beginner's advice

tombreck2 · 2014-12-29T14:24:26+00:00

Look up 5x5

enriquex · 2014-12-29T14:53:14+00:00

The barbell when benching will not just fall on your chest. I've failed many bench presses without a spotter, and its really, really easy to just lower it and then roll it off (up to about 80kg bench I've done it). If you're lifting weight where its dangerous, then you've been lifting for years and will most likely have a spotter.

Benchpress, Squat, Deadlift and Overhead press are your bread and butter. Supplement these with accessory lifts which isolate smaller muscles.

For a beginner, I would recommend starting strength. That is basically:

Workout A

Squat 3x5 (or 5x5)

Bench " "

Overhead press " "

Workout B

Squat 3x5 (or 5x5)

Bench " "

Deadlift 1x5 (go relatively hard but get form 100% downpat first)

Workout goes AxBxAxx, So Monday = A, Tuesday = rest, Wednesday = B etc

If you want/have more time incorporate accessory lifts. You want to target biceps, triceps and lats mostly if you're going for aesthetics.

Lat pulldowns or pull ups - 3x8

Barbell curls/preacher curls - 3x8 (or search up 21's, they're very good too)

skullcrushers/tricep cable pulldowns - 3x8

Once you've been doing that for 6-8 months and have a solid strength base, you can move on to a split if you want aesthetics or keep going with SS/anouther barbell oriented routine for strength.

The numbers you want roughly after 6 months, if you've been eating and doing it properly:

Bench: ~0.75x+ of bodyweight

Squat: ~1x+ "

OHP: ~0.5x+ "

Deadlift: ~1.2+ "

Frequent places like /r/gainit to learn more exercises. Devise your own one when you have the know how.

Most important thing though is consistency. If you cbf going to the gym, get some preworkout and go. Eat a lot (400-500 more than your TDEE) otherwise it's useless.

Some tools

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ - Calculates how many calories you should be eating

http://www.strstd.com/ - Strength standards, good for seeing where you're at albeit relatively inaccurate

http://www.exrx.net/ - look up exercises here. Your first few weeks should be spent getting form perfect. No one cares if you can lift an extra 10kg if you're compromising form in the process. Form is key.

So in other words:

Lift consistently, get form perfect, eat more and you'll get results. Good luck.

utopianaura · 2014-12-29T15:34:33+00:00

Anyway, TRP has motivated me to start from somewhere, and I don't want to read a whole book like starting strength.

Harden your ass up and read the damn book.

Does your available gym have a power rack? Use that for benchpressing and you won't die, I promise.

jdoe5 · 2014-12-29T23:18:07+00:00

Go to /r/fitness and read up. A lot of guys here started there, and pretty much any lifting advice you get here is gonna be a repost from there.

NaughtyFred · 2014-12-31T01:05:44+00:00

Overhead presses will (over time) fuck up your shoulders because anatomically it's one off the weakest positions to put your shoulder girdle in.

Try upright rows instead if you want to build your shoulders

Title	beginner's advice
Author	utopianaura
Upvotes	2
Comments	9
Date	December 29, 2014 2:12 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/2qpm71/beginners_advice/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/beginners-advice.144776 https://theredarchive.com/post/144776

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