In Need of Workout Routine

[pmaffe03]

I am a 22 yr old who is trying to build some muscle and lose a gut. Due to a hectic work schedule..I am only able to work out in the evenings at home. I have purchased a dumbell set and a bench and am looking for a routine to get into shape. I have started doing about 150 crunches (3 sets of 50), 45 pushups (3x15), and chinups (1x7) in order to rejuvenate my muscles from their dormant state. Now I am looking to start using weights.

I want to get into a 4/5 day workout routine..any suggestions???

Current Stats:
22 yr old male
5'5
130 lbs
No idea what percentage is fat
Over the last few months I have have virtually cut out all junk food from my diet and have began eating a lot of vegetables. However, a lot pasta remains apart of my diet (what is an Italian to do) ..

Please Advise!!

[Alex(AJ)]

well, since you're a newbie best bet will be a full body split. most newbies have great gains on thos ebecause they force you to do heavy compound lifts. i wrote an article on how to build one, check it out- http://www.ironpumping.com sample/past articles, one of full body splits

oh yea, be certain to check out my book while you're there, written specifically for the beginner/intermediate lifter

[Tuna Fish]

Originally Posted by pmaffe03

However, a lot pasta remains apart of my diet (what is an Italian to do) ..

Hi- what to do about the pasta? Eat it only after your workout, that's what! Excess carbs at any other time (especially B4 bed) will most likely contribute to your "spare tire syndrome".

Next you must determine your short term goal- fat loss or muscle building. You can't really do both at one time. Fat loss requires a caloric deficit, muscle building requires a caloric excess. Period.

As Alex suggested, a full-body routine would probably fit the bill at this point. Start light and get your form dialled-in. If your form is bad when you start lifting heavy you will likely get injured at some point. Some people are lucky and never get hurt, but most people who never perfect their form eventually have a problem of some kind (acute injury, muscular imbalances, etc).

Stay on the full-body plan until it becomes fairly difficult to complete your workout in an hour or less (the weights will get heavier, you'll need more rest between sets, etc). That's when you'll want to go to a different split-type workout, but not before.

Do your full-body workout every 3 days for (IMO) best results (monday lift, tues and wednesday off, thursday lift, friday and saturday off, etc). Two days between workouts insures that you're fully recovered and ready for another weight session.

The more careful you are about your diet, the less you'll need to depend on cardio to burn your bodyfat. I like cardio and do it regularly, even though many say it's not necessary. (If you want to be an athletic, active person (I am) you'll need aerobic conditioning in addition to weight training. In my eyes appearing lean/thin yet un-conditioned is somewhat pointless.... I hate to see my BB friends huff and puff and be out of breath doing something like playing frisbee!!! :confused: )

Good luck, and if you need more help just say the word!
Tuna

[MostMuscle]

Check out this article.

[NateDogg]

Anyone else have a website they want to plug?

[pmaffe03]

Originally Posted by Tuna Fish

Hi- what to do about the pasta? Eat it only after your workout, that's what! Excess carbs at any other time (especially B4 bed) will most likely contribute to your "spare tire syndrome".

Next you must determine your short term goal- fat loss or muscle building. You can't really do both at one time. Fat loss requires a caloric deficit, muscle building requires a caloric excess. Period.

As Alex suggested, a full-body routine would probably fit the bill at this point. Start light and get your form dialled-in. If your form is bad when you start lifting heavy you will likely get injured at some point. Some people are lucky and never get hurt, but most people who never perfect their form eventually have a problem of some kind (acute injury, muscular imbalances, etc).

Stay on the full-body plan until it becomes fairly difficult to complete your workout in an hour or less (the weights will get heavier, you'll need more rest between sets, etc). That's when you'll want to go to a different split-type workout, but not before.

Do your full-body workout every 3 days for (IMO) best results (monday lift, tues and wednesday off, thursday lift, friday and saturday off, etc). Two days between workouts insures that you're fully recovered and ready for another weight session.

The more careful you are about your diet, the less you'll need to depend on cardio to burn your bodyfat. I like cardio and do it regularly, even though many say it's not necessary. (If you want to be an athletic, active person (I am) you'll need aerobic conditioning in addition to weight training. In my eyes appearing lean/thin yet un-conditioned is somewhat pointless.... I hate to see my BB friends huff and puff and be out of breath doing something like playing frisbee!!! :confused: )

Good luck, and if you need more help just say the word!
Tuna

Thanks for the advice Tuna....I am looking a for a muscle-building workout opposed to a fat loss regiment. I think my spare tire has more to do with a four year dedication to partying and eating crap food while I was in college. Now that I have graduated, the partying/drinking has slowed down and I am eating healthier foods. any suggestions for exercises on a full-body routine for dumbells??

Cheers!

[Tuna Fish]

Hi Pmaffe-

Best approach is to keep it really simple for now, and build upon what you learn today.

Use compound (multi-muscle group) lifts, as any compound lift will hit multiple muscles in one shot. For example: the bench press uses not only the pecs, but also the delts and triceps in order to complete the lift. Flyes, on the other hand, utilize the pecs only (for the most part) to complete the lift.

There are compound lifts for most muscle groups....

Chest/triceps= bench press
Back/biceps= rows, pullups, or pulldowns (if only DB's, you'll be doing rows )
Quads/hamstrings= squat, deadlift primarily, but straight-legged deadlifts can be incorporated as well for the hams.

Now for shoulders (deltoids) you have some options..... Shoulders get worked hard during any upper body exercise, so you could use an isolation exercise at the beginning stages. That would be "laterals" (DB's held at sides of body, then raised out to the side until shoulder level is reached. Remember, your triceps have already been hit with the bench presses..... or go to overhead presses instead... just try both and see what feels good for you.

So here's a sample "starter" workout:

Bench press 3x10 (3 sets of 10 reps)
Bent over row 3x10
Lateral raise or overhead press 3x10
Squat or deadlift 3x10 (alternate these exercises at each workout at first)
Standing calf raise 3x10
Curl 3x10

Key is to start light, don't push too hard at first, but concentrate on feeling the muscles working during the workout. If the weight is very light it will be difficult to feel the muscles working, if that's the case, try pausing at different points- just hold the weight steady and wait a bit- you'll feel what's being worked if you try this a few times. Add a small amount of weight at each workout until it becomes difficult to do 10-12 reps. (You'll be on Easy Street for at least a few weeks!)

To see the various exercises try www.exrx.net- that site has all the exercises listed, and has an animated view so you can see how it looks when performed correctly.

Nutition-wise: for starters just cut the junk food and soda, and start drinking water instead. Get a decent protein powder and use it 2-3x per day in addition to your meals. Shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of lean bodyweight, and bump it up as your muscle mass grows. Sounds like a lot of protein, but it's what works. You must consume more calories than you burn in order to build muscle. Fat does not turn into muscle as many people like to think.

If you must eat junk food, pop, candy, pasta (ie: hi cal, hi carb foods), do so after your workout only. That's the only time it will serve you well. As soon as you get control of your diet, you will start to see results. 99% of bodybuilding is nutrition, so learn to use food as a tool instead of a crutch.

Drop in to the Diet/Nutrition board to learn more about that.

One more thing- sleep! You need it to grow bigger. Think about what a baby does- eat, then sleep, then grow. You must do the same thing. You do not, I REPEAT- DO NOT GROW IN THE GYM. The sooner you understand that, the better off you will be. Write it on your forehead so you see it every time you look in the mirror (just kidding!). Most people tend to try to do MORE WORK in the gym when they run into a muscle-growth plateau (when the easy gains stop coming so easily). They need to do more resting usually. The point I'm trying to make is that more training is not necessarily better.... SMART training + good diet + much rest is the correct formula, not just more gym time.

Still need more...? Don't hesitate to ask, but please use the search function first so you won't ask the same question that was asked by somebody else last week... Use the other forums if you have questions related to them (like diet Q's go to Diet & Nutrition, Training Q's go here, etc.)

Take care and good luck!
Tuna

[Tuna Fish]

Originally Posted by NateDogg

Anyone else have a website they want to plug?

Hehe.... where's Alex when ya need some spam??? That guy is the Spam King for sure... Seems to be working, though. Just kidding around, Alex.

Tuna

[pmaffe03]

Thank you again for the advice!

I have been looking at various workout routines and some say that i should rotate exercises for different muscles so they don't get burned out. Would that apply for me if I am using a full-body workout?

Looking forward to getting started..

Cheers!

[Tuna Fish]

Originally Posted by pmaffe03

I have been looking at various workout routines and some say that i should rotate exercises for different muscles so they don't get burned out. Would that apply for me if I am using a full-body workout?

Well, that depends. As a relative beginner, you won't be burning out any muscles in the near future- basically any exercises you do at this point will stimulate your muscles quite well (provided your rest/nutrition requirements are in good order, of course!).

Take the bench press as an example- eventually, those 3 sets of benches will not stimulate your muscles as much as when you started off. That's when you would change exercises, or add a new exercise to your "chest repertoire". Use an exercise until it stops working for you. Might be 2 weeks, might be 2 months.... you'll need to do it for a while and see how your body responds.

If you feel that the full-body split fits your lifestyle and time requirements, there is no reason to change it and move to a new split, but at the least, you would need to change the exercises in order to keep the muscles guessing (and therefore adapting by getting bigger/stronger).

For example- here's the sample workout I listed earlier:

Bench press 3x10 (3 sets of 10 reps)
Bent over row 3x10
Lateral raise or overhead press 3x10
Squat or deadlift 3x10 (alternate these exercises at each workout at first)
Standing calf raise 3x10
Curl 3x10

Now, let's assume you enjoy the structure of the full body workout plan and would like to continue it. You would just want to change the exercises at this point, such as this:

Flye 3x10 (3 sets of 10 reps)
Pullups or chinups 3x max reps w/ bodyweight
lateral raise or overhead press 3x10 (just do the exercise you did not do in the first example)
Lunge 3x10
Stiff leg deadlift 3x10
Seated calf raise 3x10
Curl 3x10 (some other variation than previous workout: preacher curl, concentration curl, incline curl, etc)

As you can see, the total number of sets is fairly close to the original, but exercises have changed. It's imperative to (again) start light and learn the proper execution (as these are new exercises), then start to push a little harder, just like before.

Hopefully this will get you going for the first few weeks (training-wise), so please use Diet/Nutrition board ASAP to get your diet set up. Do yourself a favor and buy an inexpensive bodyfat caliper. It will be an invaluable tool to you, as it will help you understand what's happening to your body as you progress. The BF caliper will let you know your body's composition (how much fat/how much muscle) and is used to compliment your scale readings (bodyweight). Once you know your actual weight and BF %, tailoring your diet will be very, very easy. On the other hand, if you rely solely on guesswork now, it will be very, very difficult to objectively and scientifically analyze your progress.

Good luck, see ya on the D&N board!

Tuna

[pmaffe03]

Thanks again for the advice!

Today was the first day I used the routine and really liked it. ..

I warmed up with 50 push-ups and 100 sit-ups then did all the exercises in the workout using light weights and focusing on form.

The only thing I found uncomfortable were the lateral raises, so I am going to use the overhead press for the next time.

My question now is how I should go about adding weight to the sets. Today I used extremely minimal weights (Bench, Squat, Bent Over Row Row, Calf Raise-10lbs on each dumbell; Lateral Raise, Curls-6lbs on each dumbell)

I didn't add any weight after each set....should I have? Should I make any other changes for my next workout. My muscles don't feel sore at all, but they feel like they have been worked.

Are there any exercises that I can do between workout days?

Thanks again for the advice....all is well after Day 1!

Cheers!