Aussie Guy Starting Again.

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

A little about myself to get started.

First off we will get the important stuff out of the way. I’m fat, obese. Body fat is somewhere around 32%. I’ve been fat for somewhere around the last decade. I don’t need it pointed out to me how its my own fault, I already know that.

I don’t want people incessantly hounding me about being disgusting I already do enough of that to myself. What id like is to share my journey with you and to perhaps get a little encouragement along the way.

Vital stats are 179cm tall 105kg weight male 28 years old.

Sure I’ve lifted weights over the years, I’ve jogged, boxed, participated in martial arts, worked in a physical occupation. I’ve had waist sizes between 42 and 34, at the moment I’m stubbornly squeezing into once loose 36’s but my body fat percentage has always been terrible, well at least since ive started recording it. The worst was somewhere in the low 40’s but that was around 30kgs ago.

I was once on my way to getting strong and being fit, but that was a long time ago. I’m not 30 yet but I already feel past it.

Im calling myself a beginner because strength and fitness wise that’s where im working from.

I don’t plan to be all buff and sexy, if that happens awesome but its not really nessescary, what I want is to be strong. Functionally strong. Able to do things like jump over fences, do chin-ups, throw people across rooms, and all the other type of stuff that I came close to be able to do. Shit I want to be able to play on the monkey bars with my kids when I have them. I also want to get back into BJJ and although its about skill not strength against an equally skilled opponent strength is an advantage.

What are my goals, to bench 150% of my goal bodyweight, 85kg, to be able to squat 200% of my body weight and to be able to dead lift 250% of my body weight. Why those exercises and those numbers, the exercises because between them they recruit almost every muscle fibre in my body and the numbers because they are measurable.

Oh and im not talking about one rep maxes either im talking about working with these weights in sets with a rep range of around 4-6 so I can keep building my strength and keep going higher.

As further background info, I used to work with around 100kg on the bench 240kg on the legpress (45 degree) and although I’ve never really worked with deadlifts, if I was to go into my back shed id comfortably bent over row 50kg and at the moment I’m bloody weak.

I have at the local gym met a trainer who is a strength expert and he has put me on a program which I will start in earnest on Monday, my starting weights for the bench and squat are 30kg and my starting weight for the deadlift is 50kg. im starting low concentrating on form and building on strength

He has given me a Squat day, a Bench day and a deadlift day, with the major focus being on those lifts with other exercises to support them. I have every confidence that with his coaching I will reach my strength goals.

I will be taking no supplements, of course they work but they are expensive and I don’t plan on being that strict that they would prove to give me an edge.
I will be working on having better nutrition, I will be lifting weights five times a week, mon to fri and I will be doing cardio vascular exercise most days of the week as well.

Questions will be answered honestly; positive comments will be appreciated and responded to. Stupid comments will be ignored.

Ill keep you all posted

2

here’s the deal with supps they aren’t required but protein powerder is one of the cheapest sources of protein you cna find, and you should have it after you workout ALWAYS. I even drink some with one of my meals. all in all it’s worth spending 35$ for 80 servings@ gnc or buy some from here, it’s supposed to be top of the line.

Personally, I would do an upper/lower split but it’s between you and your training. I’d cut down to 300ish calories a day and don’t forget your cardio.

best of luck.

3

Thanks for the advice. Protein is something I would consider taking to help me to reach my goals and also to help my muscles recover.

once ive reached a plateau then i might consider taking a few other supplements.

With regards to the upper lower split that will probably be the next stage. at the moment we are using the 3 day split to build a base.

at the end of 10 weeks i would hope that my bench will have increased to somewhere around 75kg. same with the squats.

I do a 2k row as a warmup for my weights and then somewhere around 30 minutes of cardio after weights as well. ill also walk at lunchtimes most days.

interestingly enough ive been looking on my calorific intake and if i eat somewhere around 2935 calories a day and i work out each day i should loose about 2lbs a week. thats based on my BMR.

4

Hey there tubbynewb, I just want to wish you the best of luck on your training. Of course, luck has nothing to do with it though! If you put in the work -intelligently- you will reap the results. Be sure to have a look at the physique clinic here on T-Nation, there are examples of people making the exact progress you’re looking for through proper diet and lifting.

Remember, it’s completely do-able, many have come before you and many will continue to come. That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, nor should it be.

Be sure to post an actual training log with progress and such… it’s a pretty good motivator and a great way to get advice along the way.

5

Hey thanks for that, ive checked out some of the transformations and those guys are going really well.

Pretty soon ill post what each of my work outs is.

I am aware that the road ahead of me is hard and littered with casualties, ive tryed to walk it before, but im sure with the encouragement of good people like yourself i will be able to make it.

Cheers

6

For anyone interested here are my plans for Monday, they are a little more vague than what most of you are used to but they give you an idea of what the plan is. ill also tell you how close i can to getting there on tuesday morning.

Food

breakfast- 45gm cereal (light muslie) with skim milk
morning snack- fruit and nut mix
lunch- tuna salad, no dressing, and yoghurt
afternoon snack- 2 pieces of fruit, probably banana and apple
Tea- vegetables or salad with steak or fish.

throughout the day i will drink somewhere between three and five litres of water, along with some diet soft drinks.

exercise
morning drill of 1 minute skipping alternated with 1 minute of ab work repeated 5 times no rest folowed by some stretching to help my back

midday walk medium pace for aproximately 25-30 minutes

afternoon weight session

warmup 2k row 100m easy 200m all out

squats 4 x 12 40kg
leg press 3 x 12 100kg
calf raise 3 x 12 75kg
ez bar curl 3 x 12 15kg
z DB curl 3 x 12 6kg
Hover 3 x failure

if still alive after weights i will do aprox 30 minutes cardio otherwise it will be straight into stretching.

comments and constructive criticism is welcome.

im also going to take some photos over the weekend but they wont be posted untill i have after photos in ten weeks time.

7

So today is Monday, I thought id give you an update on where I was at.

Skipping and ab work this morning did not happen. I was talking to my wife about it and she seemed to think I was stupid to do it as I already knew methods that would work without getting up before my already very early 5:15 and like the house of cards I am I crumbled. Perhaps I will just save skipping for my weekend activity.

My wife knows me very well I struggle to get up and when I miss my mornings planed activity I feel disheartened and it can ruin the rest of my week. If I instead save my activity for the afternoon when I�??m awake then I will at least do them even if I do miss the whole pre breakfast metabolism fix.

Food wise I�??m going ok except that I swapped my bowl of cereal for two vegemite and low fat butter on wholemeal bread sandwiches due to running late, good call by the wife on stupid getting up early, I have had a snack of dried fruit and nuts earlier and have just eaten a salad with tuna. Salad was baby spinach mushroom capsicum cucumber and sprouts, bean alfalfa and little crunchy sprout things.

Ill give you the details of the rest of my day tomorrow.

8

add some baked chicken to your afternoon snack, or another form of meat. Also get some slow digesting proteins before bed.

9

1st off I kinda of feel 85kg is a little low. I don’t know anything about losing weight since I’m trying to pack it on, but I’m 181cm and 85kg (and still feel skinny)and aiming for 90-95kg. I’m a size 36 too and if I’m 20kg lighter I don’t think your doing too bad :D. I think at 85 you might be restricting your strength a bit.

Don’t rule out supplements either. Protein is fairly cheap and extremly effective. You don’t necessarily need anything else. Another thing to look into is fish oil. Fish oil is pretty damn cheap for the amount of benefits it gives. Along with improving your cardiovascular system and reducing the chance of heart issues, and about 50000 other things, it is good for helping lose fat.

Check out this article: Fish oil and Fat loss
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1651364

And how many uneccessry carbs are you taking in? Are the soft drinks a daily thing? If so cut them down to only a few times a week. None is better but I still love my coke, I just limit myself(I use to drink 2L a day for well over 2 years). Don’t always fall for low fat foods, which are usually high in sugar. Butter is something you can easily cut out as well.

I wouldn’t overdo it either. I know so many people who have gone on weight loss and trained their asses off for like a month or 2, didn’t like the results they saw and gave up!! I mean like 95% of the people I know who have done weight loss have done this. Take it steady, this is a long term thing so treat it like one, you will just get sick of it and burn yourself out otherwise, or injure yourself.

Rest plays a major part in weight training also.

What you do out of the gym is just as important as what you do in it, if not more so. Don’t for a second underestimate nutrition and limit your cheat meals. I wouldn’t eat take out more than once a week.

Other than that, I comend you for taking the 1st step, your on the right track to leading a much healthier lifestyle.

10

There is good news and bad news.

Good news is that yesterday i payed attention to my diet aprox 19.5 points on the weightwatchers points plan and did a fair bit of walking, including a 30 minute fast paced walk and a 2 hour approx wander.

other good news is that i have decided to take everyones advice and im going to take protein powder post workout.

Bad news is yesterdays gym session didnt happen. short story i was already and all pumped to go had a dissagrement with the wife and ran out of time. i will be going today.

hrdgnr i appreciate your sugestion on my weight and i agree that at 85 id could be a bit scrawny, im going to watch how things go and see where i end up. main reason for picking that was that if i chose to compete in BJJ id make the 87kg weight class. somewhere between 85 and 90 i think should be fine.

as a younger bloke i was 80kg and i was rake thin, thats not what i want, scales are just an arbitrary measure really, i will be mostly be going off body fat percentage and how i feel.

ill also be taking fish oil capsules im going to be squatting and deadlifting and my knees need it.

rest is probably the hardest thing for me to achieve, my day starts at 515 just to get to work on time and i get to bed around 11 at night. some adjustments to my schedule could possibly see me getting up at 545 but at the moment rest is the biggest obsticle, that and the fact that im bloody lazy at times.

interesting you make the comment on carbs in soft drink, i was just looking at a bottle of v i had, sugar free everything is sugar free except my yoghurt, and i found that it had .35g of carb in it and that the can of coke zero i just had has .4g. i understand that carbs are something to be restricted but mow much should a person have in a day?

11

All i can say is thank God im not taking part in the Physique Clinic.

I didnt workout again yetserday, instead attending a meeting that ran late and going home to plans that had been made for me. At least i ate well and went for my walk at lunchtime, the day overall was a step forward not a step back.

Today was everyone get together for morning tea day and what started out as one cookie ended in a cookie a piece of cake and two pieces of slice, none of them remotely healthy. It was less than i used to have but still more than i should have or really wanted to, but done is done and all i can do now is work to get it off.

i went for a walk at lunchtime today, and if the stars all line up in the correct direction i will be going to the gym tonight for weights and cardio, same plan as i intended on folowing on monday.

This week i will train wednessday thursday and friday for weights and just do cardio type stuff on the saturday and sunday, and the folowing week i intended on doing 5 days of weights.

you might say im making excuses and i am, but im being honest and im living my life. my training is something i want to be a part of my life not to control my life.

it might take me a little longer to get where i want to be but if i dont enjoy the journey at all what is the point of taking the trip.

i hope those of you reading understand, but if you dont feel free to point that out to me.

12

My arse hurts, my bi�??s are a little sore to.

That�??s right I finally made good and trained.

Last week was no the week I wanted to have, I didn�??t train and my nutrition was out the window. Instead of a healthy balance I started well and finished eating crap heaps and heaps of crap.

Today and yesterday my diet has been back on track and after training yesterday I am heading back to the gym tonight to make something else sore tomorrow.

Yesterdays training went as follows

10 minutes bike 200m hard 100 easy I managed 3.6k in 10 minutes which works out to an approximate 13.5 mph, not too bad for an unfit guy doing a warm up on legs day.

Then I did some weights

Squats 4 x 12 40kg
Leg press 3 x 12 100kg
Calf raise 3 x 12 75kg
Ez bar curl 2x12 1 x 10 15kg
Z curl 3 x 12 6kg
Hover 3 x 40sec 35sec 30 sec

I also did a fair bit of walking around during the day, all in all a good step forward.

Oh and btw I took everyone�??s advice and had a drink of protein after the workout when I got home.

Ill write about tonight�??s training session tomorrow, hopefully not crying from arm soreness again

13

You won’t move forward without consistentcy mate

14

Not sore yet, and that worries me more than being sore, does that mean that I should go through my day looking over my shoulder for the pain truck that is about to hit me? Or does it mean that I didn�??t work effectively? Personally, I�??d prefer pain.

Yesterdays workout was

Bench press 4 x 12 - 35kg �?? at rep 8 of set 4 I started to fail so I racked it widened my grip slightly and pushed out the other four.
Dumbbell flat bench press 3 x 12 - 12.5kg
Assisted dip 3 x 12 - 65kg assistance, that�??s about 40kg of dip
Tate press 3 x 12 - 7.5kg
Triceps pushdown 2 x 12 - 25 kg
Hover 3 x 35sec 30sec 25 sec

I kept my breaks pretty short, between one and two minutes, as the weight starts to build up I will rest longer between sets, I want to keep my form good and not rush or bounce off my chest.

I know my weights are low and majority of you who read this will think im a pussy, I don�??t really care. That�??s 5 more on my bench than last time and two more reps on each set of dips, which makes me happy.

I had my protein again post workout, hopefully that will help me to grow and get stronger. I�??m hoping that in 10 weeks I will have at least doubled my bench.

This is a journey and I�??m still taking post squat day waddle baby steps, but I�??m hoping that in time I will be able to prove to you guys as well as myself that I�??m serious about improving my life my health and my body.

15

the soreness isnt a problem the body will adapt very quickly actually
I know you think the weights are low,myself I started 5 weeks ago at 50 pounds or about 22 kilos doing a 5x5 type program I would try and hit 5x5 if i couldnt hit that then I would try next time till I did and if I hit 5x5 then i added another 5-10 pounds on the bar.
I am only doing a total of 4 exersizes very basic and it takes me a total of 30 mins a night when i do work out.

I started out huffing and puffing and majorly sore after the first few times but now after 5 weeks I actually stoped moving up so fast in weight but my max weight lifted is actually more now than it was before.so its not like I am going backwards
I also see small but noticable differences,in my arms mainly.

starting light is great that term of being light or heavy is all relitave oh and I might mention that I am 300 pounds and about 30% bf or so.
just keep doing what your doing and add more weight as you go along.

16

Yesterday was hot I mean 41/105 degrees depending on where you are from and I was sweating like a pig just from my ten minute warm up of 4.5 km�??s /2.8 miles done on the bike in 100 off 200 on intervals

Then it was my old friend the squat

Numbers went like this

4 x 12 50kg Squat
3 x 12 112.5 kg Leg Press
3 x 12 82.5 kg Calf press (on leg press machine)
3 x 12 15 kg Bicep curl ez bar
3 x 12 7.5 kg db z curl

I�??m happy with that although the weights are low I maid gains in either weights lifted or reps for every exercise.

I�??m still in the early phase of my muscle and strength building program and the rep range is pretty high. Next week ill start working in groups of ten then two weeks after that ill work in groups of eight, then two weeks after that ill be working in the four to six rep range and that�??s when I expect stuff to get heavy.

I would hope that by my final week of training I will be squatting somewhere around 90 kgs that my leg press will be at 135(the stack) my calves will be at 120 and my biceps curl will be at 35 and 15. Big leaps I know but if I don�??t aim high im not going to get anywhere.

Its funny you know, the gym I go to has one bench press station one incline bench press and about 5 of those benches that can be moved around the gym and only 1 squat rack. Guess which one that you have to line up for.

I haven�??t had to wait to use the squat rack yet. I always have to wait for the bench press. It�??s funny how the message isn�??t getting through that leg training is important.

I�??m going to have to be patient today, its bench press day, last week I got so pissed at peoples rudeness and inability to get their shit done and talk somewhere else I nearly lost it. I hate those groups of guys that talk shit and hog equipment for long periods of time who aren�??t recovering, just chatting about crap. At least thinking of throttling them makes my grip stronger.

We won�??t talk about my nutrition, I�??m still getting my shit together that way.

17

[quote]hardgnr wrote:
You won’t move forward without consistentcy mate[/quote]

Seconded. This includes nutrition.

Best tips ever:
1.) make a menu every week, for every meal
2.) Eat what’s on the menu
3.) go back and reread numbers 1 and 2.
4.) Did you make a menu yet?
5.) 3x full body sessions a week
6.) one or two cheat meals, schedule them in your menu

I wish you the best of luck! I was in your shoes a few years ago. Keep with it–you’ll like the results.

18

[quote]tubbynewb wrote:

Food

breakfast- 45gm cereal (light muslie) with skim milk
morning snack- fruit and nut mix
lunch- tuna salad, no dressing, and yoghurt
afternoon snack- 2 pieces of fruit, probably banana and apple
Tea- vegetables or salad with steak or fish.
[/quote]

Sorry, but this sucks.

Not sure what your work is like, but you need to find some higher protein snacks. Here’s my suggestions for eating, just a sample of what the aforementioned “menu” could look like.

Meal 1 (breakfast):
4 whole eggs
steamed broccoli
1 piece of fruit

Meal 2:
1-2scps protein powder, 1 tbsp olive oil, mixed in water
OR
1-2oz. mixed nuts or 2oz. cheese or handful of jerky etc.

Meal 3:
4-6oz. Protein source (think lean meats and poultry or fish)
Green veggies

Meal 4:
same as 2

Meal 5 (Post work out):
1/2C raisins or a few bananas
1 scp protein powder

Meal 6:
1C cottage cheese
veggies!

That said, you have weight to loose, so your diet will work at the start. Shit, I dropped a ton of weight just cutting out all forms of processed foods when I started. Replaced all my “snacks” with fruit or almonds.

You asked a question about carbs earlier. I’d say that you want to work on timing them right. For you, that means in the morning at breakfast and pre/post work out. I personally avoid all forms of starchy carbs at the moment, the only time I get them is if I make a cheat meal or eat out somewhere (make 2-3 a week).

I’d say that as long as you keep your carb intake lower, you’ll be fine. Go by the Poliquin principle: if it doesn’t run, swim or grow in the ground(fruit or green veggies), don’t eat it.

19

Boyscout Thank you for your advice, i appreciate you taking the time to help me and you have made great suggestions on a nice clean diet.

Problem is i have to get up at a quater past five just to shovel a bowl of muslie down my gob while checking t nation before work.

i guess if i eat the brochali raw and boil the eggs the night before it wouldnt be so bad.

i drive an hour and a quater to work and at least the same time home again.

kitchen at work sucks.

i know im making excuses i know everyone has bsticles and that most people overcome them, i just have to think about how for now.

ive got a question about the green vegies though, where do capsicum cauliflower mushrooms carrots etc come into play? are they seen to be bad because of color, is there something that changes in them nutritionaly?

thanks again for your help.

20

I eat peppers for veggies all the time, so no problem there (capsicum?). Carrot are not the best as they are more of a starch apparently, but as long as you don’t go too crazy, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Cauliflower is one of the few non-green veggies that has a great nutritional profile, so eat away.

I understand about the getting up earlier, but that is a shit excuse. Boil the eggs if that makes it easier, hell peel them all up the night before so all you have to do is grab and go. Just know that 4 hard boiled eggs will be HARD to get down. And you don’t have to eat broccoli, just some sort of veggie.

As far as kitchen at work, that’s why you prepare stuff at home! And you’ll notice all my snack options are non cooking… Just worry about cooking and packaging your lunch the night before, and you’ll be good to go.