Gym noob looking for a starters work-out routine

[BZeto]

Ok, so I'm 6'1" and weight about 160 lbs max. I can eat anything and not gain a pound. I've worked on just upper body at home with dumbells in the past and had pretty good results after even 6 weeks. I'd say I was close to 170 lbs at that point so I know my body has the potential. Well all muscle has since been lost and I want to give the gym a try. I haven't ever been and wouldn't know my way around the equipment if my life depended on it. I'd like a routine for upper and lower that I can alternate between.

So what's better for bulking up? More weight and less reps?
Also, could you recommend the machine I'd use for different muscle workouts? Any other random tips for a gym newcomer would also be appreciated. I didn't see much but if there's a thread that covers this please point me to it.

Thanks!

 

[Jinru]

The one above yours :awe:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=162171



Some training videos by Rippetoe
http://www.youtube.com/user/timdonahey#g/p

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Research and buy the book Starting Strength. It'll be the easiest way to get started. In the meantime, I'd google StrongLifts beginner program and go from that. Both programs are very similar and will give you both good mass gains and functional strength gains.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

The one above yours :awe:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=162171



Some training videos by Rippetoe
http://www.youtube.com/user/timdonahey#g/p

Just wanted to mention that, although it's a fat loss thread, there is a whole section on general weightlifting. That's where you should start reading.

 

[brikis98]

If you want to gain muscle mass, you need to lift heavy and get your diet sorted out. Check out the fat loss sticky for lots of good info on diet. The key point to understand is that you need a caloric surplus and plenty of protein to build muscle. If you struggle to gain weight, GOMAD may help.

As a beginner, you should not come up with a routine on your own. There will be vast differences in the effectiveness of a routine depending on the exercises you pick, the number of sets, number of reps, how you increase weight, how many times you work out per week, why you should use free weights instead of machines and a number of other factors. There is no reason for a newbie to know about all this, so the best idea is to use a routine designed by professionals. The routine in Starting Strength is the gold standard for beginners and the book is one of the best resources I've seen for learning all the barbell lifts. Stronglifts 5x5 is a similar routine and the website is a decent free resource.

 

[uclaLabrat]

If you want to gain muscle mass, you need to lift heavy and get your diet sorted out. Check out the fat loss sticky for lots of good info on diet. The key point to understand is that you need a caloric deficit and plenty of protein to build muscle. If you struggle to gain weight, GOMAD may help.

As a beginner, you should not come up with a routine on your own. There will be vast differences in the effectiveness of a routine depending on the exercises you pick, the number of sets, number of reps, how you increase weight, how many times you work out per week, why you should use free weights instead of machines and a number of other factors. There is no reason for a newbie to know about all this, so the best idea is to use a routine designed by professionals. The routine in Starting Strength is the gold standard for beginners and the book is one of the best resources I've seen for learning all the barbell lifts. Stronglifts 5x5 is a similar routine and the website is a decent free resource.

You meant caloric surplus, right?

 

[BZeto]

You meant caloric surplus, right?

Was wondering the same thing.

Reading up on GOMAD and starting strength. Thank you.

 

[brikis98]

You meant caloric surplus, right?

Yes, good catch, thanks. Fixed now.

 

[BZeto]

Quick update. Decided to do the Stronglifts 5x5 routine and GOMAD for a month. I'm easing into GOMAD but plan to start Feb 3 for real. I don't even care if I get BIG GAINS but some more weight and muscle definition would be nice. I'm going to stick by the routine if it kills me, so I'll be back here in no more than 30ish days.

Today was my 2nd day ever at the Gym. I started with just the bar on squats, bench press, overhead press. I got some grins and smirks from other dudes but hey, screw em. I didn't struggle to get my sets done but I can tell that I'm weak as hell. Here's to my health!

 

[CrossFyer]

Quick update. Decided to do the Stronglifts 5x5 routine and GOMAD for a month. I'm easing into GOMAD but plan to start Feb 3 for real.

go for it man. it might take a little longer than that though...

i did starting strength from october until pre-Christmas and gained about 15 pounds. (in the past it was waaaay difficult for me to put on weight.

with the new semester I'm starting back up because there is still room to grow! 10 more pounds would be nice and plus I haven't had enough stall/reset chances to actually be done with the program. who knows what the next 3 months will bring.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Quick update. Decided to do the Stronglifts 5x5 routine and GOMAD for a month. I'm easing into GOMAD but plan to start Feb 3 for real. I don't even care if I get BIG GAINS but some more weight and muscle definition would be nice. I'm going to stick by the routine if it kills me, so I'll be back here in no more than 30ish days.

Today was my 2nd day ever at the Gym. I started with just the bar on squats, bench press, overhead press. I got some grins and smirks from other dudes but hey, screw em. I didn't struggle to get my sets done but I can tell that I'm weak as hell. Here's to my health!

You should keep in mind that if you're doing GOMAD, you'll have muscle gain for sure, but you will not increase "definition." You're gonna add muscle and a bit of fat. Because of that, your body fat % is going to go up slightly. That's going to result in less definition. You can just do a cut cycle at the end of this though and that'll fix that problem.

 

[spamsk8r]

You should keep in mind that if you're doing GOMAD, you'll have muscle gain for sure, but you will not increase "definition." You're gonna add muscle and a bit of fat. Because of that, your body fat % is going to go up slightly. That's going to result in less definition. You can just do a cut cycle at the end of this though and that'll fix that problem.

It depends. Some people gain enough lean muscle to offset the fat gain, so in effect they decrease their body fat percentage, even though they've increased their actual fat weight. The cleaner you eat while putting on weight the less you'll gain fat, but you might stall out more quickly as well. Since you're only planning on doing it for a month to start with, I would just go all out and try to get as many calories in as possible. Don't worry about any fat gain, the increase in muscle mass and strength will be well worth it, and it's not that hard to drop a couple pounds of fat.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

It depends. Some people gain enough lean muscle to offset the fat gain, so in effect they decrease their body fat percentage, even though they've increased their actual fat weight. The cleaner you eat while putting on weight the less you'll gain fat, but you might stall out more quickly as well. Since you're only planning on doing it for a month to start with, I would just go all out and try to get as many calories in as possible. Don't worry about any fat gain, the increase in muscle mass and strength will be well worth it, and it's not that hard to drop a couple pounds of fat.

2600 calories + normal caloric intake... My money is on increased body fat, even with muscle gain. It's just too much of a caloric surplus to gain more muscle than fat. It does depend on genetics, but like I said, my bet is that the average person would increase body fat % through this process.

 

[brikis98]

2600 calories + normal caloric intake... My money is on increased body fat, even with muscle gain. It's just too much of a caloric surplus to gain more muscle than fat. It does depend on genetics, but like I said, my bet is that the average person would increase body fat % through this process.

I think it heavily depends on genetics and how hard you are working at the gym, but on average, I'd also guess that body fat percentage stays the same or goes up a bit from GOMAD. From Rippetoe's writing in The Novice Effect and various other testimonials I've seen, you can expect ~60-65% of the weight gain to be muscle and 35-40% to be fat. Let's take a guess at some numbers: the OP says he is 6'1", 160lbs. That's pretty light for that height, so I'm going to guess he's no more than 15% body fat. That means he has 24lbs of fat and 136lbs of LBM. Let's say he does GOMAD for a while and gains 30lbs; we'd expect ~18 of those to be muscle and 12 to be fat. So he ends up at 190lbs, with 36lbs of fat and 154lbs of LBM. That's a new body fat percentage of 19%. In my experience, a built guy at a slightly higher body fat percentage looks better than a scrawny guy at a slightly lower body fat percentage. His abs certainly won't be any more visible, but I'd wager he still looks far more athletic in the end - and lets not forget that he will be MUCH stronger. Finally, the extra muscle mass will make it easy for him to burn off the extra fat and get back down to whatever bf% he wants. In my book, that is a win all around.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I think it heavily depends on genetics and how hard you are working at the gym, but on average, I'd also guess that body fat percentage stays the same or goes up a bit from GOMAD. From Rippetoe's writing in The Novice Effect and various other testimonials I've seen, you can expect ~60-65% of the weight gain to be muscle and 35-40% to be fat. Let's take a guess at some numbers: the OP says he is 6'1", 160lbs. That's pretty light for that height, so I'm going to guess he's no more than 15% body fat. That means he has 24lbs of fat and 136lbs of LBM. Let's say he does GOMAD for a while and gains 30lbs; we'd expect ~18 of those to be muscle and 12 to be fat. So he ends up at 190lbs, with 36lbs of fat and 154lbs of LBM. That's a new body fat percentage of 19%. In my experience, a built guy at a slightly higher body fat percentage looks better than a scrawny guy at a slightly lower body fat percentage. His abs certainly won't be any more visible, but I'd wager he still looks far more athletic in the end - and lets not forget that he will be MUCH stronger. Finally, the extra muscle mass will make it easy for him to burn off the extra fat and get back down to whatever bf% he wants. In my book, that is a win all around.

I completely agree with you about the bigger guy looking better. I just wanted to point out that he shouldn't expect to increase his definition.

By the way, how did they get the 60% muscle/40% fat numbers? Just from body fat calculations before and after? I'd be hesitant to thoroughly believe those since they're self-reported and there's a lot of variance in measurements (especially if done with calipers by untrained individuals). I might be inclined to say they'd probably gain more fat than that. Either way, I was just mentioning this so the OP knew what to expect.

 

[BZeto]

Thanks for the input. I suppose I don't care about any unwanted fat gained because I know after GOMAD I can easily cut my food intake or start heavy cardio. Am I right?

 

[brikis98]

By the way, how did they get the 60% muscle/40% fat numbers? Just from body fat calculations before and after? I'd be hesitant to thoroughly believe those since they're self-reported and there's a lot of variance in measurements (especially if done with calipers by untrained individuals). I might be inclined to say they'd probably gain more fat than that. Either way, I was just mentioning this so the OP knew what to expect.

Most people I've seen who actually tried to calculate the numbers come up with muscle/fat gain ratios from 50/50 up to 65/35, with genetics, training intensity, diet details and measuring inaccuracy accounting for the difference. Of course, this is not scientific at all, but these anecdotal reports sound reasonable. For example, the Novice Effect article has a couple examples of people who added huge amounts of bodyweight in a roughly 60/40 ratio as measured by Rip. Two of my friends did GOMAD for a month and based their own estimates saw similar muscle/fat ratios in their weight gain (one guy was 50/50, another 65/35). Also, Stronglifts has some GOMAD testimonials on their forum and you can do some quick math to get the muscle/fat gain numbers from there. For example, Bluestreak's story (89.8 kg -> 100.7 kg, 60/40 ratio) and GOMAD Experience (73kg -> 78kg, with about a 50/50 ratio).

 

[brikis98]

Thanks for the input. I suppose I don't care about any unwanted fat gained because I know after GOMAD I can easily cut my food intake or start heavy cardio. Am I right?

Once you hit your target bodyweight with GOMAD and want to cut some fat, you'll need to gradually reduce your caloric intake until you are in a caloric deficit. This usually means eating less - certainly no more GOMAD! - and can be helped along through exercise. Of course, the exercise in that case servers two purposes:

1. Maintain LBM. Keep lifting heavy to ensure you don't lose all that muscle mass you worked so hard to build.

2. Burn calories. Cardio is an efficient way to burn calories and can be a nice addition to a proper diet to get yourself into a deficit.

See the fat loss sticky for lots of good info.