Lost weight now need help building/define

[gregs656]

Chainsaw Rebuild said:

A simple yet weight lifting plan to get stronger and bigger op is starting strength.

It’s simple, effective and relatively short workouts.

Another one is Stronglifts. Similar idea.

Doing one of those for 12 weeks would build a routine, get some basic knowledge in and give the OP to figure out what he enjoys in the gym.

Alternatively you could do a basic body weight routine at home, if you have a pull up bar you do a lot.

[wong]

Dip bars would complement the pull up bars. £60 from Decathlon.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/adjustable-dip-bar-t...

When you can do >10 pull ups/dips, then you can add weight.

[272BHP]

wong said:

No one can get "big" in a few months - see actors getting superhero roles - they'll be lifting 4-6 hours a day with personal trainers and dieticians advising them.

Nope. They will be lifting weights for an hour to 90 minutes 3-6 times a week just like everyone else. Don't believe the tosh they push out to the magazines.

For sure they will have a personal trainer though. One that realises that putting on 10 pounds of muscle in 3 months requires a bit of pharmaceutical assistance even for guys that are genetically gifted.

[wong]

272BHP said:

Nope. They will be lifting weights for an hour to 90 minutes 3-6 times a week just like everyone else.

I'm not so sure. I'm doing 5x5 and it takes me ~ 25-30 mins just to do a few warm up sets, then 5 sets whilst resting ~ 3mins between each set and faffing around adjusting weights. Don't really feel tired after 90 mins doing ~ 4 -5 different lifts, but do feel it the next day.

With 4 hours in the gym, a lot of time is 'wasted' waiting for the ATP to regenerate.

[272BHP]

wong said:

I'm not so sure. I'm doing 5x5 and it takes me ~ 25-30 mins just to do a few warm up sets, then 5 sets whilst resting ~ 3mins between each set and faffing around adjusting weights. Don't really feel tired after 90 mins doing ~ 4 -5 different lifts, but do feel it the next day.

With 4 hours in the gym, a lot of time is 'wasted' waiting for the ATP to regenerate.

So you're the b***** taking up all the time on the stations

[wong]

272BHP said:

wong said:

I'm not so sure. I'm doing 5x5 and it takes me ~ 25-30 mins just to do a few warm up sets, then 5 sets whilst resting ~ 3mins between each set and faffing around adjusting weights. Don't really feel tired after 90 mins doing ~ 4 -5 different lifts, but do feel it the next day.

With 4 hours in the gym, a lot of time is 'wasted' waiting for the ATP to regenerate.

So you're the b***** taking up all the time on the stations

No, last time I was a gym member was ~ 28 years ago.
I've got a big shed at the end of the garden with ~ £3k of equipment.

[272BHP]

wong said:

No, last time I was a gym member was ~ 28 years ago.
I've got a big shed at the end of the garden with ~ £3k of equipment.

Very nice.

[Ben-imhe8]

Thanks for the advice so far

Joined the gym tonight, looking forward to going tommorow.

Before I made the thread I had this mind this for a plan

Mon: Back + biceps
Tue: cardio
Wed: chest + triceps
Thur:cardio
Fri: legs + shoulders

However I see deadlifts and squats have been mentioned

Also I noticed the recommendation to not use shakes, was this tongue in cheek or serious, I thought a protein (not creatine) shake post workout on the weight days would be useful, could even have it as a snack those days

[SlimJim16v]

Why a split routine? You're a beginner, one exercise per body part, you can train your whole body in an hour, do it twice a week.

Don't forget stomach, which you haven't listed.

[CoolHands]

I was going to post “incoming!”

But appears I’m too late. All the experts are here lol

[mcelliott]

What are you actually eating, if you're not eating the right food to optimise your lifting then then your progress will soon falter.

[Douglas Quaid]

You won’t have enough frequency training each body part once a week. A proper beginners full body 5x5 routine would be better as a beginner then change over to push pull legs or something once you’ve exhausted all your beginner gains.

You’ll get a lot more benefit from squatting and deadlifting than bicep curls and tricep pushdowns.

Edited by Douglas Quaid on Monday 27th June 22:06

[Ben-imhe8]

Douglas Quaid said:

You won’t have enough frequency training each body part once a week. A proper beginners full body 5x5 routine would be better as a beginner then change over to push pull legs or something once you’ve exhausted all your beginner gains.

You’ll get a lot more benefit from squatting and deadlifting than bicep curls and tricep pushdowns.

Edited by Douglas Quaid on Monday 27th June 22:06

Sorry if obvious, what is 5x5? is that 5 reps 5 sets?

Like I said that was my pre thread plan, thanks to yourself and others I have advice which I will follow, I’ll have a look online for good form for those, I know having a personal trainer has been mentioned, but I just can’t really afford the £50 an hour fee, although perhaps I could just use a session to learn then go alone

[popeyewhite]

SlimJim16v said:

Why a split routine? You're a beginner, one exercise per body part, you can train your whole body in an hour, do it twice a week.

This.

Do circuits till you get stronger/establish decent technique, then after 2/3 months do some kind of split.

[Ben-imhe8]

mcelliott said:

What are you actually eating, if you're not eating the right food to optimise your lifting then then your progress will soon falter.

Breakfast - weetabix

Lunch - chicken sandwich

Dinner, chicken + rice, salt + pepper chicken, steak + rice, steak + veg

snacks- I was thinking banana + protein shake

Like i said, bulking diet I’m completely new too, I’ve always used MyFitnessPal so my plan was to use that and keep an eye on the protein consumption aswell as the cals.

Speaking of which, apologies if I’ve missed it but what calorie intake should I be aiming for, the online calculators say my maintain rate is 2600cals, my weight loss target has always bene 1500, should I keep to 2600 but with cleaner food and more protein, or more?

[Ben-imhe8]

SlimJim16v said:

Why a split routine? You're a beginner, one exercise per body part, you can train your whole body in an hour, do it twice a week.

Don't forget stomach, which you haven't listed.

So will this perhaps give me better results to begin with, or will this be too much cardio, if such thing exists?

Mon - full body workout I.e squats/ deadlifts
Tue - cardio
Wed- cardio
Thur - full body workout
Fri - cardio

[popeyewhite]

You won't need squats or deadlifts, they are exercises for people who know the correct technique and can shift a bit of weight.

[Strudul]

Diet

Cals

Calculators are not an exact science, and as you're changing multiple factors at once it'll be difficult to track progress as scales won't tell the full story. Monthly progress pics would probably be your easiest option.
2k cals would be a sensible start point though and see how you go. Modify as required.

Nutrition

Where are your vegetables?
Your health is more important than being skinny / muscular, and with that diet you're gonna be severely malnutritioned and lacking in various vitamins.
Personally I'd ditch the bread, but at least add some salad to the sandwich, and some carrot sticks / pepper on the side.
Add a good portion or 2 of veg to dinner every day too.
Eggs would also be a great addition (boiled / poached ideally).
Without knowing your portion sizes I can't really comment on your proposed protein intake, but I reckon your diet is lacking. Recommendations vary, but somewhere around 1.6g of protein per kg body weight is a good start (more won't harm, but may be difficult to get in).

Protein Shakes

Nothing wrong with them, it's just an easy, convenient protein source for hitting targets.
I don't bother with them as I'm able to hit my targets by controlling my diet, just depends what works for your lifestyle.
Definitely avoid all the other supplements being peddled though.

Routine

5x5

5 sets of 5 reps. It's a common workout pattern for building strength, versus something like 3x12 (3 sets, 12 reps) which is more hypertrophy (size) focused.

Up to you what you do, but low reps is definitely easier, and this early in the game, the difference in gains from either will be negligible.

Cardio

Why have you got so much cardio in your routine?

Nothing wrong with it if your goal is to improve your fitness, but you stated your goals are weight loss and muscle development, which cardio does not equate to.

Fat is lost in the kitchen and muscle is built by moving heavy weights.

Exercises

Stick to big compound movements:
- Dips / presses (dumbbell / barbell, incline / decline / flat / shoulder)
- Squats / leg press
- Deadlifts / rows / lat pull down / pull ups

Throw in an auxiliary exercise or 2 at the end if you feel like it, but you should be absolutely knackered by the end of a session, especially if you're doing something like squats / DLs.

Some exercises are dangerous if done incorrectly, so don't rush into stuff like squats / deadlifts. A PT is pretty much a waste of money with the amount of resource available on the internet, but it's up to you if you wanna invest the time yourself doing the research.
Definitely a good idea to record yourself and ask for help in the gym from other members to nail your form early as a minimum though.

Split

Work it around your availability.

Full body every other day would be a good start, check out StrongLifts 5x5

[Ben-imhe8]

Strudul]advice [/url said:

Thanks

Regarding the lack of vegetables etc, I know my diet isn’t where it will need to be, but today is the first day I’m beginning my new goal so aswell as starting the gym later today I’m also modifying my diet.
I was thinking of making extra at dinner and having some for lunch the next day, so I can do away with the sandwich and have some meat, rice and some veg mixed in, if I’m upping me calories by 500 I should certainly have the allowance.

With cardio, I did mention “my aims are to get fit and to build and then define muscle”

I asked if it was too much cardio because unlike losing weight and getting fit, which kind of come hand in hand with exercise, I wasn’t entirely sure if there were issues with trying to add muscle building with a lot of cardio.

Took photos last night so I can track any progress, as the scales won’t tell the full story anymore

Thanks for the link, very useful

[wong]

Ben-imhe8 said:

Sorry if obvious, what is 5x5? is that 5 reps 5 sets?

Read this :-
https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

I bought a set of 145kg weights (get Olympic/2 inch/50mm ones) and a rack 3 months ago and started this. Already had a bench.