Please help Novice set up 5x5 routine...

[Wes24]

Hey. I've already started a thread on here titled "workout recovery". I got alot of great suggestions, and much of it I have followed. I'm eating way more protein than I had already and getting most of it from food, with some whey supplementation too. My eyes or brain could be decieving me but I feel I've already put some 'fat' on in my belly region maybe even on my arms. My goal is to get bigger so this is called bulking up I believe, right?

Now during the time I bulk up am I training hard also? I have only done a few workouts already but have increased weight a good bit on each one, which is probably mainly due to me starting out light but I feel stronger, even look better dare I say. Or my muscle are more defined anyhow but that is only part of my desire. I want to go higher and higher with the weights and get much bigger.

So I read up on the 5x5 and really want to go for it instead of these isolation exercises I'm mostly doing now. I read quite a bit from Madcow's site and elsewhere but I feel a little overwhelmed. If I was too give ya'll my stats and around the weights I'm currently able to lift can someone throw together a good starting point routine for me. I know it will need adjusting as my work hours/days sometimes change week to week, and other factors.

Thanks guys and here's my stats: 6'2", 180lbs, skinny but somewhat muscular; right now I can bench 100 lbs 2x6 (up from 90 and up from 80 the two previous workouts). I know that isn't impressive but this the first few weeks of my life I've actually lifted weights as a workout.

 

[enigma4dub]

You need to find all of your relevant maxes for all of the compund lifts. Then the starting point is a given percentage of that, which can vary. Make sure to re read madcows site there is an excel spreadsheet to help set the weights.

 

[Wes24]

"This is not a beginner program. You will make faster progress with less workload on a true beginner program. I really recommend Rippetoe's Starting Strength for beginners or novices. It's so critical to learn the lifts correctly and get started on a good program (i.e. not what one typically finds on bodybuilding sites). Rippetoe is the man at coaching beginners and putting muscle on them with 30-40lbs in 4-6 months being quite normal. The book will handle teaching you all the lifts. It's written for coaches and no, given what I see in commercial gyms, the internet and Joe Schmoe at your local gym are not capable of instructing you properly - they will screw you up and make you look like a moron or possibly get you hurt. On top of that the book covers everything to get you set up on a program that is time proven as one of if not the best beginner programs available."

So, do I need to buy that book to setup a program for me, being a beginner? I searched all over Madcow's site for specific beginner routine (single factor?) info. This is like cars is to me. I read it online and it just confuses the heck out of me. Then someone tells/shows me in person and it clicks. I wonder if I could find a personal trainer or if I joined a gym I could get one on on instruction if I told them I was only interested in the 5x5 method. But they'd probably try to get me to do regular weight training I suppose. I don't want to join a gym solely for that purpose anyhow. Hmmm

 

[enigma4dub]

The single factor program is for beginers.

As far as rippetoes program, others have done his program here, you could search for them. The book is a good foundation to weight training. But you dont necesarily need it to set a program up.

Just coninue to read here and madcows site you will keep learning, no need for a trainer.

 

[Kouta]

The single factor program on madcows site is an intermediate program and you will get quicker results by following the beginner program in Rippetoe's book.

You dont have to buy the book to find the program but the book is worth every cent and i would reccomend you buy it.

But in the mean time this first post has a pretty good write up of Rippetoes beginner program.

http://www.forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=712752

 

[Mercere]

If you haven't trained the big lifts consistently for some time, you're a beginner in a sense that your adaptation rate is pretty high. I thought I was intermediate until anotherbutters set me in the right direction, I made some very good gains on rippletoe's 3x5. That's my recommendation to you.

 

[perp69]

Having read "Starting Strength" I would think any program Rippetoe designed would be great, although I haven't seen one by him. Single factor is good also. That is where to start.

Perp

 

[Wes24]

Well I started the 3x5 on Saturday. I hope I am doing it right. Here it is:

Squat 60x3x5
Bench 105x3x5
Deadlift (stiff legged) 80x1x5

For warm-ups I did biceps curls 10x2x10 and 15 push-ups. I know this is not the correct warm-ups. I tried to download Microsoft Excel and the 'program' on Madcow's site for calculating and keeping track of weights but I couldn't figure out how to download it. I do need to use the spreadsheet for best results even with the beginnner program, right?

Also, this is unrelated but my brother and I were comparing our muscles and though we are both skinny and with little fat his arm muscles are very hard. My arms are larger than his by a little but even when really flexing good they're soft compared to his rock hard biceps and forearm. He does work out but doesn't follow a routine at all like I do and he's been working out a few months longer. Will it take time for mine to develop the same hardness?

Thanks