I have strength trained before, but that's been a long time, so I have several questions.
First, I'll state my goals. I'm not really interested in numbers in terms of lifting, just the way I look in the mirror. My motivation? I want to knock my gf flat I don't want to look amazingly ripped, I just want bigger than average muscles that are very defined. In terms of my weight, I'm pretty close to being average, I'd say there are only about 15 pounds of fat at most that could be safely eliminated from my body.
My first question pertains to the core exercises I need for working out. I'm confident that bench and squats are two of them, but there are many more muscles. I figure squats will take care of everything but my calves, so I can just select an exercise to isolate those, but for the upper body, there's a lot more. To target my biceps, if I do lateral pull downs, will that get my biceps as well as my shoulder muscles? I'm interested in shaping the arms and upper body as a whole.
The next question leads from the previous one. For my stomach, and I'm not necessarily wanting the six pack stereotypical look, I want it to be nice and firm. To accomplish this, are toning sit ups the route to go, or do I need to use weight resistance to help shape them? Also, I've heard it's always good to exercise muscles that oppose each other to balance the body, which means I need to get my back as well. In high school, we held a weight bar and did toe touches, and we also would lie stomach-down on a cushion with our legs supported under something so we could do back raises. Do I need to do something along these lines?
Set numbers and workout days are my next question. In high school, we did two sets of 10 for each exercise. Is this sufficient for building muscle? I know that you are recommended to give your muscles 48 hours to rest, so I planned to workout on Monday and Thursday. Should I do the same exact exercises on both days, or use different exercises? I also want to run for thirty minutes every day. Is it ok to run immediately after working out?
edit: I forgot to add my current muscle states. Currently, some of my muscles look pretty good, even though I don't work out. For example, my forearms look great when I flex, but a lot of my muscles are out of balance, favoring my right side. Should I target the weaker ones to bring them up to the level of the right, or just workout normally and have them equate themselves if possible?
My final question deals with the realization of my goals. If I achieve the look I want, should I move to a toning type exercise routine with the weight amounts that I last used to get where I was? Should I continue to work out twice a week, or will once a week be enough maintenance? Keep in mind, I don't want to necessarily look big, just well defined. Brad Pitt in Fight Club is a good example.
If you think articles or sites with specific information would help me, please point me in the direction of them. Thanks for your time.
First, I'll state my goals. I'm not really interested in numbers in terms of lifting, just the way I look in the mirror. My motivation? I want to knock my gf flat I don't want to look amazingly ripped, I just want bigger than average muscles that are very defined. In terms of my weight, I'm pretty close to being average, I'd say there are only about 15 pounds of fat at most that could be safely eliminated from my body.
My first question pertains to the core exercises I need for working out. I'm confident that bench and squats are two of them, but there are many more muscles. I figure squats will take care of everything but my calves, so I can just select an exercise to isolate those, but for the upper body, there's a lot more. To target my biceps, if I do lateral pull downs, will that get my biceps as well as my shoulder muscles? I'm interested in shaping the arms and upper body as a whole.
The next question leads from the previous one. For my stomach, and I'm not necessarily wanting the six pack stereotypical look, I want it to be nice and firm. To accomplish this, are toning sit ups the route to go, or do I need to use weight resistance to help shape them? Also, I've heard it's always good to exercise muscles that oppose each other to balance the body, which means I need to get my back as well. In high school, we held a weight bar and did toe touches, and we also would lie stomach-down on a cushion with our legs supported under something so we could do back raises. Do I need to do something along these lines?
Set numbers and workout days are my next question. In high school, we did two sets of 10 for each exercise. Is this sufficient for building muscle? I know that you are recommended to give your muscles 48 hours to rest, so I planned to workout on Monday and Thursday. Should I do the same exact exercises on both days, or use different exercises? I also want to run for thirty minutes every day. Is it ok to run immediately after working out?
edit: I forgot to add my current muscle states. Currently, some of my muscles look pretty good, even though I don't work out. For example, my forearms look great when I flex, but a lot of my muscles are out of balance, favoring my right side. Should I target the weaker ones to bring them up to the level of the right, or just workout normally and have them equate themselves if possible?
My final question deals with the realization of my goals. If I achieve the look I want, should I move to a toning type exercise routine with the weight amounts that I last used to get where I was? Should I continue to work out twice a week, or will once a week be enough maintenance? Keep in mind, I don't want to necessarily look big, just well defined. Brad Pitt in Fight Club is a good example.
If you think articles or sites with specific information would help me, please point me in the direction of them. Thanks for your time.