I just joined a gym now what?

I got into the gym today. I was doing some db bench press with barely any weight. I'm so weak it's embarrassing. Glad I finally got into the gym to realize this. Also, I had trouble getting up off of the bench when I was done with a set so I was embarrassed and did db incline bench press instead. Did 4 sets of 8 with barely any weight but at least that felt good. We'll see how sore I am tomorrow. So, I just did those sets and jetted. At least I drove there and went in and did something. That something is better than nothing. I have a consultation with someone on Thursday so it will be interesting to see what he has to say.

Another noob question I don't think I've ever gotten the solution:

How much protein do I need to build muscle?

1g of protein per lb. of body weight is a lot

It seems like .5g of protein per lb. of body weight is ok.

i bought a year of gym member and have barely went lately feeling lazy sigh

On November 24 2024 02:07 RiKD wrote: It seems like .5g of protein per lb. of body weight is ok.

IIRC studies showed roughly .7 grams was about as much as you need and more than that did not show any significant difference. I am going off my memory though from about 7~ years ago. 0.7 really isnt that much though. Its just a chicken breast or some other protein with every meal and its even easier if you add in a shake.

EDIT: FWIW I have heard it mentioned for the protein intake that realistically you should go by your lean mass not by your total bodyweight. IE if you were 250lbs but 40% bodyfat. You would consider yourself 200lbs for the calculation. Since that would translate to being 200lb 20% bodyfat equivalent. So in that case you wouldn't see much difference results. Though I don't recall any science looking at that.

On November 19 2024 04:52 RiKD wrote: I might just say fuck it and do a bro split. Greyskull is the best but I am not motivated to do it.

I LOVE greyskull. I did it at 36 coming back to lifting after 6 years and it was great. Really flexible

On November 25 2024 15:43 lostaccount wrote: i bought a year of gym member and have barely went lately feeling lazy sigh

Just get after it and everything will be ok.

On November 25 2024 16:42 DooMeR wrote: Show nested quote + On November 24 2024 02:07 RiKD wrote: It seems like .5g of protein per lb. of body weight is ok. IIRC studies showed roughly .7 grams was about as much as you need and more than that did not show any significant difference. I am going off my memory though from about 7~ years ago. 0.7 really isnt that much though. Its just a chicken breast or some other protein with every meal and its even easier if you add in a shake. EDIT: FWIW I have heard it mentioned for the protein intake that realistically you should go by your lean mass not by your total bodyweight. IE if you were 250lbs but 40% bodyfat. You would consider yourself 200lbs for the calculation. Since that would translate to being 200lb 20% bodyfat equivalent. So in that case you wouldn't see much difference results. Though I don't recall any science looking at that.

.7 isn't that much but I am coming from a place of starving myself and not worrying about protein whatsoever. To get 40g of protein out of a meal will be a decent amount of calories unless I want to go chicken and broccoli life which I don't think I want to do. I might start cooking a bunch of chicken and potatos up and living that life. The problem is I want to lose at least another 10 lbs. It's conflicting goals but people on the internet say it's possible (recomposition).

On November 25 2024 16:50 DooMeR wrote: Show nested quote + On November 19 2024 04:52 RiKD wrote: I might just say fuck it and do a bro split. Greyskull is the best but I am not motivated to do it. I LOVE greyskull. I did it at 36 coming back to lifting after 6 years and it was great. Really flexible

My beef with greyskull is it's heavy bench press and heavy upright press but there is no rear dealt / upper back / rhomboid / trapezius work to balance that out. I ended up injuring my shoulder on that program which put me out of commision in a way until now. It is a great program I just have some bad feelings with it. I was talking to the General Manager of the gym and he mentioned one of the best ways to recompose my chest is to improve posture with rowing work.

On November 26 2024 03:52 RiKD wrote: Show nested quote + On November 25 2024 16:42 DooMeR wrote:   On November 24 2024 02:07 RiKD wrote: It seems like .5g of protein per lb. of body weight is ok. IIRC studies showed roughly .7 grams was about as much as you need and more than that did not show any significant difference. I am going off my memory though from about 7~ years ago. 0.7 really isnt that much though. Its just a chicken breast or some other protein with every meal and its even easier if you add in a shake. EDIT: FWIW I have heard it mentioned for the protein intake that realistically you should go by your lean mass not by your total bodyweight. IE if you were 250lbs but 40% bodyfat. You would consider yourself 200lbs for the calculation. Since that would translate to being 200lb 20% bodyfat equivalent. So in that case you wouldn't see much difference results. Though I don't recall any science looking at that. .7 isn't that much but I am coming from a place of starving myself and not worrying about protein whatsoever. To get 40g of protein out of a meal will be a decent amount of calories unless I want to go chicken and broccoli life which I don't think I want to do. I might start cooking a bunch of chicken and potatos up and living that life. The problem is I want to lose at least another 10 lbs. It's conflicting goals but people on the internet say it's possible (recomposition).

assuming 150g of protein a day thats only 600 calories a day. Even something like 1600 calories a day i would say is starvation levels. When i cut i usually aim for losing 1 pound a week and typically hit around 1800 calories a day while still going over and losing like 1.2lb a week

On November 26 2024 04:00 RiKD wrote: Show nested quote + On November 25 2024 16:50 DooMeR wrote:   On November 19 2024 04:52 RiKD wrote: I might just say fuck it and do a bro split. Greyskull is the best but I am not motivated to do it. I LOVE greyskull. I did it at 36 coming back to lifting after 6 years and it was great. Really flexible My beef with greyskull is it's heavy bench press and heavy upright press but there is no rear dealt / upper back / rhomboid / trapezius work to balance that out. I ended up injuring my shoulder on that program which put me out of commision in a way until now. It is a great program I just have some bad feelings with it. I was talking to the General Manager of the gym and he mentioned one of the best ways to recompose my chest is to improve posture with rowing work.

Everytime Ive run greyskull its always been with atleast a 2:1 ratio of back to chest volume. I am not sure what template of it you were using but just looking at my old spreadsheet now. I see that i had bench for the typical 3x5 (amrap on the last one) followed by 3 sets of rows and next day when i was doing OHP i was doing lat pulldowns also 3x5. Though personally i would never do it with that progression i always did a 3x10 for all my back work. So not sure what template you were using but i'd definitely say it wasn't ideal. Greyskull is incredibly modifiable allowing for lots of replacements of exercises. For a while i wasnt even doing OHP i was just doing seated dumbbell press and adding in facepulls with a 3x10 progression on dumbbell pressing again for more volume

So just napkin math i was ending up with roughly 90 reps of back work on main compounds of back, vs just 60 on chest assuming i was getting 10 reps on my amraps which i was for a while since i slowed the progression down to 2.5lb increases very early on. So not quite 2:1 i guess but still very large amount of back work compared to pressing

EDIT: Actually i forgot i also was doing shrugs on my OHP days

On November 26 2024 17:10 DooMeR wrote: Show nested quote + On November 26 2024 04:00 RiKD wrote:   On November 25 2024 16:50 DooMeR wrote:   On November 19 2024 04:52 RiKD wrote: I might just say fuck it and do a bro split. Greyskull is the best but I am not motivated to do it. I LOVE greyskull. I did it at 36 coming back to lifting after 6 years and it was great. Really flexible My beef with greyskull is it's heavy bench press and heavy upright press but there is no rear dealt / upper back / rhomboid / trapezius work to balance that out. I ended up injuring my shoulder on that program which put me out of commision in a way until now. It is a great program I just have some bad feelings with it. I was talking to the General Manager of the gym and he mentioned one of the best ways to recompose my chest is to improve posture with rowing work. Everytime Ive run greyskull its always been with atleast a 2:1 ratio of back to chest volume. I am not sure what template of it you were using but just looking at my old spreadsheet now. I see that i had bench for the typical 3x5 (amrap on the last one) followed by 3 sets of rows and next day when i was doing OHP i was doing lat pulldowns also 3x5. Though personally i would never do it with that progression i always did a 3x10 for all my back work. So not sure what template you were using but i'd definitely say it wasn't ideal. Greyskull is incredibly modifiable allowing for lots of replacements of exercises. For a while i wasnt even doing OHP i was just doing seated dumbbell press and adding in facepulls with a 3x10 progression on dumbbell pressing again for more volume So just napkin math i was ending up with roughly 90 reps of back work on main compounds of back, vs just 60 on chest assuming i was getting 10 reps on my amraps which i was for a while since i slowed the progression down to 2.5lb increases very early on. So not quite 2:1 i guess but still very large amount of back work compared to pressing EDIT: Actually i forgot i also was doing shrugs on my OHP days

Sounds like you were doing it right.

This is what I was doing:

OH Press 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
V-Bar Pulldown 2 x 6-8
Squat 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
Neck harness 4 x 25 (no added weight until I figure these things out)

Bench Press 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
EZ curl bar curl 2 x 10-15
Deadlift 5+
Neck harness 4x25

OH Press 2 x 5, 1 x 5+
V-bar pulldown 2 x 6-8
Squat 2 x 5, 1 x 5+

M, W, F, etc.

This was straight out of the Greyskull book except I didn't do 1 neck harness rep

thats pretty solid rikd

DooMeR's Greyskull sounds far superior.

It was basically just using normal greyskull 2x5 and the 1x5+ for the main lifts. I replaced the ohp like I said with seated dumbbells and did a 3x10 progression and just upped the weight once I was getting like 12 12 11 or something. Basically depends. Lighter the weight the bigger a 5lb jump is so adding reps is easier.

Then just alternated latpulldown with ohp days and barbell rows with bench days. 3x10 similar progression to the ohp. Then did tricep on bench days and biceps on deadlift days. Which I forgot to mention was also contributing to the back work obv. Then some sort of abs on squat days and shrugs on deadlift days. All accessories done for 3x10ish adding reps as I can and adding weight once I'm closing in on 3x12. I added facepulls occasionally but didnt start doing them consistently until I switched to 5 3 1.

Main con to greyskull is it's full body so sessions get really long so I'd recommend trying to superset where possible.

I do more accessory work now because 531 is a upper lower split so it's much more manageable to add in extra accessory work

Edit. Also I always did my deads or squats before back because I hated doing all that volume before I finally got to my hardest lifts.

Yeah, that sounds like a good Greyskull.

Facepulls are so money.

531 is that the Jim Wendler program?

Yea. I ran greyskull until I had to reset. Then reset and setup to switch to 5 3 1 next time I had to reset. I used it years ago but didn't love it but then I read more about it and found the boring but big template modified. Basically doing the normal progression for the first lift then running the alternate lift as the boring but big template right after. So basically OHP one day then right after doing bench. So basically this way I got to increase bench volume to twice a week which I really wanted. On deadlift and squat day though I did it different where I deadlifted. Did 1 back off set and then squatted a fairly ez 3x5 for more volume but on squat days I did not deadlift. Instead I just did a 5x5 as a back off.

Then of course I picked accessories to run after the main lifts that I felt were best.

I love 5 3 1 now because it just checks all the boxes for what I want. one of the biggest selling points for me has been how simple it is because I really just love not having to think at all and doing the same thing for months. It's basically an intermediate program that's stretched out into a 3 week block that allows for a ton of leeway that makes you able to run it even into early advanced. One of the biggest endorsements I found of it was John hack talking about how he ran basically a modified 5 3 1 up until he was hitting world records

I used to read Jim Wendler articles on T-nation.com 20+ years ago. Crazy how the time has flown.

On November 26 2024 17:46 RiKD wrote: Show nested quote + On November 26 2024 17:10 DooMeR wrote:   On November 26 2024 04:00 RiKD wrote:   On November 25 2024 16:50 DooMeR wrote:   On November 19 2024 04:52 RiKD wrote: I might just say fuck it and do a bro split. Greyskull is the best but I am not motivated to do it. I LOVE greyskull. I did it at 36 coming back to lifting after 6 years and it was great. Really flexible My beef with greyskull is it's heavy bench press and heavy upright press but there is no rear dealt / upper back / rhomboid / trapezius work to balance that out. I ended up injuring my shoulder on that program which put me out of commision in a way until now. It is a great program I just have some bad feelings with it. I was talking to the General Manager of the gym and he mentioned one of the best ways to recompose my chest is to improve posture with rowing work. Everytime Ive run greyskull its always been with atleast a 2:1 ratio of back to chest volume. I am not sure what template of it you were using but just looking at my old spreadsheet now. I see that i had bench for the typical 3x5 (amrap on the last one) followed by 3 sets of rows and next day when i was doing OHP i was doing lat pulldowns also 3x5. Though personally i would never do it with that progression i always did a 3x10 for all my back work. So not sure what template you were using but i'd definitely say it wasn't ideal. Greyskull is incredibly modifiable allowing for lots of replacements of exercises. For a while i wasnt even doing OHP i was just doing seated dumbbell press and adding in facepulls with a 3x10 progression on dumbbell pressing again for more volume So just napkin math i was ending up with roughly 90 reps of back work on main compounds of back, vs just 60 on chest assuming i was getting 10 reps on my amraps which i was for a while since i slowed the progression down to 2.5lb increases very early on. So not quite 2:1 i guess but still very large amount of back work compared to pressing EDIT: Actually i forgot i also was doing shrugs on my OHP days Sounds like you were doing it right. This is what I was doing: OH Press 2 x 5, 1 x 5+ V-Bar Pulldown 2 x 6-8 Squat 2 x 5, 1 x 5+ Neck harness 4 x 25 (no added weight until I figure these things out) Bench Press 2 x 5, 1 x 5+ EZ curl bar curl 2 x 10-15 Deadlift 5+ Neck harness 4x25 OH Press 2 x 5, 1 x 5+ V-bar pulldown 2 x 6-8 Squat 2 x 5, 1 x 5+ M, W, F, etc. This was straight out of the Greyskull book except I didn't do 1 neck harness rep

I do 4 sets of 10 reps with a 70 pound EZ curl bar. I can go higher than this, but I only move up in weight once a certain weight is easy for me to get 4 sets easily done. I might move up to 75 pounds next month.

For bench, I use a machine and have 50 pounds on each side. I can do more, but I don't push myself as much as I should.

I also do abs. Not sure the weight, but not sure it matters, as long as you're exercising your belly.

I also use the back arm machine with the cord that you pull down. I don't know how much weight it is, but I pull down 7 of the small plates with each rep.

I've always had a thin/slim frame, and at age 42, I don't care about working out my legs. I get plenty of cardio as it is since I'm a school teacher and I'm on my feet all day, and I also do plenty of walking around my city throughout the week.