Thread: Help needed for a serious guy wanted to get back into shape!

hello everyone am new here,

Am about 5`8/9 and weigh 186pounds. Past year has been hard for me due to being ill and put on alot of weight. I was 166pounds....Before getting ill i did train for about a year lightly and gained about a good 10pounds during that year. My aim is to get back into good shape again! Just have a good proportion of muscle and be athletic. For me personally am aiming for a figure like LL Cool J.

For the last 2 week i`ve lost 11pounds from 14st to 13st 3. So its a good start, bearing in mind am doing 30mins cardio then doing weights too. My chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps feels a little bigger too. But now starting from tomorrow I really want to get serious! Here is what I?ve planed?..

Mon - 30mins cardio, back + bi`s
Tue - 30mins cardio, shoulders
Wed - 30mins cardio, Abs
Thurs - 30mins cardio, legs
Fri - 30mins cardio, chest + tri`s
Sat - REST
Sun - 30mins cardio, Full Arm workout (Want to gain some size on my bi`s and tri`s)


Ive been told when you first start you can loose weight and gain muscle? So am taking advantage of that at the moment then hopefully in 2 or 3 months I hit the weights first then do the cardio later. i warm up by running a mile at 5.5mph. Does this seem ok?

Also have a few questions?

1. I dont know why but when I train right, eat right and rest. I gain muscle quite fast but also get a lot of stretch marks which make me feel very uncomfortable! For the guys who have them what do you use to get rid of them???

2. I want great Abs But am find hard to bulk them up and get a solid 6pack? What work out do you guys use? How do you get them? For the past week Ive been doing 200crunches in the morning then 200 in the evening? I havent gained anything apart from strengthening them. Ive been talking to a guy who seemed to know a lot of bodybuilding he says professional bodybuilders only work out on their abs a few times?. which brings me onto how the hell do they do it?

3. Starting from tomorrow i`ll be using protein powder, Glutamine, CCE creatine as well as a few other thing such as cod fish tabs and multivitamins tabs etc. Just curious are ZMA safe to use?

And what other good supplements are their to help me grown in size?

cheers in advance

dont do so many crunches. try some leg raises or roman chair sit ups with a barbell disc across your chest?? you'll just mess up your back,
as for my stretch marks used to try bio oil. but know i just deal with it. get yourself a tan. that'll disguise them a bit

Originally Posted by majsvibe

hello everyone am new here,

Am about 5`8/9 and weigh 186pounds. Past year has been hard for me due to being ill and put on alot of weight. I was 166pounds....Before getting ill i did train for about a year lightly and gained about a good 10pounds during that year. My aim is to get back into good shape again! Just have a good proportion of muscle and be athletic. For me personally am aiming for a figure like LL Cool J.

For the last 2 week i`ve lost 11pounds from 14st to 13st 3. So its a good start, bearing in mind am doing 30mins cardio then doing weights too. My chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps feels a little bigger too. But now starting from tomorrow I really want to get serious! Here is what I?ve planed?..

Mon - 30mins cardio, back + bi`s
Tue - 30mins cardio, shoulders
Wed - 30mins cardio, Abs
Thurs - 30mins cardio, legs
Fri - 30mins cardio, chest + tri`s
Sat - REST
Sun - 30mins cardio, Full Arm workout (Want to gain some size on my bi`s and tri`s)

Sunday full arm workout then Bi's on Monday?? Personally i would be looking at a beginners routine like Rippetoe's Starting Strength.

Ive been told when you first start you can loose weight and gain muscle? So am taking advantage of that at the moment then hopefully in 2 or 3 months I hit the weights first then do the cardio later. i warm up by running a mile at 5.5mph. Does this seem ok?

Also have a few questions?

1. I dont know why but when I train right, eat right and rest. I gain muscle quite fast but also get a lot of stretch marks which make me feel very uncomfortable! For the guys who have them what do you use to get rid of them???

2. I want great Abs But am find hard to bulk them up and get a solid 6pack? What work out do you guys use? How do you get them? For the past week Ive been doing 200crunches in the morning then 200 in the evening? I havent gained anything apart from strengthening them. Ive been talking to a guy who seemed to know a lot of bodybuilding he says professional bodybuilders only work out on their abs a few times?. which brings me onto how the hell do they do it?

Whether you train your abs or not, if you are above 12% BF you will not see a six pack.

3. Starting from tomorrow i`ll be using protein powder, Glutamine, CEE creatine as well as a few other thing such as cod fish tabs and multivitamins tabs etc. Just curious are ZMA safe to use?

ZMA is a pretty safe product, just follow the directions.

And what other good supplements are their to help me grown in size?

You have all the fundamentals however i would rather look at your diet first as the diet is the key.

cheers in advance

Originally Posted by bry1990

dont do so many crunches. try some leg raises or roman chair sit ups with a barbell disc across your chest?? you'll just mess up your back,
as for my stretch marks used to try bio oil. but know i just deal with it. get yourself a tan. that'll disguise them a bit

I do my abs monday, wednesdays, fridays 3 times a week. I do plenty of leg raises mainly did crunches. i`ll swop it around with raises or roman chair sit ups and see how that goes. I need to bulk them as i have a 4 pack but still need alot of work doing on them.

the stretch marks appear so fast on me like for example ive started working on my arms and my right bicep already has a fresh one

I have small arms but since ive been hitting the weight they have got alittle bigger but mainly become very lean muscle. I need them to grow having small arms looks funny as i have wide a wide frame.

Yes i realise having low bodyfat will make the abs visable but still i get to around the 12% marker. I wanted to know what you guys do to workout and such awesome abs.

My diet is strict and ive been very good so far. Having quite a active lifestyle like me i normally lose a pund or two everyweek even if i dont go gym. Which is good signs.

I also have another questions is regards to how much sets and how many reps i do. A personaly trainer told me to do between 10-15 rep per set when wanting to bulk?

10-15rep to bulk?
8-10 to tone up?
1-5 for power?

Am i on the right lines? Also what how many set should i do?

Originally Posted by majsvibe

10-15rep to bulk?
8-10 to tone up?
1-5 for power?

Am i on the right lines? Also what how many set should i do?

ARRRRRRRR
Nearly, but unfortunnately its not as clear cut as that.

Generally

1-5ish for mostly strength and some size.
5-12ish Mostly size, some strength, some muscle endurance
12+ish = mainly muscle endurance, some size, little strength.

But it all depends on what works for you and your diet. If your lifting 3x10 with a crap diet, youll put very little size on.


Dont worry about rep ranges.

More doesnt mean more, training more often may not lead to more gains. you dont grow in the gym, you only stimulate growth in the gym. that said, i still think you can train a bodypart more than once a week. that doesnt mean train the same bodypart every day. your muscles needs time to recover.

My advice would be to get a solid fullbody sorted.
like this

A
squat 5x5
Stiff leg deadlift 3x10
Bench 3x10
Row 3x10

B
Deadlift 3x5
Lunges/leg extension 3x10
Military press 3x10
Chins (as many as you can for 3 sets, if your sh:t, do as many sets as you need to to hit 30chins)

and alternate workouts, 2/3times per week.

Dont worry about arms and dont worry about abs for 6months. (this will take you into the winter anyway, so your wont be getting them out.)

If you dont know how to do something, learn. Theres a shed load of info about on here and other boards.

Taylor your diet to about 500cals above maintenance and eat every 3 hours.

Do cardio after your weights, not before.

Warming up doesnt mean cardio. Warm up with light sets of the movement to stimulate joints and muscles.

ZMA is just zinc, magnesium and vit B6 i think. nothing harmful for healthy men.

Do yourself a favour and have a read int hr diet sections. make sure your diets up to scratch. The mass populations idea of 'healthy' and what a body-builder/ recreational trainer actually needs is worlds apart.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by mikex101

ARRRRRRRR
Nearly, but unfortunnately its not as clear cut as that.

Generally

1-5ish for mostly strength and some size.
5-12ish Mostly size, some strength, some muscle endurance
12+ish = mainly muscle endurance, some size, little strength.

But it all depends on what works for you and your diet. If your lifting 3x10 with a crap diet, youll put very little size on.


Dont worry about rep ranges.

More doesnt mean more, training more often may not lead to more gains. you dont grow in the gym, you only stimulate growth in the gym. that said, i still think you can train a bodypart more than once a week. that doesnt mean train the same bodypart every day. your muscles needs time to recover.

My advice would be to get a solid fullbody sorted.
like this

A
squat 5x5
Stiff leg deadlift 3x10
Bench 3x10
Row 3x10

B
Deadlift 3x5
Lunges/leg extension 3x10
Military press 3x10
Chins (as many as you can for 3 sets, if your sh:t, do as many sets as you need to to hit 30chins)

and alternate workouts, 2/3times per week.

Dont worry about arms and dont worry about abs for 6months. (this will take you into the winter anyway, so your wont be getting them out.)

If you dont know how to do something, learn. Theres a shed load of info about on here and other boards.

Taylor your diet to about 500cals above maintenance and eat every 3 hours.

Do cardio after your weights, not before.

Warming up doesnt mean cardio. Warm up with light sets of the movement to stimulate joints and muscles.

ZMA is just zinc, magnesium and vit B6 i think. nothing harmful for healthy men.

Do yourself a favour and have a read int hr diet sections. make sure your diets up to scratch. The mass populations idea of 'healthy' and what a body-builder/ recreational trainer actually needs is worlds apart.

Best of luck.

thanks for clearing that up for me mike

Well here my diet. please do give me a good idea if am on the right lines.

6.30am Breakfast

3 full eggs
50g of oats with fruit
flaxseed oil
CCE
Glutamine
No2 (It`ll be my first time trying it tomorrow)

7.30am Training

9am
100g protein shake and 2 bananas

I have 100g of protein shake as i either normally have work or uni therefore next time i eat is 3 hours later at 12 lunch time

12 - noon
100g of rice
Chicken
Flaxseed oil

3pm
sweet patato
chicken with tuna
Flaxseed oil

5pm - pre workout fuel up
Apple
CCE
Glutamine
No2


6pm Training

Straight after workout i have 50g of protein shake, Glutamine and a banana

8pm
I walk home to anf from gym its around 3 miles. Today i was nakard as i went gym twice but sametime i felt good

Chicken with Tuna
Flaxseed oil

11pm Bedtime

100g of protein shake


Well thats my diet which ive set out for myself does it sound ok? As for cardio i walk to the gym twice a day. Its a 3 mile journey their and 3 miles back. And do 30mins on the trendmill twice a day. Am quite nakard when ive finished with the weighs.

Geess Dude... 200 sit ups! It's not all about sit ups, like the same thing to get your Bicepts big, you can't just do just curls. Like bry1990 already said... try leg raises,

I lay flat on my bench, kick my legs out strait and raise them up and down around 20 times, 2 sets then i get a dumbbell do some crunches with it on my chest. After that i find it good to took my fit under something or get working out buddy to hold them down for you and say get a bench, sit on it side ways and do crunches while you really suspend your body down but keeping back strait in a good form.

To finish off, i go on a pull up bar and do a few leg raises and just to get completely tired i stand, again keeping back strait, alternating bringing knees up to my chest really fast.

Seem to do the trick, rest is just your diet.

Speaking diet... if your tring to tone up first and loose a bit...why protein powder and creatine? It dont really work to well loosing weight and putting muscle on, unless you get supplements. Better ask other guys about that stuff than me though.

Oh and had to edit this... like majsvibe said... leave time to recover... so do this if you choose to do it like this or you find other useful combination... 2 or 3 time a week.
Nik

Originally Posted by NikstaC

Geess Dude... 200 sit ups! It's not all about sit ups, like the same thing to get your Bicepts big, you can't just do just curls. Like bry1990 already said... try leg raises,

I lay flat on my bench, kick my legs out strait and raise them up and down around 20 times, 2 sets then i get a dumbbell do some crunches with it on my chest. After that i find it good to took my fit under something or get working out buddy to hold them down for you and say get a bench, sit on it side ways and do crunches while you really suspend your body down but keeping back strait in a good form.

To finish off, i go on a pull up bar and do a few leg raises and just to get completely tired i stand, again keeping back strait, alternating bringing knees up to my chest really fast.

Seem to do the trick, rest is just your diet.

Speaking diet... if your tring to tone up first and loose a bit...why protein powder and creatine? It dont really work to well loosing weight and putting muscle on, unless you get supplements. Better ask other guys about that stuff than me though.

Oh and had to edit this... like majsvibe said... leave time to recover... so do this if you choose to do it like this or you find other useful combination... 2 or 3 time a week.
Nik

thanks dor the reply dude! am 13stone when i weighed myself today which isnt bad. I want to add some muscle as i go along too for a few months and see how it plans out. Any idea where i could get a good abs bench to do military sit ups?

yeh 200 sit ups.....being chubby is something am VERY UNCOMFORTABLE with as ive always been in shape. I hate it! So i gucess i was desperate for some results.

No worrys man, happy to help. Erm... try Argos, hahaha. I got my Bench press bench there as i work out in my garage and only like free weights anyway.

Like i say dont try and get too caught up on all little fiddly things... just simple compound exercises are best. If you wanting six pack, or just few abs to show deffinition... then its mostly diet that needs to be looked at man.

Originally Posted by NikstaC

No worrys man, happy to help. Erm... try Argos, hahaha. I got my Bench press bench there as i work out in my garage and only like free weights anyway.

Like i say dont try and get too caught up on all little fiddly things... just simple compound exercises are best. If you wanting six pack, or just few abs to show deffinition... then its mostly diet that needs to be looked at man.

thanks man

haha am on a budget am a student lol

well had my bicep training today my new routine seems to be going ok