[AuroraProject]

Alright, I'm tired of being overweight, it's time to get my **** together and get healthy. I need help with this though, I'm not real educated in the ways of exercise. I want to gain muscle first, then work on losing the fat. I understand it's best to concentrate on one aspect at a time. So what do I need to do to gain mass? Currently I am 5'11" and 245lbs. I am very sedentary, my job is not physical at all. I am looking to make a life change here, not just a 6 month stint and call it quits. I'm looking for specifics, exercises, sets & reps, and food advice. I cannot afford a personal trainer, so lets not go there please.

The food needs to be easy to prepare and quick, as I am on the go much of the day and I never know what time I'll be home. I prefer to train first thing in the morning, otherwise I may just not do it later in the day. I have dumbbells, a weight bench, and a treadmill.

So give me some advice, please.

 

[DanG]

The first time I started working out it was with weights doing a push/pull routine (I think that's what it's called) -- a chest/back day, a biceps/triceps day, a legs day, and a shoulders day. The workout never lasted more than an hour and it worked well. I ended up gaining about 4 pounds (I'm about 5'11" too, went from around 170 to 174) in two months and dropping my body fat from around 12% to 8%.

Now I'm doing an all-body-weight routine as outlined in John Peterson's book Pushing Yourself to Power. It works well because you don't need all sorts of different equipment, you can do the exercises anywhere and anytime, and it involves a lot of deep breathing which really does give me more energy and feels really good. While there are quite a few bodyweight training books out there, this one contains step-by-step pictures of the exercises (of which there are very many in the book) and the regimen Peterson suggests is quite reasonable and specific. The book seems at least partly intended for middle-aged people because the exercises are a lot easier on the joints, but I'm 24 and I'm enjoying it a great deal. Peterson also provides a lot of good nutritional advice which is a nice plus.

The basic rules of good nutrition, very basic outlines of things you should aim for, seem to include eating smaller portions more often (about every 3-4 hours), getting rid of white carbs in exchange for whole wheat/whole grain foods (white rice -> brown rice, white bread -> whole wheat bread, white pasta -> whole wheat pasta), and eating less fat, less sugar, and fewer processed foods.

When I started working out that first time I was a lot more serious about my nutrition. I would usually eat about 4 oz. of lean grilled chicken breast on whole wheat bread for a lot of my meals, which got to be pretty tedious after a while but it paid off. But there are other foods you can eat, too. Tuna is really good for you as well, as is lean turkey breast and even lean steaks. You can replace the bread with brown rice, whole wheat pasta, or even spinach as I've seen some people do.

So you may want to look into purchasing the Peterson book, which costs around $20 online. If you get it, I suggest buying the spiral-bound version since it stays open while you're exercising. I made the mistake of getting the regular binding which has been a bit annoying. Just remember that working out requires a lot of your own motivation, and the bodyweight-only exercises that you do at home sometimes require even more motivation. You have to want to get in shape and be willing to work for it to make it happen.

Two good websites you should visit are www.bodybuilding.com and www.johnstonefitness.com (focuses on weight training to lose weight). They'll give you the more traditional weight-training approach to fitness if that's what you end up deciding to do. Bodybuilding.com is also good because it has its own searchable/browsable exercise database complete with short videos that shows how to perform the exercises.

Good luck, and if you have any questions ask them -- there are a lot of people here who are a lot more knowledgeable than I in this area and who helped me out a great deal when I first started to work out.

 

[Squeek]

There is no magic formula for gaining lean muscle. Eat right (including plenty of protein), drink plenty of water, lift heavy and get lots of rest.

Supplement with whey protein. It's fast, easy and gets you the protein you need and would not otherwise take in. They are great for the times when your body is most likely to be starving for protein. In the morning, right after a work out and right before bed to carry you through the night. *** while helpful, it is a "supplement" not a meal replacement. You still need to eat meat and regular meals! ***

There is waaaay too much to know to really offer you much help. Research on the web for diet plans and workout routines. I can offer a few tips though...

Only train each muscle group hard once a week. A 3 or 4 day split would be ideal. Mix up your routine after 6-8 weeks to avoid plateau.

You will need to go to a gym to have access to the kind of weight you will need to lift.

Concentrate on compound exercises.

Nutrition and rest are responsible for your gains. I cannot stress this enough. You can lift all day, but if your body is cannibalizing its own muscles because you did not feed it enough, there will be no gains.

Muscle is built when you are resting. Your workout tears it up, and it is repaired to be stronger while you rest. If you don't rest enough or overtrain, this does not take place.

The saying "no pain, no gain" has never been more applicable. It will hurt. Oh yes, there will be pain. It gets easier though as your body adjusts to your new lifestyle.

Most important...listen to your body.

Go to muscleandstrenth.com and bodybuilding.com for great communities and all of the info you need to get started.

 

[AuroraProject]

Food portion size has always been a problem for me, as a child I had to clear my plate before leaving the table. I like to eat until I'm full, which is a big problem. I need to think of food as fuel, not something that just tastes good. I definitely don't want to starve myself, as I hear that doesn't work. I'll have to figure out what portions work for me I guess.

 

[Squeek]

If you are looking for mass, you don't need to worry about starving! You will be taking in more calories than you are now, you just need to be more careful about it. You want clean food. Instead of a bag of chips and a pop at 500 cals, no protein and lots of fat you want a 1/2lb cheese burger on a whole wheat bun.

Quick example of a meal plan

Breakfast

Protein shake right out of bed

Omelette with whole wheat toast and butter and a glass of OJ

Morning snack

Apple slices and PB

Lunch

Tuna Sandwich and a salad

Snack

1/3 cup of trailmix

Dinner

1/2lb burger on whole wheat bun with oven fries

Snack

Cottage cheese

Protein shake with milk before bed

 

[johnmatrix]

The best way to make these types of changes is to do the small things like taking the stairs and to cut the junkfood out.

Eating right is just as important as your portions and should be done at the same time. Strive to cut the empty calories out of your diet, but don't be afraid to splurge once in while. Start with a healthy breakfast of fruits, granola, or whole wheat. For lunch, a sandwich, soup, or pasta salad with fruit for the snack with maybe tea or water. For dinner, minimize red meat use chicken and fish more with pastas and a vegetable for a side dish. Use fruits for snacks.

To start working out, try to work out your whole body i one sitting 3 times a week and walk some everyday for 10-20 min whether on the treadmill or not. I would recommend working your muscle groups in the following order: abs, legs, chest, shoulders, back, biceps, and triceps. Below are example workouts for one week:

Day 1: sit-ups, lunges, bench press, dumbbell 21s, dumbbell bent-over row, dumbbell curl,and dumbbell kickbacks

Day 3: bicycle kicks, squats, incline press, arnold press, barbell bent over row, barbell curl, and bench dips

Day 5:twisting sit-ups, deadlifts, close-grip press, dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell bent-over row, hammer curls, and bench dips

For the exercises involving weight, start with the minimum and strive for 3 sets with 7-10 reps when you can get more than 10 reps up the weight. For the exercises without weight go for 3 sets of max reps. If you want, you can start with only exercises that work the major muscle groups and add in the others later.

 

[Squeek]

A couple of more pointers since you got me started...please bear in mind that I am operating under the assumption that you want to stack on some muscle now and then diet down later. My advice would be different if this was not your goal.

1) Lift HEAVY. Warm up with a light set of 12-15 reps, but then start stacking the weight. You want 3 more sets of declining reps like 10/8/6, adding a little more weight with each set. 3 exercises for each muscle group should be sufficient. ie for chest - bench press, inclined dumbbell flies, cable cross overs.

2) Avoid exercises that can result in injury like squats, deadlifts and clean and jerks until you are stronger, and start light on these until your form is perfect.

3) Limit your sessions to an hour. Make sure you warm up and stretch before lifting, and make sure you cool down and stretch afterwards.

4) Use dumbbells instead of barbells for things like bench press to strengthen your stabilizer muscles.

5) Use freeweights. Machines are not as effective, but are necessary for some exercises.

6) Try to get a gym partner that will motivate you.

 

[AuroraProject]

Yes, I want to pile on the muscle now, then diet down later and strip the fat.

Thanks so much guys, keep them coming!

 

[Agent Kang]

If you're really serious, I hope your committed enough to make a lifestyle change. Working out at home is OK, but to stay motivated join a gym. I guarantee you'll get better results.

Also, the standard procedure is to go mass then lean out. But in your case, I would seriously cut down on the body fat % to a certain level and then start building. The reason being, if you want to gain muscle, you need a significant caloric intake, and it's a given that while you're gaining muscle there will also be an increase in fat. For one, this can be unappealing to the point of de-motivating you.

Start slow. Take out all fast food and snacks, eat whole, natural foods, make a conscious effort to take high quality protein and you'll see results in no time. Good LUCK!

I find that early morning jogging is the best form of cardio, but if you're still interested in mass-building first, then do hardcore compound excercises. No whimpy dumbell curls and tri extensions and such. Just do benchpress, squats, and barbell/dumbell bendover rows for the first 3-4 months.

 

[WhatMACHI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuroraProject /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, I want to pile on the muscle now, then diet down later and strip the fat. Thanks so much guys, keep them coming!

Well if your overweight, and seem to just want to pile on muscle, i would suggest at least some light jogging now and then. Your not going to go skinny overnight so it wont hurt your "i wana be big" goal. If you havent done anything physical for a while, it'll be good to help bring you back to a level of fitness.

 

[AuroraProject]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhatMACHI /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well if your overweight, and seem to just want to pile on muscle, i would suggest at least some light jogging now and then. Your not going to go skinny overnight so it wont hurt your "i wana be big" goal. If you havent done anything physical for a while, it'll be good to help bring you back to a level of fitness.

Definitely, I want to increase my overall health, as well as adding muscle mass.

 

[Vicomte]

Yo do realize that having big muscles but a high body fat percentage will still make you look fat, and well, unattractive, right? It's important that you don't let that bother you if you plan to lose fat later on.

I only work a certain muscle group one day/week, to avoid overtraining. Monday is chest/triceps, Wednesday is back/biceps, and Friday is shoulders/legs. Tuesdays, Thrusdays, and the weekends is for cardio. Sometimes, I take the weekends off.

You can do abs/forearms pretty much whenever you like, as long as you don't overdo it. I use one of those nifty gyroscope balls to work forearms, and it seems to work pretty well.

Basically, eat healthful foods, don't overtrain, then go on a weight-loss diet, incorporate some cardio, and you'll look/feel great. Might take you a year, but it will happen.

 

[SysteX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanG /img/forum/go_quote.gif a chest/back day, a biceps/triceps day, a legs day, and a shoulders day.

Please don't do this. ^


Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicomte /img/forum/go_quote.gif Monday is chest/triceps, Wednesday is back/biceps, and Friday is shoulders/legs. Tuesdays, Thrusdays, and the weekends is for cardio.

Instead, do this. You don't want to work out opposing muscles on the same day. You're chance of injury skyrockets and you reduce the usefulness of the training for the "second" muscle in the set--if you do biceps and triceps on the same day, the triceps workout will be both dangerous and much less efficient than if you hadn't worked out your biceps on the same day.

In this same vein, make sure to always work out opposing muscles, just not on the same day. If you want to do a bunch of chest exercises, that's fine. Just make sure to work out your back too.

 

[Spyro]

There is some very good advice posted so far and I agree with just about all of it.

I'm 46 and have been working out regularly since I was 15. I use to overtrain, it took a while do get over the fact that less can be better but I have learned a lot. I'm 5' 8" weigh 160, have a 31 inch waist and a 43 in chest and approximately 14% bodyfat.

Just to re-emphasize some points above:

Train each body part ONLY once per week but very intensly. You only need to do about 8 sets per bodypart (2-3 different exercises) but you max out every set to the best of your ability (if you don't have a spotter). After stretch/warm up, keep the weight heavy maxing out 12-14 rep range on that first set. If you are going to complete exhaustion with this weight, you should only be able to crank out about 9-10 reps the next set with the same weight. By the time you get to your last set you will actually be at a lighter weight but due to muscle exhaustion you may only be able to do 6 reps. This is okay. Don't waste sets. Go to exhaustion. You should have mild achiness the following day. If you hav eno soreness find a way to increase the intensity (less time between sets, more weight, negative reps, supersetting, etc.)

Diet is key. Working out is the easy part. The sacrifice and self dicipline to eat right is a constant thing. Stay away from simple sugar, fried foods, processed white flour foods, white bread, eat more whole grains and you will transform your body. After 2 weeks eating like this cravings for sweets actually goes away. It's amazing! Of course we all need to slurge once and a while but get right back on the diet. Make sure you are getting enough protein. You can work out all you want but if you are eating donuts for breakfast and burgers and fries every day for lunch, you won't transform your body much at all.

 

[WhatMACHI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SysteX /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please don't do this. ^ Instead, do this. You don't want to work out opposing muscles on the same day. You're chance of injury skyrockets and you reduce the usefulness of the training for the "second" muscle in the set--if you do biceps and triceps on the same day, the triceps workout will be both dangerous and much less efficient than if you hadn't worked out your biceps on the same day. In this same vein, make sure to always work out opposing muscles, just not on the same day. If you want to do a bunch of chest exercises, that's fine. Just make sure to work out your back too.

Top stuff on pointing this out.

For a start i would suggest, a run short to medium run (which can extend as you progress) 15-30 mins every time you train 3-4 times a week, to help bring up your general fitness, then medium level weights for a couple weeks or so to get your core strength and movements built correctly. A warm up set, then 3-5 sets of 8-10 reps of almost max weight. (just to get back into things, and work on form which is equally important as weight) This is considering you havent done much physical activities for a while.

Once you have got your body back into some sort of fitness level, start your big lifting of lower reps but pushing more. And continue to run. I would say being a big man already you wont have trouble keeping to a diet that can sustain both a strong cardio AND weights workout.