I am ready!

[Jeremy]

Hello everyone on John Stone Fitness. Well to start this out, I have been lurking around on these forums since the end of summer and wanted to start my muscle toning process but got caught up with many things and never acuttaly got to it.

Now it's time to begin. I know I can do it now for sure, I am deticated after reading and studying as much as I can. Also the journals and before/after pictures really motivate me to change myself.

In years past I used to be super active and atheltic. I would start my day off at 7:00 am swimming competatively. Then the rest of the afternoon mountain biking an average of 25 miles a day. I was ripped...

But shortly after that highly productive routine, my parents got divorced putting me into a horrible depression that I held to myself for years. Instead of talking and trying to get help I quit every sport I played and sat in my room and ate complete junk food.

I have filled out but I still have flabby fat deposits throughout my body and I am over it. It is time for change.

Before I do anything I want to go into this with knowledge and a good idea of what I am doing.

So I am going to start off with a few questions. First, how do I go about this? Weight Lifting, Dieting, and Cardio? Right?

Well, to continue on my questions. I don't want to bulk up I just want to get a strong muscle core and have a ripped apperance on my outside.


Here are some stats about my current body.

Height: 5'11"
Weight: 153
Waist: About 31-33
Body Fat Percentage: About 14.4%
Body Mass Index: 21
Basal Metabolic Rate: 1820
Dailey Calorie Intake: 2,751.405


I was thinking about this as a set plan:

Monday: Arms
Chest

Tuesday: 45 Minutes of Cardio
Multiple Ab Workouts

Wednesday: Shoulders
Back

Thurday: Legs

Friday: 45 Minutes of Cardio
Multiple Ab Workouts

Rest on Saturday and Sunday

Cardio I wil be running/jogging.


Can someone please critque my work out plan...


Ok so now on to my diet and nutrients.

This is going to be the hardest part for me. The dreaded DIET...

I think I am going to try about two different days of meals.

Day 1:

Meal One: (7:30 am) Honey Bunches of Oats w/ Almonds
2% Milk

Meal Two: (10:30 am) Banana

Meal Three: (12:30 pm) Tuna Fish Sandwich
Two Slices of 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Meal Four: (3:00 pm) Apple

Meal Five: (6:45 pm) Steak
Steamed Vegtables
Rice

For liquids I only drink water and try to drink about a gallon of water a day. Also if I need snacks I am going to try to eat Almonds.

Day 2:


Meal One: (7:30 am) Instant Oat-Meal

Meal Two: (10:30 am) Banana

Meal Three: (12:30 pm) Turkey Sandwich
Two Slices of 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Meal Four: (3:00 pm) Apple

Meal Five: (6:45 pm) Cooked Fish
Fresh Salad


Personally I don't know too much about the diet or foods so I think this is my biggest weakness that I will need the most help.

Anways, if you still are reading this. Thank you for trying to help me change my life forever into a healty lifestlye that I want to continue on forever.

Also I want to say thank you in advance for any input or help you can throw my way.

-Jeremy

[bradh]

Hey Jeremy, good luck with your goals. I'm not a diet guru by any means but i think you need more protein in your diet and some more veggies. I try to eat protein with every meal.

Has with your routine i'm not a big fan of splits for newbies, i think you would do alot better with a fullbody routine 3x per week.

If you want more advice on your routine you can post your amount of set/reps and excercises for each session.

[Jeremy]

Originally Posted by canada

Has with your routine i'm not a big fan of splits for newbies, i think you would do alot better with a fullbody routine 3x per week.

What do you mean by split? Also whats a fullbody routine?

[Jeremy]

Is there anyway I can move this thread to the Cutting Section? Because all this relates to Cutting.

[Chameleon]

Originally Posted by canada

Hey Jeremy, good luck with your goals. I'm not a diet guru by any means but i think you need more protein in your diet and some more veggies. I try to eat protein with every meal.

Has with your routine i'm not a big fan of splits for newbies, i think you would do alot better with a fullbody routine 3x per week.

If you want more advice on your routine you can post your amount of set/reps and excercises for each session.

I agree with the protein, but not with the full body routine... I think splits are just fine, just starting out or not... I started with the Body for Life splits and they worked wonders for me... just my opinion though... although you listed Arms, Shoulders & Legs... what about back & chest? abs? you need to work your whole body... I would suggest purchasing a book like Body for Life by Bill Philips... it's a great starter guide, it has all of the why's & how's for diet & workouts, including pictures & descriptions of all of the exercises

and honestly... it sounds like you're already a step ahead of a lot of newbies... you're not very overweight at all, and you have a pretty low body fat % already... if those stats are accurate you shouldn't have any trouble seeing GREAT results by starting to lift and eating correctly

[Mimic]

Definatly need more protein, especially if you are looking at putting on more muscle. Remember, protein is the building blocks of new muscle tissue, you need to make sure you get enough. You never want to have too little, otherwise your body will steel it from the muscle. This causes catabolism.

I'm not even going to start on the the routine cause Canada and I will go at it again haha, just kidding Canada.

You said that you eat around 2,700 calories a day, however, your meal plan consists of a lot of fruit, fish, turkey, salads, etc. All these are pretty low calorie foods. You sure you're getting 2,700? It just seems like you're not really eating all that much per meal for gaining muscle.

IMO, I'd throw in more chicken (excellent protein source) and definatly a few protein shakes, make sure you get protein before and very critical that you get it immediatly afterword. Many of us here like a protein shake right after workouts cause it causes immediate absorbtion, whey is the fastest. If you get some Nitrean or something like that, it will give you both fast and slow acting proteins. Very good for post workout. Maybe add in a few carbs too to get an insulin spike going to get that protein distributed faster.

-Mimic

[bradh]

The only reason i would encourage newbies to start with fullbody is because most of the workouts would need to include the money lifts - Squat, Deadlift, Presses, Rows etc, whereas splits give people the chance to do more isolation excercises that are for more advanced routines and no so effective for general fitness and end up making some folks lazy and not getting the results they want.

[bradh]

Originally Posted by Jeremy

What do you mean by split? Also whats a fullbody routine?

Split means you split up your workouts into different bodyparts. Fullbody you would be hitting all the major muscle groups every workout, of course the volume on each bodypart would be less then doing it all in one session.

eg.
If you done 100reps of benching for your chest on a once a week routine you would just do 30 to 35 rep 3x per week.

[Chameleon]

Originally Posted by canada

The only reason i would encourage newbies to start with fullbody is because most of the workouts would need to include the money lifts - Squat, Deadlift, Presses, Rows etc, whereas splits give people the chance to do more isolation excercises that are for more advanced routines and no so effective for general fitness and end up making some folks lazy and not getting the results they want.

I can see where you're coming from... however I don't agree... splits should include compound movements (preformed first) and then isolation moves... my splits ALL have compound movements done first followed by isolation moves... as does the BFL split plan... just sayin'

[bradh]

Originally Posted by Chameleon

I can see where you're coming from... however I don't agree... splits should include compound movements (preformed first) and then isolation moves... my splits ALL have compound movements done first followed by isolation moves... as does the BFL split plan... just sayin'

It seems i just can't please you.



Bottomline - Get in the Gym.

[1FastGTX]

I'm not really sure how a full-body routine would be able to better incorporate compound, basic lifts than a split...

I don't necessarily care for his split but let's just use it for an example.

Monday: Arms / Chest
Bench Press
Dips
Pullovers
Barbell Curls
Hammer Curls
Close-Grip Bench
Cable Pushdown

Wednesday: Shoulders / Back
Deadlift
Bent-Over Row
Chins / Lat Pulldown
Military Press
Laterals
Shrugs

Thursday: Legs
Squat
Leg Press
Stiff-Legged Deadlift
Lunges

In fact, I would say that a split might make it EASIER to incorporate the various compound lifts. More recovery time, less compound lifts per day.

[bradh]

Gtx, both will work of course its just the mindset of fullbody. If you want decent results you have to do the money lifts. When on a split some people will do bicep work and skip the deads and BB rows and do some cable rows just to not feel guilty.

Also they will have concentrate on a handful of core lifts. Most routines i see posted here have way too many excercises imo. Beginner's that is.

Just my thoughts, i think i sidetracked this thread.

[Chameleon]

Originally Posted by canada

It seems i just can't please you.



Bottomline - Get in the Gym.

LOL we're allowed to disagree

oh and here's an example of my back & chest day (today)... three sets of each move, aiming for 8-12 reps per set

Back:
upright rows (compound)
pull downs
low rows

chest:
bench press (compound)
incline press
fly's (incline or machine)

[Bluestreak]

Originally Posted by canada

... on a split some people will do bicep work and skip the deads and BB rows and do some cable rows just to not feel guilty.

I've never done a dead lift in the past two years. I rarely employ squats, I've got shot knees. Wanna argue with my results? I haven't had a good argument in a while.

Jeremy, the bottom line is, choose any one program that you'll stick to. Your nutrition will mean more than the lifting routine you choose. From the sound of things, you're looking to tone up and lose some fat; this can be accomplished by most any exercise program out there if you stick to the exercise and eat frequent, small meals. It's little more complicated than that. You've been lurking, so you likely know what's out there to use as a guideline. Pick something that fits your daily life so you can be consitent with it, and get started.

We have lots of armchair experts who're always quick to spout off the zillions of bodybuilding cliches to newcomers. Most of what gets bounced around these forums are nothing more than rules of thumb, and peoples' experience, which hardly makes them fact. Take what you read here with a grain of salt and evaluate for yourself what's best for you.

Above all, do something. Body-For-Life is a great place to start. It got me where I am today... well, that and Swolecat.

-R

[bradh]

Originally Posted by Bluestreak

I've never done a dead lift in the past two years. I rarely employ squats, I've got shot knees. Wanna argue with my results? I haven't had a good argument in a while.

Jeremy, the bottom line is, choose any one program that you'll stick to. Your nutrition will mean more than the lifting routine you choose. From the sound of things, you're looking to tone up and lose some fat; this can be accomplished by most any exercise program out there if you stick to the exercise and eat frequent, small meals. It's little more complicated than that. You've been lurking, so you likely know what's out there to use as a guideline. Pick something that fits your daily life so you can be consitent with it, and get started.

We have lots of armchair experts who're always quick to spout off the zillions of bodybuilding cliches to newcomers. Most of what gets bounced around these forums are nothing more than rules of thumb, and peoples' experience, which hardly makes them fact. Take what you read here with a grain of salt and evaluate for yourself what's best for you.

Above all, do something. Body-For-Life is a great place to start. It got me where I am today... well, that and Swolecat.

-R

I won't debate your results because i don't know what they are. But i will say that compounds lifts are superior to sissy assed isolation excercises without question, that's fact.

More iron = More growth

You ain't going to curl over 400pounds.

[karatetricker]

Originally Posted by 1FastGTX

I'm not really sure how a full-body routine would be able to better incorporate compound, basic lifts than a split...

I don't necessarily care for his split but let's just use it for an example.

Monday: Arms / Chest
Bench Press
Dips
Pullovers
Barbell Curls
Hammer Curls
Close-Grip Bench
Cable Pushdown

Wednesday: Shoulders / Back
Deadlift
Bent-Over Row
Chins / Lat Pulldown
Military Press
Laterals
Shrugs

Thursday: Legs
Squat
Leg Press
Stiff-Legged Deadlift
Lunges

In fact, I would say that a split might make it EASIER to incorporate the various compound lifts. More recovery time, less compound lifts per day.

Bump to this.

Jeremy, how old are you? 5'11" and 153 lbs is quite light. I recommend you focus more on intense weight training and eating around maintenance to start. Cardio is fine, just don't do any intense cardio fasted since you should really be focusing on gaining as much muscle as you can. I know you don't want to "bulk up", but I'll bet a few pounds of muscle added and a few pounds of fat lost would serve you very well.

[John Stone]

Originally Posted by canada

But i will say that compounds lifts are superior to sissy assed isolation excercises without question, that's fact.

Canada, I warned you back in November about your characterization of isolation exercises as "sissy assed". You're entitled to your opinion, but you will not use language that berates other people and/or their chosen training methods.

You're banned for a week. Do it again, and I'll make it permanent.

Sorry for the interruption. Please carry on the thread.

[Gordo]

Ask Dave Tate and he has a lot to say on the matter of isolation and hypertrophy....and this from a powerlifter:

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=880036
It's a really good read!

[Jeremy]

After studying and reading here is my new plan that I am going to follow for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks I will see how it works for me.

Day 1 & 3

Chest

Incline Chest Fly
Cable Crossover

Shoulders

Seated Shoulder Press

Arms

Triceps Pushdown
Triceps Extension

Leg

Leg Press
Leg Curl
Seated (Straight Leg) Calve Raise



Day 2 & 4



Back

Seated Lat Rows
Narrow Pull Downs

Shoulders

Rear Deltoid Rows

Arms

Standing Biceps Curl
Reverse Grip Barbell Curls

Stomach

Seated Resisted Ab Crunch
Reverse Crunch
Seated Oblique Ab Crunch

[1FastGTX]

I've seen that routine before.

Please list out sets and reps.