GordyR's Beginners Guide to Bodybuilding

Styles said:
I DO really like the look of that. I'd be very interested to read a detailed report from yourself once you start that routine (or something very similar).

How has the HST treated you? A large % gain since beginning?
I've been looking at loads of routines, I think I've got a little stale on the HST, my muscles are used to be hit hard every 48 hours now. Posted this up on MP and didn't get a good response at all, most syaing it looks too complicated, I think they have a point...

HST's a great routine though that I think everyone should try at least once. Thing is though it's hard to go back once you've started :D Great gains, especially when bulking. Things haven't been as brilliant this year for one thing or another. Many niggly injuries and also I've been messing with my diet loads instead of concentrating on cutting I've been having two good days, then two bad. So hovering around maintenance cals and not really gaining much in past few months, feel like I've just stood still and stalled.

Were've you been hiding anyway? How's the new gym?
 
Interesting, so do you think you're going to go for this new routine?

New gyms good, and everything is well here. Things were difficult for the first few weeks, adjusting to a new life, new job, new house, new people and all that and to be honest the gym suffered a bit as did my diet. But things now are back on track and I'm feeling good and back to hitting the weights heavy and hard.

As ever it's a good reminder to everyone that life comes before weights/training and sometimes it's not possible to fit everything in at once and one has to take a temporary back seat. Luckily for me the adjustment was relatively quick as was the initial hard work of being trained heavily for the job and getting into the motion of it all.

The weights are back, the training is back, and the hunger is back. I love it and I honestly cannot imagine my life without training.

Have your weights progressed Chong? What about everyone else? MTA? Morba? How the hell are you all?
 
Good to have you back mate and glad everything is working out :D

I tore a muscle at the base of my back (SLDL) just over month ago now. Really **** me up at first, thought it was something really serious, I could hardly walk! After 4 days of rest i managed to go back to work and with advice from a physio friend i was back in the gym about a week later. Obviously avoided anything to do with back (well that's almost everything then :rolleyes: ) and only did really light weights. Was just to keep me from going nuts more than anything. 10days after that got an evil throat infection, found it difficult to eat and was suffering with a fever. Lost about 2.5-3kgs in 6days :mad: Almost all of it was muscle as being "summer" I'm quite lean at the mo.

All mended now and the weight loss has prompted some clean bulking (eating chicken and brown rice as i type ;))

As for the training, changed from a 4 day legs/chest/back/shoulders split to a 4 day upper/lower/upper/lower. Was working great, nice change, most lifts went down but its to be expected and helped focus more on form over poundage till my old man training buddy (even older than you CW :D) started falling to pieces. Without warm-up sets moving from chest to back to shoulders in a single session was hurting him. Modified it slightly to become chest&shoulders/lower/back/lower but he's taking this week off to try and recover.
 
MTA99 said:
Good to have you back mate and glad everything is working out :D

Thanks mate : )

I tore a muscle at the base of my back (SLDL) just over month ago now. Really **** me up at first, thought it was something really serious, I could hardly walk! After 4 days of rest i managed to go back to work and with advice from a physio friend i was back in the gym about a week later. Obviously avoided anything to do with back (well that's almost everything then :rolleyes: ) and only did really light weights. Was just to keep me from going nuts more than anything. 10days after that got an evil throat infection, found it difficult to eat and was suffering with a fever. Lost about 2.5-3kgs in 6days :mad: Almost all of it was muscle as being "summer" I'm quite lean at the mo.

That's a sod, It's a nightmare when you're forced out of training due to something like that. At least it was a relatively quick healing injury and you weren't out for too long.

All mended now and the weight loss has prompted some clean bulking (eating chicken and brown rice as i type ;))

As for the training, changed from a 4 day legs/chest/back/shoulders split to a 4 day upper/lower/upper/lower. Was working great, nice change, most lifts went down but its to be expected and helped focus more on form over poundage till my old man training buddy (even older than you CW :D) started falling to pieces. Without warm-up sets moving from chest to back to shoulders in a single session was hurting him. Modified it slightly to become chest&shoulders/lower/back/lower but he's taking this week off to try and recover.

Lol old men eh? What can you do. How's the modified 'oldy' routine treating you then? Still just as good?
 
Need a little help here. I have my full weight training program for 4 days a week. At the end of my weight training I do some cardio (5 mins rower and 20 mins cross trainer, rower on highest level and cross trainer level 10 on hill). Basically im building muscle but at the same time doing cardio to keep fit and lose some body fat. It seems to be working well after a month I notice the differences.

My question now is my diet, even though im drinking water only, eating fiber breakfast foods, drinking smoothies 1ce a day full of fruit, eating chicken, steak and vegetables etc, also ham sanwiches (wholemeal bread). And in between to compensate for the eating every 2-3 hour I'll have a couple of pieces of fruit.

Now my actual question that relates is supplements. From an expert point of view do you think I need supplements? I was thinking about Whey or something, there is a store near that is pure body building supps. I don't know if I need it, however I want what is right such as increasing muscle, and something that isn't going to put on any sort of fat. Fat is a complete no, im trying to lose body fat not gain any. Cheers.
 
As has been said, you can't lose fat and gain muscle.

With regards to supplements, I would reccomend whey for a PWO drink, however take into account your daily calorific intake to get an overview of wether this would cause you to gain fat.

It sounds like what you want to do is a lean bulk if your primary concern is to build muscle.
 
Okay forget it "You can't lose fat and build muscle at the same time." since you keep saying this remove build muscle, give me a fat losing supplement. I really don't see the problem with both, I do weights and cardio to both build muscle and lose fat and it works fine... but whatever.
 
SK07 said:
........give me a fat losing supplement.

Thats a fairly broad statement. There are some very safe, relatively mild supps like green tea that will help.........then there are some very powerful stimulants that could kill you if you get the dosage wrong :eek:

You've not been training "that" long just yet and you're seeing results so i'd stick with it. Perhaps review your diet as your weight and body composition changes. If you're dead set on getting a supplement then try green tea (MP do it as a powder). Apart from the "fat burning" effects its a powerful antioxidant...........but as always with posts about supps, do some research yourself before you decide on whether or not to take it ;) You'll look like a total noob if you get side effects then you have to explain that you're taking something because "a bloke on the internet told you to" :p
 
^ I was interested mainly in the protein supps. Other than that I don't think im lacking anything else. Personally I think I eat quite a lot of meat like steak, ham and chicken etc but I don't think im near enough what I should have in a day.

Im not bothered with supplements, but people seem to claim they do this and that. Yes im seeing results but everyone keeps saying you can't lose fat and build muscle. Maybe im looking at it wrong, but atm im building muscle to help advance the process of losing body fat. Im at about 23% body fat. Probly less now since that was done about 3 weeks ago. But it seems to be working, everythings tightening, muscles getting larger etc and im losing inches around the waste and im pretty sure the body fat is dropping.

I know I go on about body fat a lot, that's due to the fact that I've always wanted rid of it down to a nice low level so it makes it's easier and healthier.

But ok I won't bother with supps and see how it goes. I've changed my program slightly and thrown in a completely different cardio regime.
 
my whey is running out, so I need to order some more.

Should I get:

5kg of Whey Protein Concentrate 80 (EURO) [tubbed] £31.95

or

Impact Whey Protein - WPC80 10 pounds £31.95

I want to get the impact as it comes in a refill bag (have too many tubs). But ive never used impact before, I usually buy the 80 euro stuff. What's the main difference between the two and what should I get? I've been training for around 2 months now.
 
At say 10-11PM or so, what do you all eat or rec to eat? I usually have 2 slices of wholemeal, toasted with jam. Maybe to much carbs so really why im asking this question.

Also can anyone give me a rec cereal?

Cheers.
 
10-11pm you want something that's going to fuel you and help you recover through the night. Wholemeal toast is good, jam is bad! When thinking about carbs don't just focus on the amount, also think about the type. Jam is full of sugar (unless its sugar free ;)) which isn't good since you're trying to lose fat. Sugar will do the opposite, it'll help you hold on to fat. Anyway, we digress......

Try and add a little more protein and perhaps some ("healthy") fats. Lots of people have cottage cheese or Quark with an Options chocolate drink powder stirred in to flavour it. Personally i can't stand cottage cheese but quark is great once you've masked the sour natural taste and its cheap usually ~50p for 250gms. Peanut butter on toast is good if you've got the calories to spare :)

Edit: And as for cereal, oats are your best option. If you really must have a traditional cereal forget stuff like Special K (corn flakes have fewer cals but 0.1% more fat :rolleyes: ) and try bran flakes or similar. Plenty of fibre to keep you feeling full and your guts nice and healthy :)
 
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at night i just get in a whey shake, but im cutting, if i was looking to build quick id prolly take in a bowl of oats.

Casein (protein found in milk and dairy) is a slow absorption protein, great for keeping you anabolic all night :)
 
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