Some general questions for a relative begginer

[edgebsl]

Ok, Im new to the forum and have been reading quite a bit.

I'm 37, currently 226 lbs and 5,10"

Been working out 3-5 days per week since Nov 31st.
I do about an hour or more per week of intense cardio, post workout, usually a 30 min spin class once per week.

I'm starting to see some gains and some leaning up in specific places. But overall I think my bodyfat is still kinda high. My overall weight is increased from 210 in november.

Diet: Ive gone from 3 meals a day to about 5 or 6 including two protein shakes. Took creatine, and have been off it for two weeks. Trying to eat a lot of meat,veggies and carbs like rice or pasta or wheat bread. Staying away from fast food but get stuck eating it occasionally. Drinkin as much h20 as I can. Some days I do better than others.

The only time Ive ever been in a gym was back in 2000 where i went twice a week for 9 months.

I lift with a guy that is 5,5 175lbs and can deadlift well over 400lbs. he's competed locally.

My ?s

Should I be running a very different regimen than him?
I've been curious about "circuit training" that is supposedly good for newbies trying to cut fat and get in shape, but he doesnt need to cut much.

Do strength and size always go tit for tat?
In other words, if I see a guy about my height who has about the mass that I'd like to have and hes benching 300 and deadlifting 400, will I only see that much mass when I can move that weight? Im more interested in looking good than lifting impressive numbers.

Any additional advice would rock!!!

Thanks!!!!!
Jeremy

 

[edgebsl]

So, thanks to a link in neoborn's guide, I found out that mass and strength don't always increase at the same time. We've been doing reps between 8 and 12 typically so I suppose thats good for gaining mass?

For my regimen though, I wonder how much cardio I should do?
My buddy thinks anything over 60 mins per week you may lose muscle...
But at this point I think I need to do some cutting.

At 37, would it be wise to add a test booster?
I know thats more of a supplement question.
I've looked at Powerfull, Animal Stak etc.
Or should I wait?
I am going up weight, most weeks still. Maybe should wait til I hit a "wall"?

Thanks in advance!

 

[edgebsl]

Hmm, noone has any advice?

I do see the cold shoulder from time to time on newbies that dont know how to search and read things for themselves.

However, I thought with giving some info on my weight, age and diet someone might have a little specific advice for my age, size and being new to this?

 

[captjohn]

track your calories, make sure ur burning more than ur eating-if ur eating 5-6 meals, i hope theyre small meals; also i hope u dont mean 5-6 meals AND 2 protein shakes; thats way too much unless ur trying to bulk--other than that, cardio 30min or so, 3-5 times a week; as far as test boosters--u dont need em if u change up ur workouts every month or 2, dont overtrain, and make sure u do anabolic/compound exercises, like squats, deadlift, bench etc

 

[edgebsl]

track your calories, make sure ur burning more than ur eating-if ur eating 5-6 meals, i hope theyre small meals; also i hope u dont mean 5-6 meals AND 2 protein shakes; thats way too much unless ur trying to bulk--other than that, cardio 30min or so, 3-5 times a week; as far as test boosters--u dont need em if u change up ur workouts every month or 2, dont overtrain, and make sure u do anabolic/compound exercises, like squats, deadlift, bench etc

Thanks for responding John!

Yes, I was including shakes. And I think about 3000-4000 calories is the norm.
About 200g of protein.

I think you're on to something on meal size.
Most of my meals are small, but not all of them.
For example, today I went for breakfast w the wife and had a 6 oz steak, two eggs, sliced potatoes and two slices of rye toast. WHile I think those are my right foods for growing muscle, perhaps too much in one sitting?

Maybe a little too much junk mixed in too. i need to clean it up.

I am doing Deadlifts. Sqauts are a bit hard on the knees , but I do some leg press too. I think I need to double my cardio from what I am hearing though.

In one week we change routines. The past 4 weks weve done typical sets of 8,8,10,10 and 12 or 8,10,10,12 on some excersices. I've asked to include either clean and press or hanging clean and presses(starting from the quads).
To get some more compund excercises going on.

I compared some pics today, and it does seem ive made some size and strength gains. I may have not lost much bodyfat ,but it looks like im wearing it in different places. Its encouraging!

 

[suncloud]

if you want to drop fat, look into crossfit, or HIIT, and even swimming. not all cardio was created equal


total body, no breaks (supersets) of major compound movements will demolish some fat cells as well, so long as there's little breaks, and you're cutting off simple carbs.

 

[MMAMONSTER19]

cardio a medium paced jog before you lift, then do you workout whatever it is for fat loss i recommend no breaks keep going resistance training is good do the exercises with good form, after workout about 20mins of low intensity cardio example elliptical machine would work or stairmaster. 5-6 meals spread out throughout the day proportionally 3-4000cals a day seems like alot if your trying to cut down weight cuz your 5'10 and 226 your a halfinch taller than me and weigh about 45pounds more than me and im cutting and i eat between 2-2500cals a day so make sure your getting your macro breakdown right diet comes first to losing weight and maintaining weight so check that out write your food intake down if you have to. hope this helps

 

[edgebsl]

I think I clocked in at about 2500 cals today. 5 meals , 2 were shakes w water not milk.
I will try to keep it there. The old food intake certainly allwowed me to put on muscle, as I've gone up ten to 20 lbs on every excersize per week, but I obviously added a bit of fat along with it.

My warmup cardio has been elliptical at varying fast/slow or treadmill at variance.
I like varying intensity instead of just jumping on for an hr slow.

I usually do a spin class once or twice a week, which can get pretty intense, up and down speeds and resistance. I didnt do it this week becasue I hurt my knees a bit.

Thats another issue, my knees seem to have cartilage wear. They click badly and dont like to be bent with weight. However this week, the day after I did deadlifts , they seemed to feel better. Chalk one up to the body wanting to heal under pressure.

Im wondering if I'll ever be able to do big deadlifts or sqauts? I've recently upped my glocosamine and msn intake as well. The knee thing sux , but if I drop 30 lbs of fat they should appreciate it!

What do you guys think of those circuit routines?
basically seems to be a string of cardio and weights done back to back with very little rests in between. Seems like something I can do easier on days I lift by myself. With partners its harder to keep the HR and momentum going.

 

[edgebsl]

Oh, and Im actually 5.11"

Not that it makes me any leaner lol!

 

[edgebsl]

Im going down to 3 days a week because of work schedule.

What do you guys think of switching to a sun, tue,thu schedule and a full body routine focusing mostly on compound lifts?

ex:
Workout A
Squats
Bench Press
Barbell Curls
Bent Over Rows
French Presses(skull crushers) 5 x 10
Abs 5 sets higher reps

Workout B
Deadlift
Standing Overhead Press (military)
Dips
Chins/Pulls
Calf Raises 5 sets
ABS

Most sets 5x5 (2 warmups with 60 and 80% weight and 3 full weight sets)
Week one A,B,A
Week two B,A, etc

Got the idea about reading about Reg park's workouts from the 50s.

Seems Im doing a lot of isolation excersices but im missing body parts because the other guys lift 5-6 days per week.

What do you think?

 

[joelast]

If your doing a 3x a week I would recommend a push, pull, and leg day. On push you'd work chest, schoulders and triceps. Pull would be back an bi and then legs is fairly self explanitory. If you stick to mostly compound exercises and keep the intesity up you should be able to shed some bf.

 

[suncloud]

sun, tue,thu schedule and a full body routine focusing mostly on compound lifts?

ex:
Workout A
Squats
Bench Press
Barbell Curls
Bent Over Rows
French Presses(skull crushers) 5 x 10
Abs 5 sets higher reps

Workout B
Deadlift
Standing Overhead Press (military)
Dips
Chins/Pulls
Calf Raises 5 sets
ABS

Most sets 5x5 (2 warmups with 60 and 80% weight and 3 full weight sets)
Week one A,B,A
Week two B,A, etc

i got nothing against total body - in fact, i think they're best at recomp - shedding fat, slight muscle gain. to fully reap the benefits though, you need to do 4-5 sets of 10 reps in rapid succession - no breaks. if you've done all 5 exercises, 5 sets of 10 (250 reps) and you're NOT ready to puke, you're going to slow. sub 30 minutes for those 250 reps is what you should be aiming for.

 

[edgebsl]

Here's the workouts I based it on:


"The Reg Park Beginner Routine

Here is a workout that he and Arnold used with great success (provided by Kaya Park, Reg's grandson)

Workout A

Back Squats 5x5
Chin-Ups or Pull-Ups 5x5
Dips or Bench Press 5x5
Wrist Work 2x10
Calves 2x15-20

Workout B

Front Squats 5x5
Rows 5x5
Standing Press 5x5
Deadlifts 3x5 (2 warm-up sets and 1 "stabilizer set")
Wrist Work 2x10
Calves 2x15-20

Week 1: A, B, A
Week 2: B, A, B
Week 3: A, B, etc

-----------------------

Reg Park's Power Training

Schedule 1 - To be performed 3x/week for 5 weeks before continuing onto Schedule 2

Back Squat - 5x5
Bench Press - 5x5
Power Clean - 8x2
Standing Press - 5x5
Barbell Curl - 3x5 strict, add 20-30lbs then 2x5 cheat curls
Deadlift - 5x1, working up to a top weight (Only performed on Day 3) Beginners should do 1x5

Schedule 2 - To be performed 3x/week for 5 weeks.

Front Squat - 5x5
Clean and Press, warmup w/ 2 sets of 2, 5x2 Stabilizing sets. Optionally perform 2 more sets of 3 Push Jerks
Upright Row - 5x5
Dips - 5x8
Dumbbell Curls - 5x5
Deadlift - 5x1, working up to a top weight (Only performed on Day 3) Beginners should do 1x5


Reg Park's Three Phase 5x5 Program

Phase One

45-degree back extension 3x10
Back squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Deadlift 5x5

Rest 3-5 minutes between the last 3 sets of each exercise.

Train three days per week for three months

Phase Two for Bodybuilders*

45-degree back extension 3-4x10
Front squat 5x5
Back squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Standing barbell shoulder press 5x5
High pull 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Standing barbell calf raise 5x25

Rest 2 minutes between sets.

Train three days per week for three months.

* After the basic Phase One, Park had a different set of recommended exercises for aspiring Olympic weightlifters. It used a few different sets and reps, and included lunges and power cleans.

Phase Three for Bodybuilders

45-degree back extension 4x10
Front squat 5x5
Back squat 5x5
Standing barbell shoulder press 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Bent-over barbell row 5x5
Deadlift 5x3
Behind-the-neck press or one-arm dumbbell press 5x5
Barbell curl 5x5
Lying triceps extension 5x8
Standing barbell calf raise 5x25



The Reg Park Classic 1951 Workout

Squats 5 x 10
Bench Press 5 x 10
Weighted Dips 5 x 12
Barbell Curls 5 x 10
French Presses 5 x 10
Chins 5 x 10
Donkey Raises 5 sets
Abs 5 sets
"


A lot of this many would consider overtraining, but im curious to ease into it and see how my body responds and recovers. if I feel a group is still sore, I wont work it yet.
But I tried the "B" workout yesterday and I loved it. The deads gave me adrenaline to finish the workout. I was sore this morning but I feel pretty good right now.

 

[edgebsl]

And by loved it. I mean it kicked my ass, but I had this euphoria from the adrenaline.

 

[suncloud]

And by loved it. I mean it kicked my ass, but I had this euphoria from the adrenaline.

5x5 is great, but its a more strength oriented workout. if you like it, and it works for you, more power to you. for loosing some body fat, i would do what i suggested above, simply because its more efficient, provided carbs are restricted post workout.

if you can maintain your diet, and loose BF using the 5x5 system, ignore my advice.

 

[edgebsl]

So, suncloud. Dont think the 5x5 will help?

Weve been doing 8 to 15 since novemeber. But im still movin sissy weight.
What will help me move up faster? Lower or higher rep?

 

[edgebsl]

Ok, that makes sense.

Ill try 5x5 on the big lifts for a couple of weeks and see if I think its bringing my weights up. If I'm not feelin it. I'll bump up the reps like you said to.

Funny thing yesterday. I had done 155lbs on deadlift the week before. I know, tiny weight but Im new. So I figured I'll warm up with 140. I wasnt thinking and I put 4 35 lb plates on. I usually use a 45 per side to warmup. However I didnt count the 45 lb bar lol!

So I did the first set and was like "This seems heavier".
No **** I was doing 185 !
I handled it decent.

Just shows you how much is mental lol!