Jimz's Man of Steel workout

[Jimz]

Hi all,

I have been a lurker for a very long time of these boards and I am very impressed by the results people have made on here.

I am currently at around 190lbs, 25 years old and want to start putting my health first and fitness first as we are now entering the new year.

I know my flaws, I eat too much unhealthy foods and drinks (fizzy stuff) almost on a daily basis. I don't workout as much as I should do. I must go to the gym once every 2-3 weeks...

However when I'm inside the gym I just stick to the basics, I do some free weights and do some sets on the machines but its always totally random and do some cardio for an hour on the treadmill or cross trainer.

I see people on here list there routines and to me it all looks like total gibberish, for example I have no idea what this means below..

531 Squat, Walking Lunges, RDL
531 Bench Press, Dips, CGBP
531 Deads, Seated Cable Rows, Chins
531 Press, Lateral Raises, Arnold Press, Pallof PressSquat
RDL
Incline DB Bench
Pull Downs
Seated Rows
Dips
OHP
Calf Press
BB Curl
Cable Crunch

And they are all taken from the most popular threads on here, when I see that above I would expect to be taken to a youtube video of each one because for the Average Joe like myself I don't have a clue what any of that means.

Here are some pictures of me today and pictures of the size and muscles which I would like to work towards. I think I need to cut down on my weight and eat very clean to loose all the extra fat then start to work on my size?

 

[spoffle]

It would be a good idea to first address misconceptions to "health and fitness".

Eating food with fat in it doesn't make you fat, and cardio is generally not that good for fat loss either. It'll do weight loss, sure, but it'll eat in to muscle too, which is the opposite of what you want, so it's not something you want to really focus on.

In general, it's hard for people to lose fat and gain muscle to any large degree at the same time, it's best that you focus on one over the other, and based on your photos it should be gaining muscle for the time being as it looks like you have a bit of a "skinny-fat" physique going on.

Any increase in muscle mass will automatically mean a decrease in body fat percentage without doing any fat loss at all.

You would do well to focus on free weights with some sort of structure, place little importance on cardio. As long as there's consistency, you will see progress, so you can get right in to it with the basics like bench press, squats and deadlifts.

Generally that's really all you need for the main compounds to start off with. Pullups will help with your upper back and biceps a a fair amount too, if you can't do them yet then bent over rows are pretty good too.

But basically you need to give yourself some structure, consistent sets of bench press, deadlifts and squats, and as a beginner it'll be best to try and instil the notion of full range of motion, try to avoid the half measures nonsense.

Things like parallel squats, half bench presses and all that. When you squat, try your best to go as low down as you can, when you bench press, touch your chest with the bar. People love to try and avoid doing this and coming up with crazy excuses as why they shouldn't.

It's fair enough if you can't, but you to try to excuse yourself out of working towards, say, full range of motion squats (if you can't manage them at present) is just a negative thing.

Back to the consistency thing too, that'll be your best friend for progress, I would try to ignore suggestions that you need to "mix it up" to "keep your muscles guessing", whereby people suggest you try to confuse your muscles with new exercises you haven't done before to force progress, this is bro-science, muscles can't be confused because they don't think. They react to stimulus, which is what putting weights on them will do.

I might seem like I'm waffling a bit, but I always feel it's best to try and help people at the very beginning to avoid and ignore silly anecdotes people like to come out with, and the silly excuses they use to justify continuing to do them. One of the biggest subjects in this area would be squats, whereby an overwhelming amount of people will accept and argue that squatting half way down (so that your thighs are parallel to the ground) is a legitimate full squat, when it's to the detriment to progress.

A parallel squat can hinder development of strength and stability, and really its only benefit is to allow people to squat more than they really should, which is why it's so prevalent in power lifting, they'll do anything to make it seem like they're lifting more weight than they really are.

But anyway /waffle

A good start would be to put together a structured plan for what you want to do, and stick to it, limit cardio, and do your sets to the best of your ability. If you don't make it hard, you will see limited progress, so whilst I'm not saying push yourself to your limits, if it's easy you're not working hard enough.

 

[Syla5]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17401146

This first link is a great starting point for a work out plan and giving you an idea about how important things such as diet are and sets out some of the basic principals of shifting weight

If you check out Temi_D in the gym rats photo thread. He has pretty much stuck to GordyR's beginners routine for a year, with some tweaking, with awesome results.

The next thread to look at is this one:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18398834

This should be for you to guide for the most common exercises. If you are not sure what something is check it out here.*

If you want help with your form then take video's when your at the gym, load them up to YouTube and post them here in your log.

Finally is the gym ratz thread, the current one is for 2012 found in the main SA forum,I am sure there will soon be one up for 2013. This is the general haunt of the gym ratz and a place to chat and ask general questions.

Hope this helps start you off.

 

[icecold]

Hi all,

I have been a lurker for a very long time of these boards and I am very impressed by the results people have made on here.

I am currently at around 190lbs, 25 years old and want to start putting my health first and fitness first as we are now entering the new year.

I know my flaws, I eat too much unhealthy foods and drinks (fizzy stuff) almost on a daily basis. I don't workout as much as I should do. I must go to the gym once every 2-3 weeks...

Hi

You absolutely must sort your diet out. You basically render your efforts redundant if you don't.

However when I'm inside the gym I just stick to the basics, I do some free weights and do some sets on the machines but its always totally random and do some cardio for an hour on the treadmill or cross trainer.

I see people on here list there routines and to me it all looks like total gibberish, for example I have no idea what this means below..

531 Squat, Walking Lunges, RDL
531 Bench Press, Dips, CGBP
531 Deads, Seated Cable Rows, Chins
531 Press, Lateral Raises, Arnold Press, Pallof PressSquat
RDL
Incline DB Bench
Pull Downs
Seated Rows
Dips
OHP
Calf Press
BB Curl
Cable Crunch

And they are all taken from the most popular threads on here, when I see that above I would expect to be taken to a youtube video of each one because for the Average Joe like myself I don't have a clue what any of that means.

Luckily some absolute gent put together a collection of videos in an exercise guide thread.

snip

*sigh*

What a thoroughly boring individual.

Feel free to post videos of your "full" squats.

 

[spoffle]

*sigh*

What a thoroughly boring individual.

Feel free to post videos of your "full" squats.

What's your issue? An advocate of parallel squats maybe?

You sound skeptical of me being able to do a full squat for some bizarre reason, please do you think it's some sort of wondrous feat of human flexibility or something?

It's not that hard and what exactly makes me boring by what I've said?

Wait wait, let me guess, your reply will be laden with logical fallacies related to full (not half or partial, if there's still some distance left for you to move then it's not a full squat) squats and how they are somehow bad for you in some way when you really mean something along the lines of "sqatting the badly is bad for you"?

Why are so many people advocates of half sqauts? Do you stop half way when you bench press too? Or is that unacceptable for some inconsistent illogical reason?

 

[King Damager]

Ladies. Please.

Feel free to debate this elsewhere, (I recommend Gym Rats or form thread) but this is log and advice for Jim.

Now, on topic, what Syla5 has said sums it up well, but as Ice has said, diet matters. As in really really matters. Read Steedie's thread as well whilst you're reading threads of info (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18299646)

kd

 

[Syla5]

Sorry jimz to hijack a little here but spoffle is spouting a bit of drivel that you should take with a pinch of salt.

Spoffle I recommend you check out the difference in ROM for high bar and low bar squats before you start spouting that power lifters don't do full squats. High bar allos for a deeper squat before compromising form, however is not optimal for shifting the most weight. Low bar back squats have a ROM that ends just below parallel. Both squats are proper squats, both squats are full ROM squats.

If you want to get silly about things by your own definitions, high bar squats arnt proper squats because you can get more depth from a front squat, but weight you can get even better depth from a goblet squat..... Does this mean that the only "proper" squat is a goblet squat?!!?!?? Seriously you need to be a lot more open to the fact that your not always right.

As ice said, post up some videos of your "full squats" so that we can all be enlightened.

 

[icecold]

Ladies. Please.

Feel free to debate this elsewhere, (I recommend Gym Rats or form thread) but this is log and advice for Jim.

You're absolutely right, apologies Jim.

I reserve the right to correct anything that spoffle says though, this isn't his first time... There is no debate to be had.

 

[King Damager]

As an added point on routines. I think it depends on how strong you are at the moment.

Personally, I'm going with the Stronglifts 5x5 program (you can google to find this ), and then I'll move onto something more in line with Gordie's guide.

I like 5x5 as a beginners workout because it focuses strongly on compound lifts. It builds all over strength, and then once you've got some strength, you can start focussing on building aesthetics. It also starts off relatively light, so gives you time to focus much more on form rather than how much weight. Which, whilst lifting a huge amount might be nice, if you want long term progress, get your form right and minimise the risk of injury. Don't get me wrong, it will still build muscle, but personally I feel that 5,3,1 is much more an advanced program rather than a beginner one.

That said, Gordie's thread is still well worth a read considering the wealth of information within it.

kd

 

[icecold]

Either of the 5x5 variants are great as long as you learn to move well from the beginning.

I like Gordy's too, and mrthingy posted a good db routine.

 

[King Damager]

mrthingy posted a good db routine.

Do you know where this is?

kd

 

[mrthingyx]

Not even I know where it is... will have to dig it out from under the 'search' button.

Tell a lie: here we go...

This is based on the premise that one only has dumbells available, but the exercises can be adapted to suit any free weights, really (truly shocking as the exercises were derived from barbell-type ones! ).

What you have to understand, however, is that you can only do so much with exercise, and even less if your diet is not great. As such, you REALLY have to sort out your diet to make sure you're eating the right things in the right quantities.

There is currently a thread on the first page of the Sports Arena on Macros and whatnot which might be slightly too complicated (I say might be because I think the skillz outlined in the thread should be vital and of significant interest to EVERYBODY, so complexity should be irrelevant) for starters, but will be very important for you to understand.

So the question - definitions, exercises and the price of milk aside - is:

TL;DR

What are you wiling to do to get to your objective?

/TL;DR

Because a lot of people start out with 'X' in mind, but then realise it's damn hard work. The members of this forum can and will get you to where you want to be, but only if you are willing to put the effort in regarding both your diet and exercise routine.

 

[spoffle]

Sorry jimz to hijack a little here but spoffle is spouting a bit of drivel that you should take with a pinch of salt.

Yeah, no.

Spoffle I recommend you check out the difference in ROM for high bar and low bar squats before you start spouting that power lifters don't do full squats. High bar allos for a deeper squat before compromising form, however is not optimal for shifting the most weight. Low bar back squats have a ROM that ends just below parallel. Both squats are proper squats, both squats are full ROM squats.

There isn't a difference in ROM between high bar and low bar squats, the difference is that you're in a different position.

I can do both high and low bar squats, and in general powerlifters DON'T do full squats. If there's more distance to travel at the bottom of a claimed squat, it's simply not a full squat, high bar or low bar, it makes no difference.

Plus, the position of the bar determines the angle of your back more so than the range of motion your legs go through, low bar, you have to lean forward more, it doesn't mean stopping at parallel is a full squat. Stopping at parallel is probably the worst point to stop when doing a squat.

Powerlifting (in terms of the federations) is a bit of a joke anyway, they do everything they can to reduce the distance that the bar has to travel and whatever makes lifting it easier.

That's not to say that they aren't impressively strong, but when you see these men laying on a bench, arching their back more than a cat in attack mode, to engage the lower of their pectorals, and to reduce the distance the bar has to travel by bring it down to the bottom of their chest, strapped in to a triple ply bench shirt, it's very hard to really take them seriously as an example of "good" weightlifting.

They apply the exact same philosophy to squats, which is the exact reason why they do parallel squats and then try to support it with bro-science about how going below parallel makes your knees crumble.

The only thing that they do sensibly is deadlifts, because really there's very little you can really do with a deadlift (outside of extremely wide stance sumo deadlifts, something the smaller lighter people like to do because it can greatly reduce the distance the bar has to travel for already short people).

Speaking about optimal for shifting the most weight, you're just confirming the point I was making. Low bar squats are done because it shifts the centre of gravity for them when squatting, but it also is used to lend credibility to their claims that anything below parallel is unhealthy.

Now, speaking of optimal again, quarter squats are even more optimal for shifting even more weight. Do you suggest that they are legitimate too? It just takes a quick search on youtube to show that the closer people get to 1000 pounds, the more likely they are to stop above parallel, but still maintain that it's a legit squat, it's a joke.

If you want to get silly about things by your own definitions, high bar squats aren't proper squats because you can get more depth from a front squat, but weight you can get even better depth from a goblet squat..... Does this mean that the only "proper" squat is a goblet squat?!!?!?? Seriously you need to be a lot more open to the fact that your not always right.

As ice said, post up some videos of your "full squats" so that we can all be enlightened.

Well no, you're not really getting my point. I'm not talking about "depth" because depth isn't really a constant thing. I'm talking about stopping when you've got distance left to go. The depth is related to the squatting position you're in, if the back of your thighs are against the back of your calves, the depth doesn't matter does it? There's no way at all could move beyond that.

So my issue isn't really "depth" but compromising the full range of motion to increase the weight, which makes little to no sense outside of making yourself feel better because you can "squat more weight".

The suggestions that I should make a video to back up what I'm saying making me feel like I'm on Youtube, where you can't say anything without some chump demanding you make a video otherwise you need to stop posting.

Seriously, what would a video do exactly? Do you think it's rare for people to do a full squat? What would it prove for me to show you a video of me doing a full squat when there are plenty videos out there of olympic lifters doing proper squats?

 

[icecold]

You're coming across as a typical keyboard jockey.

Providing a video of you actually doing the things you're talking about would prevent the assumption that you're just an idiot with a keyboard who's trying to make himself feel better by pretending to be an authority on something that he isn't.

As has been said, if you want to discuss this further then don't do it in someone's log.

 

[spoffle]

You're coming across as a typical keyboard jockey.

Providing a video of you actually doing the things you're talking about would prevent the assumption that you're just an idiot with a keyboard who's trying to make himself feel better by pretending to be an authority on something that he isn't.

As has been said, if you want to discuss this further then don't do it in someone's log.

Why am I coming across as a keyboard jockey?

Does me proving I can do what I'm talking about make it more valid? Is it suddenly "correct" in that case?

So basically I can only talk about stuff if I provide videos to demonstrate I can do it? What I've said is either true or it isn't, me making a video wouldn't change that. This is just bizarre.

I'd understand your demands if I was sperging about how I can squat 250KG for a set of 10 or something. You're making out like going through the full range of motion when squatting is something special and difficult to do.

It's not hard to do this http://www.t-nation.com/img/photos/07-210-training/image006.jpg

Yet many people consider this http://www.t-nation.com/img/photos/07-210-training/image013.jpg

to be a full squat.

Look at the massive difference in distance traveled there, and tell me again that I have no place discussing it without posting videos?

As for discussing it further, why not? It would be a benefit to the op to get in to doing full squats at the beginning instead if accepting that a parallel squat IS a full squat, it's quite relevant to the topic, full squats provide a benefit over partial squats and everyone should strive to do them unless they have something wrong with them that physically prevents it.

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1856085

 

[icecold]

No, I KNOW that what you're talking about is invalid. However, if you at least practice what you're discussing then you're slightly less obnoxious than you seem.

Respect the fact that this is someone's log and reply here.

 

[Jimz]

Wow, 2 months ago and I still haven't really tried to help myself at all, still eating all the junk food under the sun and not having much exercise...

I think its just Laziness and me being the biggest procrastinator ever.... life = fail

 

[LiE]

Wow, 2 months ago and I still haven't really tried to help myself at all, still eating all the junk food under the sun and not having much exercise...

I think its just Laziness and me being the biggest procrastinator ever.... life = fail

You've got to want it enough, if not, you will fail like the majority of people who set out on this path. It's not easy, but the reward so worth it. Only you can motivate yourself. To keep me focused I'd do 2 things.

1. Picture in your mind how you want to look, and tell yourself the ONLY way to achieve it is to put in the hard work. Every time you train/eat you are working closer to this ideal you.
2. Imagine how you'll be if you don't do anything.