New to training and looking for some advice

[Dposey]

Hey everyone.

As the title suggests, I'm relatively new to weight training. I've been using free weights for about 3 months and, while I've noticed some gains, most of those months were spent without any sort of workout structure/plan. I mostly worked on my form and learned as many exercises as I could. I haven't had any consistent program though, and I'm looking to change that.

Here's a little background information on me. I'm 18 years old, around 180 pounds/18-20% BF (Not exactly sure on this, it's been a few months since I was tested), and 5'11". I was big all of my life and at one point, around March 2005, I weighed over 310 pounds. I never exercised and I ate junk and only twice a day. I decided to turn my life around and started exercising and eventually I got down to about 175 pounds. Now I'm trying to put on muscle in order to a) Look better and b) Fill in my loose skin (And boy is there a lot!). I'm sure my goals are similiar to most on these boards. I want to get stronger, gain muscle, feel better, look good, etc. I plan on joining the military after I finish high school (I'll graduate in June) and I really want to focus on getting stronger and more fit these next 5 months.

Now, what do you all suggest as a training method for someone relatively new to training? I've been reading up on the board for a few days and the 5x5 method seems to be very good. However, since I'm not accustomed to methods, terminology, etc., should I start with the single factor 5x5 illustrated here? I'm thinking that the dual factor system would be too much for me to understand at this point, let alone handle.

I'd appreciate any help/advice you guys have to offer. If it helps, these are my current maximums:

Bench: 160ish (I can do 5-6 reps at 135, and I did 170 once but I didn't bring the bar all the way to my chest. I'm working on perfecting form still but I think I got it pretty much down)
Squat: 245ish (Although going at least parallel is still a work in progress. A full squat with my quads at least parallel to the floor might drop the weight down a little bit)
Deadlifts: I just recently learned these and haven't incorporated them into my workout yet. I took two weeks off of training for personal reasons so I'm just getting back into the gym. I'll do deadlifts tomorrow and see how high I can go.
Barbell rows: Haven't done these, so I would have to test them out before starting a SF 5x5. I can do 6-8 reps of db rows at 40 pounds, so I'm guessing my bb row would be around 100-120 for 5x5? Not sure, have to do these tomorrow as well.
Military Press: I would sub. these for incline press because my shoulders are very weak and I'd like to improve them. Currently I can only do about 75 pounds for 6 reps. Is it normal that my body archs slightly with higher weight?
Bicep curl: 65x8 (Not that it matters because it isn't a main lift)
Skull crushers: 55x8 (Same as bicep curls)

Also, I have a question on pull-ups and dips. I don't think I can do pull-ups quite yet, and I can't do many dips (The real kind, not the bench kind). How would I go about improving those in a 5x5?

I'd also like to add some cardio in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with some calf work, forearm work, and possibly grip work. I'm not sure exactly, I just want to make the most of the time I have now that I'm better shape and am currently not working. I'm still slightly chubby (Not sure if it's skin or not, but ever since I dropped all the weight I've still felt a little self-conscious) so I'm not too worried about the cardio messing with my weight gains. I'm more concerned with muscle and strength gains, I'll worry about weight gains when I'm more experienced and I'm training more seriously (Not that I'm not serious, but rather my numbers aren't serious).

Also, one last question: Diet. At 5'11", 180 pounds, and soon to be pretty damn active (I'd also be riding my bike the 1-2 miles to the gym), how much should I be eating? Currently I'm eating a lot of shredded wheat cereal w/milk and toast in the morning, a protein bar at school, lunch bought at school which is typically chicken and rice or something similar, a protein bar before working out and a shake (muscle milk, 632 cal/52g protein with 2% milk calculated in) after working out. For dinner I generally cook myself a nice big chicken breast and rice-a-roni, and veggies. Canned veggies though, is that a problem? Should I add in more eggs, cheese, etc? The protein bars (300 cals/20g protein) are fairly expensive and if I could find something better to eat at school before lunch that would be great. I'm really clueless on the diet (I'm used to eating 2000 calories a day because of the weight loss phase) and I'm limited as to funds so if anyone has any advice on that I'd really appreciate it. I know that I need caloric excess, but I'm not sure how much specifically.

Wow, now that was a lot of rambling! Hopefully you guys aren't asleep after reading this. Thanks in advance for any help/advice offered.

 

[cyrex]

Don't 'see how high you can go' with deadlifts. work on form with low weights. I'd suggest starting at 135 and stay there. Do 3-5 sets of reps of 5-8 get the form down first.

Things to watchout for DL is you need to be very close to the bar. It should brush passed your knees and up along your thighs. Then let it down controlled but let it down completely so it you aren't holding it anymore (DEADlift) then go right back up with very little pause (if any).

Squats: Again, i think it's best to toss out the ego and only go as far up as you can do safely with a full squat. A quarter squat at 250 isn't gonna work shit compared to a full squat at 150.

Barbell row is a bit different. If you do an underhand grip you can probably do more weight. I can dumbell row around 60-70 lbs but I can barbell row a good 225 underhand grip (your biceps help out here). But again, stay light weight until you really got perfect form.

 

[cyrex]

Oops.. didn't mean to reply just yet:


Incline press and miliitary press are very different.
They do overlap a bit on working the shoulders, but the incline press works the upper pectorals more and military press should be mostly shoulders. They really aren't interchangeable. Again try to keep the weight down here so you get proper form. You don't want your body to have to arch to get it up. You are working your muscles, not competing for a strong man contest. Toss the ego and go lighter weight if you have to move into awkward positions to get it up there (exception is if you end up doing this on your last rep of your last set i.e. 4th or 5th set)

Bicep curls: I really recommend using dumbells as opposed to barbels for this. Let me guess... you are using a 45lb bar with 2 10lb plates on each side? DO NOT waste the squat rack for barbell curls unless you are curling 135+ lbs This is very cliche for those weekend warriors or gym rats that come in to shoot the bull with people and do 2 sets. Grab some dumbells and do inclined curls. This will help get a full range of motion and you will be able to work the biceps to failure much better. Try sitting down and stick your elbow on the inside of your knee (not on top). You are not allowed to use your knee as a leverage point, but just for stability.

Skull crushers (nose breakers?): I assume this is for your triceps. Again, try doing some seated dips or bent over tri extensions w/ dumbells I'd suggest doing 2-3 exercies when doing tris and bis.

Also, I highly recommend tossing the flat barbell bench completely in favor of flat bench dumbell press. There are guys at my gym that can put up 315 with a bench 8 times but give them 2x 90 lb dumbells and they can't get them up more than 2x barbell press will help workout those weaker muscles so you can get everything caught up.

 

[cyrex]

Grr I did it again! lol.. Anyways, I don't think you are quite ready for a 5x5 yet. I'd try a 3 or 4 day split program that is a little less intense first. 5x5 is great for someone on a plataeu and knows their body, but you are just starting out.

I highly recommend reading up on this site: http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php

It is geared towards women but that constitutes only 10% of the content of the site. Everything else is very informative for novices and pros alike.

I'd toss the protein bars. They are very $$ for what you get. Just eat some real food. I'm sure Mr. X could give you some pointers on your diet.

Also, how old are you?

 

[nelmsjer]

Cyrex, great job on this one. K to you.

dposey, congrats to you. You went from 310 to 175 in roughly 9-10 months, for a total weight loss of 135 lbs in about 40 weeks. Seriously impressive.

Cyrex did a great job on his response(s). LOL! I just want to add a few things. First, watch your diet. Start adding calories SLOWLY. Do not go into this bulking phase with a dramatic, sudden increase in your calories. I would highly recommend starting off by adding 200 calories for the first 2 weeks, and then add 300 calories every 2 weeks after that. I would not be surprised if you were able to have a brief time period where you concurrently added muscle and lost fat. 2 months down the road, you will be at roughly 3100 calories, and you will have learned a lot about how your body responds at different calorie levels. You are young in the grand scheme of things, so I beg you to take a lifelong view on this, instead of trying to fix it all immediately. A slow, gradual increase in calories should allow you to increase your bodyweight primarily through the addition of extra muscle, instead of extra fat (which is what would happen if you suddenly increased calories).

I also want to reiterate a few things that cyrex stated, in an attempt to make sure you get it. Do NOT go to the gym and see how much you can deadlift. Deadlifts are an amazing exercise, but handle them with caution. You will eventually work up to heavy weight and great numbers, but take your time getting there. Cyrex made a great set and rep recommendation to start with.

The 5x5 isn't too far off for you. Learn the lifts for it and continue to supplement with just a FEW other accessory lifts. Fix your squat immediately. Go down past parallel and use full range of motion. Worry about the weight on that later. Work on dips, chinups, and pullups, even if it means you use assistance.

Keep us posted and keep asking questions. Good luck!

 

[silver_shadow]

BTW dposey... what did u do to reach 175?

 

[cyrex]

BTW I forgot to mention: Great work so far!

 

[Dposey]

Thanks for the advice guys!

silver_shadow: I hit 175 by doing a lot of cardio (30 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week) as well as some weight lifting. However, the weight lifting was done primarily on machines for a long time until I gradually picked up free weights and now I don't touch the machines. I also was eating around 1800-2000 calories a day up until a few months ago, and a lot cleaner than I used to.

Cyrex: Wow, that was a lot of information to digest! I'll take your advice and ease into deadlift by starting with 135 for 5 sets of 5-8 reps. Would that set/rep scheme work for learning how to barbell row properly as well with, say, 95 pounds or so to start? As far as standing military press goes, I'm not sure how to set that up either in terms of a set/rep scheme so that I get more accustomed to the weight before going higher. That's my main problem; not having a workout plan. I like flat db bench so I'm fine with the idea of throwing flat bb bench out for now until my back/triceps/shoulders are stronger. I can do about 6-8 reps with the 50 pound dbs, is that a good range to start with? And good call on the bicep work, I found out very quickly not to do curls on the squat rack so I generally do them with a curled bar and two 10s on each side, just off the floor.

nelmsjer: Thank you very much! I think I might have mislead a little though when I stated I'm used to the 2000 calory diet I used to lose weight. In the past 3 months since I've started using free weights regularly I've steadily increased my calory intake to roughly 3000-3200 a day when I'm working out and slightly less when I'm not (maybe 2600 a day). A typical day for me is as follows:

7:30 AM Breakfast - 2 servings cereal with milk, 2 pieces of toast, juice - 800 calories
10:00 AM School snack - Protein bar (I need to change this) - 300 calories
12:00 PM Lunch - School bought lunch of chicken and rice - 400-500 calories?
3:00 PM Pre-Workout - Protein bar - 300 calories
5:00 PM Post-Workout - Shake - 650 calories
7:00/8:00 Pm Dinner - Chicken or steak, rice or bread, possibly pasta, veggies - 500-600 calories?

So that's 3000-3200 calories there with at least 150g protein, but possibly 200+. Any advice on the diet (Maybe on what to eat besides the protein bars that's high enough in calories) would be appreciated. I'm on a fairly limited income (Around $300 to spend on food a month wouldn't be out of the question).

Thanks again for all the help guys. I know now that I have to fix my squat so that I go below parallel and ease into deads/bb rows/military presses with that 5x5-8 scheme. I'm very open to any more advice you guys have to give. Cyrex, you suggested a 3-4 day split. Maybe you guys could help me design one that will prepare me for the SF 5x5 as well as help me perfect my form on the main lifts as well as get better at dips, pull-ups, chin-ups, etc.? Again, I'm open to any suggestions.

One last thing, I turned 18 in November. I luckily have my whole life ahead of me so I don't see any need to rush into this either. Thanks again guys, I appreciate the help.

 

[cyrex]

Don't worry so much about #s right now. Use them for personal relative reference. Meaning figure out what works for the number of sets/reps you need to do and use that to gauge what to do the next week. If it was easy this week, go a little heavier next week. Don't worry so much about getting to the 225lbs bench. or 315lbs squat so much. Same goes for bb row. Don't worry about #s just try doing them with 40 lbs to start. If that is super easy toss on another 20-30 lbs and then see how easy it is. Go from there

As far as diet goes. I'd really suggest directing a specific questiont o Mr. X He is the local authority on all things food.

Also free weights are not necessarily better than machines in MANY cases. Machines can help you do movements that are near impossible to do with free weights without risking some serious injury. Some of my favorite machine exercises:
* Anything with pullys (if you consider that 'machine exercises'
* Leg extensions (really hit those quads hard)
* Leg curls
* Lat pulldown
* Rows
* Fly Press
* Any tricep machines (probably my favorite muscle to workout so I really like to mix it up here)
* adductor and abductor machines (not so important for someone who is fairly new to lifting

Heck I use most of the machines from time to time. The ones I don't like are typically the seated chest press machines.

Free weights are great to work those stabalizers and get a full, natural range of motion, but remember the ultimate goal is to work those muscles and machines will work them very well so don't count them out 100%

That said...

free weights own machines tenfold!

 

[Dposey]

Thanks once again for the advice. Do you suggest any particular 3-4 day split I could try? What about doing something like this:

Monday - Chest/Triceps
4x8 flat db bench
3x8 incline bb bench
3x8 close grip bench
2x8 tricep extensions
6x4 dips (Until I can work my way up to doing more dips in a set)

Tuesday - Legs/Back
4x8 full squats (Making sure I focus on going below parallel)
4x8 deadlifts (Start with 135 like you said, make sure form is right)
4x8 bb row (Start light, get a feel for it, gradually increase)
3x8 hyper extensions
6x4 chin-ups (Possibly 8x3, I'm not sure how many I can do. Anything to suggest getting these up?)

Wednesday - Shoulders/Biceps (Seems like an odd combo, maybe I should set it up differently?)
4x8 db shoulder press (Been doing these for a bit, seem to be working on shoulders)
4x8 military press (As with squats/deads/bb rows, I'll make sure I'm doing them right and gradually increase)
4x8 shrugs? (Something for the traps, or do the bb rows hit the traps enough?)
3x8 incline db curls (I'll try these since you suggested)
2x8 ez bar curls (Definitely don't want to occupy that squat rack!)

So, how would that work? Since it's a split it wouldn't really be a mon/tue/wed but more of a 3 day on/1 day rest thing, right? I know that sets/reps/exercises would have to be switched around as it's probably not the best split, but it's a base to start from right? I want to perfect my form on all the compound lifts and gain some strength so that I can attempt the SF 5x5. Let me know what you think.

Also, I'll be sure to PM Mr. X about my diet situation.

 

[cyrex]

I think it would be best to take a look at that website (stumptuous.com/weights.html) and look at some of the suggestions on there. There are some great workouts suggested there.

 

[Dposey]

Ok, will do. Thanks again for the help, I'll check back in and let you know how it goes.

 

[Dposey]

Bump.

Thanks for all the help Cyrex. I've decided to toss the ego and put the 5x5 off for awhile until I'm really ready for it. As you suggested, I went to that website and I thoroughly enjoyed reading through it. I think I have a much better understanding now of what I should do. I chose this program to start me out:

http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displ...cle.php?aid=137

I have just a few questions. First off, should I use the same weight on all the sets and just increase them weekly? Or should I pyramid the weights like in the 5x5? Secondly, I'm still having a bit of trouble with the barbell rows. I practiced my form today and, although it improved, I had to get very low to the ground in order to pull each rep off the floor. I kept my back straight and my hips out, but it felt awkward and I almost fell forward a few times. I'm fairly tall and my arms aren't too long, but I'm not sure that that has anything to do with it. Should I do this exercise different until I'm able to use 45s and pulling it off the ground won't be so hard? Also, should I use an overhand or underhand grip? My last question is on pull-ups. I'm very, very weak with these. I have to use a gravitron in order to get 5-6 reps, with -60 weight. Should I just decrease that to -70 for the suggested 6-8 reps in the program and just do my best to increase it from week to week? Again, I'm trying to toss the ego and give it as long as it takes before I can do pull-ups with my own body weight.

I sent a PM to Mr. X but I think I've got a pretty good understanding of diet. I'm shooting for around 3500 calories (I do about 3200 or so now) a day with plenty of protein. I'll mainly be eating chicken, milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, toast/bagels, peanut butterrice, fruits and veggies. I have this Food Outlet near where I live where I can get a week's worth of all of the above for about $50, so I'm totally set on that.

Thanks again for all your help. I'm going to start this routine Monday (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Saturday) and I'm going to add in some interval training as well as grip work (I don't have straps and I'd rather improve my grip than rely on them later on in life) on Wednesday and Friday so that I can lose the additional body fat as well. As always, any other advice is appreciated.

Also, an additional question on hyperextensions. This new gym I go to doesn't have a 90 degree hyperextension bench, only a couple of 45 degree ones. Will the 45 degree bench due, or should I substitute good mornings?

Thanks again!

 

[cyrex]

First off, should I use the same weight on all the sets and just increase them weekly? Or should I pyramid the weights like in the 5x5?

The 5x5 actually has 2 different versions. One does pyramid and the other is simply the same weight.

I think it's best to just use the same weight starting out. It keeps things simple and should be able to help you gauge your natural recovery time between sets better rather than complicating it by adding more weight. That said, I always recommend a warmup set for compound exercises (which should be done first in your workouts) Bench press, deadlifts, squats, military press, etc. do 1 set of 10-12 reps of a weight where you could easily do 20 reps. This gets the blood flowing and warms up the tendons and ligaments. The last thing you want is to tear one of those.

I'm still having a bit of trouble with the barbell rows

Once you pickup the barbell it shouldn't touch the ground again until after you are done with your set. Also, to keep your balance, you don't lean forward 100% parallel to the ground.
Take a look at this: http://www.thetrainingstationinc.com/bbrows1.gif
I prefer underhand grip cause I do back on the same day I do biceps.

My last question is on pull-ups. I'm very, very weak with these. I have to use a gravitron in order to get 5-6 reps, with -60 weight. Should I just decrease that to -70 for the suggested 6-8 reps in the program and just do my best to increase it from week to week?

Yeah I think it would be best to get it to where you can do 3+ sets of 6+ reps and up the body weight/lower the help as you get stronger.

Also, an additional question on hyperextensions. This new gym I go to doesn't have a 90 degree hyperextension bench, only a couple of 45 degree ones. Will the 45 degree bench due, or should I substitute good mornings?

I prefer 45 degree roman chair personally cause I can get more range of motion. Goodmornings would be good to add in also, but use a VERY low weight to start with here. Also, if many people in the gym are not familiar with goodmornings they will come over and tell you that you are doing your squats wrong and that you will hurt yourself.

 

[Dposey]

Ok, then I should be set to start on Monday. I calculated my BMR and AMR and it looks like my maintenance level (BMR x 1.5) is about 2950 calories. If I eat 500 calories above this a day (3500) then that should be enough to gain a pound a week, correct? Or, since I'm at 18% and wouldn't mind dropping that a bit, should I just eat 3000 calories a day?

Thanks again for all your help, I definitely feel as if I'm on the right track.

 

[cyrex]

Ok, then I should be set to start on Monday. I calculated my BMR and AMR and it looks like my maintenance level (BMR x 1.5) is about 2950 calories. If I eat 500 calories above this a day (3500) then that should be enough to gain a pound a week, correct? Or, since I'm at 18% and wouldn't mind dropping that a bit, should I just eat 3000 calories a day?

Thanks again for all your help, I definitely feel as if I'm on the right track.

I was about at 18% 3 weeks ago and I've lost about 3 lbs and dropped 2% bf since then by eating right at my maintenance level and working out hard. Your mileage may vary

 

[Dposey]

Bump.

Just letting you know that I've been on that 4 day split for about a week and a half and I'm already seeing some strength results. Squat went up about 5 pounds, Bench went up about 5 too, and I was actually able to do 4 dips with no assistance. I do have a few questions though.

First off, I think I may be doing too much cardio. I run the mile 2-3 days a week (Either Mon/Wed/Fri or Tue/Thu) in PE (My time has gone down to 7:33 on this, yay!) and also do some light abwork. I've also been doing interval training on the treadmill for 12-15 minutes on tues/thur along with gripwork and doing about 40 seconds of sprinting and 5 minutes of light warm-up (Elliptical or treadmill walking) before every workout. Is this too much? I have this fear that if I don't do cardio I'll get fat again, it's sort of a self-concious thing I developed after losing all that weight. Any advice on when/how I should do my cardio would be appreciated!

Secondly, my abwork hasn't been going too well. My lower abs especially are a problem. I've been doing 4 sets of weighted sit-ups (40 pounds x 15 reps. I do these with a dumbbell on my chest and my feet under a railing, laying on those blue stretching foam pad things) on Mondays and three sets of weighted incline sit-ups (10 pounds x 15 reps) on Wednesday/Friday. Could you suggest something I could do that might be better? I also do some light crunches/push-ups before my workout just out of habit when stretching, as well as sometimes before I go to bed. Actually I drop down and do push-ups during commercials sometimes as well. None of this is harmful to my strength gains...right?

I think I have a good idea of how my diet will go. As per your advice I ditched the bread in the morning and the bagel and will be going with cereal/oatmeal/eggs in the morning and either a protein bar or something similar at school (As posted in my Advice on Diet thread).

Once I get these minor issues out of the way I'll keep running this split until I start to slow down on the gains and then I think I'll try the SF 5x5. I like the idea of doing legs 3x a week. By then I'll be a lot more familiar with the lifts (Deadlifts have gotten better, still need work on BB rows) and hopefully I'll be closer to doing actual dips/pull-ups instead of gravitron assisted.

I'll keep you updated. Thanks once again as always with all the help.

 

[carlsuen]

dude!!! slow down!! i understand that u are overly enthusiastic about this.. but as Nelmsjer said.. lifting is a lift long thing.. and not something u can fix immediately.. i remember when i first started lifting i was so exited about it i would do lots of push ups and sit ups when i got home from the gym.. not that u shouldn't be doing it, but your body needs alot of rest.. from what i see, u r training 5 times a week right? if possible try to take it at a slower pace, like 3 days or 4 max a week.. your muscles need time to recover from all those beating at the gym.. especially when u are doing compund movements.. it will tax your CNS even more..

not trying to screw up your plans here.. but u maight want to consider this plan that i recently did.. as it helped mr to get acustomed to squatting 3x a week and learn all those compund movements correctly..

Workout A

3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift/Power Clean 5x3,alternate every workout ''A''

Workout B

3x5 Squat
3x5 Military Press
3x5 Chinups
3x8 Weighted hyperextensions/ Good mornings

everytime you go into the gym u just alternate workout A or B.. these are done with 2-3 warmup sets as u like and 3x5 would be your work sets..

so say your squats would look like these

5xbar(warmup)
5x95lbs
5x115
5x135
5x155(worksets)
5x155
5x155

hope u understand.. if asdfzxcv was to drop in he probably would be able to explain it better than me as he was the one who introduced it to me.. i stuck to the program for about 5-6 weeks and have made some gains and learned all my movements CORRECTLY.. and has prepared me to transition into the SF 5x5..

your diets looks good to me..

and don't worry too much about your abwork.. just choose a few exercise to streghten your core and stick with it.. what are your goals? how much weight do you wanna gain at a certain time frame? what do u want to achieve? do u want to be a body builder? power lifter? strong man? u gotta get these things clear first before your seriously start to plan your future lifting.. hope i helped in describing the picture to u.. i'm sure alot of other more knowledgeable ppl on these boards can add in to my oppinion.. good luck and keep us posted..

 

[asdfzxcv]

Carlsuen seemed to cover most of the points quite well.I think you should either do the Rippetoe novice program (shown by carlsuen below) or the single factor 5x5,either one would suit you well.As for your abs dont stress too much about their shape,most things like that are genetically predetermined and there is not much you can to alter the way in which they look.Squats,deadlifts and overhead presses all develop core strength.Believe me a person who full squats 2x bodyweight or push presses bodyweight will have a very strong core.

I myself suffer the same fat fear you do,having lost 70lb myself.Cardio is fine 2-3times a week as long as you dont go overboard you will be fine.Ultimatly diet will be the deciding factor in body composition,coupled with a decent lifting program you should be fine.

Good luck

 

[Dposey]

Hmm, I like the look of that beginner's program. I think I might start that next week, it looks simple and easy to follow. So does that mean that on Workout A you do only one set of deadlifts, warming up to the work set? And then the next Workout A you do 5 sets of 3 powercleans? Powercleans are done from the floor right? I'll have to investigate. And for the warm-ups, I'm just curious as to why so many warm-up sets (Looks like 4) until you get to the work sets?

The only problem I've been having with this beginner's split is that I feel I'm not doing enough legwork. I think I'll give this new program a whirl...any link to a more complete overview of the program?

And congrats asd on the weight loss yourself! Thanks for the advice, I'll just stick with my tuesday/thursday cardio and tone it down a bit. Maybe alternate interval training and steady pace.

Thanks again guys.

Edit: Found a few more links to the program. Looks good to me, I think I'm going to start it Tuesday. Reason being is that I want to make sure I do it on a day that ISN'T a PE day, so I can get my running out of the way on the PE day. What I'll do is just run the program Mon/Wed/Fri if I have PE Tues/Thurs and Tues/Thurs/Sat if I have PE Mon/Wed/Fri. Do you think that will be ok, or should I just do the program Mon/Wed/Fri regardless of PE?

Also I just went shopping (At the store and online) and I switched my diet up a bit. Around 3200 cals with about 288 grams of protein (A little high I know), not as good as it could be but affordable and easy to maintain. The question I have about this is how should I treat my diet on a non-weight training day? Keep it the same or just ditch the post workout shake (Which is 390 cals, 33g carbs, 53g protein)?

I know, more questions. I'm a little obsessive compulsive, can't you tell?

 

[Dposey]

Bump because I edited.

 

[asdfzxcv]

Hmm, I like the look of that beginner's program. I think I might start that next week, it looks simple and easy to follow. So does that mean that on Workout A you do only one set of deadlifts, warming up to the work set? And then the next Workout A you do 5 sets of 3 powercleans? Powercleans are done from the floor right? I'll have to investigate. And for the warm-ups, I'm just curious as to why so many warm-up sets (Looks like 4) until you get to the work sets?

The only problem I've been having with this beginner's split is that I feel I'm not doing enough legwork. I think I'll give this new program a whirl...any link to a more complete overview of the program?

And congrats asd on the weight loss yourself! Thanks for the advice, I'll just stick with my tuesday/thursday cardio and tone it down a bit. Maybe alternate interval training and steady pace.

Thanks again guys.

Edit: Found a few more links to the program. Looks good to me, I think I'm going to start it Tuesday. Reason being is that I want to make sure I do it on a day that ISN'T a PE day, so I can get my running out of the way on the PE day. What I'll do is just run the program Mon/Wed/Fri if I have PE Tues/Thurs and Tues/Thurs/Sat if I have PE Mon/Wed/Fri. Do you think that will be ok, or should I just do the program Mon/Wed/Fri regardless of PE?

Also I just went shopping (At the store and online) and I switched my diet up a bit. Around 3200 cals with about 288 grams of protein (A little high I know), not as good as it could be but affordable and easy to maintain. The question I have about this is how should I treat my diet on a non-weight training day? Keep it the same or just ditch the post workout shake (Which is 390 cals, 33g carbs, 53g protein)?

I know, more questions. I'm a little obsessive compulsive, can't you tell?

It wont really matter if you do it mon/wed/fri or tues/thurs/sat,as long as you keep the same amount of time between days its basically irrelevant.For diet I would basically keep it the same,perhaps exchange the PWO shake for a small meal just to keep the calories up as you will be recoving in the off days.

Good luck

 

[Dposey]

Ok, thanks so much. PE is Monday so I'll start this on Tuesday. I think I'll keep a journal for this one to make sure I'm doing it right.