Program for Improving Body Comp

Hey, I’ve been lurking on these forums for a while, but really only just got round to registering and posting.

Currently, I’m ~218lbs, 17 years old with an estimated 23% body fat (pretty obvious with my stomach really)

I recently though to myself, enough is enough, I’m going to start doing this right. I want to make some nice gains while loosing this damn bag of fat I have to carry with me.

Now, I’m not completely new to weightlifting, I used to frequent my local gym 2-3 times a week for about 7-8 months a while back, any gains or losses I made from then is simply gone now.

I need as much help as I can get here, I want some kind of program to shift this fat mass, and I know most of it will be down to dieting. I’m not too concerned with getting “ripped” and all that jazz, If I just thickened my back up and firmed the stomach up Ill be a happy chappy.

So, I was thinking… 3 day splits…4 day splits… 4 sets of 8 reps, 2 sets of 8 reps, I really cant work out what would be best, training on its own is a good start I know, but I want to know what direction I should really be heading in for some good strength gains with some thickening of my somewhat fluffy body.

I worked out my 1RM’s if there any help, unfortunately the only gym I can get to only has a bunch of technogym machines, cable machine and a rack of dumbbells, but I worked my 1RMS to be…

92.5KG Bench
240KG Legpress (Sled machine)
92.5KG Tri Extension (Somewhat debatable, I think I need to retest it)
42.5KG Shoulder press
40KG Bicep curls

Anyway, I’ve been scribbling and reading, and I was thinking of trying a 3 way split, working 5 times a week on a XABCABX,XCABCAX,XBCABCX routine something along those lines, I want to get the most of my gym membership payments since I’m skint :slight_smile:

Would It be possible to loose fat if I’m getting about 3300-3800 cal on a somewhat intensive weight programme, No calorie deficit, since I want to recover quickly.

Also, Supplements? I have a 400g of creatine mono from when I used to dabble a while back, I used to have 2 shakes a day with some whey in too. Should I bother investing in supps? what about the hundreds of other supps on the market like BETA-7, BCAA’s etc, its a mine field for a beginner like me :slight_smile:

Any and all suggestions welcome.

Thanks :slight_smile:

On the left side of the page, under articles, you’ll find “training”. Within those articles you’ll find programs.

Pick one. Stick to it no less than several months. Seriously. As for diet, stick to clean healthy foods with calories at maintenance levels for your weight.

Start with this article:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1308241

I agree with above just pick a goosd program any of them here and DO IT any and all will bring body comp changes for the better with DIET!!! Nailed thats what the big key will be.

I suggest reading the beginner thread above and all the links and come back with more questions AFTER reading up.

Phill

[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
On the left side of the page, under articles, you’ll find “training”. Within those articles you’ll find programs.

Pick one. Stick to it no less than several months. Seriously. As for diet, stick to clean healthy foods with calories at maintenance levels for your weight.

Start with this article:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1308241[/quote]

Not really the right article for the OP - he weighs 218 lb for God’s sake!

I’d suggest one of the following:
Escalating Density Training
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459765
Fat to Fire
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459312
EDT for Body Composition Breakthroughs
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459309

Also suggest you read the post pinned at the top of the Beginners Forum, “Are You A Beginner II”. It has links to heaps of useful stuff.

[quote]sharetrader wrote:
Doug Adams wrote:
On the left side of the page, under articles, you’ll find “training”. Within those articles you’ll find programs.

Pick one. Stick to it no less than several months. Seriously. As for diet, stick to clean healthy foods with calories at maintenance levels for your weight.

Start with this article:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1308241

Not really the right article for the OP - he weighs 218 lb for God’s sake!

I’d suggest one of the following:
Escalating Density Training
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459765
Fat to Fire
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459312
EDT for Body Composition Breakthroughs
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459309

Also suggest you read the post pinned at the top of the Beginners Forum, “Are You A Beginner II”. It has links to heaps of useful stuff.[/quote]

Hehe, Yeah I just overlooked the fact I was 218 and the article was for 150lb :slight_smile: still learnt something from it.

Ive been reading around pretty much till 2am in the morning, at the moment im settled on a Upper/Lower split with cardio on the off days (with all this progression magic for the resistance training and the cardio).

I think its more an issue of buckling down and doing more work and shifting the iron instead of looking for the most picturesq way of going about it.