Hi Guys, just wanted to stop and say hello and what a great area this is, so much great information. I have started working out 1 year ago at age 40 (boy do I wish I did this earlier), I know I have a very long way to go, but I have seen some changes in my body. I was hoping for better mass but I hope in time it will come.
I would love any comments or helpful tips that would help me obtain my goal of competing one day. I am finding out that I gain muscle very slowly. My stats are age 41, 5’9" 158lbs, 9-10%BF, 32 waist. Thanks!!
[quote]srsnp wrote:
probably not enough, around 2200cal, somedays I am lucky to get that much[/quote]
Well there is your problem, you need to eat enough so your body has something to build muscle from. Start a food log and write down everything you eat - you will probably find you are eating even less than you think.
Welcome Bro. You have allot of reading to do! Congrats on getting into the gym and staying with it. You are in that 2% of people that start in Jan and are still lifting in March and later in Dec.
Eating right is spot on advice. What does your training look like?
[quote]srsnp wrote:
I would love any comments or helpful tips that would help me obtain my goal of competing one day. [/quote]
Welcome. What do you plan on competing in? Really doesn’t matter at this stage. Concentrate on the big lifts,i.e. bench, squat, deads, cleans, etc. Eat more of the right stuff to gain mass. Keep at it and let us know about your progress.
I second the food log idea. It’s very easy to under/over estimate how much you’re eating. It’s also actually pretty hard to get enough protein in a day if you’re not paying careful attention.
I’m a fellow newbie as well. I’m a bit older & just slightly behind you current physique.
I’ve gotten some excellent advice thus far, see my introductory thread (New Old Guy) and one I started for my diet (Diet for Ecto-Endo) for full details, but I’ll synopsize:
If you’re not fully aware of your diet (both in what you consume and in what you plan to east) you’re not likely to see as successful a result. Start a food log, start working on dialing in your diet. Opinion seems to vary on whether or not you can both lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, but I am trying that myself.
Articles I have found valuable:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs
The Missing Ingredient (the food log)
Nutrition for Newbies
I don’t recall which of the articles I saw this quote in:
…and I find that is me. I always called myself a hard gainer (back in the day when I trained quite heavily) but the fact is that I have always been a poor eater. Starting my food log has been quite eye-opening. I don’t eat jack squat. For me getting on track is going to be some work, but I think my body is going to respond well - and you look like you’re at the point too…
For me (having worked out irregularly on & off for the last 2 years) I am sticking with full-body work, mostly “dumbbell oriented” as I am working out alone in the basement…
Articles I have found valuable:
Total-Body Training (3 days/week)
The Beginner’s Blast Off Program (4 days/week)
I will be combining principals of both.
This looks awesome, but I just don’t have the gear in my basement to support lots of it:
Meltdown Training
Don’t over-analyze - there is a lot of good reading here (some of which is a must) but don’t spend an eternity on research. “Paralysis through Analysis” was what was quoted to me, and that is me to a tee…
10-15% BF? Seems to me that your at a point where you’re ready to start bulking!
Folks here seems genuinely quite supportive. Check out the Physique Clinic forums, I find watching these “Average Joes” to be fairly inspiring, and there’s the occasional diet or training tidbits that you can latch on to…
thank you everyone for all this great information, I have alot to look into. I will definately start a food log. and this is what my workout looks like
Too much volume, not enough compound exercises. You’re not training your legs & back enough.
Look at these exercises:
Deadlifts: Work almost your entire body with just one workout, and variations in grip and stance will put more stress on certain muscle groups.
Squats: These add essential to a routine, whether you do front, back, hack, zercher, overhead, etc. Put some effort in training your legs, and the rest of your body grows too.
Rows: Bent over barbell/dumbell rows - hit your back and arms in 1 exercise. Isolation exercises are great, but your workouts shouldn’t be based around them.
Pullups: I would put more focus on these instead of pulldowns - but you can leave pulldowns in your routine.
Clean & Press: Another great exercise that will build a strong back and traps.
Every program should consist of at least these exercises in my opinion, or similar variations. Look them up, learn to do them with good form and use them!
Otherwise, look up something like ABBH (Do a search on here). You are lean enough to start a solid bulk, but don’t go crazy on calories, just a couple hundred above maintenance will do.
Welcome friend. As the other guys said, at your stage of the game, ya gotta go with those compound lifts. Warm up to your working sets, then go as heavy as you can safely handle. For the first 6 mos. of my training, that’s all I did, squats, deads, bench, and rows. You can mess around with the curls and leg presses later. But, you may find you don’t really need them. Meals 5-6 times a day, 30-40g of protein per meal. And plenty of rest 7-8 hours of sleep a day. It’s not easy, and takes a hell of a lot of commitment, but the rewards are worth it brother. Hang out here with us, and post a training log. The guys around here are very helpful.
