Bodybuilding for the Beginner!

Personally I go for one session per muscle group a week. You can hit twice a week but you have to be very careful with weight & volume. I prefer to keep it simple as I believe recovery time needs to be at least 6 days for each group if you are a natural trainer (i.e. not juicing). If you list the routine, sets & reps you currently do I'll be happy to give you my advice Daztec.

Cashman, what consideration is given as to rate of reps, i.e would you rep counting, 1-2 extension, and 1-3/4 contraction? as i believe quick extensions and contractions will prodominantly work 'fast twitch' muscle. type I as opposed to type IIA and IIB.

Thanks for the reply Cashman, my workout routine is something like this;

Mon - arms (biceps and triceps)
tues - chest
weds - back
thurs - arms
friday - chest

follwing monday would start with back and I would end up doing 2 sessions that week, I might train once at the weekend aswell if I am up for it but that is optional.

I like the idea of doing back with triceps and chest with biceps rather than busting my arms all in one go....so am I doing too much I think If I dont train I wont get bigger, any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

personally I'd go wth back & Biceps, Chest & Triceps .

Looking at that I suspect you are doing too much and not allowing your body the rest it needs. You should definitely have a rest day in the middle of the week and you have no leg work listed. This type of routine is very common in the gym I go to and I can tell you that guys train like this for over a year and gain no mass or any significant strength gains. Try my suggested routine on the 1st page of this thread. It works and works well. Eat right with it and you will gain size & strength. You can always adapt it to suit you at a later date but it's worth checking here in this forum for any changes you are thinking about so that you get the best advice.

Good luck.

Cheers Cashman,

I will give your routine a try and exercise one muscle group a week intensely and hopefully see some improvements

Thanks for the advise

Good luck Daztec and don't be tempted to more more sets than I've listed otherwise you move into overtraining territory.

Great article!!

I wish i had read this before i started training i would have saved alot of wasted time.

I am printing this out for a new guy at my gym.

No worries Rhino. Glad you like it.

Is a full week really optimum for muscle repair? i was under then impression that when the DOMS had stopped, generally the muscle was near enough repaired, say 2/3 days. it seems to go against the grain a little to leave a muscle repairing when it feels ready to go again after 2/3/4 days. also, what is the best place to find out the technique of how to do all these free weight exercises? i have no idea what 'skull crushes', 'dumbell incline bench' etc etc are. i have been BB for about 18 months now, but ive prodominantly used the machines and after reading this thread i believe its best i get onto free weights asap. also where best to find out about correct form for each exercise?
Whats your thoughts on this split:
Biceps/triceps
Chest/shoulders
back/stomach
i know legs are ommited, but i tend to warm up with 5 mins run, that'll do for my legs i think.
also tho i know this is the wrong forum, i know i must eat every 3 hours, i want to lose fat whilst gaining muscle size, therefore must cut out simple carb, sticking to complex. hows this for a diet plan?
8:00am whey protein shake (after training days), 2 pieces wholemeal toast
11:00am whey protein (training days), (what else is recommended here)
1:00pm high protein meal, complex carbs only, chicken/turkey/tuna wholemeal sandwich
4:00pm whey protein (training/non training? will be in gym at 5) Also V12? (again, what other foods are recommended here)
6/7:00pm(after gym) whey protein (training & non training days) also V12. big meal, plenty protein, complex carbs, veg
10/11:00pm whey protein (training days), casein - cottage cheese (any others?)

I wanted to limit my whey protein intake to 3 times per day on training days, and twice on non-training so im not finishing it all off as quick, is this ok? im also on V12. when is the best times for these?

when should whey be taken with water/skimmed milk?
Also, tho i know chicken breasts are best, is whole roast chicken all that bad provided its de-skinned?

Many thanks to any1 helping out here, i know there are more than enough questions here, just need to clear everything up

See threads recently posted in beginners forum reagrding my thoughts on recovery and the role of the Central Nervous System on promoting growth.

You think wrong by omitting leg weight training. Train legs! 5 Mins run is NO replacement for training legs. They are your largest muscle grouping in the body and as such generate the greatest anabolic response from your body (i.e growth hormone release). It is much easier to gain muscle if you hit your legs with the likes of Squats & SLDLs. If you don't then expect to struggle with continuing to gain after a couple of months.

Whey in water when you wake up, immediately after training and before any cardio sessions. Whey in skimmed milk at any other time.

Exercises can be found in the link I included in my first post on this thread for the beginners guide.

cheers cashman, could you help me out on the diet? any suggestions as this is such an important thing, i reckon following your weight training regime will work wonders with the correct foods and the right times, but im still a little confused as to exactly what im to eat and when. im 210lbs so i know i have to sink 300g of protein per day. im wondering whether its best to bulk up regardless of increased body fat, or preferably if i can gain muscle mass whilst also losing fat. i wanna ideally be 16 stone well cut.

i am the stage were i cant even lift a weight because my arm is so painfull and am still waiting for physio, i am still eating clean etc, do i still stick with cardio etc and ab exercises the fact i am not lifting weights of any kind, i cant sit round and do nothin will drive me mad!
Cheers

Chris, i've got serious athsma too mate. dont let it be a disability. Many say that swimming's good for it because of the water pressure, you're lungs and chest strengthen to counteract the external forces. I think though that there are certain types of cardio which are worse on athsmatics like you and me, such as running. So maybe skipping? i think skipping's good for the heart as well as loosing weight and i've never had athsma prob while skipping. try it out bro.

Watching baywatch with a box of tissues is also a good cardio workout chris_2004 - but seriously though, there are many things you can do which have less impact on Asthsma. As i say, i did martial arts for years without asthsma problems, as i find cardio work where you stay pretty much within a small distance ok. What i mean is liek skipping, or sparing, where you dont travel any distance. Running on the other hand does affect my asthsma which leads me to think that you might also benefit from the same kind of things.

Hi am just new and found this post very helpful as it answers all questiosn i had.

so as a new start so i follow the 1st routine you listed and then once im finding this easy switch to the second routine?

on the routines you advised for exapmple do 6X8, is this of the maximum weight i can do for each type of weight?

im

Age: 20
Height: 5ft 8
Weight:9st 7lbs
Waist: 30"

i have great cardio and no fat to lose so just want to get building!

i was advised of creatine and protein, should these be taken?

thanks for this bud, you helped me understnad it alot better. just joined a great gym so heres hoping

Sorry for no response chaps but only just back from florida.

Chris, fat loss would be speeded up by a good healthy diet plan. You can do cardio for longer durations at lower intensities to help with speeding fat loss and run less risk of kicking off asthma attacks. When you feel that you have the asthma under control (make sure you still have your medication when you do this) you can then try with a short HIIT session (5 mins) once or twice a week and gradually push them longer and longer so that you get fitter and fitter. Worry about this later though if your priority is to lose bodyfat initially. Try power walking for an hour a day before breakfast and again try to gently push harder and harder each week to slowly build stamina in your lungs. I'd imagine you know where your asthma attack boundaries are so you can keep near the edge. The secret is gently does it but do it for duration and with frequency. Hope that helps.

Reddi, the guys have it spot on. The routine should not neccessarily become easire as you get stronger as you just keep increasing the weight so that it's a struggle to reach 6 perfect reps. When you can do 8 perfect reps add more weight. That keeps your training intensity high. I'd leave the second routine for at least 3 months until you are comfortable with your strength boundaries, know how your body reacts, and you start to plateau (i.e don't get any stronger or bigger).

Good luck mate.

cashman do you have any before and after pics of yourself?

Unfortunately not mate but to give you an idea I started training properly at around 15 stone (210Ib) and 22% Bodyfat and am presently 16 stone (224Ib) and 12% bodyfat nearly 3 years later. That's a muscle gain of around 30Ibs and a fat reduction of around 20Ibs (much of which has been over my last 3 months of cutting).