A noobs 1st cycle

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Mikie

New Member
First I would like to thank everyone for their time in posting here. It has helped me greatly in deciding I CAN workout with weights. Any lifting experience I have had in the past has been very unpleasant. I am not a big guy, which I know now is because I have never eaten more than maintenance, or less, and thought I needed to do what the "pro" guys were doing(isos, atleast an hr in the gym etc). Horrible way to start a new experience IMO. this first post will be lengthy and I apologize, but it is for my benefit. I figure knowing others are reading my progress will inspire me not to quit, and hopefully get some advice.

For two weeks I had been working out on a smith machine with 300 # of iron weights I got from a friend for cheap. Very light weights, as I am not used to it. I don't care for the "smith" part(the bench part I guess is what is dif) so I have been doing regular benchs with the add on bar supports, but the pull down and row cables are nice. A friend of mine sent me here, and I have been reading ever since. I can see some physical gains already being a noob, but more importantly (to me) I have been feeling great!

I have taken this last week to really figure out my max RM for each of the cycles, and am ready to start my first HST this sunday(M-W-F? wtf is that? S-T-T is much better
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)

I beleive I have read 90% of the threads here, focusing on any noob threads I could find. Simplify and Win is where I am at. My goals are not to be a bodybuilder exactly. I want to build my body, and get some gains to my physique. I dont wanna be "BIG" really, jsut dead sexy
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My true athletic joy and challenge is Biking, whether mtn or street, so that will be a part of my training, HST specific or not.

I am starting out with these excercises, 1-15, 2-10 and 3-5 in 2 week periods, incrementing the weight every weight day by 5 pounds. I will be biking atleast 30 minutes on non weight days, with 15 minutes as general warmup on weight days, and usually, when the weather isnt 100 F, I ride a few of hours on weekends. I figure some of the bike riding will be cut down after I get into the workouts, and that is OK.

flat barbell benchpress
Pulldowns(palms facing in)
military press
seated row

abs on M W F

every morning I do joint openers for 20 minutes, which simply put rotates all the joints, and every night an hour before bed or so I do some yoga type stretching.

At this time I dont have any leg excercises, because in my limited understanding of things, what I want my lower body to do(endurance, strength) and what I want my upper body to do(dead sexy) are difernt. For now I will let the bike work my legs I guess is what I mean.

My diet the last three weeks has been more than I have ever eaten in my life. I never ate more then jsut to not feel sick or weak, so this has been a def change in my day. I am enjoying the "never getting hungry" aspect of this
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I am averageing 2600 cals over 5 meals, which like I said is probably 800 cal more than I have ever consumed regularly. I have also completly stopped drinking beer.

I will appreciate any comments or guidance as I progress...just be gentle.

A much less wordy post to follow on Sunday evening.
Thanks for reading!
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">For two weeks I had been working out on a smith machine </div>

There is your first mistake! If it's what you have, then you can work with it. However, if you can use free weights such as an Olympic barbell, your form will be much better.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Simplify and Win is where I am at</div>

That's a great place to start!
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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">flat barbell benchpress
Pulldowns(palms facing in)
military press
seated row</div>

Pretty solid, but you could throw in squats/deadlifts!

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">
At this time I dont have any leg excercises, because in my limited understanding of things, what I want my lower body to do(endurance, strength) and what I want my upper body to do(dead sexy) are difernt. For now I will let the bike work my legs I guess is what I mean.</div>

Okay, that is perfectly understandable. After your first cycle without legs, check out my 11th cycle log. I have large muscular legs, and I don't need or want any more size there. Therefore, I have started strength training for legs and HST for upper body.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My diet the last three weeks has been more than I have ever eaten in my life. I never ate more then jsut to not feel sick or weak, so this has been a def change in my day. I am enjoying the &quot;never getting hungry&quot; aspect of this
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I am averageing 2600 cals over 5 meals, which like I said is probably 800 cal more than I have ever consumed regularly. I have also completly stopped drinking beer.</div>

Weight and bf%?

Hopefully my comments have helped in some way.
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Yeah the smith machine was a fluke. I got that and 300# of olympic type iron weights real cheap.I also got a seperate olympic? bar.. I tried the guided bench thingy a couple of times when I first got it, and I dont care for how it feels. free weights are fine. If i find sucess in some lifting I will sell it and get a regular bench. Or just sell it. I do like the row pulleys and pull down right now.

Simple is what I like about this. Compounds... if only I had seen them sooner.

My legs. I have a goal on my bike to ride a 100 mile 3 mtn race next spring, and i was wondering how much my riding would effect upper body growth.  I dont require winning, so there is some leverage on time if this proves fruitful to my overall health. Also I was concerned it would take away from the training of the legs muscles to push the pedals. this I will just have to figure out as  I go I think.

Age 35
Height 5' 11''
weight 160
BF          ? - Im a skinny dude, just a small gut from sitting on a computer all day at work, and beer ;). 10%? I have much to learn about nutrition. I really have only ever eaten to not be hungry, not to control my body type.

I appreciate your time. I'm workin with what I got, so any pointers are helpful.
 
First day of 15's. One set.
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good energy today. got extra sleep this am. calm day.

15 minutes on bike as warmup

warmup for each excercise with light weights before that excercise. The row pulley got hosed, so I did BOR.

flat barbell benchpress 40
Pulldowns(palms facing in) 40
BOR 40
military press 40
Squats 40



felt good after my base excercise group, so I did a set of squats, knees going just passed parallel.I had never done these before. I will add these to my workouts if my energy keeps up.

my weights are all 40# due to the fact my bar is 40#'s lol...it may get too heavy on military press when i hit 65# at the end of next week, but I will cluster them if I gotta. The weight feels about right for all others.

consumed 2600 cals today. 120G Pro. 300G Carb 40G Fat. Drank Couple liters of water; Coffee and OJ with breakfast.
 
Second day of 15's. One set.
===========================

low energy today. workin sucks.

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pedaled for a bit, half hour I guess
flat barbell benchpress 45
Pulldowns(palms facing in) 45
BOR 45
military press 45
Squats 45

I am kind of pushing the mil press with the weight. I suppose I need to stay at this weight for a bit on them.
My legs are sore from the squats, but not in a bad way I dont think.

2800 cals today. I never posted it but my TDEE is 2100 give er take.
 
Third day of 15's. One set.
===========================
flat barbell benchpress 50
Pulldowns(palms facing in) 50
BOR 50
military press 40 - oops, yeah I gotta do a couple of weeks here it looks
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Squats 50

I'm going to drop the squats next week and save my strength for the bike. I enjoy the set, but it is new and is hurting my riding.

havent been eating but maybe 2000 cal a day thurs and today, life. this weeks workouts all went well, I look forward to next week. The temps have dropped, so I get to go back outside to ride, I am curious how I do keeping this up with the added riding. Def gotta keep up the eating.
 
fourth day of 15's. One set.
===========================
flat barbell benchpress     55
Pulldowns(palms facing in)  55
BOR      55
military press    45 &lt;--yay!!!  
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I felt good so I did some butterflies 55# and then some BB curls 45#

skipped the squats, I got a long ride in the morning
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claories have been up the last couple of days, averaging 2500-2600. Looking at some whey powder tommorrow night before I get into the 10's.
 
Fifth day of 15's. One set.
===========================

crap energy today, made it through my workout, but very unenthused. w/o felt good, but I was struggling a bit...glad no one is reading this with that whine and those weights lol....
lack of sleep last night and long ride on monday are to blame I think. Work zapped me mentally a bit today as well. Military press is pissin me off, I know I can get there.

flat barbell benchpress     60
Pulldowns(palms facing in)  60
BOR      60
military press    45

reg progression day I guess. everything felt good, but I am nearing my 15RM. One more set of 15's and then off to the 10's.

calories have been steady at around 2600 everyday since last weeks slips. Ordering some whey protein tomorrow before the 10's and 5's.
 
militaries are rough Mikie, no doubt about it. I like your &quot;stick to it&quot; attitude!
 
If you have the room, why not ditch the MP's &amp; do push presses instead - and add-in a squat down to a medicineball (Thrusters a la Crossfit.com)
Now that's a compound move...
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Mikie

Something does not gel all that well for me, the fact that all your weights are the same for different exercises, wtf?

By the way M-W-F (Monday-Wednesday-Friday).
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Squats should be much more than Mil press for sure, bench about the same, but...have you tested all your RM's yet?
 
M-W-F? you guys got it all wrong with that schedule
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just kidding, I find it hard to get a workout in on Fridays.
I am probably going to have to switch to T-TH-Sat tho, Sunday isnt workin out well either really.

My weights are all the same due to the weight of my bar being the lightest I can go
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, plus the fact I am just starting out with weights, I wasnt to picky about it in the 15's. I am still learning how to do alot of these excercises etc. Definatly not recommending this as a way to go with the 15's, is just how I went. I have figured my RM's for the 10's and 5's tho, as I can lift a bit more with the lower reps, although the additional sets are probably going to wreck me.

I will look up the pushpress and see if I do have enough room, and see if I enjoy it more. I dont have a medicine ball, I work out at home.
 
I like the idea of switching to push press - it's the same as a military but with (some) leg drive to get 'er going up momemtum-wise. The immediate benefit would be that you would be able to get more weight overhead .
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whoa, the push press looks a little scary lol. This is what you mean right? Push Press I think I will just keep up the military presses for this cycle until I get more used to lifting.

nah Colby, that includes the bar
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Its a big honkin olympic bar(I think) I was told it weighed 40#'s, please let me live in denial if it is in fact lighter than that  
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bar.jpg
 
T-Th_Sat is also OK, as long as you're getting 36 - 48 hours in between.

Hopefully you'll get your loads sorted out as that will benefit you later!
 
last day of 15's. One set.
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Weeeeeee!!!!! I know it isn't anything to anyone on the forum, but I made it! This is the longest I have stuck to a weight program. Goal 1 met. I think it is the fact I am not killin myself with going to failure and spending alot of time on isos. Anytime I tried this before, that was the prescription.

Good energy today.

flat barbell benchpress 65
Pulldowns(palms facing in) 65
BOR 65
military press 50 - TeeHee

2800 calories today, adding a whey shake to my preworkout meal(shake+olive oil, a banana, and a PB sandwich) next week.

Fausto: yeah I tested out my 10's and 5's, check back next week if you don't mind and see if the weights are a bit more inline. I gathered the 15's were for &quot;prep&quot; purposes, and with my limited ability to lift heavy weights for 15 reps, I didnt really have an option, and figured I would be OK. If you think back to your first two weeks of working out with weights, would it have mattered? anyways, I attached a pic of my skinny ass so maybe you will see why I didnt concern myself with it.
ANYTHING is good at this point
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It was taken the night before I started this cycle. Hopefully there will be a nice &quot;after&quot; pic to go with it in a few weeks
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me.jpg
 
First day of 10's Two Sets(yesterday)
Going in 5# increments
====================

30 minutes on bike. HIIT I &quot;think&quot; would be the closest thing I have seen on this forum.

flat barbell benchpress 65
Pulldowns 90
BOR 50
military press 40

felt good. diet has been stable around 2600 cals, a few slips here and there.
 
Hey Mikie,

Why aren't you doing any lower body work? If you are trying to use the extra calories you are consuming to put on additonal mass, I would increase your # of exercises and drop the cardio for the moment. If your just trying to get healthier, then this looks good to me as long as you don't put on too much fat from the increased calories. You should consider at least 1 exercise for legs (Squats, Deads, Leg presses) and alternate the bench with dips (or do both). Maybe you would also consider varying your grips on the Pulldowns and trying to switch to chins when your strengthncreases. Good luck.
 
Second day of 10's Two Sets
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30 minutes on bike. Intervals.
flat barbell benchpress 70
Pulldowns 95
BOR 55
military press 45

felt good. my cals were around 2000 today, work
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Thanks for askin about the legs soflsun. I am questioning my thoughts on this. it'll all work out in the end. my thoughts were, if I train my legs everyday on my bike, 15-30 minutes on weight days, and 1-2 hours off days, and weekends its 50-100 miles in the mornings. why add anything extra to hinder my riding? sounds like I know what Im talking about, but strength gains are strength gains, and I am starting to think in the long term, adding weighted leg excercises would benefit me more. but for my stage, I am content. I will probably change it up a bit next cycle, my goal is to get thru this one tho
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