[Echo M3]

I'm in pretty good cardiovascular shape, but I decided a few weeks back to start lifting weights. If anyone has any suggestions or links they would recommend, that would be great.

Here's my current workout:
1.) Run 30 mins
2.) pushups (3 sets, 10 reps each)
3.) squats
4.) biceps/triceps
5.) bench press
6.) upper back (machine) - basically works out my deltoids + trapezius.

Since I run/bike a lot, I haven't paid much attention to my legs. Thanks!

[bhoch]

So many questions..

What are your immediate goals? What is your long term goal? No direct shoulder, lower back, calf or Ab work? Are you just going to start out with 3 sets each on the above areas? There are some great sites... try bodybuilding.com (just ignore the "MISC" section as that is mostly kids (or adults that act like kids).

the above has some good ideas - but.. As a beginner, you may want to consider starting with the 3 basic lifts... bench, deadlift, squats and go through them for a few weeks to get used to lifting, then once you get the hang of that add some extra stuff in around biceps/triceps, abs, lower back, shoulders and calfs.

[eddie269]

Whatever you do, just remember not to overwork yourself. Do something where you can maintain and definitely get your 8 hrs of sleep.

You should really focus more on each muscle parts and separate them by days (i.e. chest and tricep day, back and shoulder days, etc). Go to bodybuilding.com for more info on what exercises to do.

Bench press, squats, dead lifts, and rows are the core ones you want to keep for mass gains.

[Cookiemonster]

Take a multi-vitamin, Lift heavy and get 7 to 8 hours sleep.

[smokinHawk]

for a beginning workout i would
squat
bench
deadlift
pull ups
rest.

for an advanced workout i would
squat
bench
deadlift
pull ups
rest.

[Echo M3]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it.

Goal is just to get into shape and moderately bulk up and get some tone into my muscles. I have a BMI of ~20 with little to no muscle, so you can tell that I'm pretty damn skinny. It's probably too early to put numbers to it, but I'd like to gain 20-30 lbs of muscle.

I'm about 1.5 months into this thing, doing it at a pretty leisurely pace (I hit the gym 3-5x/week).

I've split up my workouts into two separate days:

Day A: Back/Biceps/Quads/Gluts -> this means squats, bicep curls, triceps, rowing, lower back, and a Glut exercise that someone taught me (leg lifts is the name?). I'd like to add deadlift but I'd like to have someone walk me through it in person first.

Day B: Chest/Shoulders/Abs -> that means bench press, chest press, crunches

On top of that, I run 20 minutes (2-3 miles) or bike 1 hr outside (battery park to GWB and back) before each workout.

So far, progress is good. I've gained about 5 lbs over 1.5 months, which appears to be all or mostly muscle. I'm also trying to combine it with an effective diet: turkey or chicken for dinner, pasta or sandwich for lunch, no sodas, no booze, fruits + cereal as snacks.

I'll just add that I've skipped calves/lower legs for now -> my gastrocnemius is pretty solid since I've been running for the past 6 or 7 years and used to play bball.

Any more suggestions, folks? Anything I should add or remove?

P.S. - You're right Bill, Bodybuilding.com is a great resource. Helped me correct my form

[Dr. G]

Look into Mark Ripptoe's Starting Strength program.

Now I know most "programs" are total bullshit, but the bodybuilding world worships this program and you will be SHOCKED at how effective it is.

[Year's_End]

You want to focus on your core more than anything else as you're getting started, and don't stack all of your muscles into a full body workout in a single day. You need to split it up and focus on individual muscles or groups that work together.

First of all, your core needs to be strong in order to properly and efficiently build muscle mass and strength in the rest of your body. Building up a strong back/chest/mid-section is vital. Don't bother singling out your vanity muscles (biceps and triceps) until you've established a solid building ground or you'll pay for it later on by some degree. Besides, you'll work those out doing other compound exercises.

If you can't dedicate individual days to one or two specific muscles, try splitting it up into at least three different days with main groups. For example, separate your upper and lower body. Split your upper body into push/pull days. Push days include your chest, triceps, front deltoids (shoulders) and front core exercises. Pull days incorporate your back, rear delts, and biceps. Leg days are self-explanatory.

You'll see much bigger gains this way than doing full body circuit training every time you go to the gym.

[Year's_End]

Originally Posted by pman10

Sorry it took me so long to reply. Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it.

Goal is just to get into shape and moderately bulk up and get some tone into my muscles. I have a BMI of ~20 with little to no muscle, so you can tell that I'm pretty damn skinny. It's probably too early to put numbers to it, but I'd like to gain 20-30 lbs of muscle.

I'm about 1.5 months into this thing, doing it at a pretty leisurely pace (I hit the gym 3-5x/week).

I've split up my workouts into two separate days:

Day A: Back/Biceps/Quads/Gluts -> this means squats, bicep curls, triceps, rowing, lower back, and a Glut exercise that someone taught me (leg lifts is the name?). I'd like to add deadlift but I'd like to have someone walk me through it in person first.

Day B: Chest/Shoulders/Abs -> that means bench press, chest press, crunches

On top of that, I run 20 minutes (2-3 miles) or bike 1 hr outside (battery park to GWB and back) before each workout.

So far, progress is good. I've gained about 5 lbs over 1.5 months, which appears to be all or mostly muscle. I'm also trying to combine it with an effective diet: turkey or chicken for dinner, pasta or sandwich for lunch, no sodas, no booze, fruits + cereal as snacks.

I'll just add that I've skipped calves/lower legs for now -> my gastrocnemius is pretty solid since I've been running for the past 6 or 7 years and used to play bball.

Any more suggestions, folks? Anything I should add or remove?

P.S. - You're right Bill, Bodybuilding.com is a great resource. Helped me correct my form

If it works for you that's fine, but I'd group my muscles in a different manner. I personally think you can do abs every other day, but it depends on how you want to build them out. I wouldn't do much cardio on your lifting days; a five minute warm-up would be sufficient.

You're basically going to gain some level of fat when you bulk up, but cutting down is much easier when your caloric expenditure increases thanks to your increased muscle mass.

[bobloblaw]

Originally Posted by bhoch

So many questions..
try bodybuilding.com (just ignore the "MISC" section as that is mostly kids (or adults that act like kids).

the above has some good ideas - but.. As a beginner, you may want to consider starting with the 3 basic lifts... bench, deadlift, squats and go through them for a few weeks to get used to lifting, then once you get the hang of that add some extra stuff in around biceps/triceps, abs, lower back, shoulders and calfs.

I resent that But i agree that he should focus on the compound lifts to build strength first.

Originally Posted by pman10

Goal is just to get into shape and moderately bulk up and get some tone into my muscles. I have a BMI of ~20 with little to no muscle, so you can tell that I'm pretty damn skinny. It's probably too early to put numbers to it, but I'd like to gain 20-30 lbs of muscle.

There's no such thing as "toning" your muscles. The "tone" comes after you cut body fat, which makes your muscles appear more defined. If you say you want to bulk, eat a ton of food and hit the weights hard. Since you're a beginner, focus on the compound lifts to get some basic strength and size.

Also, don't mean to be negative, but gaining 20-30 muscles will take years and years to accomplish, and may not even be possible. Dave Goodin is a 52 year old natural (supposedly) bodybuilder who has been lifting for over 30 years, and he says he's put on 25-30 pounds of muscle.

Day A: Back/Biceps/Quads/Gluts -> this means squats, bicep curls, triceps, rowing, lower back, and a Glut exercise that someone taught me (leg lifts is the name?). I'd like to add deadlift but I'd like to have someone walk me through it in person first.

I wouldn't do a full body workout if I were you, break your workout into a 3 or 4 day split. After heavy squats, I'm pooped and wouldn't be able to do the rest of the workout effectively.

Day B: Chest/Shoulders/Abs -> that means bench press, chest press, crunches

Do you mean military press? I'm not a fan of doing chest/shoulders in the same day because your shoulders are worked a decent amount during bench press and especially incline bench. I would maybe do chest/back.

So far, progress is good. I've gained about 5 lbs over 1.5 months, which appears to be all or mostly muscle. I'm also trying to combine it with an effective diet: turkey or chicken for dinner, pasta or sandwich for lunch, no sodas, no booze, fruits + cereal as snacks.

Again, don't mean to be a downer, but about 5 lbs of muscle in 1.5 months is not gonna happen. The 5 lbs came from water weight, glycogen, some fat and muscle. Seems like you have your diet in check though, which is just as important as lifting.

[san~man]

Originally Posted by pman10

I'm about 1.5 months into this thing, doing it at a pretty leisurely pace (I hit the gym 3-5x/week).

I've split up my workouts into two separate days:

Day A: Back/Biceps/Quads/Gluts -> this means squats, bicep curls, triceps, rowing, lower back, and a Glut exercise that someone taught me (leg lifts is the name?). I'd like to add deadlift but I'd like to have someone walk me through it in person first.

Day B: Chest/Shoulders/Abs -> that means bench press, chest press, crunches

On top of that, I run 20 minutes (2-3 miles) or bike 1 hr outside (battery park to GWB and back) before each workout.

So far, progress is good. I've gained about 5 lbs over 1.5 months, which appears to be all or mostly muscle. I'm also trying to combine it with an effective diet: turkey or chicken for dinner, pasta or sandwich for lunch, no sodas, no booze, fruits + cereal as snacks.

I'll just add that I've skipped calves/lower legs for now -> my gastrocnemius is pretty solid since I've been running for the past 6 or 7 years and used to play bball.

I'm no expert, but if you're going a minimum of 3x a week to the gym, that essentially means you're doing either day A or day B 2x a week, which, according to your plan, you're either doing leg/back or chest/shoulder 2x a week. On top of that, you're doing your running. IMO, you're essentially overtraining. If you go 5x a week, you're overtraining for sure, especially if you want growth.

As the others said, concentrate on compound movements once a week.

[ken1137]

Originally Posted by pman10

Sorry it took me so long to reply. Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it.

Goal is just to get into shape and moderately bulk up and get some tone into my muscles. I have a BMI of ~20 with little to no muscle, so you can tell that I'm pretty damn skinny. It's probably too early to put numbers to it, but I'd like to gain 20-30 lbs of muscle.

I'm about 1.5 months into this thing, doing it at a pretty leisurely pace (I hit the gym 3-5x/week).

I've split up my workouts into two separate days:

Day A: Back/Biceps/Quads/Gluts -> this means squats, bicep curls, triceps, rowing, lower back, and a Glut exercise that someone taught me (leg lifts is the name?). I'd like to add deadlift but I'd like to have someone walk me through it in person first.

Day B: Chest/Shoulders/Abs -> that means bench press, chest press, crunches

On top of that, I run 20 minutes (2-3 miles) or bike 1 hr outside (battery park to GWB and back) before each workout.

So far, progress is good. I've gained about 5 lbs over 1.5 months, which appears to be all or mostly muscle. I'm also trying to combine it with an effective diet: turkey or chicken for dinner, pasta or sandwich for lunch, no sodas, no booze, fruits + cereal as snacks.

I'll just add that I've skipped calves/lower legs for now -> my gastrocnemius is pretty solid since I've been running for the past 6 or 7 years and used to play bball.

Any more suggestions, folks? Anything I should add or remove?

P.S. - You're right Bill, Bodybuilding.com is a great resource. Helped me correct my form

I am a former College FB player and black belt. So here's my $0.02:

Day A is fine.
Day B you should split into B (Chest) & C (Shoulders).
Day D - legs
Day E - Off
(Cardio at least 3x per week after weights and you'll need to carb up in order to maintain energy).

Sets should be as follows once you gain enough strength:

At least 5 sets each exercise = pyramid style, so set 1 = 60% of max wt, Set 2= 70% max wt, Set 3 = 80 % max wt, Set 4 = 90% max wt, Set 5 = 60% max wt. This equates to = reps Set 1 (8reps), Set 2 (6reps), Set 3 (4reps) Set 4 (1-4reps), then set 5 @ least 10 reps. Once you are able to lift 4 reps of Set 4 move up in overall wt.

This can be applied to each major exercise...EG: bench (flat & incline), Shoulder press (barbell & dumbell), Lats (wide pull & narrow), Leg press.

The objective of this type of routine is to maximize your strength while increasing mass.

Remember to warm up for 5 minutes before and stretch after your routine. Good luck and you may want to change up your routine on occasion.

[just4kickz]

imo i would invest in a trainer for at least a month or two... i know a lot of people are gonna say go solo... but if you are beginning they can share a lot of good info with you and cater to your goals/needs.

most people are not trying to simply strong... they want endurance and strength which can be achieved with circuit drills that are low to medium in resistance but high in intensity for beginners. i rarely do high intensity circuits because its not necessary for my goals but it might be a good way for most beginners to ease into things while getting a variety workout that stresses the total body.

[j1valverde]

Switch it up always...
with a dumbell Do some axe chops and squats and rear rows targeting your core and pretty much everything else...I love the kettlebell but hard to get a hold of those.
I workout regularly and when I plateaued I did this and my abs started getting defined after only two iterations of this! I like freeweights on everything personally, except triceps and chest with the lat pulldown rope and the d-rings for chest. Don't just do pushups do offset pushups, medicine ball pushups,etc.,etc.,etc. you get it you get it
Oh and I did that INSANITY workout and as far as Cardio and strength endurance goes, IT KILLS...buy now for only 5 easy payments of 39.99!!j/k I downloaded it

[Echo M3]

Thanks everyone, this is all excellent advice. Exactly what i was looking for, cheers. Will keep you updated on progress

[OMID INC]

form is 10x more important that the amount lifting. just a note to consider. id pay for a trainer for a month and learn how to do it right then you are on your way. a good trainer too.

[smokinHawk]

lot of bad advice in here. lol.

lmao at get a trainer, 95% of trainers know jack.

[just4kickz]

Originally Posted by smokinHawk

lot of bad advice in here. lol.

lmao at get a trainer, 95% of trainers know jack.

its easy for you to say when you've been working out for a while. the guy said he was a beginner... unless you wanna show him the ropes, it would be easier for him just to get a trainer for a month or two which isn't a long time. hundred bucks says his goals arent the same as yours.

[Year's_End]

Originally Posted by smokinHawk

lot of bad advice in here. lol.

lmao at get a trainer, 95% of trainers know jack.

and your credentials are what exactly?

trainers are required to go through intensive certification. some forms of certification are a little on the bullshit easy side, but any real gym will only hire top-certified trainers.

inb4meatheadthatthinksgettingbigisallthereistowork ingout

[smokinHawk]

Originally Posted by Year's_End

and your credentials are what exactly?

trainers are required to go through intensive certification. some forms of certification are a little on the bullshit easy side, but any real gym will only hire top-certified trainers.

inb4meatheadthatthinksgettingbigisallthereistowork ingout

my credentials are my body.
8-9% true bodyfat at 191lbs
510 raw squat, 650 equipped squat
585 raw deadlift, 610 equipped deadlift
430 raw bench, 600 equipped bench.

unless a trainer has achieved what i am trying to do (or what you want to do) they are worthless.

go find a hardcore or powerlifting gym or even a crossfit gym for people who want to be skinny, the people there will help you out and train you for free, and teach you the right way.
commercial gyms are for people who socialize, waste time and do not get results.

[smokinHawk]

Originally Posted by just4kickz

its easy for you to say when you've been working out for a while. the guy said he was a beginner... unless you wanna show him the ropes, it would be easier for him just to get a trainer for a month or two which isn't a long time. hundred bucks says his goals arent the same as yours.

every time i watch a trainer train someone i just laugh and think they are no better off and are wasting time.
its not to hard to figure out lifting it you watch the people you want to emulate.

[Year's_End]

lol we have plenty of guys like you at the gym