Whats the "get in shape for 2018" plan???

[buckrogers71]

Highly recommend the flu that is going around. I've managed to shed 8 lbs in 4 days and feel a couple more may come off.

[chickenpotpie]

Highly recommend the flu that is going around. I've managed to shed 8 lbs in 4 days and feel a couple more may come off.

 

If it's the kind of flu that involves sitting on the toilet for extended periods of time, I'll pass.

[Noles]

I got a Peloton bike on MLK day. Never took a spin class before. I love it. It's expensive but the convenience of it and the way you can start a class any time you want is fantastic. Its really great for people who want to be in better shape but have not been able to find a good workout plan, for whatever reason. Anyone can climb on a bike and start pedaling and the classes make it challenging and fun. I highly recommend it for anyone who is like me: really want to be in better shape but for any number of reasons, haven't been able to make it happen. This bike will make it happen!

[buckrogers71]

Highly recommend the flu that is going around. I've managed to shed 8 lbs in 4 days and feel a couple more may come off.

 

If it's the kind of flu that involves sitting on the toilet for extended periods of time, I'll pass.

 

Luckily no. Just the one that saps the life out you and makes you not want to eat. Pretty much my diet has consisted of broth and water. I figure that this a jump start on the weight loss journey. lol

[bscinstnct]

a few weeks in.... Been lifting a bit a couple days a week with a bit of yoga mixed in.

 

Tomorrow morning im going to alternate yoga / cardio at home at 6am daily (Very short 30 min of each every other day).

 

And lift weights 3 days a week whenever my sched dictates I can but nothing crazy

 

chest / tri

back / bi

shoulder / traps

 

16 sets of 12-15 reps light weight only various exercises.

 

This is good explanation of how/why to do pulldowns to avoid shoulder impingement/injury.

 

[360_CS]

I have just started going to the gym to try and gain some weight. Does anyone know how many times you can work a muscle per week? I have heard that newbies can do 1 muscles group once per week and see results. But then some say 2 or 3 times per week. I do a push, leg, pull split and go to the gym 5 days a week. Is this ok? Thanks.

[bscinstnct]

I have just started going to the gym to try and gain some weight. Does anyone know how many times you can work a muscle per week? I have heard that newbies can do 1 muscles group once per week and see results. But then some say 2 or 3 times per week. I do a push, leg, pull split and go to the gym 5 days a week. Is this ok? Thanks.

 

How does the split work currently? Are the 5 days spread out over a 7 day week like this with the days of lifting/off changing from week to week?>

Week 1

• Monday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Tuesday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  
• Wednesday: off
  
• Thursday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  
• Friday: off
  
• Saturday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Sunday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  

Week 2

• Monday: off
  
• Tuesday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  
• Wednesday: off
  
• Thursday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Friday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  
• Saturday: off
  
• Sunday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  

[Jose c.]

Just turned big 50 things are trying to slow down not gonna let it happen.

Was a runner for years arthritis in big toe shut that down 5 yrs ago. Now it's 23 min on arc trainer

To get heart rate up. Then 2/3 min full sprint on concept 2 rowing machine set at 10.

Then series of medicine ball workouts then finish 2 min on rowing machine,

Weights are mixed in just to keep toned. The rowing machine is by far the hardest workout

I do. Was just doing rowing (2000 meters) for a while best time was 7:28 just to much.

[Rosco1216]

I have just started going to the gym to try and gain some weight. Does anyone know how many times you can work a muscle per week? I have heard that newbies can do 1 muscles group once per week and see results. But then some say 2 or 3 times per week. I do a push, leg, pull split and go to the gym 5 days a week. Is this ok? Thanks.

You can work anything up to 3 times a week at most. 2 is sufficient. 1 is good for maintenance. A lot of people don’t know what their bodies can do and how they adapt. I’m 35 and have started squatting 3 days a week. Deadlifting twice. Everything else once or twice.

[360_CS]

I have just started going to the gym to try and gain some weight. Does anyone know how many times you can work a muscle per week? I have heard that newbies can do 1 muscles group once per week and see results. But then some say 2 or 3 times per week. I do a push, leg, pull split and go to the gym 5 days a week. Is this ok? Thanks.

 

How does the split work currently? Are the 5 days spread out over a 7 day week like this with the days of lifting/off changing from week to week?>

Week 1

• Monday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Tuesday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  
• Wednesday: off
  
• Thursday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  
• Friday: off
  
• Saturday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Sunday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  

Week 2

• Monday: off
  
• Tuesday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  
• Wednesday: off
  
• Thursday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Friday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  
• Saturday: off
  
• Sunday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  

 

I go to the gym on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I just keep repeating push, legs, pull.

 

Tuesday- Push A

Wednesday-Legs A

Thursday-Pull A

Saturday-Push B

Sunday-Legs B

 

Tuesday-Pull B

Wednesday-Push A

Thursday-Legs A

Saturday-Pull A

Sunday-Push B

 

Tuesday-Legs B

Etc...

 

A and B are just different exercise. I try and do abs 5 days a week just at home.

[Rosco1216]

If anyone wants some basic guidance shoot me a DM. I’ve glanced over the last few pages and quite a few seem to be approaching this in a way that will see themselves up for a rough awakening. Approaching 40 so they think weights are over, bad knees and back so they start running miles even slowly are terrible on your knees(far worse than weights), etc.

[bscinstnct]

I have just started going to the gym to try and gain some weight. Does anyone know how many times you can work a muscle per week? I have heard that newbies can do 1 muscles group once per week and see results. But then some say 2 or 3 times per week. I do a push, leg, pull split and go to the gym 5 days a week. Is this ok? Thanks.

 

How does the split work currently? Are the 5 days spread out over a 7 day week like this with the days of lifting/off changing from week to week?>

Week 1

• Monday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Tuesday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  
• Wednesday: off
  
• Thursday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  
• Friday: off
  
• Saturday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Sunday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  

Week 2

• Monday: off
  
• Tuesday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  
• Wednesday: off
  
• Thursday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
  
• Friday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
  
• Saturday: off
  
• Sunday: Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs)
  

 

I go to the gym on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I just keep repeating push, legs, pull.

 

Tuesday- Push A

Wednesday-Legs A

Thursday-Pull A

Saturday-Push B

Sunday-Legs B

 

Tuesday-Pull B

Wednesday-Push A

Thursday-Legs A

Saturday-Pull A

Sunday-Push B

 

Tuesday-Legs B

Etc...

 

A and B are just different exercise. I try and do abs 5 days a week just at home.

 

Sounds good, youll look like arnold ; ) Thats serious work. Assume you can get a lot of sleep and eat an incredible amount of food!

 

How old are you, btw? I imagine it would be difficult to maintain that regimen if over your mid 30s.

 

Gimme an example, what excercises you do on push A day and how many sets/reps on each excercise. How long you rest between sets?

 

Back to your original question, in general, the consensus is 2x week/every 4 days per muscle group is best so youre on target.

 

Watch for overtraining. For big muscles, some experts think 9, 10 sets/day is enough if youre going heavy. And that 15+sets is too much and will burn you out.

 

Diet is obviously a big factor for your program. To gain, I imagine youre on 3000+ calories per day?

 

One thing Id say is be careful of letting the scale be your biggest consideration. Some guys are too focused on gaining weight and are big but look like crap. Let the mirror guide you. I assume you want to gain weight for appearance and strength, not just for the sake of weighing more.

 

Since getting back into strength training about 2 years ago I have modified my workout to be one hour with 25 minutes cardio and doing just 2-3 excercises. I stick to mostly compund moves. Ill do db bench for 5 sets and 4 sets of shoulder press or side raises. For back, Ill do 4 sets of pulldowns and 4 sets of seated cable rows. And I permanent skip leg day. 25 minutes of elliptical with the resistance dialed up gave me the look I needed and I really want the cardio benefits at my age.

 

I weight pretty much the same as I did 2 years ago but look much bigger. And no gut anymore. Go by the mirror, not the scale ; )

[360_CS]

Thanks, bscinstnct.

 

I'm 25. I wish I started this earlier. I have been going to the gym for 4 months, I was going 4 days a week but this past 5 weeks I changed it to 5 times a week. I have gained 1kg so far which is disappointing. I am hoping for at least 5kg by the end of the year. Food is the main problem I think, I do keep track. I have about 2200-2500 calories a day. Before I started going to the gym it was around 1800-2000. I hear what you say about the scales. I was disappointed in only gaining 1kg so I took measurements of my legs, chest and waist this month, hopefully the legs and chest increase while waist stays mostly the same, most of my fat collects around the waist. As for sleep I try to get 7-9hrs, some nights it takes at least an hour to get to sleep though.

 

I don't know if I have too much volume or too many exercises in my workouts. I spend about 40-50mins in the gym. Once I can do 12 reps on all the sets I increase the weight.

Push A- Incline dumbbell bench 4x10-12

Cable crossover 3x10-12

Dips 3x10-12

2 different tricep exercises( don't know what they are called)

Shoulder press (standing) 3x10-12

Lateral raises 3x10-12

 

Pull is one vertical pulling exercise, one horizontal, and one seated. Some I do a narrow or a wide grip. I do hyperextensions or substitute that for deadlifts, if a Pull workout is in the weekend (less people). Deadlifts I do 5 sets of 3-8 reps, I start off light then increase the weight every set. Plus a bicep curl.

 

Legs is squats 5x3-10 (again start off light and increase the weight each set), some type of lunge or split squat, leg curl, and two calf exercises

 

Rest is 1min between sets, 1.5mins on squats and deads. I try and increase the weight every week on my squats and deads.

[HackerDave]

I'm 54, 6'0" and I'm probably bigger than I have ever been (256lbs!!). I avoid playing early morning rounds because I am so stiff in the morning. I just assumed they were normal aches and pains when you get older. So as lent approached, I decided to clean things up. Gave up all booze (harder than I thought it would be) and started eating better. I never ate poorly, but just to much. My wife is on board and the kids are out of the house so the diet thing is actually pretty easy. We have slowly gotten the snacks out of the house and aren't buying any more.

 

But the most enlightening part was I started doing DDP Yoga. I had read great reviews but like many, I feared it would be kind of hokie. Calling it a yoga program is probably a bit misleading as it encompasses a lot of resistance training along with traditional yoga. It does what I need....improves flexibility and adds strength. I tell people that I have the flexibility of a glass rod. After doing it for a month, I can't explain how much better I feel. I'm less stiff and feel a LOT better. Since mid-feb (when I was brave enough to step on the scale for the first time) I'm down 7lbs. I like the way the exercises are created where the programs get tougher as you progress. As always, the toughest part is pushing yourself to do the exercises. Once they are done, I feel great. GREAT.

 

I also started taking lessons and working on my game. Its a hell of a lot easier when your back isn't seizing up, thats for sure. Hopefully I will be back here in May sharing some good results and low scores!! Have a couple of golf trips lined up and looking forward to the start of the season.

[bscinstnct]

Thanks, bscinstnct.

 

I'm 25. I wish I started this earlier. I have been going to the gym for 4 months, I was going 4 days a week but this past 5 weeks I changed it to 5 times a week. I have gained 1kg so far which is disappointing. I am hoping for at least 5kg by the end of the year. Food is the main problem I think, I do keep track. I have about 2200-2500 calories a day. Before I started going to the gym it was around 1800-2000. I hear what you say about the scales. I was disappointed in only gaining 1kg so I took measurements of my legs, chest and waist this month, hopefully the legs and chest increase while waist stays mostly the same, most of my fat collects around the waist. As for sleep I try to get 7-9hrs, some nights it takes at least an hour to get to sleep though.

 

I don't know if I have too much volume or too many exercises in my workouts. I spend about 40-50mins in the gym. Once I can do 12 reps on all the sets I increase the weight.

Push A- Incline dumbbell bench 4x10-12

Cable crossover 3x10-12

Dips 3x10-12

2 different tricep exercises( don't know what they are called)

Shoulder press (standing) 3x10-12

Lateral raises 3x10-12

 

Pull is one vertical pulling exercise, one horizontal, and one seated. Some I do a narrow or a wide grip. I do hyperextensions or substitute that for deadlifts, if a Pull workout is in the weekend (less people). Deadlifts I do 5 sets of 3-8 reps, I start off light then increase the weight every set. Plus a bicep curl.

 

Legs is squats 5x3-10 (again start off light and increase the weight each set), some type of lunge or split squat, leg curl, and two calf exercises

 

Rest is 1min between sets, 1.5mins on squats and deads. I try and increase the weight every week on my squats and deads.

 

Here is my take.

 

For someone who just started, you should have gained at least 10lbs of good mass by 4 months.

 

So, you need to do something differently and I'm thinking that adding another day of lifting may not be the best idea. To gain, you need to have a surplus of calories and with that program, 2200 or even 2500 doesn't seem to be doing it. And it's very difficult to eat 3000+ calories a day, ridiculous if you ask me.

 

The solution might be to eat the same and just lift *less*. Back in the day, when I was a around your age, I made huge gains by eating a bit more, nothing crazy, and sticking to just compound moves on big muscle groups and ignoring isolation exercises.

 

Think about it. You are probably burning 500 calories a day just lifting with that program and eating only enough to maintain your weight.*Plus, all the isolation moves are burning calories and may be detracting from how much intensity you could put into the compound moves to move more weight in them.

 

Here are a suggestions if you want to try....

 

Cut out the crossovers and one or both of the tricep moves. Crossovers don't build mass and the 2 presses and the dips are blasting your triceps and chest. Also, incline dbs are great, I do them myself, but you could be moving more weight (more weight=more mass at hypertrophy set range) if you did barbell bench. Lots of people are down on bb bench these days but if your shoulders and wrists are healthy and you use good form (dont flare elbows too much), you don't need as many stabilizers as db and should be able to do 30lbs more on every rep. Or, if you stick with bbs, maybe do them on a flat bench. Again, the reason being you can move more weight on flat than on incline. Between the two modifications, you could be doing 50 more pounds on every bench rep.

 

Also, add another set of bench to make it 5 sets (not including warm up) and get down to 6 reps on the last set by adding more weight (warmup-12-10-8-8-6). Consider adding more weight/doing less reps on the last set of dips to 8 reps. I disagree with you getting to "12 reps on all the sets" before increasing the weight. You should lift enough weight to fail on each set at the rep range I mentioned.

 

Not sure if you do much for biceps, but with all the row/pulldown exercises, you shouldn't need to do much. I think if you do deadlifts, on that day you don't need 3 row/pulling moves, maybe do just to 2 of them. On the rows/pulldowns, pyramid the weight/reps so you fail at 8 reps by the last set.

 

And for legs, maybe cut out the calves. Again, to conserve energy and not burn calories.

 

With the modifications, maybe you can get everything done in 4 days but even if it takes 5, I'm recommending less isolation exercises/sets so you can do compound moves with more intensity and energy, and burn less calories overall.

 

Finally, be sure you are resting enough between sets. 1.5-2 minutes between on heavy lifts maybe.

 

I assume you take protein powder 2x/day to get around 50grams of protein that way unless you are getting 120+ grams of protein otherwise

[360_CS]

Thanks bscinstnct.

 

Yea I don't think I can eat 3000+ calories a day, I might try and increase it to 2500-2700 though. Seeing only 1kg of gain was pretty frustrating

 

I''ll try your suggestions. I was never sure on the sets and reps thing, so I'll give your advice a go. It's hard trying to get the idea of doing less exercisers in my head, that's probably why I added so much in my splits. But doing less with more intensity and energy makes sense. Thanks again for the help.

[bscinstnct]

Thanks bscinstnct.

 

Yea I don't think I can eat 3000+ calories a day, I might try and increase it to 2500-2700 though. Seeing only 1kg of gain was pretty frustrating

 

I''ll try your suggestions. I was never sure on the sets and reps thing, so I'll give your advice a go. It's hard trying to get the idea of doing less exercisers in my head, that's probably why I added so much in my splits. But doing less with more intensity and energy makes sense. Thanks again for the help.

 

Good luck. Be open to changing/ and modifying as you see things work or don't work.

 

But, on the whole, if gaining mass is your goal, stick with compound moves over isolation. I think if you could get back to a 4 day split and get more days off for rest, that could help, but only if it doesn't result in doing too much on each day.

[360_CS]

Thanks bscinstnct.

 

Yea I don't think I can eat 3000+ calories a day, I might try and increase it to 2500-2700 though. Seeing only 1kg of gain was pretty frustrating

 

I''ll try your suggestions. I was never sure on the sets and reps thing, so I'll give your advice a go. It's hard trying to get the idea of doing less exercisers in my head, that's probably why I added so much in my splits. But doing less with more intensity and energy makes sense. Thanks again for the help.

 

Good luck. Be open to changing/ and modifying as you see things work or don't work.

 

But, on the whole, if gaining mass is your goal, stick with compound moves over isolation. I think if you could get back to a 4 day split and get more days off for rest, that could help, but only if it doesn't result in doing too much on each day.

 

Thanks. After your previous post I did think about just adding one or two leg exercise into a push and pull work out and going to the gym only 4 days week. I'll modify the workouts and see what they are like then go from there.