Totally New - Opinions/Advice Please

Training Beginners
1


Hey I’m a super skinny kiddo (17) and just looking to add muscle and define my body some more. I weigh an amazing 56.5kg and I’ve been working out for a week… early days. My goal is to get around 70kg lean in 1-2 years

(I don’t know which timeframe is more realistic)

I just wanted some opinions on my diet and workout scheme. Basically I’ve been using information from Bulking For Ectomorphs, a free ebook by Derek Charlebois

Workout:

Push A- Monday Pull A- Tuesday
Bench Press 3 X 4-8 Bent Over Row 3 X 4-8
Military Press 3 X 4-8 Lat-Pulldown 3 X 4-8
Close Grip Bench 3 X 4-8 DB Shrug 3 X 4-8
Squats 3 X 4-8 DB Curl 3 X 4-8
Seated Calf Raise 3 X 4-8 Stiff Leg Deadlift 3 X 4-8

Push B- Thursday Pull B-Friday
Incline DB Press 3 X 4-8 Deadlift (Full or Rack) 3 X 4-8
DB Shoulder Press 3 X 4-8 Pull-Up 3 X 4-8
Skull Crusher 3 X 4-8 Barbell Shrug 3 X 4-8
Leg Press 3 X 4-8 Barbell Curl 3 X 4-8
Leg Press Calf Raise 3 X 4-8 Lying Leg Curl 3 X 4-8

And my diet is roughly this and adds to about 3000 calories

Meal 1: 4 Weetbix, 300ml milk, tuna

Meal 2: Meal replacement shake (Only been having these once a day, I cant really stand more than one, they don’t taste too good) Need something else to fill this

Meal 3: Apple, Almonds, Peanutbutter Sandwich (good brown bread)

Meal 4: 2xPeanutbutter sandwiches, Almonds, Vegies

Meal 5: Meal replacement Shake (500 calories)

Meal 6: Chicken/Beef/Lamb/Turkey (One of those), Rice, Vegies

Meal 7: Banana, Tuna, Yoghurt

I get up at 5:30 in the morning to do my lifting before school. Should I be having a pre-workout meal no matter what?

Looking forward to all of you’re advice/opinions :slight_smile:

2

Ok…couple basics then I will apply directly to your rountine/ diet.

To put on weight you need to eat a ton (esp if ectomorph) and do some compound movements, and eat some more.

normally you may get blasted for just posting a routine without a very SPECIFIC question, but ill show mercy. Just in the future have a specific question, just not “tell me what to do”…

Diet:
Where is the meat! Where is the meat! Where is the meat! You arent gonna gain anything, except constipation by eating PBJ 8 times a day. You need some real food. Chicken, Brocolli, and rice. Basic staple, eat that 4 times a day. 7 meals is good start, but you actually need to eat something in those meals. You need to eat 1g/lbs of bw (do the conversion to metric) of protein daily. So you way about 130 lbs, so eat 130 grams protein. A 8oz. piece of chicken contains 40 grams, so eat 3 and that will put u at 120, add in a pre and PWO shake and you will have plenty. Also, you are skinny, so dont be afraid of carbs or fat, esp when bulking. Eat like 3 grams carbs for every pound. You will burn it off in the gym anyways. Almonds and nuts are good fat amount. Get some qualitiy whey protein, creatine, and some BCAA in there (at least pre and post).

Training:
More compound movements: Do more sqauts then 3x4. That wont do shit. Your program looks more like it designed for strenght not mass. Don’t be afraid of some volume (at least when you are starting). Do sets with 6-12 reps. Do the Big Three religious (squat, deadlift, benchpress). Also do more pullups (no need to do lat pulldowns if you can do pullups, maybe do chins 1 day, and pull ups another). Don’t do to much cardio, and totally get rid of HIIT if you are doin it.

These are just some basics. I suggest you search the Training For Beginner articles on this site. They will help, but your diet def needs to change. 20 kgs in 1 year prob wont happen. it will even be a struggle in 2 years if you are a hard gainer. I suggest setting more realstic goals in small increments (i.e. 3-5 kgs in 6 mths), so you know how you are progressing and keeping your motivation up.

Hope that helped

3

Always have a pre-workout meal, no matter what.

All I can say is, where are the eggs and meat :stuck_out_tongue: Here are some suggestions that I think would fine tune your diet:

What’s weetbix, don’t think we have that over here, is it oatmeal? If so take like one cup but add 4 whole eggs to your breakfast.

If you want to ditch your shakes, which I suggest you do, you can switch the first one with like 8 oz. cottage cheese and 1-2 cups of sliced pineapple.
For meal 5 you can keep the shake (is it a real meal replacement shake or a whey protein shake that you call ‘meal replacement’ ?) or eat low-fat meat + veggies instead, can’t go wrong there. Just don’t go and eat a peanut butter sandwish, you’re eating way too much of those.

Actually on meal 4 you can replace both the sandwishes with like 8oz chicken or turkey breast.

Nuts are loaded with good fats, but you also need to get other kinds of fatty acids. Make sure you use extra virgin olive oil with all your veggies.

Lastly, stop thinking you’re an ectomorph, it’s just another word for “not dedicated”. Your training and diet rock, you’re gonna make good gains, start with a good attitude.

Good luck

4

Buy Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, or at least find the program on the internet. Follow it and add weight to the bar every workout. Eat 4 big meals per day. Plenty of meat, carbs, veggies, milk, etc. You’ll grow like crazy.

5

[quote]sayaz wrote:
I get up at 5:30 in the morning to do my lifting before school. Should I be having a pre-workout meal no matter what?
[/quote]

Yes. If you can’t stomach a “real” meal after getting up at 5:30 am, I would actually recommend a liquid meal (some sort of shake) that contains at least 500kcal, carbs and at least 30g of protein.

Exercise selection looks fine, on “Push A” i would do Squats either first or at least second (after BB Bench), same with “Pull A”, Stiff Legged DL either first of after rows. “Push B” Same thing, move Leg Press to the beginning of the workout.

Also, for smaller muscles and isolation work you might want to do higher reps than 4. Basically 4-8 for Squats is fine but for something like DB Curls you might want to go 8-12 reps.

Now for something very subjective that other posters may disagree with, but you have a lot of different exercises, most of them hitting identical (or near identical) muscle groups. I have beginners focus on 4 to 5 different lifts, not more, since a) periodization is very difficult on such a complex routine as yours and b) they need to learn the technique on the fundamental lifts first. Not that there is anything wrong with your template, but i have made better experiences with weight training beginners using with a much simpler approach in exercise selection.

6

About your workout, I actually think you should keep it exactly like that. It does lack volume and intensity a bit like tg said but it’s tailored for a beginner, which is good. You don’t have to start out with a fucking super beast hyper hypertrophy workout, I really wish I had started with a beginner program.

Keep it for like 4-5 weeks, it’s gonna teach you to listen to your body, know when your sore, know when the workout is no longer effective, ect. After that if you are still serious about lifting, this site has the programs you need.

7

Weetbix is a wholegrain cereal.
I’ve got 3-4 meat meals in a day now and vegies @ every meal, but I’m wondering about the eggs.

My family has a history of high cholesterol / heart disease. Is 4 a day really a wise idea?

8

Yes. The cholesterol in food does not correlate with blood cholesterol. It’s bad fat you should worry about. Do a search, there’s plenty on this site about it.

9

Thanks champ :slight_smile: