Welcome to DB

If You are New to Discussbodybuilding (DB) Welcome Home

With so many new beginners and intermediate to advanced individuals browsing the forum, this particular forum is long over-due. Here will be a place for you to introduce yourself and eventually find some of the best links for beginners' to read on this forum. Don't confuse this with another idea, the Best of Discussbodybuilding. These posts in this forum are geared towards the newbie who wants some type of quick start of what threads to read about training, nutrition and supplements.

Welcome to DB!

* Only Moderators and Admins of this forum will post suggested threads and links *

Marc C. David
Support DB! Buy your supplements at Supplements101.com

This is all pretty daunting... like what is a font/size=3? Anyway, I'm sure my message will get across regardless of the size of my type. As you've probably guessed, I'm new here. I'm 55. I'm in OK shape but tend to be a bit overweight. For close to 40 years I've tried to melt the pudge around my middle and from what I understand, it only gets harder. I've seen the ripped bodies on the cover of weightlifting mags -- the ones that looked like the "Visible Man" model I had when I was 13. That's not me. Nor do I EVER want it to be. I would just like to have a nice contour... be healthy... and walk humbly with my fellow humans.

Where do you suggest I go? ...or should I just wander aimlessly till I see something?

For dealing with that, you need to post something about your eating habits in the nutrition forum- Then stop into the training forum and give us an idea of what you've been doing cardio wise. Those are the two main keys to getting that nice contour- Get your cardio and nutrition right, and you'll get there soon enough- No gimmick diets, no magic pills, no amazing two minute workouts, just plain old facts and good advice.
Welcome to DB!

UPDATE:

*mission:

ACCOMPLISHED!*



dropped 9 of the 10 pounds gained from being ill..changed diet, and have great overall energy..thanks to DB!

Welcome to DB! I see you have a post in the Critique My Physique forum...I'll try and answer this there...

Marc C. David
Support DB! Buy your supplements at Supplements101.com

Hello all,
I'm a 34 year old male that is just getting back into physical exercises. I'm looking for ideas on a daily schedual. I'm 262 lbs and 6' tall. According to the BM index I'm considered obese. I don't see it, I've always been a large person. Not fat, just big. I've trained in Martial Arts for 6 years. I've been out of it for about 5 years. Before that I was in the Marine Corps and trained daily but, the Corps had a different idea of what body training was back then.
Currently, for the past month, I have started to go to the gym before work 4 days a week. I use the machines at the gym, I don't have a partner to spot me for the free weights. My current format is:

Monday: Abs and everything about the waste i.e. back, chest, arms, shoulders.
Tuesday: Abs and everything below the waste.
Wednesday: Rest (unable to make it to the gym this day)
Thursday: Repeat of Monday
Friday: Repeat of Tuesday

I've seen a small change in arm, back, and my chest but nothing for the abs. The more I work out the more I want to eat. I've tried the South Beach Diet and all that did is make me want to eat more. My current diet is mostly chicken and fish. Red meat about once a week. My wife forces me to eat green veggies. We also have a lot of rice with our meals. I'm addicted to chocolate. I think I need help. Does anyone have any ideas on how I should change my format and any specific exercises?
Thanks for any advice,
tlex

Welcome to DB-
I have some issues when it comes to training that way- Upper body then lower body- First of all, when you try to hit your entire upper or lower body in one day, you're not going to get the most out of your energy. You start off the workout with a certain amount, but with so much work to do, you're going to be running out of gas towards the middle or end- Something in your upper or lower body is not going to be able to perform it's best simply because you don't have the energy.
Another reason I don't like that format is because a lot of those muscles are required to perform too much- Besides overall energy levels, you'll be making the muscles themselves too tired to get the most out of them. I'm always going on about the relationship between chest, shoulders and triceps- When you do bench presses, your shoulders and triceps come into play quite a bit even though it's a chest exercise. By the time you're done with chest, your shoulders and triceps will be too tired to do their best when it's their turn- And if you do them before chest, your chest workout will suffer for the same reason.
Besides that, you're doing four of those marathon workouts a week- Sounds like a lot, when you could be getting better results by doing less. Personally, I think you should try working one muscle group each day- That way, you can devote all that day's energy to that one area, and you're also giving your muscles an entire week to recover from that workout. Muscle needs more time to rebuild than most people think, and a lot of people seem to forget that muscle is built while it's resting, not while it's lifting weights- My advice, try working everything once a week, see how it works for you after a couple of months- Everyone's different, everyone responds differently to different routines, but you might be surprised if you give it a shot. Keep in mind, results never show as quick as we'd like them too- I typically tell people to give a routine three or four months before they should really decide whether it's working or not.
When it comes to nutrition, I'd stay away from Atkins and the other low carb deals- Check out our nutrition forum for some great articles and threads on nutrition, the whole low carb diet is a fad, and not the best thing for your health. In the nutrition forum, you'll find all you need to know about how to get the body you want through nutrition THE RIGHT WAY. Post something about your eating habits there, you'll get some good responses.
When it comes to your abs, visible results usually come from a combination of the right nutrition and cardio- I noticed you didn't mention any cardio in your post, if you're looking to lose some fat in that area so your abs are visible, that's how you'll want to do it- Working your abs everyday won't get results, but melting any fat that's covering them up will. Opinions on how to actually work your abs vary here, some say work them every day, others say work them once a week like every other muscle using weights, others say don't work them at all and let the big compound exercises hit them indirectly- But the one fact we all tend to agree on is that for visible abs, you need to lower your body fat percentage through cardio and diet. All the crunches in the world will not get rid of the fat from your stomach, there's no such thing as spot fat reduction- Your body burns fat from wherever it wants, not the area you're exercising.
Anyway, hope you found this helpful, and welcome to DB!

Thanks a lot, it was very helpful. My wife is a nurse and she is always on me about doing cardio. It's difficult to do it for any length of time. I was always told to actual have any effect you need to keep the heart rate up for 30 minutes or more. Time I don't have in the morning, I have a long commute (over an hour) to work so I have to get the most bang for my buck so to speak. The long drive only leaves me with about 30 - 40 minutes to do my workout. I use to spend 45 minutes on the treadmill and another 45 minutes on the weights. The old days...
I guess 90% of your work out is what you eat. I'll check out the nutritional forum. Thanks again for the insight.
tlex

No problem-
And now I'll shut up with the advice here. Even after posting here earlier about this being the welcome to DB thread, I went and posted a long-winded reply.
Bad cpl.

I just printed off the 12 Week Max-OT.  Cannot wait to start it but I have 1 issue.  Day 1 is squats, leg press and stiff dead-lift.
I am currently doing leg presses but after having part of my L-5 disk removed in May of 2003 I am scared to do squats.  Is there another excercise I can use to replace the squats?
 
Thank you in advance.

For HIS Glory.

I feel welcomed :) I recently also started the MAX-OT program, I'm not new to bodybuilding, I just have not done it in a while, back to it again full force.

Anti-Aging Info

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Thanks for the 12 week Max-OT program. And this is a good welcome thread for beginners. Thanks!

I am like fresh off the boat into lifting weights.  I'm doughy, but not rotund.  I've tried lifting weights but haven't stuck to it.  I've got some basic character changes i've got to change in myself, like being consistent and finishing what I set out to do, but I hope Max OT will do the trick for me as far as results go.  I would hate to make such a huge change in my habits and lifestyle, only to be discouraged by lack of results.  I'll just tell myself from the beginning, as I start Mark's program, that if I don't see results after about [Edit] 12-16  weeks like cpl said, I will have to just chalk it up as a loss and trudge on, cause I know the overall goal of becoming more healthy and physically fit is correct.  Thanks Mark.  cpl, your posts are always informative and well written, as well.  Again, I'm glad to have found this forum.

We are in the same boat, inning. 53 here. I don't want to ( and could never) look like Jay Cutler, et all; but I would like to have a nice squared off physique; solid; broad shouldered (think Alec Baldwin? ) ...

Have you gotten any feedback in here?

John