Fellas,

Soon my uni semester will be over and i want to get 'big' this summer. I know there is tonnes of stuff out there and i've done a fair bit of reading. But i don't want to fvck up and mess up my body and waste my time. I've never done any weight training / programs before in my life.

Right now i'm thinking of doing the skinnyguy.net routine. But using only his free information from the site.

I'm 21y/o and a touch over 6ft and weigh ~71kg (156.2lbs.)
I haven't got any skin fold calipers yet but i think my %BF would be around 16%.

I've never joined a gym before- what should i look for in a gym?
Any other tips to undertaking this massive lifestyle change? The diet? (going to be difficult since i live at home) The exercises?

I guess my only goal is to stick it out with this program and see what changes are made by the end of the 3 month period. And then i can take things from there depending on the outcome.

Should i be doing any cardio / running / soccer in my off days? or just generally in my week?

How do people manage to record gains? Intake amounts of food? let alone manage to consume 3L (103 ounces) of water a day?

I'm going to post any further questions / updates in this thread.

Thanks,
f.

Two excellent books will answer all your questions.

Beyond Brawn, Stuart McRoberts

Super Squats, Strossen

And there are loads of foroms dedicated to lifting and weight gain.

If you have a goal of getting.. as you say.. "big" over the summer... forget about it. You may aswell not even bother training. as you will be very dissapointed.

Takes time.... not just a summer.

If your goal is to gain mass then you should not do much cardio. When after some time you’re at the mass you want but you have fat then you do cardio to burn the existing far.

Originally posted by dockta
If you have a goal of getting.. as you say.. "big" over the summer... forget about it. You may aswell not even bother training. as you will be very dissapointed.

Takes time.... not just a summer.

Click to expand...

Agreed 100%

Practise your form with all the excersizes every day for a week. Start with just the bar and slowly add weights. Get people to check your form.

Then start doing 2-3 full body workouts each week for a month/month and a half. If you're doing three, make sure that the second full body workout is a fairly light one.

From there I suggest you move to a 3 day split:

Back + Tri's
OFF
Legs + Delts + Traps
OFF
Chest + Bi's + Forearm
OFF
OFF

Use the above and make sure you use heavy compound movements. I'm certain you already know what said compound movements are because of all that reading you've done.

Do abs and calves when you feel you've still got some energy left after a workout. I usually end up having to sit down and drink a few fluids before I even try and walk 50+ yards after back or leg day.

Gradually up your protein intake to 1.4g of protein of lean body mass. Increase if you feel you arent getting good enough results, but dont go mad. You wont need 230+ grams of protein for quite sometime.

Get on the creatine bandwaggon if you want to look big. Cycle it. You probably know enough about it with the reading you've done, if not, go information hunting. Personally, I dont see the big deal with creatine. Whey protein is a must.

Come up with your own diet. Dont skimp on the carbs, 60-65% of the calories I get from my bulking diet are from carbs. Thats how important they are.

Measure yourself [your arms, chest, etc - you dirty perverts!] with a tape measure and watch the amount of inches increase over time. Also, record your set/rep/weight in a notebook or PDA. You'll want it. You'll also want to keep track of your diet, if you're serious.

People will disagree, but you can get your water from food/cups of tea etc. Not sodas or anything though. Typically, I consume about 2 litres of water a day, and about 4 cups of tea/ home made juices. There was never any proof in the first place that you had to consume water alone to fulfill your daily water intake.

Follow what I've put up there for a considerable amount of time, and you'll see some results. If you think you can get big in three months, think again. Really. If it was that easy, half of us would be walking around looking like franco columbo in a matter of months.

You wanna get big?
Two words for ya: Doggcrapp training. Get on board bro. You cna put on 20-40lb in a year naturally provided you train with max intensity and eat 2 grams protein per lb bodyweight (steak, eggs, fish, chicken NO PROTEIN SHAKES)

check out www.intensemuscle.com
I went from 205 very ripped to 230lb lean in one year. You cant do this in one summer though, you have to pay your dues. The magic happens after your sacrifice.
GO get em mate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by felony
Fellas,

Soon my uni semester will be over and i want to get 'big' this summer. I know there is tonnes of stuff out there and i've done a fair bit of reading. But i don't want to fvck up and mess up my body and waste my time. I've never done any weight training / programs before in my life.

Right now i'm thinking of doing the skinnyguy.net routine. But using only his free information from the site.

I'm 21y/o and a touch over 6ft and weigh ~71kg (156.2lbs.)
I haven't got any skin fold calipers yet but i think my %BF would be around 16%.

I've never joined a gym before- what should i look for in a gym?
Any other tips to undertaking this massive lifestyle change? The diet? (going to be difficult since i live at home) The exercises?

I guess my only goal is to stick it out with this program and see what changes are made by the end of the 3 month period. And then i can take things from there depending on the outcome.

Should i be doing any cardio / running / soccer in my off days? or just generally in my week?

How do people manage to record gains? Intake amounts of food? let alone manage to consume 3L (103 ounces) of water a day?

I'm going to post any further questions / updates in this thread.

Thanks,
f.

Click to expand...

Re: Re: The last of felony's skinny days.

Originally posted by majumbo
NO PROTEIN SHAKES

Click to expand...

Why not? Whey protein is almost 100 percent protein, a better source than any of the foods you mentioned. Of course, you have to eat lots of protein foods, too, but what's your beef with shakes?

Protein shakes are good, if you read my journal you see I almost lived on them for a while and still gained

You only need protein shakes post workout.

Get everything else from food.

Guys, what are some things to look for in a gym?

Is there an ideal time of day for my 1 hour intense workout which i will do 3 times a week?

If i have 6 meals a day, how should my 1 hour work out fit in to that diet timetable? On my off days how should my cardio/road work fit in? Does it matter?

Can't wait to be big.
f.

Hey dude. Go to the site of Michael Kwok (mkmuscle.com). You will find detailed his diet information there, particularly regarding how he schedules it around his workouts (and uni!). Good luck.

I had a 6 month break from the gym... started back two weeks ago. I know people say you cant do much in a couple of months, but i'll be f**ked if I aint gonna try! 3 intense sessions a week, heaps of rice, protein/creatine shake +vitamins in morning, shakes after workout and in evening, and decent sleep.

Have you found a gym yet? Looking forward to reading about your progress.

Hey Lf,

I've found a gym called bodyworld about 5-1o min drive from my house which i think i will join. its costs AU$ 49 a month but is a gym dedicated mainly to free weights. There are very few machines or anything else. Coulple of bikes, treadmills and floor space for stretches. Decent number of benches and plenty of weights and are open almost all the time.

No pools, saunas, etc. Alot of the top atheletes sometimes train in there- and a number of the fitness instructors have coached professional atheletes aswell. I don't care too much for that stuff.. at the moment- i just want to have the weights there for my use when i want them.

A couple of my mates want to join a gym aswell- but they are interested in another gym closer to home which costs $AU 59 a month + an initial $AU77 joining fee, but is a full on massive sport centre. place is likely to have more females.. its more commercial, there are pools, sport courts, and classes of all kinds and many more machines, not nearly as much emphasis on free weights.

Not sure what to do if my mates all join up there... or how to convince them over to this other gym which is further from their homes and not as exciting in terms of hot girls in gym outfits! haha.

I can't wait to start. I'm pumped. i went in a meet heaps of guys who seem like great blokes. But i'm currently going through an exam period so won't get started until prolly the 15th-ish of nov.
The guys at this gym also want to make actual programs for me... i'm not sure how to take that.. they mentioned i might be doing stuff other than the exercises i want to do [crunches, deadlifts]- and also have me training more often say 5 times a week and for only 45mins.. perhaps doing different reps, weights, full body workouts etc.

My main concern at the moment is still having a suitable diet. 6 meals seems like a big task. and making sure they are good meals - the right quantities of protein, carbs etc seems like a huge burden. Not to mention the amount of cooking / money it seems to require. Also, having my own diet seems to be really out of place with the rest of my family.. and i'm not sure how i'm going to work that all out or how open they are going to be towards my eating habits.

As for that business about laying off the cardio... whats the deal with sex?

Cheers,
f.

Lie there and let her do all the work. If she's a decent girl she'll understand .

Man you have to get that into the heads of those suckers that you are in a gym to work out, not to impress chicks. It's tragic seeing people exchanging form for heavier weights. :/

I don't know how to convince them so I leave that to you, maybe you could convince them off the effectiveness of free weights and the women that will become interested faster if they do more effective training? At least don't be one of those guys showing off, do that at the parties

Don't listen to other people telling you what to do. Just follow DIESELs guide. Keep training at a level you feel comfortable with. IF you just start out you will grow whatever you do if you eat right. My advice is to stick to the basics. And if you notice that something isn't growing then change it, if you grow, don't change. It will take some time to learn how your body responds to exercise so avoid jumping into that 5 split shedule with different rep for this and for that. Those splits are designed by other people and therefore not fully adopted to your body.

Don't listen to other people telling you what to do. Just follow DIESELs guide.

Click to expand...

*grins* Does anyone else sense irony in this statement.

haha.. yeah, that's real fun semag :]

Maybe I should have said, don't listen to the trainers in the gym because they often tell bad advice which can be hard to separate from the good advice. DIESELs guide is a good starting point because it works for most people.

Hi Fellas,

Well i've made big changes in my life- i'm now living out of home and in another city. Time to really get into a proper gym routine, i have every incentive to train hard and get some good results- hopefully by next summer- 6months away.

Now that i'm on my own i can get this diet down and undercontrol. I'm living in a studio, so i don't have entire kitchen facilities. What i have is a toaster, kettle, microwave and bar fridge with a small freezer.

My diet is currently similar to this-

Breakfast
Cereal [Nutrigran or Weetbix for people who know them] with skim milk.
2 slices of toast with 2 poached eggs.
Glass of orange juice.

"Morning Tea"
Sandwich. x2 slices of bread, lettuce, cheese, ham or chicken slice, tomato.
Fruit- Apple or something.

Lunch
Same as above.

"Afternoon Tea"
2x peanut butter sandwichs

Dinner
Usually some kind of steak. either 250gm Scotch Fillet, or bigger portions of T-bone or Rump. Served with a potato salad or chips.

"Supper"
protein shake + banana.

Throughout the day i try to down 2L of water.

I was lucky when i bought the 'Designer Whey' [2.2kg / 5lb] from GNC because it was on special, from $109.95 for non members, to $98.96 for gold members and on the day was $79.95 with an additional 360gm container. I got the whole lot + membership and shaker for $79.95 after an easy bought of charm and dj'ing the GNC chick!

I haven't yet gone to the gym though. I get a trial run tomorrow afternoon. At the gym in the local hospital. its $60 for 3 months.. which is an unreal price that i've never seen anywhere before... it seems ok but ill soon find out.

I'm thinking of interchanging my "supper and afternoon tea" meals on days when i have my workout right before "morning tea". [Sound like such a faggot from the english royal family saying 'morning tea'. oh well.] I can't work out in the morning... i'm expected at class from 8am > 5pm Mon-Fri.

I have the Anthony Ellis book, which i think i will use and adapt to work out a gym routine, and now i'm about to whip up some excel worksheets to record my lifting. I plan to do a 3 day split, probably, sun, tues, thurs. Still in the process of working that out.

please feel free to add, critic, question etc... so that i can start in a positive manner this week.

Cheers,
f.

no banana before sleeping(keep the carbs as low as possible)
go for whey + slow protein like eggs/cottage cheese/meat + some fat(like the fat from eggs or flaxseed oil(best choice) or nuts)

that combination gives the body protein for around 5hours while sleeping which is very important.


how much do you weigh now??


if you downloaded "the book" PM me PLZ where