Hello, everyone. I'm a rank newbie in the gym, seeking advice for building foundational strength. [32/M]

R

rockmanjl9981

New member
Hey there, everybody! This is honestly the first time I've been relieved to be in the 30+ grouping.

(Holy wall of text below, bear with me.)

32M / 6'0" / 160lbs

History: Always been a skinnier guy, weighing between 155 - 185 lbs., depending on diet. Been slowly improving my health since my 20's, trying to take better care of myself. I have exercise-induced asthma that shuts me down pretty hard when I do intense cardio stuff, which has been a major impediment to this. Also have some lower back/spine issues which aren't a big problem but do make me more injury-prone and mean I have to be very careful about what I do and how.

Lifestyle: I sit too much, both at home and at work. Trying to move away from this (literally). I don't do much in the way of sporting activities currently, but I do like hiking/backpacking and try to get some bike time in when my asthma allows.

Diet: currently trying to stick as close to Primal as possible, but not crazy strict. Lots of good whole foods, meat and veg, very little processed or grain-heavy stuff. Trying to avoid sugars wherever possible (family history of heart disease and Type-2 diabetes, so I'm especially mindful of long-term diet consequences).

I started a new job last year with a small company. One of the head guys on staff is a personal trainer and we have a pretty nicely appointed little barebones gym on-site (Rogue squat/pull-up rack, Rogue bars, bumper plates, kettlebells, Concept 2 rower, etc.) He's a great dude and is helping me a lot, but he is also a Super Fitness Monster who does ultra-marathon and Strongman stuff and I'd be interested in opinions from others more in my league/situation.

What I'm interested in:
  • Good health (both 'how i feel' and by measurable metrics).
  • Balance (in all senses of the word).
  • Finding a comprehensive mix of lifting, bodyweight exercises and stretching/yoga that gets me to my goals.
  • Developing good core strength to help with back/posture issues.
  • Working to overcome my asthma and build better cardio ability.
  • Developing/keeping good form.
  • Not injuring myself (!!!)
  • Increasing functional strength/ability
  • Making steady progress
  • Looking good (not my 1st priority, but never hurts!)
What I'm not interested in:
  • Losing weight
  • Counting calories (willing to moderate intake as needed, just not interested in micro-managing/spreadsheeting).
  • Competition against others.
  • Joining a dogmatic/branded workout culture (Crossfit, P90X, etc.)
  • An intensity/speed/gainz focused approach (I'm not the "do it till you puke" guy).
I've been lifting 2-3x a week for the last month or so, focusing on barbell exercises (Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Deadlift) with accessory exercises mixed in for balance (Curls, Pulldowns, etc.), and some core stuff like noob yoga, planks, etc.

Current ability (@4 sets of 5 reps):
  • Squat: 145
  • Deadlift: 145
  • Bench press: 105
  • Overhead press: 75
I know those numbers are a fraction of what most everyone here can do, but they represent real progress for me since I started, and I'm proud of them.

The routines I made for myself have been working... I can feel/see myself getting stronger, but I'm kind of doing "everything at once" when I'm in the gym and it takes me a good while between gym days (3+ days) to recover to the point where working out again feels beneficial (as opposed to injurious). I'm trying to figure out a better routine that spreads things out (alternating lifting with core/bodyweight or cardio or yoga) so that I can keep a regular schedule, working at something in there 3-4x a week without burning myself out or injuring myself.

Looking into 5/3/1 at the moment, as I like the idea of focusing on one exercise at a time with better recovery... but I'd like to work in some stretching/yoga/cardio/bodyweight exercises as well.

Anybody been where I am and have a good place to start? Any other asthmatics out there with tips? I'd appreciate any advice.

TL;DR: 32 y.o. asthmatic skinny dude with good diet and 'meh' lifestyle, new to strength training, looking to find a comprehensive fitness routine that will help me build solid foundational strength and cardio ability in a slow and balanced way that minimizes risk of injury.
 
Right here. You've taken your time and looked into things. 5/3/1 is a simple and flexible base.

If you want to bias the strength progress, you can do two lifts a day at the suggested intensities or as one heavy / one light. You can add fast lifts/components (front squats, cleans, hang snatch, jerks), or bodyweight compliments, or gymnastic movements, or stretching, or bodybuilding work ... And still keep it to a reasonable time.
 
@rockmanjl9981
What I'm not interested in:
Counting calories (willing to moderate intake as needed, just not interested in micro-managing/spreadsheeting).
Click to expand...

Can't figure out what your goals are. Do you want to gain weight? Whatever your goals are, the best way to stay on track is count your calories. You could have counted calories for an entire week in the time you took writing this post.

I suspect your lower back issues come from a weak core. Heavy squats and deadlifts can fix that.

I'd pick a beginner program, like SS or SL. You have a lot of progress that you could make on either one of those.

Why not just keep up with what you put in mouth? That's the majority of where your progress will come from. If you ate more, your lifts would go up. IF (big "if") you're on a good progressive program. Good luck!
 
@samamph Thanks for the input!

I have a number of goals listed above, but none of them are weight-focused.

I want to build muscle, and I will likely end up gaining weight if I do so, and I may even track my weight as a secondary stat to help gauge progress... but the gaining or losing of weight isn't the point of what I'm trying to do.

I am very mindful of my diet and what I eat, and will be moderating it as needed to help achieve my fitness goals. It's just that (with all respect to different approaches) my approach to nutrition is not calorie-based.
 
@rockmanjl9981 Good health and balance aren't goals. They are fuzzy descriptors. Building muscle, now there's a goal. The best way to do that is a calorie surplus and a progressive lifting prism program (damn mobile). And, IMO, nutrition is very much calorie-based. Are you getting enough protein? How about fats? How about carbs? Your lifting progress will mirror your nutrition. Unless you account for your nutrition, you won't know what your nutrition looks like.

You asking "how can I gain muscle and look good?" And I'm telling you that your nutrition and a good beginner lifting program will get you there. But you'll have to do the work. "I don't want to count what I eat and I'm scared I'll hurt myself if my lifts increase" isn't the way to gaining muscle and looking better. Good luck!
 
@samamph Well I certainly wish I could get calories from digesting all these words being put in my mouth... I'd get huge gains for sure.

It seems like maybe you're skimming my post (fair enough, it's awfully long). There's well defined goals in there, but you'll either take a second to read them or you won't.

Your approach to nutrition may be calorie based. That's fine, works for you, great. It's not the only approach, and not counting calories doesn't equal 'not accounting for your nutrition.' Again, to be clear, I'm very, very mindful of my diet, I know what I eat and in which groups and how much, I just don't happen to use your chosen metric.

I also didn't say "I'm scared I'll hurt myself if my lifts increase." I said I'm very interested in avoiding injury. For me, as a beginner, this means taking the time to develop proper form on the exercises before I go for huge weight, so I don't cause injury. I'm actually looking forward to increasing my lifts, and I've been working hard to do so.

I really do appreciate the input and encouragement, but I want to clarify these points as this is near the top of my thread and you're doing kind of a lousy job of paraphrasing me.
 
@rockmanjl9981 Hey, I'm just a random internet stranger responding to your post. I've read your post twice, and my wife read it also. We both agreed your post lacked any real goals and that you obviously have a fear of injuring yourself. Three exclamation mark fear. Your words, not mine. Fair enough. Nobody wants to hurt themselves, but the fear of injury is holding you back. But I've tried, you don't have to agree with anything I've said to you.

My final advice is read up on nutrition as it relates to fitness and lifting, set yourself up some macros that will help you get stronger, and adopt a beginner lifting program. All that stuff can be found in the Wiki. Good luck.
 
@rockmanjl9981 So 5/3/1 will work for you, but where you are at right now, you would probably be better served by doing a linear progression program like Stronglifts or Starting Strength (or Ice cream fitness, etc...). 5/3/1 will get you there, but it will just take a lot longer.

For instance on SL or SS you'll be adding 15lbs to your squat every week, whereas on 5/3/1, you'll be adding 10 lbs per month. I would recommend that to start with and then switch to 5/3/1 once you start having trouble recovering. I added 50 lbs to my bench press and 125 lbs to my squat by doing Stronglifts for 12 weeks.

But the most important thing is to just be consistent.
 
@rockmanjl9981 I've done SL and then 531 but I probably moved on to 531 before it was really necessary so I wouldn't recommend it for you either until you get into intermediate range.

SS and SL are both fine but I'm really enjoying the Muscle and Brawn Fullbody Workout. The 20 rep goal system is intuitive and flexible as you get a good base of rep work before you move up in weight. The author also runs the Massive Iron channel.
 
@rockmanjl9981 I've recently splurged on a couple of private sessions with a trainer, to check my form on the exercises I'm doing in a group circuit training class.

I was advised by multiple people that it helps a lot to stretch out after every workout, focusing on sore muscles so they don't stay sore as long.
 
@brookiej I think it's an aversion to following a video program. Some people want the structure of a scheduled program, but maintain the ability to tweak it on the fly.
 
@ferdinand You can tweak any kind of workout video that you want based on your body or what you have in the house. Either way that is just silly to hate a program for that. Its a great program for those who are just getting into a workout but dont know where to start. yeah I can see a veteran gym goer not interested in but for someone who has im sure never done it in his life calling it a "cult" is silly. All Ill say to OP is to stop being so closed minded as a newb getting into workingout
 
@brookiej I liked doing P90X, but that's only because I think it's a decent home workout in hindsight. It's a little off-putting to blindly follow along, having a good ol' time with Tony Horton (caw caw) without knowing what's coming next. It is dogmatic, in that in order to progress you have to buy-in to the system. You can't expect anyone to watch the whole video, take notes on it, and then create a personalized program.

Another thing with branded workouts as that you can't be sure whether you're a sucker being sold a product. I'd guess there's a reason everyone in /r/fitness recommends SS/SL, even though they're essentially free. You'd think the marketed workouts would be better products in order to justify their price, but not necessarily.
 
@ferdinand You may note that I never called it a cult (or even used that word, at all, anywhere in my post)... but /@brookiej seems bound and determined to get as butt-hurt as possible based on their alternate reality where I apparently did.

I did use the word "culture." Maybe english isn't their first language?

Either way, I'm not terribly interested in wasting time defending comments I never made in the first place.
 
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