Novice Question—Help please

M

mountainman

New member
Hey everyone,

I am in my mid/late 30’s, 6’0” and 170lbs.

I’ve dabbled with lifting weights numerous times, but have never been able to stick with it. But I can’t keep putting it off.

I have a reunion coming up in the summer that I’m looking at as a target date for making some noticeable gains. It’s an arbitrary timeline, but I like the idea of a target—it’s roughly 130 days away.

Here’s what I have to work with as a busy husband and father of several small kids:

• 3, maybe 4 days a week
• Home gym with dumbbells, barbell, hex bar, and kettlebells.

The only caveat is I want to stay away from deadlifts for now, and squats would need to be with the hex bar.

I’ve never known how to effectively choose exercises and split my days up; or how many reps to do, etc.

With that said, what kind of program would you put me on to see maximum novice gains over the next 4 months?

Any diet, sleep, etc. advice you want to share would also be appreciated.

Thanks gents!
 
mountainman said:
Hey everyone,

I am in my mid/late 30’s, 6’0” and 170lbs.

I’ve dabbled with lifting weights numerous times, but have never been able to stick with it. But I can’t keep putting it off.

I have a reunion coming up in the summer that I’m looking at as a target date for making some noticeable gains. It’s an arbitrary timeline, but I like the idea of a target—it’s roughly 130 days away.

Here’s what I have to work with as a busy husband and father of several small kids:

• 3, maybe 4 days a week
• Home gym with dumbbells, barbell, hex bar, and kettlebells.

The only caveat is I want to stay away from deadlifts for now, and squats would need to be with the hex bar.

I’ve never known how to effectively choose exercises and split my days up; or how many reps to do, etc.

With that said, what kind of program would you put me on to see maximum novice gains over the next 4 months?

Any diet, sleep, etc. advice you want to share would also be appreciated.

Thanks gents!
Click to expand...


what you need and am asking for his guidance. however a few sentences here posted by members will not give you the comprehensive information and guidance you need.

On this forum we have an excellent trainer that is also reasonable in price. contact @Funnyman and talk to him.

if this is important to you he is the man to help you
 
To second what @Taureau said. I’ve been working with @Funnyman for 6 months now. I was struggling to lose fat, he fixed that problem. I was pre diabetic, he fixed that. I had high blood pressure, he fixed that. I had high cholesterol, he fixed that. He did such a wonderful job with my meal plan, I got him to take over my training plan too. I’ve been growing and leaning out ever since.

Today’s weigh-in has me down 20lbs in 6 months and my measurements are trending upward where it matters.
 
If your a pure newbie id suggest 2 or even 3 full body workouts per week. Ex
Day 1 Bulgarian split squats, dumbell chest press, dumbell lateral raises, tricep Kickbacks ,upright rows, bent over rows, leg raises
Day 2 floor hipthrusts with a weight plate or dumbells, dumbell pullovers , dumbell curls, dumbell shrugs, front delt raises, weighted crunches
Day 3 kettle bell Goblet Squats, skull crushers, dumbell flys, hammer curls, rear delt flys, Russian twists.

But you could chat gbt a routine that uses the equipment you have my main suggestion is hitting each muscle group 2 or 3 times a week.
 
If you start having trouble sleeping or low libido then go down to two full body workouts a week. Eat 190g of protein per day and healthy carbs before and after each workout. Get protein powder amd creatine too
 
The best advice is to spend the small amount and get valuable one on one advice from @Funnyman, but there are lots of members who have been lifting for decades, are generous with info, but many will disagree (doesn't mean one is more correct) hence making it hard to set up something and stick to it.
@storman as usual gave good advice. The great news is you are in many ways new to consistent lifting so if you lift smart - progressive overload/compound movements 3/4 days a week, and give your body the fuel it needs to grow (don't eat any crap, but don't complicate it and overthink everything). Simply adding a healthy nutrient dense smoothie first thing in the morning or after your training on top of your normal meals will help you grow. If you don't like smoothies - add in a nutrient dense meal such as 6 oz of salmon or steak, a sweet potato/or any potato, and you need to include vegetables. I suggest cruciferous veggies. I also like Kale or Spinach salads (one a day) with a meal. I also love pineapple - great anti-inflammatory, tastes good, and you can throw together a nutrient dense meal that takes 5 minutes to put together with pineapple, a good protein source, and another calorie rich food.

Be consistent and within reason try to get stronger as your body will adapt and grow so you don't get injured. I didn't see a bench in your list of equipment, but it is not a requirement. I worked out for a few years without one, at home.
If you want a basic 3 day a week compound movement routine based on hitting multiple muscle groups, happy to suggest one, but really any lifting - hard/consistent is going to make you grow.
Just a comment on safety - compound movements are harder on the muscles/joints/tendons&ligaments as a rule so start with a weight you are comfortable with. You will notice strength increases as your body adapts. You will be no further ahead if you do heavy compound movements and injure your back/shoulder and have to recover before you can get back to growth mode, especially if you don't have someone to show you the small pointers to prevent injuries. As much as I hate all the videos online from all the so called 'experts' - there are some that will show you how to perform a proper bent row, standing shoulder press, floor presses to prevent injuries.
Many could write a book on suggestions, but per @storman - read on the forum, and don't be afraid to ask questions. There are no novice questions, everyone has been in your position at some point in their lives and the members here are helpful/respectful.

Will repeat it - funnyman is a wealth of knowledge and someone I would trust implicitly for advice.
Best of luck on your journey.
 
As a new lifter and with such a short time frame, you'll get the most bang for your buck in terms of noticable changes by doing a recomp, thankfully as a new lifter that's something you can do.
@ 6' and 170 lbs i'd say you are probably fairly lean I take it?
With your current requirements you could go with a combination of 4 upper/lower days with off time in-between or 3 full body days.
Exercise selection and split lay out would depend on the equipment you have available.
Nutrition would be strict and structured, simple meals.

Your best investment in this situation would be to hire a coach. You'll learn so much and your return will be well worth it.
 
Good answers already as pretty much always here.
My add - KISS and get on it quick. Workout TODAY, right now, don't do the paralysis by analysis thing while you try to figure out the best way. A coach for sure, yeah Funnyman is great by all accounts including mine but he may not be available to you. @Rhyno makes what I think might be one of the most important points, newby gains are in your grasp, fuckin near anything should work to some degree.
Still confused today, a day later? 4 sets of skwatz, bench, rows, shoulder press 12. 10, 8, 6 reps with weights that you could have done 2 more reps with on each set - IOW 2 RIR or "Reps in Reserve"
 
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