Beginner training with a competitive body builder.

R

retired_fyros

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I'm 22 years old and I've been in and out in the gym for the last few years. I move around a lot and this usually creates 6-12 mo. gaps in my training, but I believe I am ready to settle now and begin a regular routine.

My problem is that my best friend is a competitive body builder. He gives me great advice all the time on form and different exercises, however, I am not sure I am responding well to his training. I am sore for almost a week afterwards sometimes. I am not sure if my diet is wrong, that I'm starting off too strong, bad stretching, etc.

I weight train 4 times a week (at least 2 hours a day) and do cardio 5 times a week (at least 1 hour). The two day cardio break I take is usually after we do legs that day. He does exercises that he calls rest-pause. Where you do about 3 sets of warm up weights, then do 3-4 sets of max weight reps to exhaustion with 15 second breaks in between sets.

I'm 6'1 240 (I used to weigh 300 but I'd been running the last 4 months that has helped me lose a lot of weight.) My primary goal is to lose weight and not be in the "overweight" category of the BMI index. I am curious: I know weight training helps increase muscle mass and in turn, metabolism... but with the amount of food he's suggesting I eat and protein (over 200g/day, which is extremely hard for me to maintain) is this the best route for me? I feel like I am gaining fat and muscle to help build muscle. Is it normal to be barely be able to walk or extend my arms after workouts... is it temporary... or is it because I'm a beginner training too hard? Is HIIT better for me than running 3 miles 5 days a week?

Sorry for being long-winded... I just have very little free time during the day and want to make sure my workouts are efficient.

Also... what are some recommended supplements to help with this? Creatine, Glutamine, etc?

Thanks in advance.
 
I usually start the day off with either 5 eggs (only 1-2 egg yolks) or a large bowl of oatmeal. I have a mixed berry shake (with about 50g of protein in it) an hour before my work out and a straight protein shake (another 50g) right after my workout. My before dinner meal will usually be a bowl of cottage cheese and my dinner is either steak, lean hamburger, or chicken and lots of raw (green) veggies. I eat as often as I can but sometimes I just can't eat that much. Especially with the mentality I've gotten from trying to lose weight.
 
Does he have you doing just one or two body parts per workout, but a million exercises and sets for those parts?

that's how a VETERAN body builder has to train to keep his body growing.

You are not a veteran...you need WAY less volume (fewer exercises, fewer total sets) and more frequency.

in other words if you are trying to train like my assumption, you need to do a 180 and go with FULLBODY workouts, 3x a week.
 
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