Need advice about serious training regimen please

[fitness_nymph]

Greetings!

I am new to this board, but am only starting to renew my knowledge(or update it rather) on weight training and fitness. I have been an avid exerciser since I was 12, eating a healthy diet with everything in moderation, working out 3-4 times a week.
I started reading about bodybuilding then, and learned all I could.

Now, at 20, I have just had my first child, who is now almost 5 months old. I had been exclusively breastfeeding him until now, in which I am trying to wean him to formula as I am planning for full time college as well as taking care of my family and myself.

So, with that in mind, I am going to be anticipating my cycle and its related hormones coming back, whether that is going to take weeks or months or years. I kept healthy and fit during pregnancy so by now, I have lost almost all of that weight. I am probably over my prepregnancy weight by 6 or 8 pounds give or take. I have trained in the gym before but not to a serious extent.

My goal is to gain muscle, and cut up. I want to seriously get into weight training/body building, so I have been reading all that I can.

(sorry this is so long, but I just want to make sure you understand what I am asking here)

So my question is this, for starting to get into this seriously, is there anything I should do as far as supplements, equipment, and schedule go? I am just learning how to really understand using the different styles of reps and sets. I don't know where to start, what I should be taking as far as supplements go, or what I should start with! AHHHH! I understand what I should be eating and nutrition wise stuff, but I feel so choppy and mindless. May be the hormones.

Oh yeah, and with the period presumably coming back, I don't know how to prepare myself. Do I not train during that? How should I do this?

I need help!

 

[SteelWeaver]

Hi and welcome

You could try looking at this thread which is currently just above yours

http://boards.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=189126

and also do a search for spatt's diet or training split. That should get you started for now. There really is tons of info on this board and the training board about beginner style routines - just pop some key words into the search page. Most importantly though - please get a qualified person to show you the proper form for each of the moves, and read up on them - there's quite a lot of info on the powerlifting board about correct squatting and deadlifiting form, as well as Mistress Krista's website, the address of which I forget right now - finessdiva or something - makedah knows the URL. There's also the exrx website which has all the exercises and their proper form on there, with short video clips, and the elite fitness systems website (spatts knows the URL - sorry - I cleared all my bookmarls before going on a long vacation - didn't want my colleagues snooping into my resources, lol) which has video clips too, I think.

As for supps - I take creatine, a multi vitamin, extra C and E, some extra B-complex (I'm a veg), some minerals too, iron might be a good one, calcium is always good, but take it separately from everything except maybe vit C. I use protein powders to get all the protein I need without eating too many egg whites - usually soy or casein if I can get it, whey for post workout.

I just use tampons and train as normal when menstruating - never had one pop out or anything, lol

Oh, wait, I just noticed you're still breastfeeding - ooh, I don't know anything about that and taking extra vitamins, minerals, creatine etc - maybe you should ask around about that - tons of the women here have kids, they'll know.

Hope this helps for now, and good luck with your new baby

 

[fitness_nymph]

Thankyou!

Thankyou for this great advice! I will study hard. Thankyou so much!

 

[fitness_nymph]

also was wondering...

After I am finished breastfeeding, and presumeable my breasts either stay this way or shrink back to normal, will I be able to reduce them even greater when I get into weight training. I would love to reduce them. They are overbearing and tend to overweight the rest of my petite frame. I look really strange with a large rack over a small frame. It sucks. no pun intended.. ;P

 

[makedah]

Maybe, maybe not.

Many women find that their breasts shrink when they lose weight. But just how much they will shrink varies from woman to woman. If your breasts are a place where your body likes to store fat, you might get a lot smaller (and, er, longer ). Some women's breasts don't have much fat in them OR are not a primary place where their bods store fat. If that's you, your breasts might not shrink very much.

When I started losing weight last year, I went UP a cup size because even though my breasts were shrinking, they were being outpaced by fatloss around my ribcage! I went from an H-cup to an I-cup. Even when I was slender teen, I had D-cups. So, the docs saw that even though I am overweight, my breasts weren't going to shrink on their own. I got breast reduction surgery in March of this year.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Here we are - went and found those web addresses:

http://www.exrx.net/


www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

 

[makedah]

Holy....

That must have been SO uncomfortable.

Quite.