Just bought a gym membership!.....how do I use it?

[Marvin Gaye]

My goal is to pack on 20 pounds of muscle and stay toned. I'm more concerned with definition and body fat% than weight.

I have zero extra $$$ for a personal trainer, so I can't get my BF measured, but basically it's ugly right now! I'm conflicted: I love card but I don't want to lose my gained weight. Does jogging, swimming and all that target fat on my arms and legs also ??


My goal is sexy 150 lbs body, and I need a proportionate body with equal muscle distribution; I don't want more muscle in certain areas that others, aka huge biceps and zero triceps. Totally cool with looking thin (yet healthy) under a shirt.

Stats!

5'9
135 lbs
Eighteen Years old

If you want to refer me to BodyBuilding.com I won't be offended, but it seems like they consider 'lean' synonymous with 'faggot' lol! I've searched around there and the consensus is pretty much that FIGHT CLUB physique is for pussies

I have total unrestricted access to a gym. I need help with workout and diet plans though; after checking around other threads and journals on here I've got a pretty good idea of what food to eat. I'll say that working out has introduced a HUGE love of cooking to me!!

This is the Whey Protein I got from WinCo guys. What do you think? Will drinking shakes with milk make me fat-looking, as opposed to water?

Thanks in advance guys

I like this post:

Machines are recommended to begin working out, they are also useful for rehabilitation from injury because they guide your body movements. You can make serious muscular gains with machines, but they're not recommended because they're not as efficient as free weights and they can help you develop muscular imbalances over time. There's many little muscles (stabilizer muscles) that control and guide the movements of the larger ones. If they are not developed well, you can get injured. For the beginning, it doesn't matter since all your muscles are weak. Something to think about for later.

If you don't have anybody to help you with the machines then a personal trainer is recommended. Get him or her to show you how it works, the proper form and the proper tempo. You don't just lift a weight up and down. You need to lift at a nice pace to place enough tension on the muscles. You also need to take breaks between exercises. The tempo and breaks depends on your muscular goals... etc. More should be explained in Starting Strength, it's a fantastic read and introduces you to weightlifting.

Don't worry about your diet and protein supplementation for now. Begin lifting and get into the habit. Once you have that down then worry about proper nutrition. One thing at a time. If you do too many things all at once it can get very frustrating and you're more likely to quit before you get anywhere. Take your time.

 

[Kerpal]

http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&rn=312&action=show_detail

 

[Marvin Gaye]

Thanks a bunch Kerpal, I'll check that book out. It won't help right away since it takes a while to ship....but I've heard that book is worth its weight in gold

I've got no problem asking people in the gym about certain machines, I'd rather perform them right at the risk of looking weird talkin to strangers lmao...

Also I've been searching a lot of Youtube vids regarding excersies, many of them are great in regards to proper execution. Really I prefer static excersises over machines---that seems to get me way more ripped.

Although, still guys check these vids out, this is what i'm going to be following:

Neato Core Workout

Dave Chappelle 101

Tricep Excersises

Not only that, but on the web are there literally..."Fight Club" workout/diet plans. I'm hoping these aren't gimmicky because I've been using them for help. At the moment I'm really skinny but already putting on definition. I don't see my body type too different from what the Fight Club plan is already gearing towards, so I'm think Ive got a headstart

 

[Alle_Gory]

Go to T-Nation and fill your head with information if you're that kind of person. They discuss everything from nutrition to steroids to vegetarian diets. They have a wide variety of information.

I would avoid gimmicky workout and diet plans like the "300" diet plan based on the movie or some stupid sh*t. "Fight Club" diet plan? Pretty sure Brad Pitt had a personal trainer, dietician and cook to assist him with training and feeding.

 

[DeMarco91]

5'9
135 lbs
Eighteen Years old

I have total unrestricted access to a gym. I need help with workout and diet plans though; after checking around other threads and journals on here I've got a pretty good idea of what food to eat. I'll say that working out has introduced a HUGE love of cooking to me!!

This is the Whey Protein I got from WinCo guys. What do you think? Will drinking shakes with milk make me fat-looking, as opposed to water?

Thanks in advance guys

I like this post:

At 5'9 and 135 you are skinny. I'm 5'6 and 140 and I consider myself thin..would like to peak at 155. I think you would peak well at like 170 180ish fairly tall. My advice to you is to go real light on the cardio. You simply cannot afford to lose those calories. Eat a lot of meals throughout the day and try to balance your intake. Eat when your not hungry. Lift heavy as you can without injury. Get good sleep. If you are dedicated you will see very noticeable results by the end of the year. Having seen your photos in your other thread - I can safely say it will do a lot for you.

If money permits they make scales that measure a bunch of your stats. I wouldn't say there dead accurate but they give you a good enough sense of where your at. I have one myself and it measures Body Fat, Water %, Muscle, and Bone Weight. I'm at 17% (24lb) BF and 48% (67lb) Lean Muscle.. you would be surprised how much water weight a person has. An interest in ones health definitely brings about good habits and I definitely feel you on the cooking thing. Personally I'm planning on getting a commercial grade blender to blend up all my fruits and vegetables since they take so much time to eat the large amount your body requires.

Anyways, I might not have access to a gym but I am up to compete with you. I'll be checking in at the end of each month to see how much progress you've made - so don't let me down! :trouble: ..

 

[Marvin Gaye]

Day 1

Worked on Chest, Core, my all-time favorite muscle TRICEPS, and a little Upper Back. Before the workout I got up at 7:20, really later than I wanted to. I only had a glass of calcium orange juice pre-workout. Got out the gym at 9:45

10 minutes of cardio

4 Reps of fail Dumbell Flys Two were Incline like in the vid, other two were flat.

4 Reps of 10 Decline bench press, Close-Grip. I used the bar only.

4 Reps of fail Pushups off the half-stability ball


BREAKFAST: After I got home I downed a 7-egg white omlette, 3 pieces of wheat grain toast, and 1 apricot.

SNACK 1: As I type this I 'm drinking a 1 scoop Whey shake--5 frozen strawberries. 2 Nature Valley granola bars (love these), and 2 pieces of toast.

Snack 2: 1 Banana Peanut Butter Sandwich (Skippy unfortunately)

And I'll update later!! Sorry if the formatting is clunky...like I said I'm really new to this

 

[Marvin Gaye]

SO I've found out something very interesting. I've found out that if you workout pretty hard, after 3-4 moneths of little to no excersise.....you wake up with IMMOVABLE ARMS. I've been out of the gym for a few days not being able to flex my arms at all....I need to find a way to ease back into excersise.

Back in August I had an awesome ripped body purely off of pushups, diamond pushups, and swimming. Wait August, maybe it's been longer than I thought haha. I stopped doing all that about January, because I never worked my calve muscle too much, so even though I could do endless pushups I didn't have the leg muscle to support it.

Now I am getting into lifting weights and the next day I can't even move! This is embarrassing.

I think I will focus on eating and tracking my calories, and cardio + static workouts, before focusing on weightlifting.

 

[Alle_Gory]

I think I will focus on eating and tracking my calories, and cardio + static workouts, before focusing on weightlifting.

That's how you do it. You don't shock the body by suddenly going back to max weights after a period of inactivity. You do a steady progression because you're in this for the long term.

Good job.

 

[ProDJ26]

I'm 5'6 and 140 and I consider myself thin..would like to peak at 155.

I'm 5'7 155lbs and I dont feel "peaked" at all nothing against you or anything but for me 170lbs-180ish is ideal

 

[NorwegianDJ]

Dude, I like your dedication with this!

So just to answer stuff that I can answer:

Spot reduction (and increase) does not work. What I mean is that you cannot gain/lose fat in one specific area. So no, drinking it with milk will cause no harm. Your muscle and fat gain/loss depends on your macros, calories and maintenance calories. There should be a thread about it on bodybuilding.com, or you can just google it.

Have fun.

 

[Fuglydude]

I'm 5'7 155lbs and I dont feel "peaked" at all nothing against you or anything but for me 170lbs-180ish is ideal

Ha! I'm 5'8" - 188 at 12% bf, and I don't think I'm anything close to where I could be... My goal in the next several months is 200-210, while still being able to comfortably wear 32" pants. Then again, w/ my frame I should be competing in the light-heavyweight division, not middleweight, so I'd need to be 225-240 in the off season! Just goes to show you that most of us will never be happy with our bodies! This is good in a way as it keeps you working hard towards constantly improving.

Marvin, make up a more concrete diet. I'll tell you right now that diet is the single most important factor that will determine your success in this area. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is as important as diet. A good diet and basic strength training program like Starting Strength mixed w/ some traditional bodybuilding rep/set schemes are in my opinion a good option for a newbie. Don't train more than 4x/week and always make sure you're squatting/deadlifting at least once per week.

Now go and make that diet!

 

[Marvin Gaye]

6/20/11

Picture 1

Picture 2

Blocked out the face just so the body would be focus. My triceps are pretty big, biceps are zero. I'm checking out the chest thread because I also don't feel like I'm getting worked when benching.

Monday - BackxBiceps

On Sunday, I had cooked myself a pound of (farm-bred) Salmon and this sexy steamed-green bean+almond recipe a friend taught me, ate that with 2 cinnamon raisin bagels. Those aren't unhealthy right?Whatever...they might be..lol. I ate all this after doing 6 sets of 15 elevated knuckle pushups. I've decided to do them everyday, regardless of fitting them into a muscle split...I just feel like a badass doing them.

So, Monday my real workout began. I've found a split that I think I'll be comfortable with, and though it will be slow I'm going to try and bulk+stay lean at the same time!! Psh it’s going to be hard right? I’d rather look like Bruce Lee WHILE working out though. Also, I bring a little booklet with me and pencil to track down reps and such. (and for any cuties numbers)

LAT PULLDOWNS 60LB

3x15 - I stopped doing these quickly because I couldn’t find a balanced weight to challenge myself. I felt stupid pulling behind my head, and switched to the front of my chest. A dude walked up to me and informed me I was doing them wrong,…I was like thanks mofo go away please. Still felt dumb after that

ONE ARM DUMBELL ROW 20LB

6x10 - Felt good doing these. I hopefully did these right. Felt my body definitely getting worked ….somewhere. Around my side back I think??? Haha!. I don’t think that’s the target area..

KNUCKLE PUSHUPS
6x15 - I did these in between a couple sets.

LAT HIGH ROW 70LB

6x15 - Did these pretty easily towards the end. So hopefully I was gaining strength but not challenging myself enough.

After my initial workout I felt pretty tired, good and healthy. However I didn’t feel like my target areas were “dead,” something I wanted to feel; they didn’t feel incredibly worked, so I need to find better workouts for them, and maybe try heavier weight and lower reps. I’m really looking for definition before mass; ultimately both of course. Lastly, I didn’t try Bicep Curl sets because my biceps are tiny and useless at the moment--in comparison with my triceps--I couldn’t get the form down right for concentrated curls.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention ,after I got home, I downed a Protein shake with 1 scoop. I think I added too much milk because I felt nvery nauseated afterwards. I ate ½ pound of Salmon too, felt even more sick after that with the fish smell, Maybe it was because I ate fish two days in a row; maybe cause this new Salmon was wild and not farm raised..who knows. I didn’t want to go near milk after that, I seriously felt like I had a fever

Tuesday - Rest/Eat

Tuesday was my first day of actually watching my diet. Kept hoping everything I put in was going straight towards my regenerating muscles. It was a strange sensation feeling hungry so many times throughout the day….being skinny you’re not used to that.

10:45 AM I cooked myself:

4 Egg WhiteOmlette
12 pieces of ham
2 pieces butter toast
Big glass of apple juice

1:25 PM
Leftover spaghetti; 240 grams lmao I actually weighed it on my mother’s scale

4:40 PM

½ LB Salmon (I hopefully am not messing myself up with too much fish)

5:00 PM (starting to feel sick again, like I am not full even though I’ve been eating more than usual) Some Sugar cookies and milk. Feel “full” for the first time all day

8:00 PM Green Apple and Cinnamon Raisin bagel

9:00 PM 2 Beef Tacos I cooked myself, couldn’t bring myself to eat more than that…
--------------------------

as you can see i'm pretty weak and really getting adjusted to the health and fitness stuff. hopefully with time and proper training I'll be healthier and lifting harder.

 

[Marvin Gaye]

Dude, I like your dedication with this!

So just to answer stuff that I can answer:

Spot reduction (and increase) does not work. What I mean is that you cannot gain/lose fat in one specific area. So no, drinking it with milk will cause no harm. Your muscle and fat gain/loss depends on your macros, calories and maintenance calories. There should be a thread about it on bodybuilding.com, or you can just google it.

Have fun.

Hey NDJ I see you around the forums a lot always willing to help out other members; I really appreciate it man. I'll snoop around BB.com then, thanks!

At 5'9 and 135 you are skinny. I'm 5'6 and 140 and I consider myself thin..would like to peak at 155. I think you would peak well at like 170 180ish fairly tall. My advice to you is to go real light on the cardio. You simply cannot afford to lose those calories. Eat a lot of meals throughout the day and try to balance your intake. Eat when your not hungry. Lift heavy as you can without injury. Get good sleep. If you are dedicated you will see very noticeable results by the end of the year. Having seen your photos in your other thread - I can safely say it will do a lot for you.

If money permits they make scales that measure a bunch of your stats. I wouldn't say there dead accurate but they give you a good enough sense of where your at. I have one myself and it measures Body Fat, Water %, Muscle, and Bone Weight. I'm at 17% (24lb) BF and 48% (67lb) Lean Muscle.. you would be surprised how much water weight a person has. An interest in ones health definitely brings about good habits and I definitely feel you on the cooking thing. Personally I'm planning on getting a commercial grade blender to blend up all my fruits and vegetables since they take so much time to eat the large amount your body requires.

Anyways, I might not have access to a gym but I am up to compete with you. I'll be checking in at the end of each month to see how much progress you've made - so don't let me down! :trouble: ..

Hell yeah DeMarco sounds dope