Exercise Advice

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

Hey everyone,

I’m a 19 year-old guy, 5’8" tall and weigh 128 lb. A few years ago I used to do athletics, but currently I don’t exercise that much. That’s a fact I would like to change, and for that I have come here.

My diet currently consists of whole-grain bread and ?cereals with milk, and white tea (no milk or sugar), for breakfast and supper, and various food for dinner and lunch (I eat lunch at school, and since I live at home my mom cooks dinner), and lots of fruits in between. I eat/drink no fast food, no cakes, pastries, candy, sodas, etc. Generally I avoid food with lots of sugar and/or saturated fats. My current daily caloric intake is somewhere around 3000 kcal/day, with weekends typically being a little less since I don?t wake up as early, and I don?t eat school lunch at weekends (obviously).

I want to get back into shape again, so I’m looking for some good exercises (preferably bodyweight ones, since I don?t have access to much equipment) to get me started. I know the basics, like push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, and so on, but if you have any specific ones to recommend, or any other advice for that matter, please post it. I have read a bit about bodyweight exercises (which seem the easiest for me, because I can do them at home), but I would like some advice as to which exercises to do in what quantity and order, etc. Except my own body, I also have a bicycle trainer, and anything else I can build myself if it’s not too expensive.

Thank you.

2

Pull-ups
Handstand Push-ups
Dips
One-armed push-ups
One-leg squats

beastskills.com

3

Looking at your diet you get zero protein. Eat more meat, protein powders, peanut butter etc. You also apparently get no fats. Eat more healthy fats too.

4

[quote]nmway wrote:
Hey everyone,

I’m a 19 year-old guy, 5’8" tall and weigh 128 lb. A few years ago I used to do athletics, but currently I don’t exercise that much. That’s a fact I would like to change, and for that I have come here.

My diet currently consists of whole-grain bread and ?cereals with milk, and white tea (no milk or sugar), for breakfast and supper, and various food for dinner and lunch (I eat lunch at school, and since I live at home my mom cooks dinner), and lots of fruits in between. I eat/drink no fast food, no cakes, pastries, candy, sodas, etc. Generally I avoid food with lots of sugar and/or saturated fats. My current daily caloric intake is somewhere around 3000 kcal/day, with weekends typically being a little less since I don?t wake up as early, and I don?t eat school lunch at weekends (obviously).

I want to get back into shape again, so I’m looking for some good exercises (preferably bodyweight ones, since I don?t have access to much equipment) to get me started. I know the basics, like push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, and so on, but if you have any specific ones to recommend, or any other advice for that matter, please post it. I have read a bit about bodyweight exercises (which seem the easiest for me, because I can do them at home), but I would like some advice as to which exercises to do in what quantity and order, etc. Except my own body, I also have a bicycle trainer, and anything else I can build myself if it’s not too expensive.

Thank you.[/quote]

Get Pavel’s book “The Naked Warrior”. Its all about how to train using bodyweight only:)

5

Well, I usually get some amount of protein and fats from lunch and dinner (since I usually eat some kind of meat then), but I see what you mean. I’ll have to buy some whey protein.

I did an analysis of my (average) daily diet, and about 20-25% of the calories I eat come from fats, 50-55% from carbohydrates, and about 25% from proteins.

6

  1. Up the calories in general, and the protein/veggies/healthy fats specifically.

  2. Try to use bodyweight exercises that offer the most resistance (ones you can’t do 1000 of), like pullups, handstand pushups, one-legged squats, etc. Make sure the exercises don’t become easy/aerobic. Further, sets goals for progression in the exercises you do, by upping volume or intensity or both. Don’t just do 20 pushups a day for months and months!

  3. Sleep.

  4. Win

7

Is there an intermediate between regular squats and one-legged ones in terms of intensity? Because I can do lots of regular ones fairly easily but I have a hard time doing the one-legged variant. Same with pushups.

8

Do the pistols holding on to a pole for assistance or in a doorway holding on to the door frame.

To make pushups harder, you can raise your legs up on something, so more weight is on your hands. One-handed pushups use a lot more tricep, so any tricep work would help too.

9

Thanks :slight_smile:

Regarding the diet: I’m trying to work some protein drinks into it. Right now, my typical daily meals look like this:

Breakfast (7:00): Oatmeal porridge with milk, three slices of whole-grain bread with cheese and/or ham, a cup of white tea (no milk or sugar), a boiled egg

Lunch (11:00): 1/2 plate rice/potatoes/pasta, 1/4 plate meat/fish, 1/4 plate vegetables

Small meal (14:00): Fruit, crisp bread

Dinner (16:30): Same as lunch

Small meal (18:00): Fruit, crisp bread

Supper (19:30): Whole-grain muesli with soured milk, three slices of whole-grain bread with cheese and/or ham, a cup of white tea (no milk or sugar)

Bedtime (22:00): Probiotic yogurt, a slice of whole-grain bread with cheese and/or ham

So, during which meals should I fit a protein drink in, and how much protein should I take daily and how should I spread my protein intake over the day? I’ve heard various numbers ranging from 0.8 g protein/kg of bodyweight to 2 g/kg.

10

Get a masonary job or start by lifting everything and anything that’s heavy around your house. Check out the diesel crew for ideas. Buy an olympic bar and start deadlifting. Do pull-ups and chin-ups like there’s no tomorrow.

Eat 40-60 grams of protein with every meal 5-6x/day. Add peanut butter on everything. Train with nothing less than 100% intensity or don’t do it at all.

11

[quote]nmway wrote:
Except my own body, I also have a bicycle trainer, and anything else I can build myself if it’s not too expensive.[/quote]
Here are some ideas for training with cheap or free stuff:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=819977

I started lifting with bags of plaster and a thick steel rod which feels like it weighs around 25 kg. I did buy some weights about a month later but it’s really about the effort you put in, not the tools you use.

12

That’s gonna cost a lot of money for me. Let’s say, for example, that I decide to eat 50 grams of protein 5x/day (total 250 g/day). Considering a keg of 1 kg whey protein costs about $30 where I live (Sweden), that’s going to cost ~$200/month.

And I only get about $150 of study grants each month. I’m not likely to get a job anytime during the next couple of years either, since I’ve applied for university studies come autumn.

13

Go the old fashioned way like I did; eggs, tuna, and milk - although Berardi would probably flip.

I did my work-study in the kitchen. You can take food back to the dorm with you. If your #1 goal is to train & grow big, you’ll find a way to pay for your protein.

Good luck!

14

Alright, it’s time I set myself some clearly definable goals. For starters, I want to be able to do handstand pushups and one-legged squats, since I hear they’re among the best upper resp. lower body exercises out there and regrettably I can’t do them yet (I’m kinda weak now).