Let me introduce myself: I'm 29 and have never worked out seriously before. I'm very weak especially in my upper body. I saw a picture of myself on my birthday this October and realized I want to try to change my body completely. I've always been soft physically. I mean I was very active when I was younger and played sports, but after baseball when my teammates would lift, I would be studying and playing video games.
My current stats: 6 feet exactly, 186. 17-18% bodyfat. When I first started, on Nov 2, I was 195, 25% body fat. My goals are maintain to maintain my bodyweight or increase it, but get down to 10% bodyfat, and be a lot stronger. My natural body type is somewhere between meso and endomorph. Maybe more endomorph. I have no trouble gaining. I can eat more in one meal than most can in a day. I always maintained a decent appearance by starving myself periodically. Terrible, I know, and probably a big reason I'm so weak.
I cleaned up my diet big time and am limiting myself to a very moderate 4 beers a week. but this isn't the diet forum!
My current lifts at 5RM are: Bench 130, Squat 145, Dead 225, Press 85, Row 125. My goals for when I turn 30 are to bench 225 5x, to Squat 295 5x, and to Deadlift 365. I am not sure how realistic this is. I would be very happy benching over my body weight, and squatting 1.5 times my bodyweight. My first day benching I could barely get 115 off the rack, my 5RM was only like 95.
I had no program at all when I first started. I was the guy at the gym wandering from machine to machine with no idea what to do, but I was going in 5-6 days a week. I was kind of afraid of freeweights, so I mostly ended up doing cardio stuff. I kept doing a lot of research though, and bought Starting Strength based on recommendations I found online. First couple workouts I just tried to figure out where I was at and tried to learn the lifts. Then I found some cool spreadsheets that people had designed to go with it, and so I made myself a beginner program. I love it so far. I look forward so much to my lifting days.
I am currently on workout 5. Last night was a workout A:
Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 145 PR
Bench Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 130 PR
Deadlifts: I was supposed to only go up to 185, but I felt really good and tried the alternate grip...
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 115
warmup: 1x3 - 155
working sets: 2x5 - 185 PR
working set: 1x5 - 225 PR
I know I won't continue to set PR's every workout, but I want to take advantage of my beginner status while I can. I'm getting into decent shape now. I do 30 minutes of rowing + 30 minutes of bike 2 times a week on my non lifting days. Can I start doing assistance stuff like pullups and dips yet? Curls?
haha.
My current stats: 6 feet exactly, 186. 17-18% bodyfat. When I first started, on Nov 2, I was 195, 25% body fat. My goals are maintain to maintain my bodyweight or increase it, but get down to 10% bodyfat, and be a lot stronger. My natural body type is somewhere between meso and endomorph. Maybe more endomorph. I have no trouble gaining. I can eat more in one meal than most can in a day. I always maintained a decent appearance by starving myself periodically. Terrible, I know, and probably a big reason I'm so weak.
I cleaned up my diet big time and am limiting myself to a very moderate 4 beers a week. but this isn't the diet forum!
My current lifts at 5RM are: Bench 130, Squat 145, Dead 225, Press 85, Row 125. My goals for when I turn 30 are to bench 225 5x, to Squat 295 5x, and to Deadlift 365. I am not sure how realistic this is. I would be very happy benching over my body weight, and squatting 1.5 times my bodyweight. My first day benching I could barely get 115 off the rack, my 5RM was only like 95.
I had no program at all when I first started. I was the guy at the gym wandering from machine to machine with no idea what to do, but I was going in 5-6 days a week. I was kind of afraid of freeweights, so I mostly ended up doing cardio stuff. I kept doing a lot of research though, and bought Starting Strength based on recommendations I found online. First couple workouts I just tried to figure out where I was at and tried to learn the lifts. Then I found some cool spreadsheets that people had designed to go with it, and so I made myself a beginner program. I love it so far. I look forward so much to my lifting days.
I am currently on workout 5. Last night was a workout A:
Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 145 PR
Bench Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 130 PR
Deadlifts: I was supposed to only go up to 185, but I felt really good and tried the alternate grip...
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 115
warmup: 1x3 - 155
working sets: 2x5 - 185 PR
working set: 1x5 - 225 PR
I know I won't continue to set PR's every workout, but I want to take advantage of my beginner status while I can. I'm getting into decent shape now. I do 30 minutes of rowing + 30 minutes of bike 2 times a week on my non lifting days. Can I start doing assistance stuff like pullups and dips yet? Curls?
