Need Some Perspective on Progress

Training Beginners
1

Hey all,

first of all, first time to post here, after being a lurker for a very long time. What it actually mean is that I finally stopped READING about gain muscle and finally started TRAINING. I will first address my problem, and than will supply the data that I believe is relevant. I’m warning you all, of course, that due to the fact I’m a complete and utterly n00bish, everything will be seem a little bit, ah, lame. Sorry in advance…

  1. The Problem

A. Preface
I’m 24 years old, 5.6 ft… My current goal is to bulk as clean as I can, reaching 190 pd., after that phase I will cut, and hope to stay in the 175-180 pd. with one digit fat %.

last week my phisical stats. were:
Weight: 166
Chest: 36.6"
Weist (just under the navel): 33"
Biceps: 12.2" (releaxed) 12.5" (flexed)
Legs: 20.5"

Fat % (I’m not used to use it, so several errors accrued, I had to take 5 sets of samples until I got it right):
Chest: 11
Belly: 20
Leg: 20
14.7% fat, approximately.

My current stats., after a week, are:
Weight: 169.7
Chest: 37.4"
Weist (just under the navel): 33.8"
Biceps: 12.3" (releaxed) 12.8" (flexd)
Legs: 21"

Fat %:
Chest: 9
Belly: 20
Leg: 13
12% fat, approximately.

B. The Question
My qustion is, really, two:

  1. dose my tiny little progression is fine? have I gaind to much for the first week? is 0.8" in the waist area is normal?

  2. Isn’t the fat % numbers crazy?

  3. Data

  4. Workout
    As a raw n00b doing the Rippetoe program (I’m adding stats. even tough they are somewhat humiliating… I’m a n00b alright…):

Workout A
3x5 squat (I love to squat! did my first squat last week :slight_smile: current weight: 110 )
3x5 bench press (current weight: 88 pd)
1x5 deadlift ( current weight: 121)

Workout B
3x5 squat (the same stats.)
3x5 standing millitary press ( 55 pd.)
3x5 pendlay rows (55 pd.)

  1. Nutrition plan
    As for my nutrition and weight - program is based on Dr. Berardi “Seven Habits”. It looks something like this:

Meal 1:
2.5 glass of skim milk
2 cups of broccoli
2 medium tomatoes
2 medium cucumbers
2.5 pices of whole bread
1 orange/apple

[Workout]

Meal 2
125 g. of tuna
3 cups of broccoli
3 medium yams
300 g. of pasta

Meal 3
100 g. chikcen breast
1 cup of broccoli
2 cucumbers
100 g. of pasta

Meal 4
250 g. of tuna
1 cup of Brokoly
2 cucambers
100 g. of pasta

Meal 5
150 g. of Chiken breast
1 cup of broccoli
50 g. of walnuts

Meal 6
250 g. of tuna
1 cup of broccoli
50 g. of walnuts

Generally speaking, it sums up to approximately 217 g. protein, 386 g. carbs and 74 g. fat, while my general aspiration is towards 30/50/20 ratio, while consuming 3000 cals.

That’s it (and it’s quite enogh, isn’t it?). I hope that you’ll be able to help me. feel free to criticize me, but please be as informative and ampirical as possible… :slight_smile:

MacGuil

2

A week…come back in at least a month.

3

That looks good. The program is ideal and the meals are fine. You can have a little more variety. Try Oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. That’s a lot of tuna. Beef and pork are good too. Look for grass-fed if you can get it.

Don’t worry about the changes from week to week. Write them down and look at the overall trends. You will have ups and downs as you go along. It’s the trends that matter.

Post you progress and people here will offer suggestions as you go along.

Congratulations for starting. Remember that this is for life. Make this a habit. Enjoy it as you go along.

Stu

4

I think you’re eating too much broccoli. Eat other vegetables. Variety is important. Also, one week is nothing. Measure your progess in months.

5

[quote]Digity wrote:
I think you’re eating too much broccoli. Eat other vegetables. Variety is important. Also, one week is nothing. Measure your progess in months.[/quote]

MacGuil, if the criticism that you’re getting is that you’re eating TOO MUCH broccoli, then you’re off to a good start. Nice work. Throw in some variety and you’ll be all set. Remember that you’re making these changes for the long term.

6

[quote]CthruPants wrote:
Digity wrote:
I think you’re eating too much broccoli. Eat other vegetables. Variety is important. Also, one week is nothing. Measure your progess in months.

MacGuil, if the criticism that you’re getting is that you’re eating TOO MUCH broccoli, then you’re off to a good start. Nice work. Throw in some variety and you’ll be all set. Remember that you’re making these changes for the long term.[/quote]

The reason I bring up the broccoli is because there’s very little to critique if he’s only been at it for one week. It’s just something I noticed and thought I’d mention, because there’s not much else to say at this point.

The fact is, he shouldn’t even be worrying about these measurements one week into his lifting. Come back in a month or so and I might have a lot more to say in terms of criticism.

7

[quote]stuward wrote:
That looks good. The program is ideal and the meals are fine. You can have a little more variety. Try Oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. That’s a lot of tuna. Beef and pork are good too. Look for grass-fed if you can get it.

Don’t worry about the changes from week to week. Write them down and look at the overall trends. You will have ups and downs as you go along. It’s the trends that matter.

Post you progress and people here will offer suggestions as you go along.

Congratulations for starting. Remember that this is for life. Make this a habit. Enjoy it as you go along.

Stu[/quote]

Indeed. Just what I was about to say.

Your figures sort of resemble me when I started a year or so back. You might be underestimating your body fat but that’s not really important.

Expect a year of hard work and discipline before you start cutting or anything like that.

Enjoy yourself,
Spry.

8

I don’t even measure. As long as I can lift heavier weights or do more reps that’s all I care about. I don’t see the point in even measuring. Why bother? Isn’t the bottom line that you want to get stronger?

9

[quote]Digity wrote:
I don’t even measure. As long as I can lift heavier weights or do more reps that’s all I care about. I don’t see the point in even measuring. Why bother? Isn’t the bottom line that you want to get stronger?[/quote]

I measured back when I started ago but haven’t bothered since.

Yep, when you start seeing extra weight the bar on all lifts then you don’t really give a shit about any measurements.

But (let me be a geek for a moment) having a good set of data points on different variables to gauge your progress by is kind of handy.

My only metrics I use anymore is the weight on the bar and how I look in the mirror.

10

Thank you all for the informative and kind responses. I know that a week is really nothing compared to “real” time spans - a month, three months, half a year etc. I guess that because everything is so new I’m scared to death that I will do something “wrong”, even tough I understand that it is O.K to err, especially if you aspire to do something right eventually.

I’m happy that my nutrition is almost fine, and will take the variety issue under account. It isn’t such a big deal to build a good nutrient plan with such a wonderful resource of information as T-Nation and the forums. If one looks thoroughly, one can actually find everything he need’s here…

11

Yes , you can find much information here, but dont shut yourself to other sources of info.

“Beware the man who reads only one book.”