This. It really is pretty simple. Don't let it run you in circles. The basics are there for a reason. Stick to them. @DeadP1xels - Don't let that big guy intimidate you. Trust me. If he's anything like me or any of my other(and much larger) friends he's glad to see you in the gym giving it your best. Honestly, I love seeing people in there just beating it up. Whether they are 120lbs and just starting or the advanced 240lbs monster. And, a big majority of the larger individuals are more than happy to help and/or give you some tips. They wont necissarily volunteer that information, so feel free to ask. Also, youtube is a great resource for figuring out howto use certain machines. As well as a great tool for figuring out good form.
Did my first night cycle last night. Aiming to make it a daily thing. Took me longer to do the same route that I did the day before, presumably got less energy at that time of night (left 11;15, got back around midnight) Good time to do it for me though, as it doesn't clash with anything else other than free time.
Well i've decided to stop being a finance worry-wort and get myself a decent bench, i've come to conclusion that if i want to stop being a clown wit my weight lifting and actually be serious a bench is essential to lot of good core exercises. I bought barbell, dumbell weights 3 years, and i've basically wasted that time. TIME TO GET SERIOUS DAMNIT!
Lots of sound info here deadpixel, listen collectively and you are sure to meet your goals. i must stress though... eating chocolate and cake does not give you muscle... I will to try to outline a basic level of knowledge for you to build muscle, understand the process and how it all works. Hopefully, this will bust some myths and give you the information you need to make choices on routines, goals and foods. If i start off stating the obvious, i apologise. knowing how, and why things happen can often help us realise what we need to do. Putting on muscle requires a process called muscular hypertrophy, the growth and adaptation of muscle. Advice given will focus mainly on aiming for myofibrillated hypertrophy specifically. [if intrested, look up the differences between sarcoplasmic and myofibrillated] Basic fundamentals! New muscle grows when its shocked, torn or realises its incapable or inefficient in dealing with a task repetitively undertaken. This is why you work out. The growth and repair of muscles require an increase in certain macronutrients (primarily protien) and often an additional intake of calories. This is why your diet will need to change when working out. Rest is required to heal and grow. This IS important. Your muscles get bigger when resting, not pumping iron. This is why you can not work out daily. OKAY, lets get to the good bits. Working out, for a beginner is usually quite daunting. Where do you start? so much conflicting advice! Well, I would hands down recommend a full body workout based primarily of compound lifts. Compound lifts, usually with a barbell, require your body to use multiple muscles at once. Squats, benchpress, overhead press, deadlifts, rows and pull-ups are compound lifts using the bodys basic planes of motion. Push / Pull / Lift. Because of this, you are adding weight to functional movements, balancing the weight with supporting muscles and able to add larger amounts of weight on the lift. This is good for lots of reasons; Helps avoid muscular imbalance, can use heavier weights (giving more growth) and aiding functional strength and stronger joints / connective tisses. I would NOT recommend a body split workout (for a beginner) These generally comprise of lots of isolation exercises over usually 5 days. Separating arms, legs, chest, shoulders and back into individual workouts. The easiest way i can explain, is this. Look at an anatomy chart, the many many muscles your body has do not work independently. They work together when strongest. Symbiotically. Multiple muscles support joints, multiple muscles are required to support and move a limb. Some muscles a beginner to working out might ignore or simply not know of could get ignored and lack behind, prone to injury. For example, Isolating a small muscle for its aesthetic appeal (im looking at you bicep curl!) is inefficient in building big arms as your stressing only a limited portion of what could and should be working. (instead, do a pull up and vary your grip positions) So what compound routine? I wont write one out, but will point you in the direction of a few places at the bottom of this post. They might seem like only a few exercises, (5 or 6 per workout) but they are to be carried out with a heavy weight, at close to maximum effort. usually in 5 sets of 5 reps. this is a widely regarded a standard for strength building using compound lifts. With all that working out, you need the nutrients to repair and get stronger. SO! Nutrition! (NOM NOM NOM) firstly, HYDRATION! drink water throughout the day! Now, a general rule of thumb alot of people go by is "Eat big, Get big" otherwise known as a "See-food diet".. sure, it holds merit but... (see link at bottom) Building muscles requires an additional intake of protiens, vitamins, minerals and enough calories for the process to happen efficiently. However, This does not mean eating more fast food and calorie dense processed foods simply because you see a high protien count and enough calories to sink a battle ship. To grow efficiently, healthily (and look / feel good doing it), you need wholesome, bio-available food, packed with all the vitamins minerals and macro nutrients you need to grow. So you dont need some mad-ass diet, just a solid, well rounded diet comprising of the basic food groups taking into consideration your extra needs. (will add more on protein amounts later) Basically, eat lots of nature. Animals, plants, nuts. Wholegrain carbohydrates! yep, you hear about them alot nowadays, there even in your coco pops! These are your main source of fuel! Brown bread, Oats, Whole wheat pasta, Brown rice, sweet potato! Protiens? meat! fish! eggs! anything lean! its really important you try and get your protein from natural sources. Red meat contains loads of iron and helps promote testosterone. Fish is filled with essential fats and omega oils. Eggs have lots of good fats and a very unique high quality protien. PROTIP: Eggs are more bio available when cooked. no point downing raw eggs. you are not rocky. you are not in hollywood... and eat the yolks! Vegtables! Eat'em. all of them. What ever you enjoy eating. try new ones, go nuts. high in fibre (while adding protien to your diet its recommened )....potatoes dont count nuts, pulses, legumes and beans are all good too! lentils, kidney beans, soy beans black eyed peas, are ALL really good. high in fibre, low in fat, high in protien. just watch the salt / sodium content on baked beans. not hugely alarming, but something to consider. Infact, heres a list of good basic foods to put on your shopping list! Beef, Turkey, Chicken, any Fish (tuna / mackerel / coley / talipa) lentils, oats, whole milk, peanut butter, brown pasta, eggs, brown rice, spinach, tomatoes, brocoli (any other veg you fancy) sweet potatoes, bananas, grapefruit, mixed nuts, yogurt, low fat cottage cheese(with pineapple yum!) Okay, its getting late, and this is such a huge subject that i feel i'd ramble, or become incoherant (if not already) if i went on much longer. So i will try and paraphrase and bullet point a few important things. How much protein?! The american dietetic association recommends 1.4-1.7grams of protein per kg of bodyweight for resistance athletes. keep it simple, say 1.5 or 2grams per kg depending. Eating more wont hurt, just keep hydrated and eat fibre, but it probably wont give much more results at a lower body weight (sub 80kgs lean) Supplements?! Fish Oil and multi vitamin wont go a miss. just helps round out the diet of all those important things. could help your moods / immune system if your usually in a deficit. Whey protein? Creatine? Casein? These are supplements. they supplement. nothing more. They are not the secret to building mass, but if you are finding it hard to get enough protein from good sources, whey isolate is simple, easily digested and completely non harmful. ditch the rest. with a really good diet supplements are simply not needed. Why aren't i getting bigger?! Its slow, hard work. But if your certain your not making progress and your lifts are stalling, log what you eat and drink. work out if your getting enough through nutrition and rest. roughly 500 calories surplus on your BRM, and your 2grams protien per kg body weight. stay hydrated and sleep 8 hours a night. list of useful links! Routines! (i'd recommend stronglifts for you, but no harm reading more) http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/ http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw46.htm Building muscle! http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_truth_about_bulking http://stronglifts.com/how-to-build-muscle-mass-guide/
