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Newbie Questions

C

Clarkie

Guest
Hi Guys

I am hoping some of you guys might be able to help me out with some advice.

Firstly, a little bit about me. I am male, soon to be 32 years old, 176cm tall and weigh 76kg’s. I am fairly skinny and weak with a jelly belly. I work permanent night shift. I am not involved in any sport. From about the age of 6 through till 19 I was involved in various sports on a daily basis so I was actually fit and healthy for a portion of my life.

About 1 month ago I joined my local gym to change my ways so right now I am highly motivated and eager to become fit again.

My short-term goals are to improve my cardio fitness and lose the jelly belly while building some muscle on my arms and chest. My longer-term goal is to build some decent muscle on this body and of course a 6 pack! That athletic look you see throughout Men’s Health and Fitness mag is the direction I want to head. I don’t wish to ever have a huge body like a body builder.

For the last month I have been going to the gym I have been going at it fairly blindly although they did give me a program which consisted of; (all machine exercises) Chest Press, Lat Pulldown, Assisted Chip Up, Row, Leg Press, Leg Curls and bicep curls with a barbell as well as push ups, sit ups and dips. I pretty much do all of these each session (3 days a week) – 3X10. Twice a week I have also been running on the treadmill for approx (20mins – 30mins, between 3k and 5k). In addition to this I do a 45min Spin class on Saturday mornings. Everyday regardless of what I am doing at the gym I spend about 20mins at home doing pushups and sit-ups. After reading through some posts on this site I have realized that I am probably doing too much and not allowing my body to recover. What exercises should I be including in my weights session and what should I be getting rid of from what I have listed? You guys seem to swear by squats and dead lifts, is that more for bodybuilding?

My diet - It consists of 4 weetbix and a glass of V8 juice for breakfast, a muesli bar and a piece of fruit for morning tea, a sandwich (peanut butter or vegemite), a small yogurt and some savory biscuits for lunch, a coffee and a couple of biscuits for afternoon tea. Dinner is usually chicken and salad or a chicken pasta dish or steak/sausage and veg. It doesn’t change too much from one of these. I don’t usually have desert through the week but on weekends I might have an ice cream after dinner. I do have a chocolate or some lollies at least once throughout the week. About 4 or 5 beers over a weekend is about the most alcohol I would ever have. Also, almost every weekend I would have one takeaway meal, be it McD’s or pizza or whatever. After each weights session I have a 500ml protein shake, which I buy from the gym….at $5.50 a pop it’s starting to burn a hole in my pocket! Other than that I don’t use any supplements. Recommendations on what sups I should be having? Improvements and adjustments to my diet?

Sorry for the lengthy post. I know I will have more Q’s to come but this will do for now.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice you may be able to provide.

Cheers

Clarkie.
 
Hi Clarkie,

Welcome to the forum, another guy in his early 30's, seems like a trend here.
Just looking through your post, what I seen needs the greates attention is your diet.

You hardly take in any protein until your dinner meal, and a post workout shake on workout days. That's just not enough to build muscle mass.

Workout can definately be improved to.

Ask Shrek for advice, he will help you.
 
You workout sux, the diet sux but you made the first step which is comendable.

Diet
Your diet should consist of protein and carbs or fats 6-7 times per day, eg:
Meal 1 = 6 whole eggs and bowl of oats or 2 slices low GI bread
Meal 2 = 200gms Animal protein (steak, chicken, roo etc) rice or potato, green vegeis (beans/broccoli)
Meal 3 = Same as 2
Meal 4 = 200gms animal protein or protein shake and 4 tablespoons natural peanut butter or nuts (almonds, peanuts etc)
Meal 5 = Same as meal 2
Meal 6 = (Usually before bed) Some slow release protein like Cassein or cottage cheese and a handful of nuts or peanut butter (natural)

Training
Train 3 days per week doing lower and upper body workouts for a couple of months.
Day 1
Squat
SLDL
Bench
Row
Military Press
Calf raise
Day 2
Deadlift
Ham Curl
Pull Up
Incline Press
CGBP/Dip
Dumbell Curl
Day 3 Repeat (Have a day or 2 off between workouts) and stay off the push-up on you days off. Also you said "I want to build muscle on my arms and chest". This is utter rubbish, you build everywhere or nothing (unless injured) That type of mentality should be eradicated straight away. Concentrate on everything not just shirt muscles.

Hope that helps.
P.S - Whoever gave you that routine could you please punch them in the head for me. f*cking machines.
 
Last edited:
machines has their place , especially if there is no workout partner , but I would not relay only on them.

you want big arms? deadlift and squat.
 
I have no workout partner and I use no machines. So what were you saying about workout partners?
 
Thanks for the responses guys. Shrek that is exactly what I was hoping for.

Shrek, can you also point me in the direction of where to buy protein sups from and what exactly I should be buying? I have looked around a bit on the net and it appears as though there lots of dif brands and types.....it's all a bit Japanese to me.

Thanks again.
 
Shrek said:
I have no workout partner and I use no machines. So what were you saying about workout partners?
Click to expand...

I am saying they can be a useful tool to train safely . but I guess it sounds hardcore to be against the use of machines. are hack squat and smith or leg press not a useful tools?
 
machines r useful when you have some injuries as they are much kinder on things like knees. I use machines for my legs atm cause of knee problems. But if i didnt have those problems id prolly switch to free weights.

Also for people that havent been training long they r safer in general.
 
Some machines are definately useful and a good change up in your routine once in a while.

I use Smith for standing calf raise, heavy decline close grip bench press.
Use seated calf machine.
Use Lat pulldown.
Use cable row.
Use adjustable height cable crossover.
Shoulder press sometimes.
Chest press sometimes.
Leg press sometimes, can do calf press on it too.
Leg curl machine
Leg extension machine.

But still do all the heavy barbell moves such as:
Bench press, or dumbbell press, squats, trap bar deadlifts, curls, stiff leg deadlifts, military press sometimes.
Also bodyweight movements like weighted chins and weighted dips.

So a combination of free weights, bodyweight and machine exercises will produce an awesome physique.

Why not use all the tools if you have them available?
 
I'm not totally against machines. some have their place like the ones Hulk posted.
 
at $5.50 a pop it’s starting to burn a hole in my pocket!

WOW!!! Stop buying from the gym bloke! Ive found P30 to P40 shakes from $3.99 to $4.50, got that price from Bodizone and i also found a Chemist Direct that does the P30's cheap. But ive bought Protein Powders which i keep at home and work and shaker cups all over the place HAHA. So i dont buy these pre mixed juice box type shakes anymore.
 
Stay away from all those pre-mixed ones unless it's an emergency, far too expensive and they use too many fillers like simple carbs (sugars) esp the Musashi ones.
 
The Musashi ones are the one I have been buying. Where is the best place to buy a tin of the powder from?
 
Seach the supp section, I have posted links ther a few times or PM me if you cannot find them.
 
Thanks Shrek. I have found some links posted by you which I have checked out but stil there are so many different options out there I dont know what I should be buying.

I'll have to make some more random posts to get my count above 10 so I can use the PM feature.

Cheers

Clarkie.
 
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