Finally ready for a change (?) - but how?

[Dackel]

Heyho all,

I am 42 yo and looking to put on muscle. Not extreme amounts but I want to look aesthetic and fit and feel well.

My weight went down from 142kg (313lbs) to 72kg (159lbs). I am keeping my weight in a stable range between 75kg and 77kg (165lbs - 169lbs) for a few years now. I didn't work out at all while losing weight. Just some cardio, mainly hiking.

I got 6+ months of gym experience. I followed a popular full body workout programm that solely relied on machines. I hit a plateau pretty fast and instead of questioning the way I did things I experimented with drop sets and supersets and tried to push sets way (for a beginner at least) beyond failure. The only thing that happened is that I felt mentally and physically fatigued. I felt sick. It was like having a flu without, well ... just without the flu. Does that make sense?
I must say that I didn't up my calorie intake. I always stayed around my maintenance calories.
Even though I loved training I started to hate it at the same time.

I quit the gym. I didn't like the people there anyway and the frustration was just too much. I didn't move a weight for almost a year now.

It's time to start another approach and maybe someone here can help me to find the right way for me.

I know if I want to size up I need to eat more. A surplus of 300 calories per day (more or less) would be fine. But I need you to know that I am deadly afraid to get fat again. That's really a problem, a mental wall I didn't manage to break through, yet. I suffered from obesity for so long and I never want to get to that point again.

My wish is to build a ("little") home gym. No machines, if possible. Mostly free weights. Barbells, dumbbells ... this kind of stuff. The typical gym life just isn't something I enjoy.

As far as I know my body works fine most of the time. No chronic deseases or stuff like that but I might consult a doc anyways. Just to be sure.

I though a program like stronglifts or starting strength would be a good starting point but those programs are discussed rather controversially.

That's me (in short):
Age: 42
Height: 192cm
Weight: 75kg (165lbs)
Body fat: Dunno. Probably around 17-18%. Mostly skinny with some lose skin after losing that much weight. Hard to tell and I am not quite objective.
Maintenance calories: 2.200 (daily tracking for several years)

Goals: Look good, feel good. Some visible muscles. Maybe some more, but realistic.

So, any ideas how to go on from here?

[Bando]

First thing u need to do m8 is catch a Dingo. The oil of the Dingo fur, applied properly will melt fat and turn flab into slab.

[air2fakie]

Do a proper novice program & get enough protein regardless of how much you eat. Don't assume you need to do anything special because of your back story.

Given your past gym experience & reluctance to put on any fat again, I don't think SS or SL are a good choice for you.

[Dackel]

Overcoming my fear would be a good idea anyways. It's stupid, even without training. I know I won't get fat again. And even if I put on "some" fat while in a caloric surplus I can get rid of it again.

I am open for any program. It's just that it has to be doable in a home gym environment without a ****load of expensive machines.

I already eat 150g+ of protein each day. Not for a particular reason, but because I just like it.

[OldFartTom]

Expensive machines??? Don't believe that BS. Sure some expensive machines maybe nice and some people like them, but they are not at all necessary. The only people who say they are essential are the people trying to sign you up for expensive gym membership.

You need nothing, and can get fit and strong but although possible with no equipment it's hard and inconvenient that way.

If you can get a squat rack a bar a bench and some weight plates (second hand!) that will make life much easier, also there's a heap of good programs that can be done with a rack + Olympic bar + bench + plates. Many argue this is far superior to machines anyway

[Gandog]

As ive mentioned before to others, id be looking at a 4 day split.. Pecs, Biceps.. Shoulders, Triceps.. day off. Back, Forearms.. Legs.. 6-12 reps 3-4 sets and switch it up.

Im old school, as OldFartTom mentioned you can do and I just free weighting now in the garage with an easy bar and two dumbbells and 100kgs of weight.. (not quite back to lifting the 100 repping yet, but close given all the probs ive had, now just put shoulder out, fun times, probably another week off and back too it.) Wanna build the legs back up properly so I can leg press 700kg's lol, maybe soon if I stop getting sick, so would have to join a gym for that..

Any who as to protein intake, you know you have to spread it out? As in pros would have 5 small meals a day, even getting up once or twice in the night to have a can of tuna.. (not like you should go to those extremes).. Just have to spread out food and protein shakes to take in as much as possible..

[Dackel]

Most of the days I eat three meals that are naturally high in protein (meat, legumes, milk products). Getting to 150g+ per day is no problem. Sneaking in 2 meals (or snacks) with a reasonable amount of protein isn't a problem either. I like fish and most of the vegetables and fruits. There shouldn't be any problems with my diet.
I am used to eating very(!) little amounts of fat. That's a remnant of my weight loss journey. IIRC a minimum amounts of healthy fats is important for the maintenance of proper hormons functions. That's something I need to work on.

My rough plan was to get to a calorie surplus of 200-300 cals/day and training using free weights. A power cage (or something similar), a bench, an olympic barbell and some weights that provide a good variation. Later I wanted to invest into a dumbbell bar (for the alerady existing weights, of course).
I thought starting out with a program like stronglifts or starting strength would be good. Maybe for the first 6 (or more) months before I start a split (U/L, PPL ... something like that) and focus more on hypertrophy instead fo strength.

The problem is that I am being discouraged way too easily when I read articles that postulate that "program x is useless" or "program y doesn't work hypertrophy" or similar stuff. And instead of starting somewhere I do nothing (at all).

So, is my above plan reasonable?

Thanks so far for your support.

[Milo1974]

Most of the days I eat three meals that are naturally high in protein (meat, legumes, milk products). Getting to 150g+ per day is no problem. Sneaking in 2 meals (or snacks) with a reasonable amount of protein isn't a problem either. I like fish and most of the vegetables and fruits. There shouldn't be any problems with my diet.

I am used to eating very(!) little amounts of fat. That's a remnant of my weight loss journey. IIRC a minimum amounts of healthy fats is important for the maintenance of proper hormons functions. That's something I need to work on.

My rough plan was to get to a calorie surplus of 200-300 cals/day and training using free weights. A power cage (or something similar), a bench, an olympic barbell and some weights that provide a good variation. Later I wanted to invest into a dumbbell bar (for the alerady existing weights, of course).

I thought starting out with a program like stronglifts or starting strength would be good. Maybe for the first 6 (or more) months before I start a split (U/L, PPL ... something like that) and focus more on hypertrophy instead fo strength.

The problem is that I am being discouraged way too easily when I read articles that postulate that "program x is useless" or "program y doesn't work hypertrophy" or similar stuff. And instead of starting somewhere I do nothing (at all).

So, is my above plan reasonable?

Thanks so far for your support.

I'm not an expert. But since I'm also in my 40s (48, so further along than you), I will give basic advice and ask basic questions.

Have you gotten comprehensive bloodwork done? You will want to make sure that your cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine are within normal levels and that all your vitamins and minerals are about maxxed out (but not toxically high). Your blood might be reasonably good currently - juding by what you say about your diet, it should be decent, although you may still have residual systemic problems because of your previous weight. But by the time of our 40s, MANY of us have started to enter into the realm of deficiencies – it’s actually probably normal for this to be the case, unfortunately. Staying on the diet you mentioned sounds great, but you may also want to consider getting a GOOD multivitamin (Solgar is a good brand). Since you are in your 40s, some Testosterone support would probably help, too, and there IS over-the-counter support that isn't too expensive and I can personally testify that I really felt a benefit to them - for a herbal based support, I have used LifeSeasons brand "Masculini-T" Testosterone Support (I really did my research on that and some of the ingredients were both unusual and impressive), and I have also special ordered Testogen (it’s from the UK) brand testosterone support which is a blend of relevant vitamins and minerals and also has an herbal component to it. I don't have the money to be able to use these on a regular basis, but I was on them for a little while, all at the same time (Solar, Masculini-T, and Testogen), and I had *NEVER* felt like that before. It might be about $100 or so a month for all 3 of those. ***ETA: The recommended serving each for Testogen and LifeSeasons Masculini-T were 4 and 3 capsules each, respectively, per day, but I was only taking 1 each as well as only 1 of the Solgar (which I also think was 3/day recommended), and I really felt a benefit from taking one a day of each, which kind of equals out to a more rounded MultiVitamin with Testosterone support all balanced out, and there is Ginseng in one ore more of those, as well, which is also good for boosting energy.***

I also have to recommend making sure you get a healthy amount of Omega 3's for so many reasons, and for that, the most obvious source is fish oil. The actual liquid *looks* like it is more expensive than the capsules, bit if you put in just a little brainwork, you will see that per serving or milligram or whatever, it is actually cheaper than gels/capsules – you aren’t paying for the gelatin or technology, and that bottle of liquid is FULL whereas if you were reduce the bottles of capsules/geltabs to oil only, it would only be a fraction of a full bottle. You can pay more for a great brand like Nordic Naturals, or just get the house brand of a place like The Vitamin Shoppe, which is substantially less expensive, but tastes worse. Nordic Naturals has an array of Omega 3 products to choose from for various purposes. You can also turn to Flax Oil / Flax Seed Oil, but it is not as potent (you can make up for that by consuming more of it, obviously), but Flax Seed Oil tastes absolutely wretched. Maybe there are products that have surfaced in the last few years that help with the taste.

The problem of your hitting a well is extremely unlikely due to any personality or psychology issues, seeing as you have already produced the kind of transformation of which very many people are incapable. It is more likely that there are some deficiencies that regular activity wouldn't expose, but putting on muscle does, and that may be manifesting in your hitting the walls that you indicate that you are hitting.

[LWW]

If your not doing any competing or looking to put on excessive muscle, all you need to do is experiment with a variety of training and do what you end up enjoying and getting excited about doing.

Once you find that you’ll have no problem doing it everyday.

[TonyM78]

I've made amazing progress with GST, which I started in March. I can honestly say that getting on a solid program is like a night and day difference. Obviously consistency is number one, but I've been able to avoid plateaus and continuously increase all my lifts, which is something I could never do before. Now, something like Stronglifts or Starting Strength is okay if you're a beginner and is better than nothing. If only to master your core compound lifts, which should be included in almost any program you do, I'd give these a shot for maybe six months. But after that I would definitely recommend a good program like GST that has built-in periodization.