GordyR's Beginners Guide to Bodybuilding

Chong Warrior said:
How do you know? Have you had it planned for you?

How long have you been training?

You'll make gains in your first 6 months. Your body will change quite dramatically if you do things even remotely well in regards to exercise and diet. Things then slow down though and then you need to make up your mind about what your goals are.

Muslce size and strength gains? Eat a calorie surplus

Lose bodyfat? Eat a calorie defecit

You can't really do both, unless you have the gene's of a god and the skill of a pro to plan your diet and routine.
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The diet planned for me? no. Just took tips off of here and common sense.

About 2 months.

Yeah I understand I can't do both. But okay put it this way. Im keeping in weight training just to maintain so I don't burn into crucial muscle but also it helps burn calories. Im doing the cardio to lose any fat. And im doing ab exercises to tighten stomach mucles.

In all honesty my forearm's, bicep's, tricep's, delt's, trap's and the underarm connection between the pecs has become very nicely formed and somewhat toned as well. My arms are big anyway but you get the point.

I don't seem to have any key areas that need to be worked on to rid fat or need some serious exercise but the stomach, I have no idea? Biceps are a little bit as well. Thats it though. I want to get rid of that and then gain. There is no point just gaining as the fat/loose stomach will just stay there or get worse won't it?
 
Here's my beginner's 2-day split. Critique away, if you will :D
It's all dumbells and machines at my gym, I know that's far from ideal, but I'm aware I need to find somewhere with barbells soon, so comments to that effect are not going to be helpful :(

Day 1 (Wed)

Bench press
Bent-over rows
Squats
Deadlift
Bicep curls

Day 2 (Sun)

Shoulder Press
Pulldowns
Squats
Deadlift
Dumbbell Tricep Extension

10 minutes running or cycling to warm up, 10 more to cool down.

About 10 mins running each day when not training apart from the days after a workout.

Any good?
 
StixxUK said:
Hmmm dunno... could replace bicep curls with some kind of lunges?
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Imo you have quite a lot going on at one time. Depends on your goals though.

You have almost all upper body. However squats are a major player in leg development. I find that toe presses on the leg press are very good for developing the calfs. Ontop of that I put in the leg curl which helps on the back of the legs (not an expert, but my learning is advancing well. So don't know the name of every muscle).
 
Got a serious question here.

Even though my goal at the moment isn't to consume tons of calories as im eating healthy all the time now. But im not eating like 6 meals a day or any supplements. Just pleanty of bran, meats, wholemeal bread, many baked potato's and salad etc. Along with water or sparkling spring flavored.

But my question is. My goal is Strength and tone. Now as I said before my lower stomach seems to be a bit baggy? it's not flat put it that way. The muscles are all relaxed I think. Anyway along with my weight exercises I do ab exercises such as with the medicine ball doing crunches on that. I can feel it tightening in my middle stomach area which has gone pretty flat. The lower stomach is still the same. Im also doing leg raises and some exercises on the pulley.

So would this be sufficient for pulling the abs in? or do I have fat there that I need to remove first. Im kind of unsure what way to go about it. Also my pecs. The upper area of the pecs at the armpit that's tightened a lot, no doubt from incline pec flys. But how would I go about tightening the actuall pec or moob if you like haha. Would the bench press do this?
 
A2Z said:
out of interest would you mind posting your cutting diet?
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Varies but. Breakfast is usually like porridge or weetabix. Lunch wholemeal bread 2 slices with usually meat such as pork slices and some salad on it and a muiller light yogurt and a bannana. Dinner is usually something along the lines of steak with a baked potato and a pasta filler. With one wholemeal slice of bread. Sometimes for later have another bowl of weetabix. Thats it really. In between if I get hungry usually an apple or something?
 
potentially that is a lot of carbs, also you do not eat often enough. doesnt seem to be much protein either.
 
SK07 said:
Varies but. Breakfast is usually like porridge or weetabix. Lunch wholemeal bread 2 slices with usually meat such as pork slices and some salad on it and a muiller light yogurt and a bannana. Dinner is usually something along the lines of steak with a baked potato and a pasta filler. With one wholemeal slice of bread. Sometimes for later have another bowl of weetabix. Thats it really. In between if I get hungry usually an apple or something?
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Agreed with Morba, that diet is far from 'upto scratch'

2 protein meals a day aren't going to cut it and Weetabix isn't very good, neither is bread really but it's a big step cutting bread out of the diet as it's so convenient, so don't worry too much about it. Just try and cut down.
 
Chong Warrior said:
Agreed with Morba, that diet is far from 'upto scratch'

2 protein meals a day aren't going to cut it and Weetabix isn't very good, neither is bread really but it's a big step cutting bread out of the diet as it's so convenient, so don't worry too much about it. Just try and cut down.
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Thought wholemeal bread was alright? im not trying to "bulk" I want to lose any remaining body fat (you know what I mean before the pedantic comments come) and tighten my abs to a good extent, flat stomach in other words. Then I will start the dedicated bulking.

But I don't want to over-eat as that's not going to take more weight/fat off. If wholemeal bread isn't good then I'll have 2 slices a day which is for the sanwich. Other than that I don't really see the problem with it? I feel like im losing quite a bit of inches anyway. My middle stomach area is a lot more toned than it was before, it's more shaped and im working on advancing that more. My upper area is getting better as well. However my lower stomach alough it is sort of getting better it's still kind of lumped out. Im trying to pull it in.

Now alough this may be innacurate to a lot of you, don't know if it is im just assuming. But:

http://www.fatburn.com/article_show.asp?article_id=11

Obviously I couldn't get a six pack for a long time but my main goal at the moment is to tone the stomach, build it, shape it, tighten it and whatever. So I can use that as a guideline. I'll burn more calories than I eat. Im already doing stomach exercises. And I do a lot of weight training. So it should work out?
 
^^ well according to that article you can convert body fat to muscle... news to me :p.

Generally it's best to up protein and lower carbs when cutting, and keep up the weights as well as doing cardio. You need to have 6 meals a day to keep your metabolism up.

6packs are 90% eating, so having a good diet is a start.
 
Phnom_Penh said:
^^ well according to that article you can convert body fat to muscle... news to me :p.

Generally it's best to up protein and lower carbs when cutting, and keep up the weights as well as doing cardio. You need to have 6 meals a day to keep your metabolism up.

6packs are 90% eating, so having a good diet is a start.
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Well im just wondering (questioning gives me more knowledge) how 6 meals a day on a cutting diet will help me lose fat/weight. I don't want to lose muscle or strength too much though. But if it means that I can slim my stomach and create a proper set of abs then I don't mind doing it all over again.

So please if I want good abs, six pack is a bonus ;) but that's a long shot tbh lol. But for tightened and a slim stomach if I continue my 4 days a week weight training. And how much do you reccommend for cardio each time? 20 mins? or more. Cross trainer seems to burn more calories than any machine there, well maybe the treadmill running but I prefer the cross trainer but im open to anything that will help me.

Also for diet could you give me an example diet for one day taking my case into account. Baked potato's is fine yeah?
 
SK07 said:
Well im just wondering (questioning gives me more knowledge) how 6 meals a day on a cutting diet will help me lose fat/weight. I don't want to lose muscle or strength too much though. But if it means that I can slim my stomach and create a proper set of abs then I don't mind doing it all over again.
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say you want to eat 2500kcals a day, what you are doing now is having them in 3 larger meals.
what we are saying is have the same amount of calories but in 5 or 6 meals.
it will mean smaller meals but more often.
why does this make a difference? metabolism. eating more often will keep your metabolism up, which is a good thing :]
 
Morba said:
say you want to eat 2500kcals a day, what you are doing now is having them in 3 larger meals.
what we are saying is have the same amount of calories but in 5 or 6 meals.
it will mean smaller meals but more often.
why does this make a difference? metabolism. eating more often will keep your metabolism up, which is a good thing :]
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But why eating 2500 calories that's way too much. I highly doubt I eat that in a day. But you have to burn more calories than you eat. and I don't think I could burn 2500 calories :/.

What is wrong with say eating 3 meals a day but meals with nothing much in them. Salads and oats for breakfast etc. Sorry not at terms with the metabolism. I mean doing that and your workout etc? I want the best results yeah but im not really understanding how eating 6 meals a day with about 2500 calories if CUTTING will benefit me by helping me lost any excess body fat especially around the abs.
 
A2Z said:
SK07 i seriously think you are reading too much into the bulking/cutting business, and you dont seem to want to listen to any advice given to you and insist on carrying on with your own little plan, if thats the case then stop moaning :rolleyes:
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Hardly I have to question in order to gain the know how. :rolleyes:
 
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