Newbie ?'s + Workout

Training Beginners
1

Hi, I’m 23 years old, 160lbs and 5’10, I have been training since mid may this year, and started with a cardio machine, that made me have more energy so I bought a home gym to put that energy to use, that was ok but then I tried free weights and they were better so I got rid of the home gym.

I used to do 2 types of isolation exercises per body part per workout 7 times a week, twice a day when I first started, but after reading peoples advice I cut down to 6 times a week, one hour a day and I am focusing on bench press, deadlifts, and squats only with the odd ab/bicep/other exercise thrown in, but I mainly work around the Squat, DL, & BP

I went to Bodybuilding.com and read stuff, but the forums I didn’t feel were a good place to ask as there seemed to be alot of teens who just gulp down NO-explode and talk about stacks and so on, no offense to them but its just not my cup of tea and I want to find some people who have been doing it for a while to ask about stuff, and who are not trying to sell me something :smiley:

Ok, this is my workout, any tips for improvement are more then welcome.

Mon, Wed, fri (Morning 1 hour after meal)

        Set - Rep   Rest   Actual Reps

Should press 4 - 10 40s 10, 10, 6, 5
(3 min rest)
Bench press 10 - 10 40s 10, 10, 9, 7, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4
(3 min rest)
Decline Bench 8 - 10 40s 10, 9, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5
(3 min rest)
Incline Bench 8 - 10 40s 7, 7, 7, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4

First set i aim for 10, and stop there, then by the 2nd or 3rd set, i push until i cant push no more, 40s rest in between sets
I don’t change weight, i just use the same and lets the reps decrease.
i am using this

http://www.fitness-equipment.uk.com/acatalog/Powertec_Leverage_Multi_Press___PTLMP__.html

Only because when using DB and BB for bench press I wobble alot and I workout alone so its so I don’t drop them and kill myself :smiley:

My other workout is in progress, but that will be DL and Squat day (I do DL already, but I want to get the machines for both)

This is what I want for DL and Squats

DL

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/back_machines/powertec_leverage_t_bar_row/3427_p.html

Squat

http://www.fitness-equipment.uk.com/acatalog/Powertec_Leverage_Squat_Calf_Hack___PTLSQ__.html

Then once I got them it’ll probably be something like this

Tue, Thur, Sat (Morning 1 hour after meal)

        Set - Rep   Rest   Actual Reps

DL 10 - 10 40s
Squat 10 - 20 40s

I have not done these yet, so wont be able to tell you how it turns out, my actual reps, or if I even survive it :smiley:

My nutrition consists of chicken, cottage cheese, pasta, malt loaf (love the stuff) 4 pints of milk a day, and about 3 liters of water per day, with 6 meals a day.

But now for the questions.

  1. I’m 23, and once I workout I can see the muscles pumped up, but the next day I’m not sore! is that bad? should I use soreness as a goal? are mature (older) people more likely to get sore?

  2. Overtraining, I have heard about this, and the more I read about it the more I get confused. Is it just a case of under conditioning? and with time you will get better?

Thanks in advance.

2

Welcome to T-Nation! You seem to be headed in a good direction. Here are a few things to consider:

That’s a lot of sets, especially if you go to failure on almost all of them! How about going heavier and doing 5 sets of 5 or 10 sets of 3 for each exercise?

Instead of these machines you can buy a power rack. You can use it for squats, pullups, overhead lifting and a thousand other things. You should be doing pullups and rows to balance the pressing you’re doing. (FWIW I don’t have a power rack or currently feel the need for one but maybe someday when I get tired of doing endless barbell hack squats…)

Deadlifting is a basic natural human action - walk up to something, bend down, grab it, stand up with it. It’s the ultimate “caveman” exercise, why do you want it to involve a machine?

No, you don’t need to be sore. As long as you’re getting bigger and stronger you’re doing fine.

As long as you’re getting stronger you’re also not overtraining. If you’re getting weaker and are having trouble sleeping then you may be overreaching and could use a break.

3

Thanks for the response, the 5x5 i was thinking about but i read something about hypertrophy occouring between 8-12, then i read something else about it being whatever (5x5, 5x10, 5x20) so long as there is sufficent calorie intake soo i dunno so i thought i would mix it up a bit.

I will have to buy more weights before i try the 5x5 but will definatly give it a shot

Also another thing i want to ask about rep speed, i have seen pro BB’s do things like 1 second up, 1 second down, and really fast, yet others tell me to go slow?

4

The good thing about being a beginner is that you can make great progress without needing a perfect program or worrying about details like rep speed. Just work hard, eat enough, get the basics right and keep getting stronger.

Most programs will typically have 25-30 total reps per exercise. 3x10 is a good set-rep scheme which falls into that range. So is 5x5.

Pick a simple and solid program and follow it exactly as written for a month or two. Read some articles and browse the forums on your off days but don’t change your nutrition and routine every two days based on what you just read.