could anybody recommend me a good work out? (non-PE)

[Always Ready Brek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Always Ready Brek]

Hola,

Im looking for a good work-out that i can do at home,, i have access to a tread mill and some bench weights but dont have a clue where to start with them. id probably be happier to do some workouts without these, to start anyway. Thing is im 23yo and havent been fit a day in my life! now im not in anyway fat, im tall and lean, but i really want to get fit and even if possible bulk out a little. But fitness really is my main goal. I tried searching for forums yesterday and this morning but didnt really come accross anything useful. So could anybody recommend me a fitness program? how long should i go on the tread mill? what about starting to lift weights - how much? thanks

[CUSP82 Administrator Admin of the Month Dec 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close CUSP82]

It would be easy for you just to go to a library and just look at some workout/fitness books.If you spend 10 minutes looking at the pictures of some exercises and some routines it will help you far more than trying to explain each exercise in words.Remember a picture is worth a thousand words!

[Closed039 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Closed039]

https://www.pegym.com/forums/gym/171...y-workout.html

You can't really do that one without the equipment in a gym. If you are looking to bulk up a bit, why are you trying to run? It seems counter-productive.

It is winter time, so I'd lift heavy weights and eat like a damn animal for 3 good months. Shed the fat later.

[vulcan Retired ModeratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close vulcan]

I recommend Convict Conditioning to anyone who'll listen at the moment.

I need to do some more CV alongside it, but I love what Convict Conditioning is doing to me muscle wise.

[Always Ready Brek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Always Ready Brek]

https://www.pegym.com/forums/gym/171...y-workout.html

You can't really do that one without the equipment in a gym. If you are looking to bulk up a bit, why are you trying to run? It seems counter-productive.

It is winter time, so I'd lift heavy weights and eat like a damn animal for 3 good months. Shed the fat later.

didnt know it was counter-productive! but id rather get fit than big. cheers tho

[Always Ready Brek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Always Ready Brek]

I recommend Convict Conditioning to anyone who'll listen at the moment.

I need to do some more CV alongside it, but I love what Convict Conditioning is doing to me muscle wise.

whats convict conditioning? and CV?

[Closed039 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Closed039]

I will never say it isn't a good idea to run because cardio is so important to being healthy. Also, if you are in great shape cardiovascularly it makes it that much easier for you to hit that 10th rep, as opposed to the unhealthy husky fella who huffs and puffs and is out of breath after one set on the bench!

But if you are trying to gain muscle, and that is your main objective, then I would recommend eating more than you do now, lifting damn heavy weights, and running only occasionally. You could even do the bike instead of treadmill - still break a nice sweat but really great for building leg muscle. Good luck.

[Always Ready Brek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Always Ready Brek]

cheers skeptic! i think first i'll get fit, then start building muscle

[RockstarParkingDude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RockstarParkingDude]

i have a great workout for ectomorphs. it canget you jacked up like brad pitt in fight club by june. that said, it is somewhat intense.

a few more of your stats would be good before we recommend workouts.

what is your age? height? weight? and body fat percent (estimate)

if you are tall and lean, say 6' and under 170 pounds i have a great workout for you.

there are three basic pillars. exersice, diet, lifestyle change.

exercise - if you are thin, lay off your cardio. do sprints rather than jogging for 35 minutes. don't look to burn calories. heavy weights are what you need. high resistance anyways. if you're doing pushups, put for feet on a chair, it will add about 15 pounds to your pushup. if you're doing pullups - its better to do 5 with a 25 pound weight than 15 at your bodyweight. try to remember to rest between sets. if you want a full rountine i can give youone, its just lots of typing.

diet - eat more. you need (if you are having trouble gaining muscle) to eat more calories, and try to make sure everything you eat has at lease 1/4 protein. supplement with protein drinks or weight gainers. try to get 200g protein a day. this alone will make your progress immensely faster. to gain weight you need to bring in more caloies than you burn, so avoid those high endurance activities.

lifestyle change - eat more often - 6 times a day shoot for 500 calories each meal. maybe more - drink 3 tall glasses of milk a day and eat protein before bed. stop drinking heavily if you do drink, stop doing thing that de-motivate you. make it part of your daiy rountine.



last bit of advice - don't push yourself too hard. you can get in very good shape very quickly if you hit all the bases correctly. working out alone wont do it tho. its like changing the oil in a car with no gas - car still won't go anywhere.

[Always Ready Brek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Always Ready Brek]

im 6.3 and weigh roughly 175 - 180.. i dunno between 12.5 and 13 stone if that means anything to you. 23 years old. actually 24 next month.. ech. i dont consider myself skinny and im relatively toned,but more definition would be great. that and just being more FIT!! so your saying if i do less cardio and more weights,, say maybe 10 mins on thread mill then,, i dunno push-ups with a chair, chin ups with a 25 pound weight and.. i dunno, squats, lunges.. those type things. basically your saying do cardio but not too much? and eat like a horse? ha, i can do that but you say brad pitt in fight club in 6 months eh??? go on...

[RockstarParkingDude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RockstarParkingDude]

yes in 6 months... easy. if you can follow a difficult plan.

ok, first off what you need to understand:
to get a toned, well defined look, your muscles need to be bigger than they are, if you are an ecto (which you are) then you don't need to worry about losing your definition. make your muscles bigger and they will look super cut, and you can stop getting bigger whenever you want. to get a slim but muscled look, you muscles still need to be bigger.

more muscles burn more energy, you need more calories. to build muscle, you need surplus protein 1g-1.5g per poung bodyweight, so shoot for about 200g a day. you'll notice that muscle and fat will both grow at the same time. if you gain 15 pounds, 4 or 5 will be fat. but with your metabolism, you can burn away that fat in a week easy. muscle will stay and fat will go.

The Program:

Diet: this is the hardest part, it can get monotonous and you get sick of eating, but it works and without this you wont gain. you need to eat clean and often. not super clean tho.... you wont have trouble with fat.

adjust times to your schedule

9am You need to eat breakfast every day - some sort of protein in it and a few carbs. ie. a protein bar and a glass of milk. 6 eggs with milk and toast (if you can make a cheese omelet do it every morn.) breakfast sausage and eggs and bacon. etc.

11am you need to drink a whey protein shake (60g protein) 2 hours after breakfast.

1pm you need to eat a small lunch. ie. ham sandwich with cheese lettuce and tomato

3pm you need to eat something 2 hours after lunch. protein bar. chicken breast. protein shake. this is the hardest one to do if you work, it is very essential though.

4pm on gym days you will eat something before the gym like a granola bar. drink a gatorade while you're there. immeadiately after the gym you take 3 servings of protein powder.

6-8pm you need to eat dinner 3 hours after the gym. on non gym days, 3 hours after your last meal.

snack away at night, but only in moderation. this is totally ok for you, but avoid highly processed things. far better to snack on all natural ice cream than highly processed doritos. try to eat very clean.

midnight - finally you eat right before you go to bed. high protein meal that is slow digesting. casien protein shakes work for this, i like dairy for this. several eggs, some cheese and some diced up tomato makes a great late night omelet.

thats the diet part. you can change it up as you see fit or to your schedule, but the idea is lots of protein many times a day. i use both a whey protein and a weight gainer (which just has more calories). i use 2 gainers and whey after workouts. but you get the idea. also... i'm a vegetarian. i forgot to add - eat lots of meat. red meat and seafood are both great.

[Always Ready Brek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Always Ready Brek]

cheers man, i appreciate it! how often should i work out? reps

[RockstarParkingDude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RockstarParkingDude]

The Workout

This can vary, but the main points should stay the same. Use heavy weights. to build the muscle as fast as possible you need to challenge yourself every time. heavy weights build bigger muscles quicker. with an ecto, building big muscles can be tough, but they need to be bigger than they are to get that cut look. i'll post my routine but it is far from the only routine that works. it focuses on the vanity muscles, which since i'm not an athlete is ok for me.

basically no matter what routine you choose, you should try to push yourself so that your first set is a little over half what you can do to warm up for maybe 8 or 10, second set is the most you can do for 5, third set is the most you have done - shoot for 3 or more weight, fourth set is for 5 probably less weight than set 2, fifth set is for 7 with a lighter weight that is probably 75% your max. if you can do sets after that - try to do another set or two for 5, but don't overwork it. this applies to major muscle workouts (chest, lat, shoulder, thigh). smaller muscles (arms, calves, abs) get 3 sets with at least 2 different exercises.

what that means for me:

Monday: Chest and arms
Dumbbell Bench press - 5 sets
40 pounders for 10
70 pounders for 4 or 5
75 pounders for 3 or 4 - or 80 pounders for 2 if i can
65 pounders for 5
60 pounders for 7 if i can

Curls seated
20 pounders for 8
30 pounders for 6
35 pounders if i can for 4
25 pounders for 8 or till burnt

kneeling tricep raises - no warmup needed
40 pounds for 6
45 for 4
35 for as many as i can

Barbell curls standing
80 pounds for as many as i can
90 for as many as i can

tricep pushdowns - kneel so you cant cheat
2 sets of 10

Tuesday: back and shoulders
Lat Pulldowns
90 pounds for 10
180 pounds for 8
270 pounds for 5
280 pounds for 5
290 pounds for 3
250 pounds for 7
250 pounds for 5

dumbbell shoulder presses and lateral raises - i follow each set of presses by leaning forward and raising to hit my back delts

30 x 10 and 15 x 10
45 x 8 and 20 x 8
50x 6 and 20 x 8
55 x4 and 25 x 5
40 x 8 and 20 x 5

rows - five sets same idea.

wednesday rest

thursday repeat monday workout except 3 sets of 10 and 75% weight
friday repeat tuesday except 3 sets of 10 and 75% weight

saturday and sunday rest.

change the workout to fit your goals, this fits mine. i dont work legs, because i'm on my feet all day at work and don't need to. add more time to the areas you are weakest in. the idea is push yourself hard then rest then stretch em out good working lightly and rest again for 2 days.

i almost forgot my ab routine. every workout day, you work your abs with weight. i already wrote it up once...

[RockstarParkingDude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RockstarParkingDude]

the best way to get killer abs is to treat them like every other muscle. don't do 500 crunches. waste of time.

8 min abs is a good beginner program which i had considerable success with, but even this took much longer than i think it needed to.

intense weighted ab exercise is best.

decline situps with added weights is best. work on form. try to stare at your dick the whole time - if you look to the ceiling your not coming back up. kettle bells work very well for this purpose - a pair of 5-15 pound dumbells work well too. hold the weight against your chest, under your chin. try to go for sets of 8-12 do 3 sets. this is killer for your 6 pack.

using the same decline bench, take a 10 - 25 pound plate or kettle bell. sit back about halfway and move the weight side to side over your belly button, dropping it lower than your hip before coming back to the other side. do these about 6 or 8 to each side, then increase speed and dont twist as far for another 8 or till you're burning good. 2-3 sets

leg raises with ankle weights 5-10 pounds per leg rounds out the bunch.

this will build your abs big enough to be noticeably defined through your 1/4 of belly fat. remember - try to increase weight or reps. treat your abs like you would any other muscle. you must use weight to see results.

[RockstarParkingDude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RockstarParkingDude]

i posted a thread about supplements - read that as well. it applies to this totally. supplements will only speed your progress - they will help make 100% utilization of your gym time and diet by giving your body everything it needs to function highly.

this is really the challenge. you need to make these things not something you have to do, but part of your daily life.

lifestyle changes that will speed your transformation:
- if you use drugs, stop. or moderate at least. they will keep you from being motivated.
- if you smoke cigarettes, this will slow your progress.
- stop drinking soda - drink juice, milk, or water. this alone will make a MAJOR difference. whole milk is great for ectomorphs. heres why: three 12oz glasses of milk a day can up your protein by 50g, your calories by 500, and its just good for you... calcium and such.
-Eating differently means a lot to your lifestyle. eating right is not in itself enough, you need to eat at the right times. breakfast is key, as is protein before bed. if your body runs out of gas (gets hungry) - it starts using proteins that you were building into muscles for fuel.
- You'll notice that when you start lifting heavy, you will get winded after sets. don't be fooled by thinking you are out of shape or that it's hurting your cardio. you are pumping huge amounts of blood and oxygen to your muscles so that it can move that super heavy weight. you are giving your heart a great workout. you'll notice that doing a set of heavy benches leaves you as winded as running a 100m dash. that shouldn't be a surprise, its the same idea. go for a jog after a month of heavy lifting and see how much better your cardio actually got.
- you don't need to worry about blowing up like a monster from a workout like this. if someone who wasn't naturally lean followed this program, they would get fat and massive like a power lifter. an ecto however needs this just to get to slim and muscular.


hope this all helps you out man. if you stick to it for 6 months - even if you cheat sometimes- i guarantee you will see drastic results. brad pitt in fight club in 6 months - anyone can do it. anyone period. you just need to be willing to put in the work.