SouthernGypsy's Intro

Training Beginners
1

Introduction

So I’ve been a member of this site for a couple of years, though I’ve only been posting off and on.

I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a beginner, but bodybuilding is not my goal so I’m going to start my log here.

I use to be pretty active but have slacked off lately. I’m going to start this log to keep myself accountable.

My goals are to maintain bodyfat and increase my physical fitness.

I have two phases. One I call a diet phase, which is of course diet, but also includes increases physical fitness. After I get to where I want to be, I will take things a little easier and maintain, hence, the maintenance portion.

I have a workout program that I kind of pulled from a few different sources and smashed together to fit my lifestyle.

The following is what I plan to work up to, by increasing reps day to day:

Monday / Wednesday / Friday (maintenance optional)
Push-up 5x35
Bent leg crunches 4x40
Dips 3x30
Stomach flutter kicks 4x30
Hanging knee-ups, r/l 3x15
Hanging knee-ups, s 3x15
8-count body builders 3x15
Trunk rotations 3x20
Wave-offs 3x15
Lunges 3x20
Squats 3x30
Standard pull-ups 4x15
Wide grip pull-ups 4x15
Side-to-side pull-ups 4x15

Tuesday (optional) / Thursday (optional)
Treadmill
5 minutes x 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 mph

Saturday (diet optional)
Interval running
6 x 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 yards

I’m going to try to keep my diet flexible, but here’s the guidelines:

Shun sugar / sugar substitute / soy-based products

Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Sandwich
Dinner Hot meal

Diet Eat one free meal a week
Maintenance Eat one free day a week

2

I did not weigh this morning.

Breakfast - Cheerios / Whole Milk

Lunch - Turkey sandwich on whole wheat with mayo

Dinner - Can of sirloin burger soup / Whole Milk

PT - Bench presses and leg raises

3

Are you asking for suggestions? Your diet seems to be lacking in a lot of things. Also, maybe include a before and after photo?

4

You eat like a bad bird.

Why Cheerios? Can’t you boil up some eggs for the week? At least add an egg to breakfast.

Please tell me the sandwich is 4oz of chicken or turkey on Ezekial bread with spinach and avocado?

I’m sure the sirloin soup is actually 4oz of sirloin with steamed broccoli and all the great salad fixins you can eat with a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

and then of course your two skipped lighter meals are 1/4cup of almonds or one scoop of Grow! right?

fella… you are eating like a 130lb boy!

get lean but you can still eat more nutrient dense foods!

5

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

You eat like a bad bird.

Why Cheerios? Can’t you boil up some eggs for the week? At least add an egg to breakfast.

Please tell me the sandwich is 4oz of chicken or turkey on Ezekial bread with spinach and avocado?

I’m sure the sirloin soup is actually 4oz of sirloin with steamed broccoli and all the great salad fixins you can eat with a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

and then of course your two skipped lighter meals are 1/4cup of almonds or one scoop of Grow! right?

fella… you are eating like a 130lb boy!

get lean but you can still eat more nutrient dense foods! [/quote]

Oh, I’m fine with my weight. I weigh 145 pounds. I just want to get into better shape like I was when I was in the military years ago.

Also, I’m single, so cereal, sandwiches, and soup is pretty much my hobo lifestyle right now. lol

6

The one good thing I see about it, is that you have it planned. I love it when my week of meals is done and set up. It really does free up a lot of time.

I see you do a lot of bodyweight work.

Are you training for a sport or some kind of dynamic movement drills?

7

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

The one good thing I see about it, is that you have it planned. I love it when my week of meals is done and set up. It really does free up a lot of time.

I see you do a lot of bodyweight work.

Are you training for a sport or some kind of dynamic movement drills?[/quote]

Nah, just old military PT stuff.

I know this is a bodybuilding site, and my best friend is friggin’ huge, but I just try to stay healthy and fit.

I’m actually one of the few males who has an eating disorder. I developed anorexia when I was 16 years old. I’ve had a handle on it for the last 10 years or so, but I’ll never be a big eater.

8

[quote]SouthernGypsy wrote:
Nah, just old military PT stuff.

I know this is a bodybuilding site, and my best friend is friggin’ huge, but I just try to stay healthy and fit.

I’m actually one of the few males who has an eating disorder. I developed anorexia when I was 16 years old. I’ve had a handle on it for the last 10 years or so, but I’ll never be a big eater.[/quote]

Hey thanks for posting that! One of my good friends from high school was suffering with that for wrestling. No one thought anything of it since he is a guy and it was for a sport. He has had years of eating issues since.

9

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
Hey thanks for posting that! One of my good friends from high school was suffering with that for wrestling. No one thought anything of it since he is a guy and it was for a sport. He has had years of eating issues since.

[/quote]

I was laughing at your previous post about how I had everything planned out. That’s actually how I have to eat. I plan ahead of time what I know is a reasonable portion, put it in a shoe box in my fridge and, no matter what, I make sure I eat that food by the end of the day. Kind of like reverse dieting.

10

[quote]SouthernGypsy wrote:
OctoberGirl wrote:

The one good thing I see about it, is that you have it planned. I love it when my week of meals is done and set up. It really does free up a lot of time.

I see you do a lot of bodyweight work.

Are you training for a sport or some kind of dynamic movement drills?

Nah, just old military PT stuff.

I know this is a bodybuilding site, and my best friend is friggin’ huge, but I just try to stay healthy and fit.

I’m actually one of the few males who has an eating disorder. I developed anorexia when I was 16 years old. I’ve had a handle on it for the last 10 years or so, but I’ll never be a big eater.[/quote]

I ca’t believe I’m posting this on the net, but I did too.
And maintained it for month afterwords I lost ~40 pounds in like 2 months going into 8th grade. I was 95-100 pounds. I would add some weights into your program, you can keep the other stuff but add maybe 2 free weight movements 3 times a week. Also, at least 4 meals a day. somethnig like:

cereal/eggs/milk 200/250/200/total 650 calories

protien shake/nuts/veggies (A shake with like 500 calories would do you good)

~500 calories

2 of your sandwichs plus some veggies, eat your damn celery and milk 800 calories (assuming)

your dinner 600+ calories

some milk and peanut butter before bed. 400+ calories

2950 calories roughly total. Take some measurements and if you get about 3000 calories a day you should be set for a long time, forever if your goals aren’t very lofty.

Far from perfect, easily doable without any real effort. pick up a 300 pound olympic weight set for 150$ somewhere, it’ll add a huge amount of variance to your fitness endevors. Plus the biggest part is you can progress much easier on a bar by adding more weight. teach yourself he powerclean and jerk or push press. front squats? floor press. There’s a shitload you can do and not drop a ton of cash on it.

Very much worth it IMO

11

Thank you Zephead!

In high school my friends and I used to see how many days we could go without eating. I did it and lost so much weight I got down to 92lbs and thank goodness my boyfriend broke up with me for being too skinny. It snapped me out of it.

sorry for the hijack Gypsy!

12

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

Thank you Zephead!

In high school my friends and I used to see how many days we could go without eating. I did it and lost so much weight I got down to 92lbs and thank goodness my boyfriend broke up with me for being too skinny. It snapped me out of it.

sorry for the hijack Gypsy!

[/quote]

Yeah, thanks Zep.

No apology necessary. I think it’s good to get stuff like this out.

13

OG, I got a question for you.
My girlfriend is aprox 5’8, 125lbs. Shes tall and skinny. She can sometimes eat tons of food, but I guess gets shy around other people. She doesn’t have a disorder, or at least I don’t think so. She just never eats. I asked her today ‘what did you have for breakfast’ and she said ’ muffin(s)'. I am getting concerned with her. We have been dating for a year two months now, and we’re both young. She is 18 and I am 19. I just want to ask you if I should approach her on her eating habits and how I should. She also just recently got a gym membership and she tells me shes doing cardio. Thats the last thing she needs. Any suggestions??
Sorry for re-hijacking the thread. Edit: OG you can PM back if you wish so we don’t take over the thread. Thats if you can/want to help me out :).
RS

14

[quote]Rico Suave wrote:
OG, I got a question for you.
My girlfriend is aprox 5’8, 125lbs. Shes tall and skinny. She can sometimes eat tons of food, but I guess gets shy around other people. She doesn’t have a disorder, or at least I don’t think so. She just never eats. I asked her today ‘what did you have for breakfast’ and she said ’ muffin(s)'. I am getting concerned with her. We have been dating for a year two months now, and we’re both young. She is 18 and I am 19. I just want to ask you if I should approach her on her eating habits and how I should. She also just recently got a gym membership and she tells me shes doing cardio. Thats the last thing she needs. Any suggestions??
Sorry for re-hijacking the thread. Edit: OG you can PM back if you wish so we don’t take over the thread. Thats if you can/want to help me out :).
RS[/quote]

She’s definately thin, but I don’t think she’s at a dangerous weight for an 18 year old young woman, but I’m no doctor either. Without knowing her or you I can’t really say one way or another if you should say something to her.

Maybe you could buy her some chocolates or take her out to dinner. She’ll like that you’re giving her gifts and taking her out and you’ll like that she’s eating.

15

I just wanted to say hi and show my support to a cool T-Nation guy.

I think you need to be eating more frequently and up your calories a bit to at least give you the extra energy you will need with the increased activity.

I look forward to seeing your progress.

16

I hope you reach your goals.

Good luck to you.

17

SG, I noticed you do a lot of bodyweight exercises. Although I have not tried this, I think you might like the program:

http://bellyoff.menshealth.com/SNC/ViewItem.aspx?itemGUID=3c7210f6-3f16-4e2c-9528-1f2775dc857f&pguid=f11af873-2ef5-4d59-802c-892406ffe605

It’s nice because you have weekly progression. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing now, but I always like to have something concrete to follow and be accountable to.

18

I did a Navy Seal workout program for a couple of months that was a great workout… all body weight stuff; but you have to be pretty strong in the upper body. I struggled for the first couple of weeks and I can do 100 pushups in 2 minutes and 30 chinups to failure. Great results, though!

19

[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
SG, I noticed you do a lot of bodyweight exercises. Although I have not tried this, I think you might like the program:

http://bellyoff.menshealth.com/SNC/ViewItem.aspx?itemGUID=3c7210f6-3f16-4e2c-9528-1f2775dc857f&pguid=f11af873-2ef5-4d59-802c-892406ffe605

It’s nice because you have weekly progression. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing now, but I always like to have something concrete to follow and be accountable to.[/quote]

All those exercises are what I’m going to be building up to. I can’t do that all right now. Once I can, I’ll definately look to progress past that.

20

Good luck with your goals.