Hey guys! I'm a 24 year old guy trying to get good at poker and eventually becoming a poker pro. The only thing I can imagine that would be more awesome than being a poker pro is being a ripped poker pro.

Last 2 years I've been a pretty inactive person. A few weeks ago I reached a low-point weighting in at 99.6kg (I'm 1.86m tall)
I started casually watching over what I ate and lost 2.1kg in 2ish weeks, and at the beginning of september I started taking it more seriously, couting kcal and started going to the gym. This week I lost another 3.1kg so current weight is 94.4kg.

Anywho I'm tired of having a belly, feeling doughy and unhealthy. I want to keep this up, set goals and do my best to become the best version of myself. The days where I'm just spending all day on the couch are gone



^ I would like to achieve a form close to this. Yeah most likely not happening, but let's give it my best shot

These are the goals I want to achieve before my 25th birthday (april 16th 2015)

[ ] weight 80-83kg
[ ] 10 reps at 100kg in benchpress <<< not sure how much I can bench atm since my right thumb starts to hurt atm when trying to lift heavy. Don't think I could do 1 rep at 100 atm though
[ ] 25 pull ups <<<<<<<<<current is around 8
[ ] run 5km in 25 minutes <<< currently I can't run for 25 minutes straight

This is how I plan to do my weekly splits

Monday - Back
Tuesday - Shoulders/triceps
Wednesday - Cardio/abs
Thursday - Chest/biceps
Friday - Cardio/abs
Saturday - Legs/some upperbody
Sunday - rest

Will update thread with goals progress on a weekly basis, diet, and routines.

Have a "before pic" but don't feel like posting it might post before and after later though when it becomes relevant

Figure out your BMR and TDEE and daily calorie and protein requirements, then work backwards from there to figure out your diet.

Devote more than half a workout to legs.

Thanks! Could you please explain what TDEE is?

I have a whole workout for legs. Just that I'm ending the work out with pull ups and dips. Saturday workout is supposed to be a bit longer than the other ones.

Any tips for leg exercises are welcome though! Atm I have, squats, deadlifts, hamstring curls and calfpresses. Is there some other one I should add?

- Counting calories is a great start.

- I don't think you are, but don't get too hung up on how celebrities/models look in their pictures. Those pics are super photoshopped and there is a fair chance he is/has been on drugs. He probably looks nothing like that walking around day-to-day.

- If you're not a very experienced lifter, spending some months focusing on the basics will pay huge dividends in the long run in terms of building a "base" of strength, learning how to use your body, identifying imbalances and mobility issues. Starting strength is still probably the best program for this.

This.

SS is going to be much better than a bro split you came up with or stumbled upon.

MFP is great for counting calories / ensuring you're getting enough protein (myfitnesspal.com)

FYP.

Dude somewhat looks like that walking around; he's got a role in True Blood and is obv close to nekkid most of the time. It's interesting to note that one of the other actors from the series noted that he prepped for 2 days before any nude scenes to look his best (dehydration etc). So even if actors actually do look super ripped when filming, they don't necessarily walk around in the same state.

Oh yeah I'm obv very aware of that It's mostly a fun long term goal. Real goal is probably to get back to my old shape.

While I haven't been active for 2 years, before that I was working out a decent amount for a few years. I was never huge or anything but I think I still have the right technique for the lifts.

Came up with routines myself. Used to do
day 1 back/biceps/abs
day 2 chest/triceps/shoulders
day 3 legs

And I liked this splitting thing alot. Why is ss better?
Thanks for mfp Gonna use it today

lol

+1 to SS, but it's not a huge deal if you love to do a split and you'll be motivated. I think that 3 day split there is better than the one in the OP, but even going just upper/lower is probably even better. I'd want to hit every muscle at least 2x/week.

idk who that dude is, but that is a ****-ton of muscle mass. id be shocked if that could be had in less than 2 years.

The bigger point is that it's likely better to follow a set program when you're a novice who doesn't know too much about programming yeah?

Yea definitely. I agree SS is better.

TKB: ****-ton? Nah. But yea will def take longer than 2 years. Certainly a medium/long term project. Def achievable natty (in terms of muscle mass, not necessarily looking like that).

Guys. Again I'm not a complete novice... I've just had a 2 year break.

Pics I took just before break for refrence



Can you guys please explain what is bad in my program? The only thing I don't like atm is that I get legs once a week. Other than that I think it seems fine?

I'm very thankful if someone offers help or constructive criticism. Please Just don't say "SS is better" and instead explain why

Thanks!

I could do this again

day 1 back/biceps/abs
day 2 chest/triceps/shoulders
day 3 legs
day 4 back/biceps/abs
day 5 chest/triceps/shoulders
day 6 legs
Day 7 rest

If you guys think that's better. However then I wont have time for cardio


Edit: Or I just throw in a couple of leg excersices in the back workout on monday which is the shortest work out of the week. If i do that i think I like the schedule in OP

OP,

Most people were ****ting on your program because it looks like it came directly out of Men's Health, and people that use those programs generally are in need of a novice program like Starting Strength to build a decent strength base before moving onto other stuff. It's also a bit anachronistic that you're asking for advice when you apparently achieved good results before, but if you're only 24 now it's probably due to all that T running through your body when you were in your early 20s.

TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure, and is essentially a way for converting your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) into a useful estimate of how many calories you burn per day (generally with a multiplier based on your activity level. A site like http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ is a good way to get an approximate idea of how many calories you should be eating based on the kind of deficit you want to run.

If you're really just interested in physique related stuff, I think the aesthetic guys on the board have good things to say about Layne Norton's PHAT? I'm pretty sure it's a five day split.

^ Allright so if I have some base strength splits are fine then?

"It's also a bit anachronistic that you're asking for advice when you apparently achieved good results before"

I've googled the word "anachronistic" but I still can't figure out what you mean with this sentence But anyways I wrote in OP
"Last 2 years I've been a pretty inactive person"
So after this I thought it was implied that I had been active before those 2 years. Later I also wrote

"While I haven't been active for 2 years, before that I was working out a decent amount for a few years. I was never huge or anything but I think I still have the right technique for the lifts."

Also I haven't really asked for advice itt Just asked people who were posting advice to specify why certain things are better.

Also while I had decent results before. I was just doing the same thing as my buddy was doing and I don't have much knowledge about what is most effective etc, so advice are still appreciated
And yeah goal is to look like a werewolf and not to compete in the olympics I'll check out that 5 day split!


Day 1

Work out
4 sets Pull ups, 8, 4, 4, 4
3 sets barbell row 50kg, 10, 10, 6
4 sets T-bar row
4 sets Deadlifts 90kg 3x, 60kg, 6, 6 (realized my forearms are too weak for 90kg and I was losing my grip)
4 sets Straight arm pull downs 8, 8, 8, 6
4 sets pull downs, 8, 6, 6, dropset

Diet

I will eat close to this every day

pre work out: vitamins

during work out: BCAA

Post work out: EAA

Breakfast: 2 slices of toas with tuna mix made out of, quark, tuna, eggs, grill sauce and red onion.

Lunch: a Ham wrap

Dinner: chicken wok with noodles

night snack: what's left of the tuna mix from breakfast

All this is about 1900 kcal, 160 grams of carbs and 170 grams of protein
From my calcs this should have me losing about 1kg a week. I'll slow down the weight loss prob in beginning of november to closer to .5kg a week

Supposedly BCAAs are best for pre, EAAs best for intra. But really both are nearly useless for most purposes.

your aspiness will help you fit right in here at H&F. welcome! (right, Montecore )

diet looks really good. maybe a bit low on calories. if you find you're losing weight too quickly (over 2lbs per week after a couple of weeks) you may want to increase carbs. 160g is probably on the threshold of too low to support 5-6 days of serious training. actually, now that i type this up, go ahead and bump it up to 200g now would be my recommendation. edit: agree with saw about bcaa/eaa... waste of money and especially mental effort at this point in the game. lift/eat/sleep/cardio isn't evil as people would have you believe either!

as to the goal of aesthetic >> powerlifting... that's my goal too. what ive found in this forum thus far is that the majority seem to be more about "but how much do you squat?" than "how ripped do you look?".. that's fine for them. imho, ripetoe looks like **** and that bothers me. tbh, so do 95% of the internet pics of guys who follow his terrible advice (GOMAD anyone? no thanks!)... but they do get stronger!!

the thing about aesthetic goals is that you need a slab of marble from which to craft the physique. and you get that stone by getting stronger first. doing a good LP program to get stronger and build "real" muscle (as opposed to the sarcoplasmic pump bull**** that doesn't last). this is the path suggested by guys that i aspire to look like such as rusty moore, mike matthews, tom venuto, anthony colpo, etc..

start with episode 1 and rip through these podcasts.... skip those that obviously don't apply to you. roadtoripped.com

Workout looks fine-ish, except I'd start with your heaviest lift (i.e. deadlifts) so your back/forearms aren't smoked beforehand. Use chalk or a mixed grip if you're still having trouble with your grip, and video your form and post a video to make sure you aren't going to destroy your lumbar.

Agree that you probably need a bit more protein and total calories if you're going to be working out that much.

If you think this forum is too SS/GOMAD oriented, you should have seen it when I started; the influx of posters like loco and fakeb have definitely helped move the needle away from getting as fat as possible to squat as much as possible and towards a more balanced approach. There are posters that are all across the spectrum, including those like me that don't lift very much weight, but balance that by not looking very good either.

Now this I can get behind. I do this except I have caprice instead of eggs and grill sauce but could use some variation. Boiled chopped eggs? What kind of grill sauce?

haha. i saw your vids, montecore. you look lean and strong (as compared to the average american).

i don't think its "too" oriented. its just a matter of personal preference.

Crap! Read somewhere it's good to take those 2 things when working out on empty stomach Oh well I'll switch it to BCAA pre and EAA intra and then when I run out of it I guess I'll just not buy any more I'm a complete noob regarding supplements

Googled aspiness as well. Still clueless though but thanks I guess

Oh **** so many words I can't understand but yeah I'll bump up the carbs and keep track of weight to make sure I don't drop it too quickly! just gotta figure out where to put them and how to not increase calories too much.

Yeah I don't care that much about lifting specific numbers since I'm not going to compete or anything just wanna look/feel good about myself. Even though my genes aren't very good for a aesthetic look in the first place
I'll check out that podcast tonight, thanks

OP is confirmed TeamKB from a parallel universe or the future. Don't ever meet/touch, guys, or bad things could happen.

Very good point about starting out with heaviest lifts, I'll fix that til next session. I'll try to post a vid as soon as I can get a friend to join me for an early work out (all my friends usually works out at night :/ )

I need more protein? I thought it should be about 2 grams per lean body weight.
Maybe a bit more calories are fine though. I did this calc and got TDEE of 2900 kcal. Might have underestimated how much I should multiply though.
Maybe I should add that apart from these work outs, I play a bunch of poker and am fairly inactive/sitting rest of the day.

Yeah boiled and chopped Was really yummy imo.
Using this sauce:



It's a Swedish company though

my point was to argue FOR ss/gslp instead of bro-split for OP. even if his goals are aesthetic and not raw strength. i don't think i did a good job of that. my only point was that there's a reason and a goal to that increased strength that goes beyond just hitting new pr's.