Newbie to the forum.

[megatron]

I have been having a poke about this forum and it seems very active and posative. I have been working out for a little over a year ever since I was working on a building site and noticed my arms getting bigger after lugging crap around all day, it was then i caught the bug. Now seldom a day goes by without me doing some sort of excercise.

of course its the usual saga of me working out completely wrong for the first 6 months - which from reading around seems far too common. I have a home gym system (weider pro 9900) which i visit nearly every day.

I just really want to know if I am doing things the way they should be done - and i'm allmost sure my diet is wrong, so i will try to outline my current workouts and diet in detail so that the pro's can hopefully oint me in the correct direction.


For a start I am 5'11" and weigh about 11 stone (im quite skinny - or was - anyway im a slim build) and i'm 23 next month.



first 6 months:

excercise consisted of doing many many reps of light(ish) weights, mainly bicep curls, press ups (not weighted).

I would do 3, 1 hour sessions per week like this - I benefitet only mildly from this.

the diet I was on here consisted of rubbish like McDonalds nad Burger King (hence an appearance of a small belly EEK).
.................................................. ...


next 4 months

excercise: now using a propper wieght machine doing preacher&bicep curls and bench presses, a few lat pulldowns. I was doing 10 sets of 12 weights on 2 areas 3 times a week. The weights were not the heviest I could lift.

Deit: now finaly away from the fast food however not doing anything special in the way of dieting, normal 3 square meals per day + snacks. (belly still apparent).
.................................................. ....

Now:

In a drive to bulk up by doing very heavy wieghts I have changed my routine to one muscle group per week-day. I do only 3 sets of 8 reps - but on the absolute highest weight I can manage, preacher curl, presses, pulldowns, regular curls.

Dietwise I still dont have a clue - but recently I have been trying to avoid fattening foods and snacking as i want this damn belly to go but I think this may be affecting my muscle building.

I'm allmost sure i'm not doing sometimg correctly - because although I am getting results I think they could be better :confused: .

.................................................. ........

wow, If anyone can be bothered to read all that please comment.

[Great White]

Hey mate

1st Welcome to the board.

What is your diet like at the moment - Your work outs seem ok at the moment, do you do all machine work? Or do you do free weights too?

Are you doing the compound movements in your workouts (Squats, Bench, Deadlifts)

How many days a week do you train?

Give me more info from above, and we can sort something out for you

Cheers

PAul

[megatron]

Thanks for the incredibly speedy response .


At the moment my diet consists of a brunch, normally a sandwhich and drink. then a larger dinner which is normally carb based - lots of pasta, cheeses, red meat ,chicken Kievs, pies, chips etc. Apart from that I tend not to eat any snacks now, if i do it would be crisps only. I try and steer clear of high-sodium foods.

I'm afriad that I'm such a newb I don't actually know what is meant by a "compound movement". I do however perform my workouts like this: if im doing a bicep curl I will start with a straight arm and bring the wieght up until my arm stops - trying to keep my elbow stationary. If this is a compund workout then yes (please excuse my newbieness).

I train every weekday, although normallly only for 3 days i will be doing wieghts, the others i do badminton/electro stimulation instead. I read that to build muscle effectivley you need not do more than 180 minuites per week this is why I have cut my wieght time a bit.

Also - at the moment I am only doing machine workouts (for body building), as the free weights I have seem far too light now.

[Lorian]

welcome

You really want to be consuming at least 6 meals day, these dont need to be huge - just ensure that each contains a serving of protein and carbohydrates. Many people use meal replacement shakes (MRP's) in between their regular meals to meet this target. Real food is preferable, but MRP's are convenient

I also think you should do more then 1 bodypart per day.. I'm sure lots of people will advise you on training, the most important thing to remember is that your body will get used to whatever workout you do - that is why you should change things round every couple of months.

Maybe something like this to start you off:

Mon: WORKOUT1 - abs, biceps and back
Tue: rest
Wed: WORKOUT2 -chest, shoulders, triceps
Thu: rest
Fri: WORKOUT3 - legs
Sat: rest
Sun: start over from WORKOUT1




L

[megatron]

wow - I had no idea that you should eat so much when training. I must be not eating enough by a long way (I was watching my intake because of afformentioned belly issues).


Thanks for the tips on a shedule, I will take all advice from this forum very seriously, I tend not to work out my legs (upper body is my main taget area), unless of course there is any additional gain to be had from doing this?

[robdog]

welcome to the board mate. yes diet is key. listen to all the good advice you will get here and you wont go far wrong.

[Lorian]

Originally Posted by megatron

I tend not to work out my legs (upper body is my main taget area), unless of course there is any additional gain to be had from doing this?

YES! .. work your legs! .. aside form keeping your in proportion the extra stresses this put on your central nervous system will help you develop your upper body as well.

One more point, you want to be consuming around 1.5g or protein per lb of bodyweight every day.. You are 11 stone which is 154lb, therefore you should be consuming around 230g of protein every day.



L

[powerU]

I'm afriad that I'm such a newb I don't actually know what is meant by a "compound movement".

A bit simpler than you think mate, compound movements are basic exercises such as bench press, deadlift, squats - use those 3 exercises and that'll work almost all your body, so try and build your week around a split of these 3.
I usually train a 4 day split, Chest - mon, Back - tue, Shoulders/traps - thur, legs - fri.
Doing this my triceps get worked monday and thursday with chest and shoulders and my biceps get hammered on back day.
As for any cardio, it all depends what you're aiming for, i play squash and football so don't bother with anything else, just make sure you're not tiring yourself out so much you can't give every session 100%.
Have a good read of the boards, especially the diet section and best of luck.

[philipebrown]

yeah, in even simpler terms a compund movement is the oposite to an isolation movement. Bicep curl is an isolation movement because it pretty much isolates the bicep muscle. A bench press works chest, triceps, shoulders and can even stress the lats and abs. Any movement which utilises more than one group of muscles is known as a compound move, another good one as mentioned is the squat which uses alll leg muscles where as leg extensions isolate the quads and pec deck flyes isolate the chest.

Compound movements are good for gaining mass because they allow you to use the greatest weight you can. this in turn stimulates more muscle fibres and your nervous system to a greater degree.

Stick to basic excercises, use as much weight as you can and eat as much protein as you can. Its worth looking at past threads as there are a load of diets and routines.

[megatron]

Ok first of all - thanks to all of you guys for giving me some really great tips. I could have been doing it wrong for another year or so


It seems that in general I need to exploit the benefits of doing more compund excersises, eating a shed-load more protien, and excercising my legs. Just one more question before I go hunting for a good diet and routine through the forums. Is it beneficial to work out one day then rest the next - and continue like this in a regular manner? or can you hammer it every day like a nutter?


again thanks for all the tips guys, very valuable info for me.

[philipebrown]

definetly not mate, you grow outside the gym not in it. Training every day is not beneficial for growth, unless you really know what your doing. Train 2-3 bodyparts each session 3 - 4 x week. every other day is fine, or if you want to, 2 days on one day off is okay. but if you are training heavy and want to get big, you need the rest, it is so vital!!

[hackskii]

Dont forget to drink alot of water like atleast 64 oz (helps protein synthesis).
Sleep big at least 8 hrs. is preferred too (you grow when you sleep).

[Panthro]

hi mate, welcome aboard, and great advise form the guys as usual!

[Killerkeane]

just like to say hi matey, welcome to the unbeatable uk-muscle!

[OnePack]

First of all, welcome to uk-muscle, hope u stay around.

Originally Posted by megatron

Thanks for the incredibly speedy response .
At the moment my diet consists of a brunch, normally a sandwhich and drink. then a larger dinner which is normally carb based - lots of pasta, cheeses, red meat ,chicken Kievs, pies, chips etc. Apart from that I tend not to eat any snacks now, if i do it would be crisps only. I try and steer clear of high-sodium foods.

I would avoid eating too many kievs and the pies as they are processed food, a bit like junk food. Other sources of carbs from vegetables would help too.
Eating the occasional packet of crisps is ok but not too often and drink plenty of water.

Originally Posted by megatron

I train every weekday, although normallly only for 3 days i will be doing wieghts, the others i do badminton/electro stimulation instead. I read that to build muscle effectivley you need not do more than 180 minuites per week this is why I have cut my wieght time a bit.

Also - at the moment I am only doing machine workouts (for body building), as the free weights I have seem far too light now.

As for free weights, these are better than using machines as they use more muslces (stabilising muslces) which the machines don't. However, by all means if u don't have enough heavy free weights (plates for dumdbells/barbell) then u may want to try the movement slower to put more resistance but make sure the movement isn't jerky,