Damn thats some awful advice.
Cardio- when doing cardio at the beginning of a workout, it is just for warm up purposes. Go at a moderate pace so you break a sweat. When doing it for longer periods, employ an interval type of pace. Go HARD for 2-3 minutes, then a moderate pace for 1.5 minutes, then repeat. Acceptable forms of cardio are jogging and biking; elliptical does nearly nothing, and rowing machines don’t do much either.
Initially- If you don’t know what the exercise motion is, go onto bodybuilding.com and search for it; they have great video tutorials. For the first 3 weeks, just do each exercise at an easy weight to really get the form down, and condition your body for hard workouts. After 3 weeks, jump into the rep/set scheme in the actual program. But make sure you are really feeling the exercise in the muscles you want to hit.
“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder but nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight!”- Ronny Coleman
Lifting heavy ass weight, especially with compound full body movements like squats, deads, rows, and bench, stresses your whole body, and makes it release more Growth Hormone. This will allow you to gain muscle, but will also help to lean you out. I personally have bad shoulders so I do lighter weight on bench than I would if I had normal shoulders. MAKE SURE you have your form down, down when doing squats and deads. Don’t worry, lifting heavy doesn’t make you bulky, it makes you strong. Diet is the only thing that determines your body shape. Lifting heavy gives you strength, power, and explosiveness.
Diet- You will achieve nothing if your diet is bad. It is literally 70% of you achieving your goals. It ttook me a long time to learn this. Seriously I cannot stress how important it is. As a general rule you want to eat a meal every 3 hours regardless of your fitness goals. Eating often will keep a constant supply of nutrients flowing through your body, and because your body is always digesting food, your metabolism will be bumped up and you will be able to burn more fat. You want to eat your heavier meals (meals that contain high levels of fat, and starchy carbs) in the morning. This is because they will fuel your body for the upcoming day. You DO NOT need to eat starches…ever. They are low in vitamins and minerals, and contain lots of calories. 60% of your carbs should be coming from vegetables, 20% from fruits, and 20% from starches ( bread, pasta, potatoes etc. even if its whole wheat). I physically cannot put on fat, so I eat fucking everything, including tons of starchy carbs because they are full of calories. Drink a lot of water, and get used to drinking lots of milk (cheap protein). Ill give you a sample diet, but remember that everyone is different, so you can make the meals smaller or larger depending on your desired results.
8:00- 40 g protein shake, 3 packets oatmeal w/ frozen blueberries (I hate mornings so do something quick)
10:00- 1 egg, 3 eggwhite with sausage and veggie burrito.
12:30- Turkey sandwich with fruit and some nuts
3:30- Chicken/tuna salad with glass of milk
6:30- Chicken breast w/ sautéed frozen veggies + milk
9:00- apple + peanut butter+ milk or protein shake
10:30- fruit yogurt + frozen blueberries
I personally, eat A LOT more but I really struggle to keep weight on (im 6’4” 195lbs). This is what I eat:
8:00- 50 gram protein shake, 3 packets oatmeal frozen blueberries
10:30- 4 egg, turkey, avocado, cheese sandwich, yogurt frozen blueberries
1:00- two turkey patty bbq sandwich with 24 oz milk and a pickle
3:00 two baked potatos, can of chili, avocado, cheese
5:30- 35g protein shake with banana
6:30- Steak, sautéed veggies, sautéed potato with 24 oz milk
9:00- Sauteed veggie, spinach, and chicken salad with balsamic and olive oil dressing
10:30- yogurt and bludeberries
11:30- cookies and milk.
I would really suggest picking up a 5lb-10lb container of whey protein. It really is nice to have. Optimum Nutritions 100% whey is one of my favorites and around $45, or dymatize elite whey protein is about the same as well. That’s really the only supplement that you “need”.
Overall fitness- I always listen to my body, and if I really need a rest day, I take it. I also throw in a session of the P90X yoga a couple times a month to keep my flexibility and balance up. My “shoulder circuit” is a bunch of band exercises that I have been doing since I got one of my shoulders “fixed”. Its just some basic rehab stuff. When you do cardio, it should be the interval type because that burns the most fat, while preserving the most muscle. Save the long runs for the summer when you can go shirtless and show off to all the beezies. Try and get enough sleep, but as long as you average above 7 its all good. But make sure you drink LOTS of water, soon your body will start craving it and your immunity will improve, as well as your complexion.
This is 1 workout split that i cycle every 5 days with another 4 day split that is more explosive/injury preventative than this(pm me if you want that too). This covers my needs pretty well. And i know, im one of those weird guys that does heavy pulls on leg day instead of back day.
A (Push Day)
5-10 mins cardio
Dbell Bench Press
1x12
1x10
2x6
Incline Barbell Press
1x10
2x6
Push Press
1x10
3x8
Upright Row
3x10
Reverse Flys
3x10
Overhead Extensions
1x10
3x8
Upper Abs
B (Cardio Day)
5 mins cardio
6 sets plyos
Obliques
Rotational Abs
30 mins Cardio
10 mins Stretching
Shoulder Circuit
C (Pull Day)
5-10 mins cardio
Pull Ups
4x10-12
Bent Rows(underhand)
1x12
3x8
Widegrip Cable Rows
4x8
Shrugs
3x15
Standing EZ bar Curl
1x12
3x6
D (Legs Day)
5-10 mins cardio
Dynamic stretching
Squats
1x15
1x10
1x8
3x4-6
Deadlifts
1x10
1x6
3x3
Straight Leg Deadlift
2x8
Calves-leg press
3x10
Lower Abs
Shoulder Circuit
5 min cardio
5 min stretching
