Time To Get Serious

Training Bodybuilding
1

Hey guys, and yes I’m another noob (surprise surprise!). I just finished my first semester of sophomore year in college and I decided that I had enough of the binge drinking/little to no athletic activity. A little background: played soccer, track, and tennis in high school, was a 10-season varsity athlete so by no means am I a noob to athletic activity. The big problem is…I’m a skinny bastard. I can count the amount of times I’ve gone to the gym and lifted weights with my two hands. I’d like to finally gain some muscle on my bony frame.

This semester I have a great class schedule, so I can go to the gym any day of the week, although I won’t be spending every day there. I was hoping to go to the gym maybe Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I’m 5’9", 142 pounds, and I don’t have any measurements or body fat % as of now. Once I figure out how to post my “before” pictures that I have on my comp, I’ll throw those up too. I’m also planning on using the “Massive Eating” article as my diet guideline.

Basically the reason for my visit here is that I’d like to get some advice from the more seasoned lifters. I’ve looked at a ton of the articles and workout routines, but many of them seem to be focusing on a three-day week; I feel that a 4-day week would fit my needs a little better. Here’s what it looks like now, and PLEASE feel free to tear it apart:

Monday:

Flat Bench Barbell Press: 12, 10, 8, 6
Incline Barbell Bench: 10, 8, 6
Standing Flyes: 10, 8, 6
Narrow Grip Chin-Ups: Failure, Failure, Failure
–Not exactly sure of my capabilities here, hopefully I’ll get a feel within the first couple weeks.
Standing Barbell Curls: 10, 8, 6
Triceps Dips: 12, 12, 12
–Should I do lower reps with weights since I’m going for size?
Decline Skull Crushers: 10, 8, 6
One-Hand Cable Triceps Pushdowns: 12, 12, 12
Standing Calves Machine: 20, 16, 12

Tuesday:

Barbell Squats: 12, 10, 8, 6
Leg Extensions: 12, 10, 8
Leg Curls: 12, 10, 8
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns: 10, 8, 6
T-Bar Rows: 10, 8, 6
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 10, 8, 6
Barbell Shoulder Shrugs: 12, 10, 8
Seated Calves Machine: 20, 16, 12

Wednesday: Off

Thursday:

Flat Bench Barbell Press: 12, 10, 8, 6
Incline Barbell Bench: 10, 8, 6
Standing Flyes: 10, 8, 6
Preacher Curls: 10, 8, 6
Standing Dumbbell Curls: 12, 10, 8
Triceps Dips: 12, 12, 12
Decline Skull Crushers: 10, 8, 6
One-Hand Cable Triceps Pushdowns: 12, 12, 12
Standing Calves Machine: 20, 16, 12

Friday:

Barbell Squats: 12, 10, 8, 6
Leg Extensions: 12, 10, 8
Leg Curls: 12, 10, 8
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns: 10, 8, 6
–Was thinking of doing assisted pull-ups here instead?
T-Bar Rows: 10, 8, 6
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 10, 8, 6
Barbell Shoulder Shrugs: 12, 10, 8
Seated Calves Machine: 20, 16, 12

I feel kind of foolish to post my training program for the world to see because it’s probably ridiculous to use that combination of exercises. I could really use some experts’ input on this routine.

One last thing…I’m not sure about what I should use for supplements. As of now, I only plan on using some sort of whey protein and possibly creatine once I get used to my workout. I also heard that Flameout would be good to introduce into my diet too.

I’d really appreciate any input. Thanks in advance guys and gals.

Edit: I wasn’t sure where I could input some ab work, but I’d really like to get a good amount of that in as well.

2

Suups you list are fine Protein , Flameout and creatine NAIL a diet.

Your training Ill just say it SUCKS to damn much stuff there are tons of exercises it doesnt mean you have top do them all in opne program. Take a look at something like ABBH its a solid plan upper lower foru days a week.

Nial a solid diet, read the beginners thread and come back after reading up with any more directed questions,

Phill

3

II figured I had way too many exercises. I read through that ABBH program and it looks much better than mine, although I feel a little uncomfortable about the whole 10 sets of 3 reps supersets.

I talked to my friend (football player in college) about it, and his strength coach suggested that I try a pyramid-style workout for my purpose (mass/muscle gain) rather than using quick low-rep sets. That was the only reason that I didn’t jump into Waterbury’s program right away. Any light on that subject?

4

[quote]mpd21487 wrote:
II figured I had way too many exercises. I read through that ABBH program and it looks much better than mine, although I feel a little uncomfortable about the whole 10 sets of 3 reps supersets.

I talked to my friend (football player in college) about it, and his strength coach suggested that I try a pyramid-style workout for my purpose (mass/muscle gain) rather than using quick low-rep sets. That was the only reason that I didn’t jump into Waterbury’s program right away. Any light on that subject?[/quote]

My opinoin anything and everything works in some way you need time under the bar in good programs to find what works for you using a smart program.

Do a program do it to completion and note the results and move to the next. In 5 years youll have a good base body and understanding of how it reacts.

On the quick low rep set sure they are short sets but there are ten of them and the load you are able to use equates a LOT of work and volume to build strength and hypertrophy.

Do it, do the program your buddies coach talks about do aomething aside from the one you were and do it HARD and to completion.

Phill

5

I found a good looking program here: http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459533

Looks good to me! Thanks for the help guys.

6

You are a beginner and you should be doing a beginner’s program. Probably full body 3-4 times per week or a two day split twice per week. Limit your time exercising to about 45 minutes per session and eat a lot of clean food. I would not go for more than about 13 total sets per session…15 tops. More will likely insure that you stay a skinny bastard.

7

You do have legs, right?

Cause all I see there is upper body, and a standing calf press.

Very strange.
You might want to round your lifting out with some leg work.

8

Shoot! I must have glazed over the friday routine.

Sorry.

9

yea don’t try to create your own program…find a beginner’s one on this site-I would recommend TBT.