First time getting in shape @ age 31. Need your suggestions

[zerostyle]

Hi all,

After many, many years of feeling miserable, I've finally decided to take control of my life and try to get healthy.

Here are my rough stats and what I'm trying to achieve:

Currently: 5'9, 155lbs. Very skinny overall.

Goals:
1. More energy! I've had enough of feeling tired/hazy/depressed. I have a typical office job and sit around all day.
2. Increase size/strength. I care less about strength, but it seems to be important for training all around. To put a number to this goal, I'll say 165-170lbs at a reasonable body fat %.
3. Reduce/remove health issues. The current main thing I'd like to resolve is a high fasting blood glucose level (105). Apparently, this just barely puts me in the "pre-diabetic" range, and I want to care care of this immediately.

I've been doing a ton of reading, and have come up with a basic strategy, but still have some questions:

(1) For diet, the general plan is to cut carbs/sweets nearly entirely, and majorly increase intake of calories from proteins, healthy fats, and vegetables. Would use this page as a rough guideline: http://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-complete-illustrated-one-page-bulletproof-diet/ . My one main concern here is: How can I eat enough calories per day (probably 3000+) to gain weight, while still managing to keep my blood glucose levels down?

(2) I've joined a gym, and from reading Starting Strength, it seems that squats, bench press, deadlift, and clean&jerk are the best bets for building core strength. Anything else that would significantly help me build mass in my chest and shoulders? I'd particularly like to avoid exercises that are more likely to result in injury.

(3) Supplements - haven't quite decided on these yet, but would like to keep them limited. Right now the only thing I regularly take are fish oil tablets to help increase omega 3 levels. Considering:
- Vitamin D (seems like a common deficiency)
- Something for loading on calories - perhaps cold processed whey protein, coconut oil, mct oils
- Bulk cinnamon - to add to meals and between meals to keep blood glucose levels down

Any other advice? As you can probably tell I am very much aiming to go for "bang-for-the-buck" type changes in both time and cost.

 

[Lagrangian]

There's a pretty significant difference between the first three movements you listed and the C&J, for one the learning curve is MUCH steeper. It takes a seriously long time to master, and if you don't know how to squat I think you'd be better served by just focusing on the first three. That is, unless you happen to have a proficient OL coach handy, which I'm guessing you don't.

 

[zerostyle]



There's a pretty significant difference between the first three movements you listed and the C&J, for one the learning curve is MUCH steeper. It takes a seriously long time to master, and if you don't know how to squat I think you'd be better served by just focusing on the first three. That is, unless you happen to have a proficient OL coach handy, which I'm guessing you don't.

Thanks, for now I've mostly been working on squats and bench press until I can find someone to watch me. (Not really interested in paying $100/hr for a personal trainer here in DC).

I just looked at starting strength, and the main 5 are actually bench press, deadlift, squat, powerclean, and press.

 

[Pantherhare]



My one main concern here is: How can I eat enough calories per day (probably 3000+) to gain weight, while still managing to keep my blood glucose levels down?
(2) I've joined a gym, and from reading Starting Strength, it seems that squats, bench press, deadlift, and clean&jerk are the best bets for building core strength. Anything else that would significantly help me build mass in my chest and shoulders? I'd particularly like to avoid exercises that are more likely to result in injury.
(3) Supplements - haven't quite decided on these yet, but would like to keep them limited. Right now the only thing I regularly take are fish oil tablets to help increase omega 3 levels. Considering:
- Vitamin D (seems like a common deficiency)
- Something for loading on calories - perhaps cold processed whey protein, coconut oil, mct oils
- Bulk cinnamon - to add to meals and between meals to keep blood glucose levels down
Any other advice? As you can probably tell I am very much aiming to go for "bang-for-the-buck" type changes in both time and cost.

I think if you consume 3000+calories/day, you'll put on fat at an unacceptably fast rate if your primary concern is health. At your weight and activity level, I'd move calories to 2500 and adjust accordingly from there (if you're not gaining, eat more. if you're putting on fat too fast, eat less). If you don't have a big appetite and are worried about getting enough healthy calories, just eat some avocados, walnuts, and/or extra virgin olive oil, all of which are pretty calorie and nutrient-dense, not to mention tasty.

Try to keep your chest exercises balanced with upper back exercises for shoulder health. So if you're benching for five sets, try to do five sets of rows.

If you're interested in health, are you doing any cardio? Brisk walking is nice, not too taxing and might even aid in recovery.

For supplements, I like the taste and mixability of Dymatize ISO-100 (zero cholesterol, which is important to me for health reasons). Take 2 scoops immediately after your workouts. Vitamin D is good. Magnesium and zinc supplement before bed at night is also nice.

 

[jarude]

do starting strength for awhile, and track your diet and your macronutrient ratios. if you want to bulk up and not be a *****, disregard rippetoe's milk diet advice, eat consistently for a couple weeks at a set level, see what happens, adjust. take vids of your main lifts if you can to analyze your technique. put in the time learning them and doing them properly and you will reap the benefits for a long, long time. once you grind out SS then you can get your bro on but it looks like youre on the right track

 

[Unbreakable]

...

 

[Khayembii Communique]

(1) For diet, the general plan is to cut carbs/sweets nearly entirely, and majorly increase intake of calories from proteins, healthy fats, and vegetables.

This is personal preference, really. Going low carb isn't necessary at all, but if you find it works for you then by all means go for it.

All that is required to gain muscle is to eat at a 500 kCal surplus while hitting the correct macro breakdown.

My one main concern here is: How can I eat enough calories per day (probably 3000+) to gain weight, while still managing to keep my blood glucose levels down?

If you are interested in gaining muscle mass then you will want to increase your protein intake and lift heavy 3x per week. I would recommend that you look into Lean Gains for this.

(2) I've joined a gym, and from reading Starting Strength, it seems that squats, bench press, deadlift, and clean&jerk are the best bets for building core strength. Anything else that would significantly help me build mass in my chest and shoulders? I'd particularly like to avoid exercises that are more likely to result in injury.

Starting Strength is always a great place to start if you are just getting into lifting. It will teach you proper form and build a really solid foundation on which to expand later. I never liked the clean/jerk, though it's popular on here, and wouldn't recommend it for a beginner, but others will disagree so it's really up to you. When I was on SS I was doing the following and it worked great for building a strong base and increasing my strength extremely quickly:

Workout A
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Workout B
Squat 3x5
Hammer Shoulder Press 3x5
Barbell Row 3x5

*Weight up 10 lbs/wk on the squat. Weight up 15lbs/wk on the deadlift. Weight up 5 lbs/wk on all other lifts. I suggest starting lighter than you think you should as it will decrease the chances of a plateau. Also keep in mind that as you weight up, you yourself will need to determine when to weight up and how much. When I was on this prog I would weight up if I hit the first two sets solid. Also, later on I had to go down to 5 lb jumps on my squat and 10 lb jumps on the deadlift because I could no longer maintain that progress, so keep that in mind as well. Lifting is about listening to your body and reacting accordingly.

I put I think like 120 lbs on my squat in 3 months on this plan before moving on to something else (200-320lbs - I increased my weight by 10lbs per week).

(3) Supplements - haven't quite decided on these yet, but would like to keep them limited. Right now the only thing I regularly take are fish oil tablets to help increase omega 3 levels. Considering:
- Vitamin D (seems like a common deficiency)
- Something for loading on calories - perhaps cold processed whey protein, coconut oil, mct oils
- Bulk cinnamon - to add to meals and between meals to keep blood glucose levels down

Only supps you need are a good multivitamin, calcium and fish oil. Whey protein is a food, really, not a supplement, as are others. That all must be fit into your cals/macros.

Any other advice? As you can probably tell I am very much aiming to go for "bang-for-the-buck" type changes in both time and cost.

Don't overcomplicate things like 99% of people do. Lift 3x a week, do regular cardio, construct a diet and stick to it.

 

[virus646]

+1 ^

 

[bbaquiran]



Good post by Khayembii

+1