Training -

As a beginner, you are going to want to stick to basic, compound, free weight movements. These will be the most beneficial to your overall muscular development and strength. I know a popular goal is "I want bigger arms, can't I just do bicep curls every day?" As a beginner, compound movements such as rows or chinups will do FAR more for your biceps and overall frame than curls. Curls are an isolation movement that are more beneficial to an advanced bodybuilder.

Another big mistake is people trying to develop their own routines. They are often poorly made and can/will result in muscular imbalances. There are many popular beginner routines, and the two that I always recommend are two that I have personally used: Rippetoe's and Westside for Skinny Bastards:

Rippetoe's - This is based on Mark Rippetoe's book Starting Strengt. It is a basic, three day a week workout, and the format looks like this:
Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 Power cleans OR Pendlay Rows (Penlay Rows are recommended for a beginner)

Monday - Workout A
Wednesday - Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:
Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

If this seems appealing to you, you can find an extremely detailed write-up of it here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224

Westside for Skinny Bastards - Another great routine, it can be found in this self-explanatory article here: http://defrancostraining.com/articles/articles.htm

Diet -

Diet is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of adding mass. Without a caloric surplus, you will not gain size. Don't be afraid of eating, you'd be surprised how difficult it can be to eat an adequate amount to grow. Aim for about 500 calories above your maintenance level (which can be calculated here - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598 ). Also try for a lot of protein, ideally as much as you can. At the very least try to eat about 1-1.5g per pound of your bodyweight. Here's a short list of some good foods to eat:
-chicken
-tuna
-red meat
-peanut butter
-brown rice
-nuts (I like almonds)
-whole wheat bread
-whole wheat pasta
-turkey
-cottage cheese
-milk.

Also, this doesn't really pertain to diet but I figure I'll throw it in this section, but another important part of muscle growth is REST. Not a single ounce of muscle is built in the gym; quite the contrary, actually. Try to get at the very LEAST 8 hours of sleep each night. Try to eat some slow digesting protein (such as cottage cheese) before bed, and some protein immediately upon waking.

Supplements -
Supplements can be very useful, but they DO NOT REPLACE solid training and diet, they supplement them, hence the name... supplements. As a beginner, try to keep things simple.
- a multivitamin
- whey protein
- fish oil

After you have some solid training experience under your belt, if you want you can add:
- creatine. (what exactly is creatine? In short, it's an amino acid that helps ATP production. For a long, detailed, complete answer, refer to this: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=100831 )


Summary: eat, sleep, and train heavy.

Again, bump, because the information here is accurate and should be read.

awesome thanks a lot from one of those skinny bastards.

I am actually taking a weight training class at my high school (which has one of the best high school weight rooms in IN), and the workout routine is pretty close to what Quads_n_stuff posted. Follow what he said. It helps.

I'm bad at this one... so this information is helpful.

What I can say in addition is that, if you can do power cleans with the right technique, do that religiously. It is the single exercise that works the most muscles in the body all at once. However, don't do that one only.

And here's something that is EXTREMELY important to anyone who lifts: Unless you are doing SLDL's (fancy abbreviation for weighted stretching of the calves), ALWAYS lock your back. One can severely injure himself/herself from lifting if (s)he does not lock the back. This is characterized as the core flexed/tight and arched back (the opposite of being slumped over). Most of the time, you'll have assisstance from a weight belt, but don't use the belt as a crutch.

Just to clarify on the "locked back" in the post above one should keep their back straight and always lift with the legs when doing cleans and especially when doing deadlifts. I think that it would be more accurate to say that the back shouldnt be arched but rather straight. And the gaze should be straight ahead (some say slightly up) to ensure that ones back stays straight. It is also important when lifting not to lock the knees no matter the exercise or the body part being worked.

1. Straight Leg Deadlift's are NOT calf stretches oversimplification like that could very easily mislead a user that is ignorant to the actual facts behind the science of weightlifting.

2. Most people actually should usually have assistance from a weight belt. Typically the only exercise that one should use a weight belt with is squats/power cleans/and deadlifts; and even then, I would highly advise against using a belt until you reach extremely high lifts (around a 500 lbs. squat and 600 lbs. deadlift) otherwise a belt is just going to interfere with the body's natural development.

I dunno, Cleans seem to be a glutes and thighs exercise for me. I was taught from athletic lifting to explode up with your legs, then as the bar builds momentum, throw your hips forward. You should only be working thigh's and glutes, or your doing it wrong.

I disagree. While cleaning a weight (lifting a weight from the floor to the starting position of a military press) does involve a lot of leg drive to get the weight moving, one must also use the shoulders, traps, arms, and back to get the weight up. I was taught the the weight should come to about shoulder height (like an upright row) before you tuck your elbows under, and that would involve more than your thighs and glutes. I think that this illustration shows what I'm talking about more clearly. You can see that in getting the weight up this gentleman is using a lot of muscle groups (including the calves if you look closely).

Spot on tenor11, and though the power clean may be a primarily leg based movement, they still involve a ton of shoulder, trap and arm work. If your looking to add a extra blast to your arms however, perhaps try out a power clean and jerk, or a snatch.

Just as an FYI, I recommend this website for all those interested in weightlifting, exercising and the like. They have a ton of articles and have the lowest prices on supplements that I have seen. Lot of great stuff in there...

For baseball we have a optional lifting period from November to mandatory practice in February. That is run by the JV coach, who is also the Football weightlifting coach. That's just something to catch you guys up so you don't think I'm pulling this out of the air.

He has us exploding with the weight, all legs, and then kicking our body under the weight (thats where the hip thrust comes into play) may just be the way he wants us to do it, I don't know. But that's how I've been taught, and I have yet to feel it anywhere else in my body. My hands are just there to balance the weight, not lift it. Is that some form of technique or something?

Well IMO no amount of leg drive or explosion can get a heavy weight up to shoulder level. Just because you cant feel the burn or aren't sore there doesn't mean that that muscle group isn't being used. Cleans aren't really an arm/shoulder/trap exercise anyway. They are used at the top end of the clean only to get yourself under the weight. It also may be that you're using a technique that I'm just not understanding through what you've said in your post.

Seems like my words started a good debate. And I saw a lot of people disagreeing with what I said about power cleans. I would just like to clear up thatthe technique I described were the exact words from my school's head football coach, who is the weights teacher.

Today I squatted 210, with my height being 5'7" and me weighing in @ 166 lbs. How good would you say that is?

^^ I'd say that's pretty good, that's just me though. If you did it with good form and went all the way to the 90 degree's, it sounds pretty good. That's what? Two 45's on each side?

Today I squatted 210, with my height being 5'7" and me weighing in @ 166 lbs. How good would you say that is?



That all depends...how long have you been lifting? How many times did you squat 210?

Up to then, a total of 20 weeks, with max-outs at each nine weeks (I lift during a seperate class specifically for lifting weights). My goal for maxout is 250, and I'll do that in 3 weeks.

I've squatted 210 only once before, during max-out at the end of last semester (we get three tries to "max" the max-out, and after my second try, which was 210, I took my third and ifnal try to max out at 215).

I know I use good form when I do squats, because I have a three person group to run through our weight-charts. One always spots me, and the other watches for parallel (compared to the floor) legs.

What would that mean for me?

If I can remember correctly, my max squat was about 250lbs back in my HS football days. I was 69 inches and weighed 130lbs. My defensive backs coach loved my freakishly large quads. "Wow, you have really big quads for your size."

I swam and rode a bicycle A LOT as a kid; that's the only explanation I could give.

Anyway, I'm getting off-topic... I'll self-moderate now...




...my legs never got tired when marching all day.

What can i do so that i will prepare for marching that doesn't require equipment?(like wieghts) Can i use a book or something? Or can i just do some body workouts?

If you're looking for an efficient workout that does not use free weights. head on over to http://trainforstrength.com/workout1.shtml is one of the best bodyweight oriented exercise routines there is. Also, try breakdancing...sounds crazy; however, you develop a lot of balance and a good physique to march with (and by good physique to march with, I mean reel in them guard girlies ;))

creatine can help because it adds water weight but i wouldnt advise it because there are a lot of health problems that can occur if you dont be careful. it can chrystalize in your kidneys, water pockets can form in your muscles and a lot more than that has been linked to creatine use. if you dont use a protine powder, start with that if you want to get more muscle.

for goals, a good measure is to squat more than your body weight (1.5x or so your weight)
curl half your weight
and bench at least your weight or more

bench press will do something for you and pullups work a lot of your muscles

dont overtrain, do either a different muscle group every day or do a whole body workout and take the next day off. you will not gain any muscle if your body doesnt have time to rest and regenerate (thats when the muscle is actually "growing")

dont be afraid to eat a lot of food but make sure your diet is clean and healthy mcdonalds will add weight but not the kind you will want. muscle will add weight and raise your metabolism so you will be able to shed a couple pounds that you might gain and you can do some cardio to work it off if it bothers you that much.

be safe, use good form, and have some fun with your exercise
hth

Overall, creatine is very safe. It does cause your muscles to hold water, so the primary concern is staying hydrated. I drink about 30 oz of water during my workout, then mix creatine powder into 16 oz of water, and try to keep myself hydrated consistently between workouts. The creatine makes a huge difference in how quickly I improve my performance.

Glutamine is also helpful, as it can help your body increase production of HGH as much as 6x. I take a creatine powder that also includes glutamine.