Beginner Questions (Accessories, Volume, Recovery)

[mhdagley]

I'm a 34 y/o male who is completely untrained. My baseline is a lifelong weak couch potato, my strength isn't good nor is my cardio. I'm 5' 11"/~180 cm and weigh 200 lbs/~91 kg/~14 stone with a 36"/~91.5 cm waist. I would guess my body fat is 35-40%. I don't have a personal trainer and I strength train at a nearby gym at night (anywhere between 10 PM - 12 AM.) I learn exercises from YouTube videos. My workouts generally last 45 minutes to an hour.

I've begun doing the 5x5 Stronglifts program for the last 2 weeks, strength training every other day. I've added 1 accessory exercise to each day. I feel fatigue in the muscles Ive worked after each workout, but they are pretty much recovered the next day (except quads/hamstrings) and I dont get nearly as sweaty as I do running on the treadmill or using an elliptical. My program looks like this:

Workout A

1. Barbell Back Squat — 5×5
2. Barbell Overhead Press — 5×5
3. Barbell Deadlift — 1×5
4. Face Pulls — 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Workout B

1. Barbell Back Squat — 5×5
2. Barbell Bench Press — 5×5
3. Barbell Row — 5×5
4. Farmer's Walk — 3 sets of 1 minute

I have a few questions:

A. For a beginner what is the max amount of exercises one should do or time one should spend in the gym?

B. I am not doing any cardio (only every once in a while in between strength workouts.) Should I add cardio to my program and if I did would it diminish my strength gains?

C. I'm currently on a calorie deficit to lose body fat. Is -300 enough to do that reliably and is running a deficit while strength training a good idea?

D. After mastering the core compound lifts I'd like to focus on making my back, legs, shoulders, and grip as strong as possible. What would be the best accessory lifts to facilitate those goals and should I change the ones I'm currently doing to meet them better?

E. I tweaked my back on my last squat rep last night. I did the rest of my workout (workout B.) When I woke up this morning it still hurt, but now after spending the day walking the dog and cleaning my house I'm not feeling any pain. Would I be ok to return to the gym tomorrow night? If not, how long should I rest?

Thanks for your help!

 

[predrag]

@mhdagley Some people here like SL. That's cool - beats the bashing it gets in other sectors. That said, I've run Starting Strength, which is 3x5. Three sets is enough to make you question your sanity.

Five sets of squats 3x a week is more than you need.

I'd go with this variation.

Farmers walks and face pulls are fine. But otherwise. Don't add shit.

I happened to do starting strength after other routines. So, I was going from More to Less. And, to my surprise, I made damned good progress on less.

As well, exercise ADHD sets in fast if you add things. "I added this, why can't I add this? I could also add this…". Better to stay minimalist while you can, and reap the rewards.

 

[rillian]

@mhdagley Routine looks solid for a beginner, don't overdo it adding additional exercises. 45 minutes - 1 hour is perfect.

Cardio is great but not at the same time as strength training. I run in the morning, and lift in the afternoon.

-300 is a great place to start. You'll gain more muscle during a weight gain phase but you're currently overweight, so a deficit is smart.

Pulldowns, pull-ups and rows for back. RDL, leg press, squat for legs. Lateral raises for shoulders. Farmers carries for grip.

Do a modified B day tomorrow without the squats if you feel like you need to go. Heavy deadlifts and OHP with a back issue is a bad idea.

 

[ahiah1]

@mhdagley I think @predrag gave great advice.

I started my barbell adventure with stronglifts, but found it quite imbalanced.

I am now doing the gzclp program, and absolutely love it - but it takes me more than 1 hour, because of the rest times.

If your goals are strong back, legs, shoulders and grip, you are 100% right on track focussing on the big lifts.

 

[rbb221b]

@mhdagley When I started I exclusively used the weight machines at the gym. It was a good way to build some baseline strength and get used to lifting without worrying as much about form because they are basically idiot proof. I've only recently started with free weights and I'm loving it, but if I had gone to them right away I think I would have strained muscles and become discouraged. Whichever program you do the Hevy app is amazing. You can build workouts from their library of just about every lift on machines, free weights, bands, etc and they all have images or animations showing you how to do it. I would not have been able to stick with this for six months without it.

 

[jamib90]

@mhdagley Everything long great so far. I think most people have stopped doing deadlift because it’s so easy to get hurt