Good lifting plan?

[geniusMoment 0]

http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/

[Matt Young 0]

ATTN: Brian

 

I finally started lifting last Tuesday, since I now actually have the time. I have been working hard and loving it so far. On day 1, I weighed in at 127 pounds (5'8") and I have been working the upper body one day, lower body the next, then taking a day off, with 15 minutes of cardio each day.

 

I want to know if you could recommend a good eating plan. Before, I barely ate because I was and still am paranoid about getting fat again. However, I have been eating more lately. I had a big pre workout dinner of monterey chicken, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and a caesar side salad at Chili's on saturday, followed by a chicken nuggets meal with caesar salad 7 hours later at Wendy's. Sunday, all I had was a turkey sandwich with light mayo and some pizza pasta shit my mom made. Yesterday, I had the leftovers of the Chili's meal for lunch and some slamon with cauliflower and mashed potatoes for dinner. Finally, today I had 2 cans of tuna w/2 tbsp light mayo and 1 tbsp pickle relish at 1 (3 and a half hours ago) and then I just consumed some cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts.

 

Basically, I know I need to eat more, which I'm trying to do, but I just fear getting fat. Any appearance of fat will strongly discourage me, so I seek your sagely advice. I am going to the gym for lower body workouts at 6 P.M. and my mom is making tater tot casserole with ground turkey instead of beef.

[Guest bigm350]

If I were you, I'd eat at least 6-8 small meals a day, that are high in protein, and low in carbs. Only do moderate cardio work, maybe a couple days a week, and if you can afford it, maybe a protein supplement as well. Creatine is good as well, and can put on weight and strength, but most of it's water weight, which, IMO, isn't all that bad, because it can be worked off. I hate to break it to you, but you shouldn't worry too much about putting on weight, because it seems like you need to build on your frame, since you're a small dude. Trying to build muscle takes time, and you need to gain some weight, or you'll be pretty much spinning your tires into the ground, and not really gaining.Don't overdo it on the weights. Maybe work a bodypart once to twice a week. No more than that, or you could start to overtrain, which can impede your progress. As a general guideline, if I were you, I'd lift maybe 4 days a week at the most, especially since it seems like you're a beginner.

 

Good food high in protein is stuff like skinless chicken breasts, sirloin steaks, and fish. You do need some carbs, though, and vegetables and fruits are OK, but I'd go with the vegetables more than fruit.

 

Also, stay away from breads and pasta. These things are loaded with carbs, and carbs can pack on some fat.

 

I could go over more things, but this is a basic guideline. Also be sure to drink plenty of water.

[Matt Young 0]

Thanks for the advice. Just figured I should mention, though, that I'm pretty sure I'm not naturally a small framed guy. I was 180 pounds before, and while I had a big gut and wanted to drop pounds, I look somewhat unnatural with a skinny body. I have a slow metabolism and tend to gain weight quickly, which I hope will aid me in muscle growth.

 

I have been lifting no more than 5 days a week (2 days on/1 day off) and after just one week, most of the next day soreness and stiffness is gone. I feel great. I've also cut down from 12 diet sodas a day to just 1-3 (no more than one during each meal), I've been drinking a lot of water, and I only drink alcohol once per week.

[Matt Young 0]

Also, I have heard that lifting heavy with fewer reps is best for developing muscle mass. I have been doing 2 sets of each exercise, making sure to achieve 10-15 reps each time. Should I increase the weight and lower the reps in order to better facilitate muscle growth?

[Guest wildpegasus]

Also, I have heard that lifting heavy with fewer reps is best for developing muscle mass. I have been doing 2 sets of each exercise, making sure to achieve 10-15 reps each time. Should I increase the weight and lower the reps in order to better facilitate muscle growth?

 

Lower reps are harder on your joints so you gotta watch that. I stay away from them now because of my old age. Although I do believe it is possible to teach the body to go without warming up I don't reccomend it especially when dealing with lower reps. Make sure to adequately warm up preferably with a same exercise that you're going to be doing.

You never, ever and I mean eeeever want to get injured when training because injuries are the biggest hindrance you can possibly face.

I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet but DON'T train on too hard a surface as it's too tough on the joints. Even if you're young and you don't feel it right away it will catch up to you. Cement is an ulitmate no no.

 

Olympic weight lifters tend to have more strength per pound of body mass and that's because of the lower reps. Bodybuilders tend to have more mass and not quite as much strentgh in porportion to the weightlifters because they do higher reps.

[Guest Brian]

Think about lifting as anaerobic and aerobic processes when talking about mass. The really big muscles are always going to be highly vascularized, innervated, and would be the euivalent of white meat. These muscles rely on both the anaerobic respiration(glycolysis cycle) and aerobic (for ATP production) and that by doing low reps, you will build up mass in these muscles. By increasing workload, you recruit more muscle fibers and force the aerobic muscle fibers to shut down essentially because of lack of blood, nutrients and most importantly oxygen. That, in turn, brings you closer to failure, which is why resting between sets (or even a short but controlled rest between reps) proves to be so effective.

[Matt Young 0]

That was... confusing, but if I read that right, you recommend fewer reps at a higher weight?

[Guest Brian]

That was... confusing, but if I read that right, you recommend fewer reps at a higher weight?

 

Aside from balance and good form, I don't really recommend anything to anyone I don't know, just because there are so many other things that have to be considered when designing plans. But it works that way in theory.

[eiker_ir 0]

http://www.Bodybuilding.com

 

and

 

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/

 

just read everything, excellent site

 

 

and here's my usual routine if anyone's interested, not too detailed, just a list of the exercises i do and the order.

I change little things every week, like maybe a day more of cardio, etc. But this is my basic workout in a week.

 

*** Monday: Legs

- Squats, SL Deadlifts, Leg Press, Leg Extensions, Calf Raises.

 

*** Tuesday: Chest / Biceps

- Weighted Dips, DB Incline Press, DB Bench Press, Some kind of flys

- DB Curls, Hammer curls

 

*** Wednesday: Cardio

- Bike, Low Intensity for 45min

 

*** Thursday: Back / Triceps

- Chins / Pull-Ups, Deadlifts, BB Rows, T-Bar Rows

- Close Grip Bench Press, Pushdown, Overhead Extensions

 

*** Friday: Cardio

- Bike, Low Intensity for 45min

 

*** Saturday: Shoulders / Traps

- DB Press, Reverse Fly Machine, Cable Lateral Raises

- Shrugs

 

*** Sunday: Cardio

- Bike, Low Intensity for 45min

[Guest bigm350]

I've lifted heavy with low reps for quite awhile now, and for me, it does a great job building strength and muscle mass. Going heavy on the bench pushed my one rep max up to 360 lbs, with no bench shirt, belt, wraps, or anything like that.

 

Currently I usually do a few sets of 315 lbs for 4 reps.

 

It takes alot of time, but I think lifting heavy, and getting a huge caloric intake is the best thing for putting on muscle mass. Lifting light with more reps is good for cutting up, but judging by Matt Young's dimensions, it would probably be better for you to bulk up, IMO.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

What about the plans that involve varying the amount of weight and number of reps involved from workout-to-workout (i.e. five reps of a heavy weight on workout, followed by 10 reps of a lesser weight the next)? I remember reading that The Rock switches up the amount of weight he lifts every two weeks or so to strike a balance of building mass and defining.

 

I've followed a similar type plan, since I'm not interested in packing on muscles upon muscles; I'd prefer to build a bit more muscle than I've got and then work on defining. I have no desire to be one of the guys who loss flexibility because of their muscle mass.

[Guest Brian]

Switching up challenges the muscles, forcing them to work at different paces and levels.

 

I never lost any of my flexibility when I bulked up. Fortunately, I'm incredibly hypermobile, but I also stretched damn near four times a day.

[Damaramu 0]

Yes I'm dragging this back up. Whereas before I was just interested in defining now I want to get stronger for Judo(so it'll be easier to muscle someone during a throw or hold someone down during grappling).

I'd heard that lifting more with smaller reps will help with that.

 

Well when I was working out during the semester I was doing 3x12 with little weight(15 pound curl, 135 bench) and what not.

Well I'm still not very strong because I rarely lifted before college and I haven't seriously lifted in a few months.

 

So Saturday I began my new workout and I did it on Monday to and will go tomorrow. I was going to ask some of TSM's weightlifting guru's to look at it and tell me what to add or change. Remember I'm trying to get stronger and this really seems to be the maximum I can lift right now because I'm a weak girly man.

 

So I do:

 

Bicep Curl 3x5 with 35 pound dumbbells.

 

Overhead Tricep Press(you know where you lift the one weight over your head) 3x5 with a 40-50 pound dumbbell.

 

Shoulder Raises with dumbbells 3x5 with 35-45 pound dumbbells.

 

Bench Press 3x5 175 pounds(that's not my max. i haven't tested max yet. i'm doing that without a spotter. i can probably do more but i'm kind of afraid b/c of the lack of spotter).

 

Lat Pull Downs: 3x5 135-155 pounds

 

Calf Raises(on the machine) 3x25 210 pounds

 

Leg Press 3x8 240 pounds

 

Leg Curls 3x5 110 pounds

 

Leg Extensions 3x5 120 pounds

 

And of course good old fashion crunches.

 

I also do a 25 minute warm up on the exercise bike.

 

I plan on lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also do Judo on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

And on Saturday and Sunday I either relax or swim.

[EricMM 0]

Your reps are too low.

 

If you can't do 8, you're not getting the full effect.

 

And make sure your form is perfect. There's lots of little balancing muscles that, if you're fucking around, don't get worked. But I'll be those balancing muscles are great for Judo work.

 

But hey. If you want to be good at Judo, do Judo!

[Damaramu 0]

Hey I do do Judo. But just doing Judo isn't going to get me in shape. I hate gassing during ground work and being outmuscled by guys smaller than me.

 

8 reps? I can probably squeeze out 8. But I was told that you wanted to do lower reps with more weight.

Like the overhead tricep makes my arms really sore. Like so sore I feel like the msucle is about to rip.

 

Hopefully it won't take long before I can lift more. When will I know to try and lift more? I guess it's different with everyone.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I think that around 8 would generally be considered what is meant by lower reps actually.

[Damaramu 0]

Ah. See I was doing 12 before so I was thinking of something much lower than that.

[EricMM 0]

8-12 is low 12-15 is high.

 

20 is ridiculous.

 

5 is riduculous.

 

I mean if you think you're gettin gased, maybe its because you're body isn't used to lifting weights A LOT, instead of A LOT of weight, see?

 

You do train endurance for lifting.

[Damaramu 0]

No I get gassed doing Judo.

I don't really get extremely tired lifting. It just gets hard to lift that much weight. Maybe I'm lifting too much? I've never been able to do a lot on bicep curl anyway so I was shocked I could do the 35's.

I'll try to make it to 8 on my 3 sets with my current weight next time I lift.

 

And my body isn't used to lifting weights. I've lifted before but never did anything serious or regular in my life.

 

Any suggestions of other exercises I should do? I don't do squats. My left knee isn't all that great and the pressure of squats on my knees is too much for it.

[EricMM 0]

Thats my point, you don't get gassed doing weights cuz you're body is used to lifting a weight five times and resting, but maybe Judo is a more extended strain, which your body isn't used to.

 

If you really cannot do 8 WITH GOOD/GREAT form, lower your weight.

 

If you have a bad knee, I really don't know how to work quads/glutes.

 

Anyone else?

[Damaramu 0]

Well leg press is doing the trick for me because I'm sitting and not standing and in danger of it popping and me falling over with the weights.

 

Ok I'll give it a shot. It sucks never having seriously lifted and just starting now. Because in my head I know that's why I can't lift very much. But nobody else at the gym knows that. So here's me. A huge guy struggling with a 30 pound dumbbell while some 5'9" dude is pumping a 60 pounder. Then again I notice a lot of guys that lift a ton of weight have the worst form I've ever seen.

 

I've been doing Judo for about 10 months. But since I advanced in belt rank the competition has seriously stepped up and I need to be in waaaaaaaaay better shape.

[EricMM 0]

Form is more important than weight.

 

You're using more muscles slowly smoothly moving weights up and down than shoving them up and letting them drop.

 

Do NOT use momentum.

[Damaramu 0]

Yeah I try to practice good form. That's why it drives me crazy when I'm doing like a 20 pound dumbbell but using perfect form and some jackass walks up beside me to try and show me up(and you can tell they're doing it b/c there is a whole row of mirrors but they have to come share yours) with a 60 pounder and he's standing there swinging the weight and arching his back. I just want to laugh but I'll wait until he hurts himself before I do that. But I wonder how those guys get muscles at all.

[geniusMoment 0]

8 isn't considered low reps by most, it is right around average. 3-5 is a low rep set, that's what my personal trainer and my strength coach preach. My advice would be for you to get a personal trainer, they will make sure you do the excercises, and that you do them correctly. You need something tailored to you, and since you're naturally big it will be easier to transform your fat into muscle. It's hard, and sometimes impossible, for a little guy to get big without serious supplements or steriods. Also, I have a bowflex in my bedroom, this means I can workout whenever I want. It really is helpful.

[Damaramu 0]

Conflicting reports! Ah! What is it? 5 or 8?

I heard someone say that he did near max and did 5x3.

[Guest Brian]

I never have ever gone lower then 5 for a set, and most of the time anything lower than eight isn't going to be recommended.

[Matt Young 0]

How can I lift so much more than Dama (in some areas) at my size?

 

My routine, in general, is this. 3 sets of 10 reps on each:

 

Day 1: Chest, Triceps, Shoulders, Abs

 

Bench press: 110-120 lbs.

Vertical chest: 95 lbs.

Incline press (not sure of how much I do since I haven't had time for this lately)

Triceps extension: 70 lbs.

Military press: 95 lbs.

Lateral raise: 95 lbs.

Abdominal: Just whatever

Pec fly: 110 lbs.

 

Day 2: Legs, Back, Biceps, Abs

Leg press: 500 lbs. (all the machine has on it)

Leg extension: 110 lbs.

Prone leg curl: 95 lbs.

Calf raises: 90 lbs.

Abdominal: Just whatever

Bicep curl: 65-80 lbs.

Compound row: 125 lbs.

Lat pulldown: 125 lbs.

 

I've been working out since February 21st, so 4 months, although for around 1 whole month I was unable to go as much and I couldn't afford to eat, lol, so I lost 6 pounds. I gained that back and I now weigh 147.

 

Starting weight: 127 pounds (2/21/06)

Current weight: 147 pounds (6/21/06)

[Damaramu 0]

Yes well I'm going to give my routine a chance doing 3x8 today. I guess if I can't do it then I'll just lower the weight a bit.

I went to Judo practice yesterday and we had a hard grappling practice and I puked afterwards. Today I feel like I did a full body workout. So my muscles are getting a workout in Judo to.

[Black Lushus 0]

Matt, add some squats into the mix. Do reps and work on your max.