Okay Here it Goes...

Training Beginners
1


This site is great, but maybe I donâ¿¿t understand something. So here it goes:

In the topic “Are You A Beginner II” there are several nutritional recommendations. I didn’t find one for my specific goal. Which to basically stay around the weight I am but gain strength.

And donâ¿¿t misinterpret strength for size because I donâ¿¿t want to get big, I want to be strong and ripped. How do I do that? What nutritional plan should I follow? Whatâ¿¿s my workout plan look like? HELP Iâ¿¿m totally lost.

MY ROUTINE:

At the gym 4x a week for about 1hour and 15minutes to about 2 hours , usually no more, Iâ¿¿m pretty busy.

30 minutes cardio, then a full body routine (found in Menâ¿¿s Health Magazine) which includes Squat and Row, Punch and Pull, Split Squat and Press, and The Woodchopper (all on the cables).

After that I work my abs: the plank (30 seconds), and side planks (30 seconds a side), crunches on the ball (15-20 depending on my motivation that day), and reverse crunches with leg extensions (15- 20).

The next part changes on a daily basis, basically I will work 2 muscle groups, they are as follows: (1) Biceps and Triceps, (2) Chest and Back, (3) Legs and Shoulders. I do lighter weights (ie. 70lbs on the fly machine) [EDIT] in 4 sets of 20 (x2 different machines) with each of the 3 muscle groups above. [END EDIT]

BTW I don’t stop until I complete my workout, I feel guilty otherwise.

I’ve been going to the gym about 4 months and have seen some gains and muscles I didnâ¿¿t have before, Iâ¿¿m not following a nutritional plan right now but would like to start. I would like to refine my workout into a strength building body sculpting extravaganza. Thanks for taking your time to read my post.

Artifice

PS… I know I’m not that big or anything, but i used to be fatter in the stomach and thin everywhere else. what you see is a huge improvement.

2

The diet part is easy:

5-6 meals per day
In each meal:

4-6oz. lean protein source, or a few eggs.
1-2 servings fruit and/or veggies (more veggies than fruit)
1 serving fat (nuts, nut butter, olive oil, cheese)
Supplement fish oil, such as Flameout.

Startchy carbs post workout only.

That’s really about it. The hard part is sticking to it.

As for training, read through the articles on the beginner thread again. Pick the first program that gets you excited about going to the gym. Then, stick to it for as long as you can stand it.

3

I’m gonna let other people on here give you specifics, but you cant get ‘ripped’ if you dont have any muscle. Sure, you may not want to get 200+ lbs “big”, but if you diet away all your fat and don’t have sufficient muscle, you’ll just look worse than when you started.

If you indeed started off ‘fat’, and this is an improvement, then Great! congrats. Now put on some muscle without the fat and before you know it, you’ll look, solid, ripped, whatever you want to call having more muscle than fat :slight_smile:

S

4

Cool. What else? is my workout any good?

5

I’ve already advised you follow one of the professionally written programs on this site. I really don’t like picking out/designing programs for other people because I’m not a professional. Nevertheless, I think you’ll do well on a program like this one:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=508031

The reason I advise this one is because you lack experience, and a total body program will help you get more used to all the movements.

Now, if you follow this program or any other one, remember this: WORK YOUR ASS OFF! No program will make up for lack of effort. When a program tells you to do a certain number of sets and reps, all of those sets and reps need to be hard to complete.

For example, if you’re 8 rep max in squatting is 200 lbs and the first exercise of the day is 4 sets of 8 reps, the weight for all 4 sets needs to be 200lbs or very close to it. You can perform warm-up sets, but they don’t count as work sets. Do a few warm-up sets with no rest other than changing the weight, and then get to the real work.

For right now, given your state of conditioning, only stick to the weight lifting for right now. Reaon being that if you really put in the effort, you won’t even want to do cardio for the first few weeks.

Get your diet turned around and go kick some ass.

6

workout seems ok but review the ones on this site - i’d suggest 4x30mins cardio a week may be burning more calories that you can spare and could be weakening you when it comes to lifting. I think the time spent in the gym seems long, i’d shoot for 45 mins per session weightlifting and you’re probably doing volume rather than intensity, not sure - you need to be the judge of that.

7

You’re workout is fine if you don’t want to get strong and ripped. Oops, that is what you want.

Squats, deads, bench, row, overhead press, pretty much it. 5x5. Cardio if you want to. Abs if you want to. Shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes per day, 3-4 days per week. Since you’re a busy guy.

Lighter weights and high reps do not build strength.

8

Thanks dudes. i like that one plan “Doug” recommended. already modified my diet. kinda hard to eat 5 meals even if they are small. but i’m game. lets see how it turns out.

9

It has kind of been alluded to here, but not specifically stated. Your “goals” of getting ripped are not consistent with your goals of “maintaining the same weight.” It may seem like you can just “get ripped” but that is hardly the case.

Upon reaching every weight goal I had for myself since back when I weighed a disgusting 110 lbs, I realized I still needed to get bigger. I didn’t realize it then, but the reason I wasn’t ever “ripped” was because I simply did not have enough muscle mass to reach such a goal.

Your starting weight, assuming you are 15% body fat or less, I feel should be right at the transition between the normal and overweight category of BMI. At that point, you will know you have a solid base to build upon, and are finally within grasp of your “getting ripped” goals. Until then, eat and be merry.

10

thanks erinshesse. you make alot of sense. i’m strating to change my workout to do heavier weights. i’m eating 5+ meals a day and hopefully i’ll get bigger.