Beginner... nervous about switching up a routine... could definitely use some advice

[Sad07030]

I've been lifting on and off for a few years now with some time off here and there without much at all (3 months backpacking India, a back injury...). The problem is that even when I was exercising regularly It seemed like the results were super minimal. I would be at the gym lifting for at least 1-1.5 hrs a day, 5 days a week. My general lifting structure is 3 sets of each exercise, usually supersets, with each set being done until I cant do another one. I try to keep it between 15-20 reps, but sometimes (because the planet fitness i go to is ****ty) I would be doing 20-25 reps of some exercises (like bent over one arm barbell rows, because they didn't have an in between weight that worked).

The point is, I feel like I work pretty hard at the gym... and when I am doing well and going every day for months, I havent felt as if I have gotten stronger. I haven't even been able to increase weight (I can still barely get past a first set of 13 barbell curls with a pathetic 15lbs... and the sets drop rapidly after that.)

I found a blog set up by a woman called Muffin top-Less Challenge. I've decided to follow her routine and meal plan religiously, and i'm about a week into it. The set up of her routine is a bit different, (I usually combined tri/chest, bi/back, etc and she has a different day for each) and I feel as though i'm not lifting as much AND eating more... this has me nervous that i'm actually going to gain weight, and not the good kind, while decreasing any muscle I do have. I increased the cardio along with protein intake, but the general lifting everyday seems shorter and I will admit on some days seems less intense...

Could ANYBODY please shed some light on this... offer advice... ANYTHING. I come from a background of eating disorders and body image issues, so this is something I'm really trying to manage well and healthily, but not seeing results is SO frustrating when i try so hard.



Here is an example of my old routine vs. the new one:

Triceps/Chest: (all supersets)
Kickback 15lb 20 15 13
Dips 22 16 13

Triceps pushdown 55lb 20 13 11
rope pushdown 50lb 13 9 7

Dumbbell Chest press 25lb 24 18 12
Dumbbell fly 10lb 19 12 9

Incline press 55lb 18 13 11
Pushups 3 sets as many as possible


The NEW routine has everything divided into its own day except for Tricep/Bicep being one day.

Chest:
4x13 dumbbell bench ress
3x15 cable cross over
4x10-12 incline barbell press
3x10 pec dec flies
4x pushups as many as possible

Triceps: (this day is also mixed with three exercises for biceps superset with the triceps)
3x12 rope pushdown
4x12 skull crushers
3x12 tri kickback with dropsets

[wannabefit69]

I've been lifting on and off for a few years now with some time off here and there without much at all (3 months backpacking India, a back injury...). The problem is that even when I was exercising regularly It seemed like the results were super minimal. I would be at the gym lifting for at least 1-1.5 hrs a day, 5 days a week. My general lifting structure is 3 sets of each exercise, usually supersets, with each set being done until I cant do another one. I try to keep it between 15-20 reps, but sometimes (because the planet fitness i go to is ****ty) I would be doing 20-25 reps of some exercises (like bent over one arm barbell rows, because they didn't have an in between weight that worked).

The point is, I feel like I work pretty hard at the gym... and when I am doing well and going every day for months, I havent felt as if I have gotten stronger. I haven't even been able to increase weight (I can still barely get past a first set of 13 barbell curls with a pathetic 15lbs... and the sets drop rapidly after that.)

I found a blog set up by a woman called Muffin top-Less Challenge. I've decided to follow her routine and meal plan religiously, and i'm about a week into it. The set up of her routine is a bit different, (I usually combined tri/chest, bi/back, etc and she has a different day for each) and I feel as though i'm not lifting as much AND eating more... this has me nervous that i'm actually going to gain weight, and not the good kind, while decreasing any muscle I do have. I increased the cardio along with protein intake, but the general lifting everyday seems shorter and I will admit on some days seems less intense...

Could ANYBODY please shed some light on this... offer advice... ANYTHING. I come from a background of eating disorders and body image issues, so this is something I'm really trying to manage well and healthily, but not seeing results is SO frustrating when i try so hard.



Here is an example of my old routine vs. the new one:

Triceps/Chest: (all supersets)
Kickback 15lb 20 15 13
Dips 22 16 13

Triceps pushdown 55lb 20 13 11
rope pushdown 50lb 13 9 7

Dumbbell Chest press 25lb 24 18 12
Dumbbell fly 10lb 19 12 9

Incline press 55lb 18 13 11
Pushups 3 sets as many as possible


The NEW routine has everything divided into its own day except for Tricep/Bicep being one day.

Chest:
4x13 dumbbell bench ress
3x15 cable cross over
4x10-12 incline barbell press
3x10 pec dec flies
4x pushups as many as possible

Triceps: (this day is also mixed with three exercises for biceps superset with the triceps)
3x12 rope pushdown
4x12 skull crushers
3x12 tri kickback with dropsets

You never stated anything about your nutrition...in order to gain muscle you have to eat in a surplus..measure track and go to the sticky in nutrition and calculate your macros...otherwise we dont know the full story to help you

[womanoid]

Read the stickies in the training sub-forum & the main exercise forum. Your approach isn't aimed at visual or strength changes, it's a woman's magazine approach. Too many reps. And at this point, you might as well start as a total newb with a full body split and drop isolations until you NEED them (when you physically or visually you have a disproportionally weak spot).

As for diet. Read the stickies there too. There is no reason to follow anyone else's meal plan. You didn't mention what your current goal is, this is going to dictate how much you eat. But, since you've been inconsistent & off the mark with training, I'd recommend eating at your maintenance and seeing if you can recomp (lose fat while gaining muscle). Your maintenance is
1900-2000 cals
115+ g protein, 56+ g fat, 241- g carbs
Fill it in on whatever foods you like & make you feel good.

[jenjayee]

I just want to start by saying I completely understand your fears and reservations about the new plan. I also come from a background of eating disorders and am just recently beginning to work through the confidence issues.

Seeing results often comes 90% from your diet. Eating clean is the best thing you can do (i.e., staying away from sugar and refined carbs and eating a combination of lean protein and complex carbs every 3 hours). I find that on this plan, I'm never hungry, and I am better able to realize when im full, so I'm actually less worried about overeating than I have been on any other diet. It does take awhile to get used to, but stick with it for a couple of weeks and you'll notice a big difference in how you feel and think about food. Also make sure you're drinking at the very least 8-10 cups of water each day. This helps you flush toxins out of your body and keeps you hydrated and energized for workouts.

In addition, if you are lifting heavier, your body will need more nutrients, so you'll have to eat more to see results otherwise your body will never build muscle and you either won't see any results or you'll end up losing muscle because your body will use it to replace the fuel you aren't taking in through your diet.

The general rule for toning is lighter weights at higher reps, which seemed like what you were doing. Building muscle requires heavier weights at lower reps. My current program comes from Nicole Moneer Guerrero, and she does 4 sets of 12 for most muscles and 4 sets of 10 for legs. Sometimes this works for me, and other times I feel like I need to do 8 or 10 reps. However, after only a couple weeks in the gym on this routine. I already see myself being able to increase the weight I lift. The rule I use for choosing a weight is this: the weight should be heavy enough so that by the end of each set you feel pretty tired and have to work hard to lift - but can still make it through all of your sets.

I find that going to the gym only 3 or 4 days and lifting to work opposite muscle groups (bi/tri/shoulders, chest/back, legs) is most effective because I don't overwork one muscle group and have more rest time to recover. My current program does something like this, but I find myself tweaking it to what I feel is better for me. Different training programs work differently for everyone so don't feel bad about taking a training program you like and switching things up. Just be sure you stick with something that's realistic for you so that you don't fall off the wagon because you're too exhausted.

Also, if you want to see results you should probably drink a protein shake after each workout and probably at least once each day even of you don't exercise. It'll help your muscles rebuild faster and stronger. I drink Vega protein because it has no artificial sweeteners in it.

I hope some of this was helpful! Good luck!

[Ang123]

I'm still learning and not sure what is best as far as lifting since there seems to be so many different views and opinions and nothing 100% proven. But will say I had been working out one body part per day for over 2 years and seeing progress but not as much as I expected. Then I switched to chest/tri, back/bi, shoulder/legs with a little ab work every day and am seeing more progress that way especially with ending up working each part twice a week. In fact in two weeks my tricep strength improved enough I could go from 90 lbs now to 160 lbs on the tricep cable pulldown so to me that is huge progress. Also my bench press heaviest lift improved by 20 lbs in that same time. I think working bi/tris on same day like everyone did at my old gym is a huge mistake. I feel a whole lot stronger now at least in upper body. Still trying to figure out what is best for lower body as it doesn't seem to respond.

For some reason at my current gym the majority of people are doing all over body workouts which I had read was a new trend in lifting. I did that the first couple months when I first started lifting because I didn't know any better. I really think its not a good idea because I don't see people's bodies improving doing that routine.

I don't think following someone else's meal plan would necessarily work. Everyone's results are different. Your caloric need alone depends on your height, weight, age, gender and activity level. Not only that but other things like genetics, medical disorders, medication and the actual weight and number of reps you lift make each one of us unique from the next person. Use meal plans for ideas, but don't think following it completely will automatically lead to the results you want. You aren't the same person as that woman.

[Sad07030]

Thanks for the responses ladies. Sorry I left out the nutrition. I have started a clean diet... which looks something like this:

PWO Optimeal shake
Breakfast: 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 Chicken sausage (id have eggs but im allergic and the one sausage is 12g protein)

Snack: 1/2 cup plain FF greek yogurt with berries

Lunch: 4oz tialpia, 4 oz green veggies, 1/2 cup quinoa

Snack: 1/2 cup plain fat free greek yogurt with berries

Dinner: 4 oz chicken, 4 oz green veggies

Before bed Casein shake with Almond Milk and 1/2 banana


As for the routine of doing 4 sets of 12 reps my question there is whether or not I am supposed to meet muscle failure after each set or just on the last set or am I supposed to just use a weight that makes getting to 12 on each set difficult. I feel like with some exercises I can do 12 easily on the first set, but by the third or fourth im struggling to make even 10.

My ultimate goal is to build muscle and lose fat. An all around transformation.

[oregonchick76]

Thanks for the responses ladies. Sorry I left out the nutrition. I have started a clean diet... which looks something like this:

PWO Optimeal shake
Breakfast: 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 Chicken sausage (id have eggs but im allergic and the one sausage is 12g protein)

Snack: 1/2 cup plain FF greek yogurt with berries

Lunch: 4oz tialpia, 4 oz green veggies, 1/2 cup quinoa

Snack: 1/2 cup plain fat free greek yogurt with berries

Dinner: 4 oz chicken, 4 oz green veggies

Before bed Casein shake with Almond Milk and 1/2 banana


As for the routine of doing 4 sets of 12 reps my question there is whether or not I am supposed to meet muscle failure after each set or just on the last set or am I supposed to just use a weight that makes getting to 12 on each set difficult. I feel like with some exercises I can do 12 easily on the first set, but by the third or fourth im struggling to make even 10.

My ultimate goal is to build muscle and lose fat. An all around transformation.

You should be eating 50 or so g of fat per day.

[Sad07030]

Ive just started using LiveStrongs "My Plate" app to estimate my caloric and macronutrient intake. I followed the formulas I found on one of the Stickys and with a 20% reduction in calories for weight loss (giving me 1600/day) I was at 167g of Protein and 67g of fat. Today, according to the program I consumed 113g protein (which the program said was too much..) and 39g of fat with a total caloric intake of 1462. Any thoughts on how I could add enough fat and protein without going over caloric intake? Almond butter? Larger portions of chicken and fish?