posted May 07, 2000 03:30 PM            

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hey guys, im a complete beginner 155lbs, spare tire round the waist!, but scrawny arms (sound familiar!), 20 years old, 5'10", but i need some help from you. I want to start off by working out 3 days a week (monday,wednesday and either fri/sat), and this is what i was going to do:
mon: chest, tri
wed: back,biceps, forearms
fri:legs,calves, shoulders
also hit the abs twice a week.
does this look ok for a beginner?
should i be doing shoulders with the chest and tri's day?
is it true i should keep away from aerobic activity?
initially im going to keep within the 8-12 rep range. But how many sets shall i do per workout, or per bodypart. Or how many exercises shall i do per bodypart or per workout? i know im supposed to stick with the big basic compund movements. Every 6 weeks to vary my routine, and take a week off every couple of months for recuperation.
Thanx for your help.

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posted May 07, 2000 10:39 PM            

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Sounds like you have a lot of reading to do, hehe. If you only have 3 days I might group it like this: Chest and back, Shoulders and Bi's, and Legs. This would be if you were truly a beginner, never touching weights before. You can add tri's after you have progressed, you will prob burn your tri's just doing chest and shoulders. I would prob wait on the forearms as well, they will pump doing curls, add them later as well. To add them right away may be too much and slow you down.
Aerobic activity is always good. If you are looking for mass i would do a little less of an aerobic workout. Abs can be done every day, they recover very quickly. But as a beginner maybe 2 days a week would be fine. 8-12 rep range is a good idea. You want to make sure you have good form and control of the weight before you start going heavy. Well I'm off to bed, I'm sure somone will fill in things I have missed. A good thing to do is start reading up on different routines and training principles, Good Luck!!
Let us know how you progress.

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posted May 07, 2000 11:00 PM            

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i would say pick up a copy of muscle and fitness that has a beginner's routine in it. they always have real good shit for that. if you're a little overweight i would do cardio at least 3 times a week...since you're a beginner you'll still make great gains in lifting and also trim up. don't worry about the whole "putting on mass" thing since it sounds like you are a real beginner. also, if you've never lifted before, you don't have to worry about complicated training splits just yet (once again, m&f is good for that). make sure to keep the weights light and do higher reps for the first few weeks at least. and trust me, no matter what you do, you're gonna be sore as hell the day after, but after a week or two of lifting, you won't get that sore. if you need anymore info, email me.

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posted May 08, 2000 06:56 AM         

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Look at my posts to Glenny15. As for doing chest and back on the same day I wouldn't do this - they are too big to combine.

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posted May 08, 2000 11:12 AM            

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Again I agree with you Stevie. Chest and back should be seperate. And if you feel doing your shoulder workout on fridays hurts your bench on mondays then just add a rfew sets of military presses on monday's for your shoulders(that's what I do) but it doesn't really matter as long as your tri's aren't fatigued. You gotta remember though if your doing any type of incline press for your chest it also hits the shoulders indirectly. Also remember diet should be #1 priority then rest and then training. Your training won't progress much if you party all night and eat junk food 24/7.

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posted May 08, 2000 12:09 PM            

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hey dude this is the exact routine i started with.
day 1 - chest + tris
day 2 - back and bis
day 3 - shoulders
day 4 - legs

you want to work out mon, wed, fri/sat. so the days will alternate. if you want me to break set/rep down for ya email me. dont forget to start slow and use a poundage you can control back and forth with great not good form.
good luck dude

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posted May 08, 2000 08:34 PM            

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StevieD and NewNatural
Don't get me wrong, I dont like chest and back together either, maybe I should of said that. I was trying to think of how to fit it in 3 days. My apologies, next time I reply i will put more thought into it. Guess I'm still a newbie to the board, hehe.

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