T Nation

Starting Out

Beginners
#1

I’m a 28 year old out of shape guy that wants to get built as in have a broadness to my upper body and a nice V taper.

Age 28
Weight 62kg
Height 5’5"

My plan:

Monday,
Chest/Biceps
Warm up 2 x 20 push ups
4 x 10 Barbell Bench Press
3 x 10 Incline Dumbbell Press
3 x 10 Standing Cable Fly’s
3 x 10 Seated Chest Press (machine)
3 x 10 Dumbbell Fly’s

Biceps
3 x 15 Seated Dumbbell Curls (5 hammer, 5 Supinated with twist, 5 Supinated)
3 x 10 EZ Curl bar preacher curls
3 x 10 Cable Curls
3 x 10 Standing Dumbbell Curls (5 hammer, 5 Supinated with twist, 5 Supinated)

Tuesday
Back/Triceps
3 x 8 Pull Ups (Wide Pronated Grip)
3 x 10 Deadlift
3 x 10 Seated C-Curve Rows (machine)
3 x 10 Seated Rows (machine)
4 x 10 Lat Pull downs (2 sets wide supinated, 2 sets pronates)
Triceps
3 x 10 Skull Crushers
3 x 10 Triceps Extensions
3 x 10 Rope grip Cabel Pull Downs

Wednesday
Shoulders
3 x 10 Dumbbell Side raises
3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises
3 x 10 Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
3 x 10 Seated Arnold Press
3 x 10 Close Grip Cable Upright Rows
3 x 10 Shrugs

Thursday
Legs
4 x 10 Squat
4 x 10 Leg Press
3 x 10 Leg Extensions
3 x 10 Leg Curls

Friday
Chest/Biceps
Warm up 2 x 20 push ups
4 x 10 Barbell Bench Press
3 x 10 Incline Dumbbell Press
3 x 10 Standing Cable Fly’s
3 x 10 Seated Chest Press (machine)
3 x 10 Dumbbell Fly’s

Biceps
3 x 15 Seated Dumbbell Curls (5 hammer, 5 Supinated with twist, 5 Supinated)
3 x 10 EZ Curl bar preacher curls
3 x 10 Cable Curls
Set of standing Dumbell Curls (5 hammer, 5 Supinated with twist, 5 Supinated)

Saturday and Sunday
Circuit
40 x Push ups, Squats, Sit ups, Lying Leg raises
30 x Push ups, Squats, Sit ups, Lying Leg raises
25 x Push ups, Squats, Sit ups, Lying Leg raises

Please feel free to critique my workouts,
Cheers

#2

Your current status is : out of shape

The volume in this program : Bodybuilder

Your body weight : equivalent of a 5’5 female

How tall are you?

This is completely the wrong routine for you in my opinion.

Slow down. You can achieve what you want but it’s not going to happen in in less than a Walking Dead season.

#3

There are two things you need to address.

  1. Your nutrition aka diet aka eat-24-7

  2. Your program

Here are the answers:

  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAvW6xBZjSk

  2. https://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_11_body_part_split - check out the Push Pull Legs, they would serve you well.

The above is a good start, but the main things to learn is that you definitely SHOULD NOT use a high-volume bodybuilding split when you are first starting off

and

You are going to have to learn to eat more, a lot more.

Also, how tall are you ?

#4

Claudan thanks for taking the time to reply to my post, appreciated.

I have edited the above so that it shows my height, I am 5’5" male.

I actually started out training from the new year 2013, using the weight training equipment i have at home.

Weights.jpg450×800 30.5 KB

I joined up at a gym in Aug and had been going 3 days a week. Since October I have been going Mon-Fri, and have the weekends to train at home the circuit mentioned in my first post.

I am a smoker and an ex toker(recreational cannabis user) i do not drink, i do not snack on crisps or chocolate, but drink quite a bit of fizzy drinks (Redbull and Coke)

My Diet is currently poor:
09:00 Banana and Nurshment Drink (www.nurishment.co.uk/)
11:30 Banana, Redbull
14:00 Half grilled chicken, fries, Coke
16:30 Banana, Redbull
17:30 Nurishment drink
20:00 Half grilled chicken fries, Nurishment drink (post workout)

#5

IMO,

Claudan is absolutely right about there being way too much volume in here. Did you make this program yourself? Because there are so many issues with this programming that I can’t even begin to go over them all in detail. For example’s sake, here are a few:

-Chest/biceps followed by back/triceps is not ideal because most pressing movements (e.g. benching) involve a lot of triceps and most pulling movements (e.g. pull-ups) involve a fair amount of biceps activation. Not the most ideal for recovery.
-Training 5 days a week in a row. If you’re going to do a 5-day split, 3 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off, or something like that, is a better way to do it.
-If you’re going to do the same muscle group twice per weekly training cycle, then why use the exact same workout twice? On a related note, you probably don’t need the extra chest/biceps training. Yes, I know what it’s like to be a regular dude. You’re self-conscious about having a small chest and arms. We all were that guy at one point. But possibly consider the following: I (and probably most others here) made much better gains when I gave up that chest and biceps everyday thing and started squatting and deadlifting twice a week. My weight skyrocketed.
-You’re not taking advantage of the benefits of using different rep ranges.
-As a whole, your program lacks a lot of balance and direction.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s just to give you an idea.

It would be much better if you just pick a pre-made program. If you’re a beginner, the good news is that just about anything will help you see results. I’d say the best thing to do is:

-Pick a program that you like and is something you actually might follow. Have fun with your training because consistency is key, especially when you’re just starting out.
-Follow the KISS principle: 3-5 exercises per workout, the main focus of the workout should be on compound barbell exercises (e.g. bench, squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups, rows).
-Don’t neglect recovery. The most valuable time is the time you spend OUT of the gym.

#6

If by “half grilled chicken,” you mean an entire half of a chicken, it’s not so bad. If you mean half a breast, you should be eating that for every one of those meals you have listed.

#7

[quote]BadAssMofo wrote:
My Diet is currently poor:
09:00 Banana and Nurshment Drink (www.nurishment.co.uk/)
11:30 Banana, Redbull
14:00 Half grilled chicken, fries, Coke
16:30 Banana, Redbull
17:30 Nurishment drink
20:00 Half grilled chicken fries, Nurishment drink (post workout)
[/quote]

I’m impressed you are able to live like this, because I would never be. But then again, I’m 6’2.

You don’t have to count calories, you don’t have to eat seaweed-grass, but you definitely can’t be stupid about your food selections.

In my opinion, you really should implement a smarter diet. Just expand a little so you can get rid of the redbulls at first.

You are only drinking redbulls because your diet isn’t energizing you enough, I can guarantee it.

Things you should consider adding is:

Greek yoghurt with banans/granola
Apples (eat 2 apples a day, after 1 week you will understand)

I mean there are so many things you could potentially be eating, but you are fucking yourself by trying to live in redbulls and bananas. You are wasting your own time basically.

All of the above is spoken by an active toker.