What Should I Be Doing Right Now?

[uday28fb]

Ok I've just started going to the weight room with my friends and im getting use to the form. I get lift that much as yet but I will be going every day. Now once I know what excercises im suppose to be doing, what should i be taking as supplements? I'm going to try muscle milk, my friend had great results from that. But that else should i take, energy wise. For example ive heard of cryotine, but I dont know about what it can do for you.

Also, I'm not going for the Arnold Shwaertzenagger look (is that how u spell it lol), I'm going for the swimmer, lean and cut look, but right now im a shrim so i DO need to put on some mass. Any suggestions as how I should be doing my work outs in terms or reps and sets? Also do u guys have any advice on cardio?

If there is something posted similar to this, im sorry. I would really appreciate if you guys could guide me in the right way. Thanks.

Edit: sorry i just needed to ask if any of you guys have advice on nutrition. Pretty much my whole life I've eaten what ever Ive wanted and havent put on too much weight at all, but i dont have ripped abs either. (something im trying to achieve). ARe there any good reads on calorie intake, types of foods for people training like myself, etc. I reallise it will be different from person to person, but a general guideline would def help me out.

 

[*Bunny*]

You'll probably get a little more feedback if you lists your stats, what you have done for training, a typical day of eating, etc... the more info the better. Diet Forum will be better for nutrition IMO, these guys can help you get strong that's for sure

Not sure you even need supps other than a good multi & maybe a good creatine EE (like PureCEE from af store), but I would suggest seeing what you body can do WITHOUT the creatine. I've had great results with & without it depending on my goals at that time.

Have you read the stickies at the top of this page?

 

[uday28fb]

ok ill ist as many stats as i can think of, if you need more please let me know.

Age: :19
Weight: 155 I think my bf% is like 18%, this is just an estimate from an onlince calc.
Height: 5'11"

Diet: Sucks I know, but here goes

Breakfast: Cereal and orange juice
Lunch: Depends I live on campus so It could be different but usually its these combos: 1. Sandwich, rice with black beans and a piece of chicken. 2. Pizza, and more pizza lol, i think ill have to take this one out though.
Dinner: Could be pasta with salad, either of the lunch's that i eat, hamburger.

I dont drink that much water and I know I should, i usually have like 4 glasses a day and I know thats not enough. Milk is absolutely out of the equation with the exception of having it with cereal.

Ill post this in the diet section but again if u need more info to help me out Ill get it for you. Again I just need to be put in the right direction. THanks again.

 

[Protobuilder]

OK, well it's kinda' hard starting someone out from scratch but here it goes . . . You need to learn how to do the basic lifts: back squat, deadlift, bench press, standing military press, bent over row, & pullups. Those are all free weight exercises, BTW. You don't need to mess around with machines unless you're sick, old, or feeble. LoL It will take some time to learn how to do those exercises properly. They're worth learning though, so stick with it. Don't trust your buddies to teach you how to do it properly. If you have some money, pick up Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" book. And check out www.exrx.net (or maybe it's dot com) and browse through their animated exercises so you can get a feel for how they're done. Learning how to do the exercises right is tricky at first b/c you lack muscular control. But stick with it. It's a learning process and will take several weeks if not months to really get it down. Just keep working at it.

Whether or not you have a "six pack" depends mainly on your diet and bodyfat. You said you want to be more muscular AND lean . . . it's very very hard (if not impossible) to both gain weight (muscle) while losing fat (6-pack). I'd suggest you start off by doing some basic cardio and lifting weight 3x/wk. Take a look at the training vault sticky at the top of the page. Read about Rippetoe's 3x5 program. As you're a total beginner, you might need to start by doing 2 or 3 sets of 8-10 reps to get used to the movement and build up the connective tissues before you jump into heavier weights. Maybe do a couple sets of 8-12 reps for the next 4 weeks and then move into some heavier weights, going down to sets of 5 and following Rippetoe's program. You'll really want to find somenoe to teach you how to squat and it can be a real tricky lift to learn, but it's worth learning.

Big picture: the goal is to pick a handful of good exercises like the one's I mentioned, and work on them. Your goal is to train those movements. Your body is not a whole bunch of loosely joined bodyparts. It's a unit. It moves as a unit. The muscles work together to create movement. So, your goal is to get better at the basic free weight movements like bench press and squat. By "getting better," I mean "getting stronger." As you go from bench pressing 95 pounds up to bench pressing 185 or 225 pounds, you will be much stronger and your body will grow, provided that you eat enough.

So, for now, learn the movements. Start training them with the goal being to add weight to the bar each week. As you keep adding weight, you will grow. I'll leave it to someone else to explain the whole diet / growth thing.

good luck. Start w/ the training vault sticky.

 

[uday28fb]

protobuilder thants for the post but I still have a few questions.

Ive read some more on the forums and came across the terms bulking and cutting. Okay, now after some more reading I figured what they mean. Since you said that it is very difficult to lose fat and gain muscle, do u suggest that I start out with bulking. Then after maybe 6 months or whatever I start the cutting part? Would that be a more efficient way of doing it?

Also in terms of supplements, do you suggest a protien shake like muscle milk. Ive heard great things about it, but I only want to as the pros. And is creatine something good to take? Remember I'm new and In no way am i trying to get into competitions or trying to get extremely huge. Im just going for the swimmer body.

 

[njlw226]

Definitely hit up the diet forum. Good luck bro.

 

[fallingeggs]

Also in terms of supplements, do you suggest a protien shake like muscle milk. Ive heard great things about it, but I only want to as the pros. And is creatine something good to take? Remember I'm new and In no way am i trying to get into competitions or trying to get extremely huge. Im just going for the swimmer body.

maybe get some whey protien but that is it. do not get creatine, or any other supp... they are not worth it. drink a lot of milk and eat a lot of food.

and stop with this 'i do not want to be in competitions' stuff. you need to add mass which is the same was if you want to have a swimmer body or ones like ronnie. maybe in like 5 years of heavy training you can then ask what to do to be more swimmer like (which i guess is a lot of shoulders, if anything).

 

[silver_shadow]

well, if it's a swimmer look you want, i'd imagine they'd usually be in the region of 160 lean. having said that, i can understand that where you are at now, a swimmer looks pretty large and jacked. i'd stick my neck out and say that with a few months of good training under your belt your priorities might well change. for the present, you can do what PB said, get good at compound lifts. what i suggest at your size/experience (or lack of it at the moment), hold on to your money - don't go buying supps (creatine or whatever)... i'm against buying even muscle milk and protein powder, but since your in college, you could at the most buy whey protein. with the money that you save, you'd be better off buying starting strength. read the training sticky and perhaps choose ripetoe's 3x5 to kickstart things. you are right about bulking first and then cutting. for now concentrate on bulking and think of cutting later. by then you'll have a better idea of how to do it too.

about diet: since i mentioned trying to avoid synthesized protein. all you need is milk (around a half a gallon to a gallon - drink a little of it at a time), chicken/beef maybe a lb at least, 6-12 eggs, rice/pasta, veggies, fruit and lots of water (4 glasses will give you a kidney stone - make that at least 20 a day!). since your in college, you might need the protein powder occasionally when you have absolutely no time to eat a solid meal. but try to plan things so that you don't have to do it too often. for more info, you could check out the diet forum too.

 

[uday28fb]

ok thanks for the info guys, i think i got a good idea of where im heading.