but the “21’s” really seem to do the job.

As far as chest goes, I’m thinking about either doing “fly’s” (don’t know how to explain that one) or some sort of bench combo. The problem with bench is at this university the benches are all surrounded by frat boys with something to prove, aka that they can bench like 215 once or something (no offense to any fraternity members here, just an observation of how things are where I go). Plus it takes FOREVER to do bench, incline, and decline… especially since it’s so crowded. I might just try it with free weights, but I am horrible at balancing those things while trying to bench press. I also thought about throwing in some close-grip bench for work on my triceps/chest but maybe I’ll switch to that later.

For legs: A) I have been playing full court basketball every time I go to the gym, not that that’s a smart idea, but I can’t help it if some of my friends are playing. So that’s a ton of cardio… especially since I’ve been doing it every time I’ve been to the gym. B) I did a ton of lunges yesterday, weighted down. ouch. Some machine calf-raises, some of those seated machines that exercise your quads and hamstrings, and I kept cramping up in my legs. Ouch, again… that’s why I take bananas to the gym now.

As far as my back goes, I could really use some suggestions on this. I tried seated rows yesterday and it ended up just killing my triceps and shoulders which were starting to get sore from the day before. Is there any upper back exercise that isolates the upper back and doesn’t work the shoulders (well the traps are okay) or the triceps? That would be helpful. And I don’t think the lower back exercise I did helped much; it was just some machine that worked abs too. I generally dislike machines for some reason.

And for abs, I follow the P90X “Ab Ripper X” program. It is intense.

Sorry for the huuuuge post! Thanks for taking the time to read.

PS: I’m getting some Surge Recovery and Surge Workout Fuel in the mail; when and how much should I take? Also, should I ask for some Grow! Whey, Creatine, and/or Superfood for my birthday which is coming up? My goal is to get more toned now, so I’m not sure exactly what I should be doing diet-wise as I’ve never toned / cut / etc before.
Thanks again!
-Brian

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[quote]Bkelley06 wrote:

PS: I’m getting some Surge Recovery and Surge Workout Fuel in the mail; when and how much should I take? Also, should I ask for some Grow! Whey, Creatine, and/or Superfood for my birthday which is coming up? My goal is to get more toned now, so I’m not sure exactly what I should be doing diet-wise as I’ve never toned / cut / etc before.
Thanks again!
-Brian[/quote]

:frowning: toned is a word you should do away with. People who look “toned” are people with a lot of muscle.

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[quote]chimera182 wrote:
:frowning: toned is a word you should do away with. People who look “toned” are people with a lot of muscle.[/quote]

Ah sorry, still working on the terminology. Thanks for the heads-up!

I mean I wouldn’t mind having a lot of muscle! haha… but I feel like I have plenty of muscle strength as far as being able to lift heavy objects, however it is not as defined as I’d like it to be. Does that make sense?
To get to this undefinable-by-my-current-knowledge state, does anyone have any suggestions on what type of supps to seek/avoid?
Thanks!

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Definition comes from having more muscle and less body fat. Supps are great, but only when you have diet and training in check.

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Oh okay, that makes sense… I assumed that the look I was going for was to be found with higher reps and less weight. I’ve been getting the diet side in check over all of December, which has been good, in preparation to start training again.

Another quick question: What do you eat on off-days? I searched yesterday but couldn’t find much stuff… some said the same as a regular day, others said much less carbs but same protein, others said less of each.

Thanks a lot, chimera!

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It depends on what your body responds to, some people build muscle on heavy weight and low reps, you need to find what works for you.

Also, it depends. If I’m cutting, I’ll eat fewer calories and fewer carbs. When I’m bulking I’ll eat the same amount, minus the PWO shake. Experiment for a while and listen to your body, if you find that you function eating less on off days then do that, or if you need to eat more then do that.