Training and diet for the beginner

**radicalry00** · 04-09-2008 11:34 AM

To save people from answering the same questions over and over again I thought I'd create a general guide that all the new trainees can take a look at

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First off, I'm far from being the most experienced trainer but would consider myself pretty knowledgable when it comes to training or diet. I'm going to try and outline the key principles that should be implemented to make good progress as a beginner trainee and to help them get into the good habits as early as possible.

Whatever your goals are, the basic principles apply:

1. The psychological factor - Your motivation.

By far the most significant factor in making the step to train. To be successful you NEED be motivated by a long-term goal. Too many beginners fail because they see it as a short term goal to improve their physique. Get it out of your head that you need to get ripped for your summer holiday, bodybuilding is a lifestyle choice that will demand years of your life, not weeks. You should see it as a daily way-of-life. Accept the current way your body looks in the mirror and make the decision to change your life to achieve your objectives. Totally re-structuring your daily diet and training is often necessary to make good progress. Accept it is a long term plan and you won't be discouraged at the first hurdle.

If it was easy to achieve and impressive body then it would no longer be impressive. Always remember this. Be realistic about your short term goals. Commit yourself to hard work and, with any luck, you will see it as something you enjoy. You will see it as something that distinguishes you from everyone else who simply can't be bothered. You'll be rewarded with progress and praise once you get everything nailed.

2. Short term / long term aims.

First of all assess your body. Within the coming months what do you want to do? Lose fat or build muscle? Your short term actions will have a significant impact on your long term results so think carefully. You need to realise that even though your physique may not be impressive at the moment, you may not need to lose fat in the early stages. A well structured and muscular physique is attained through years of training, you will not have huge pecs and abs of steel if you're only just starting out. (With the exception of the genetically gifted of course) Granted, if you are massively overweight then I would definately recommend aiming to lose the fat first.

To keep things simple; for fat loss, the more muscle you have the more calories your body burns at rest and while exercising a lb of muscle burns roughly 10x as many calories as a Ib of fat (approx 70 cals per hour compared to 7 cals per hour for fat).

Set some sensible targets e.g. to lose 10Ibs of fat in 5 weeks or gain 5 Ibs of lean muscle mass. Despite what we think, it is physically more difficult to build muscle than to lose fat. It is possible to lose 5 lbs of fat in a week but this will, more than likely, result in loss of muscle mass. Similarly, you cannot build 5lbs of lean muscle in a week....

Long term goals should be more ambitious but remain realistic. Come up with a goal physique that you want to achieve in 5 years. Gear your short term goals towards this and let your key motivation be yourself and no-body else. This is vital as you are unique and only you knows what you want to achieve.

3. Weight training

Your weights routine will form the foundations for progress. To make consistant and long term gains you should make of point of having a structured weight routine from the start. Freestyle routines often result in beginners overtraining and having no aims or purpose in the gym. They usually end up just throwing weights around with no weekly targets and real structure to their week. My first tip is to join a decent gym. Members of staff are often more than happy to offer advice and guide you in your first steps of training. A good gym will have a comprehensive selection of free-weights and machines. Make sure there are plenty of spare weights to put to use and ensure there is a good collection of dumbells. You may now be thinking that you don't need lots of weights at the moment but it's good to know that the equipment is there once you progress. And YOU WILL MAKE PROGRESS, there's no doubt about it.

Despite common misconceptions the majority of people at the gym are helpful, normal minded people who won't bite your head off at the first chance they get. They will not be looking down at you because you are new to the gym. Swallow your pride and get training!

Now on to lifting some weights!: For any unknown exercises take a look at this directory:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

This provides a very good / comprehensive database of all the exercises and associated muscle groups.

Also, a very good guide to weight training can be found at: http://stronglifts.com/how-to-build-muscle-mass-guide/ where I have lifted some of the information in this post from.

Use Free Weights. You can lift the heaviest weights using barbells. More weight is more stress, thus more muscle. Dumbbells are great for assistance exercises, but not for your main lifts. Stay away from machines.

Safe. Machines force you into fixed, unnatural movement patterns which can cause injuries. Free weights replicate natural motions.
Efficient. Free weights force you to control and balance the weight. This builds more muscle than machines, which balance the weight for you.
Functional. Strength built on machines doesn’t transfer to free weights or real life. No machine balances the weight for you in real life.
Versatile. You can do hundreds of exercises with just 1 barbell.

Do Compound Exercises. Don’t imitate Pro Bodybuilders. Isolation exercises are ok once you’ve built base strength & muscle mass. But if you’re starting to build muscle, exercises that hit several muscles at the same time are better.

No endless Biceps Curls -> Pull ups and Rows
Also no Triceps Kickbacks -> Bench Press, Overhead Press, Dips
Stick to the main leg exercises -> Squats & Deadlifts

Squats work your whole body, they’re the most important exercise. You’ll look totally different once you can Squat 1.5x your body-weight. That’s a free weight Squat with hips coming lower than knees. All your muscles tense when doing Squats & Deadlifts. They work your body as 1 piece and let you lift heavy weights. Don’t lose time with Biceps Curls. When you can Squat & Deadlift heavy weights, you’ll have bigger arms.

If you need a routine check out this thread:
http://forum.myprotein.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6059

4. Cardio work

Important for fat loss & Cardiovascular fitness. If you want to incorporate cardio you should aim to do it on separate sessions from weights so that your muscle glycogen is used while weight training to fuel the muscles. It can be done following weights training. Cardio can be utilised with diet to help lower bodyfat but if you're bulking you will want to limit the amount of cardio you're doing or up your daily calorie intake.

5. Rest & Recovery

I cannot stress how important proper rest and recovery is for weight training. It is widely acknowledged that diet and rest are just as important as the training itself. Put simply, muscles repair and grow while you rest. It is very easy to overtrain and when you do your body goes into Catabolysis (Eating away at muscle tissue to utilise stored protein). As you can imaine, this is not good. Many beginners overtrain and can't figure out why their biceps haven't grown in the last 12 months.

You should get a minimum of 8hrs sleep every night. The majority of growth and recovery happens while you sleep.

**radicalry00** · 04-09-2008 11:35 AM

6. Diet. Eat whole foods 90% of the time.

* Proteins. Meat, poultry, fish, whey, eggs, milk, …
* Carbs. Brown rice, oats, whole grain pasta, quinoa, …
* Veggies: Spinach, broccoli, tomato, salad, carrot, …
* Fruits. Banana, orange, apple, pineapple, peers, …
* Fats. Olive oil, fish oil, real butter, nuts, flax seeds, …

Eat More. You need food for energy and for muscle growth & recovery. More frequent meals also boosts your metabolism, helping fat loss.

* Eat Breakfast. Your body has been starved since you went to bed, eat protein.
* Eat Post Workout. Get proteins & carbs post workout to help muscle recovery & replenish energy stores.
* Eat Every 3 Hours. 6 meals/day. Gives your muscles a steady intake of protein, speeds up muscle repair & recovery, boosts your metabolism.

Get Protein. You need 1g protein per pound of body-weight daily to build & maintain muscle. That’s 160g of daily protein if you weigh 160lbs/72kg. Eat whole proteins with each meal.

* Red Meat. Ground round, steaks, deer, buffalo, …
* Poultry. Chicken breast, whole chicken, turkey, duck, …
* Fish. Tuna, salmon, sardines, mackerel, …
* Eggs. Eat the yolk, it’’s full of vitamins.
* Dairy. Milk, cottage cheese, yoghurt, whey.

Get Fats. Essential Fatty acids are vital for good health. Essential Fatty Acids are necessary fats that humans cannot make, and must be obtained through diet. EFAs are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids derived from linolenic, linoleic, and oleic acids. Try and include the following into your diet:
Olive oil, fish oil, real butter, nuts, flax seeds.

7. Track Progress - Start a journal here at MP. Many people will guide you in what routines to follow and offer lots of motivation.

And that's about it. I've tried to keep it as brief and compact as I could. Hope it helps alot of beginners out. The best of luck with your diet / training goals.

Ryan.

**dope540** · 04-09-2008 11:46 AM

good post radicalry.

only thing thats missing is in the diet section is to eat fats.

many people think that not eating fats will help them lose fats, wrong.

i'll let you edit you're post as you wrote it.