The first thing to start training in the gym for beginners is to study key muscle groups and basic exercises. To gain muscle mass and get pumped up, you need to know the basics of anatomy and understand which muscles are involved in performing a particular movement.
In addition, the training program should include sufficient time for recovery - most often, beginners are recommended to exercise in the gym no more than 3-4 times a week. Plus, muscle growth will require additional nutrition - without which it is impossible to gain weight.
Where do I begin?
We’ve sorted out the choice of a gym and what we need to pack with us, and now let’s get down to what causes the greatest fear and “evaporates” newcomers from hundreds of gyms.
Namely: beginners have little idea of exactly how to train! How many approaches, repetitions need to be done, how this or that muscle works, etc. It is not entirely clear how to eat, how much, what foods to exclude, etc. But the most important thing is how to create a training program for yourself. Let's figure it out.
When you decide on the choice of a gym and pack your bag for the gym, stuffing a bunch of sports things into it, be sure to read my article about how to stretch properly. Stretching will allow you to avoid a lot of troubles with your health, take it seriously.
Advice
Finally, an important piece of advice and parting words for the journey: if you don’t know how to do this or that exercise correctly or you can’t do something, there’s no need to slow down. Go up to any person in the gym who shows that he has been training for a long time (he has muscles ☺) and politely ask for advice. Just for the love of God, there is no need to ask anything when a person is doing the exercise. At this moment, you want to kill the person who came up with a question.
Experienced athletes very rarely refuse beginners and are happy to gain experience as older comrades. There is no need to be afraid or embarrassed. Believe me, those who don’t know how to do exercises and, without asking for advice, perform such crap on exercise machines that you don’t know whether to cry or laugh, look much stupider than the one who asks questions.
Progressive workouts
Why with progression? Because if the muscles can cope with the current load, then there is no point in growing! The body is a very “cunning bug” and it does what is beneficial to it! Muscles spend a lot of energy, so the body tries to minimize muscle growth. He always leaves you exactly as much muscle as you need to carry out your life activities!
It doesn’t matter to him whether you’re crawling up a tree for a banana or destroying your muscles in the gym, he’ll increase his muscles as needed! In short, the only way to build muscle is to get stronger!
How to do it? To do this, you just need to keep a training diary! I gained almost 20 kg of weight in a year only because I wrote down all the results in a training diary. I wrote about it and how to increase the load in more detail in this article .
There are many options on how to create a training program for a beginner, but I want to say one thing: there is NO universal training! Each organism is individual and how adaptation to stress and muscle tissue will proceed depends on many factors, such as gender, age, fitness, genetics.
Now I will give a scheme according to which you will need to practice in the first 3-4 months of your training. What is characteristic of this period?
- Poor muscle-brain connection (a beginner does not understand and does not know how muscles contract), and also, they are not able to abstract themselves (forget that someone is looking at them).
- Any physical activity is stress for an unprepared body, so there is no point in overloading the system with excessive weights
- Muscle fibers adapt to new loads, so fairly rapid increases in strength and volume are observed.
- There is no point in dividing workouts into splits (by body parts), because... this is necessary for a targeted, increased load on the muscles being worked.
These were the main points. I'll quickly go through all the points before giving you a program in which you will need to begin the path to climbing to the top, where respect, beautiful girls and success await you.
Poor muscle-brain connection. Most beginners come into the gym and just mindlessly lift and press weights without thinking about how the muscle they are working works. This is fine. This is the mistake of almost 100% of new bodybuilders. You need to read about how to learn how to contract muscles here.
I think it’s understandable about stress from any physical activity. Your goals in the first months are to establish the correct technique for performing exercises, get your body used to weights, and be able to focus on the muscle being worked.
Next point. In the first months of training, quite large increases in muscle volume and strength are observed, do not rush to rejoice, this is only the body’s response to an external load after a “long sleep”.
I advise you to measure all your volumes with a centimeter and write down all the data on paper. In a month or two, measure yourself again and you will be pleasantly surprised. Just don’t be a fan of it, don’t measure every other day and expect crazy gains.
Further. There is no point in splitting in the beginning. A beginner’s muscles are not adapted to such loads and such training will not give the expected result, as for example after 1.5-2 years of training. Just forget about it for now. Everything will happen, but everything will happen in due time.
Next point. Most beginners cannot abstract themselves. They think that everyone in the room, and even people passing by, is looking at them to laugh at their still modest results. My dear friends! Understand that everyone in the gym is focused only on themselves and no one cares how you work out. Everyone was there at first, just like you. They came to the hall with frightened eyes and were afraid of doing something weird. Relax! The race you are running is only with yourself.
You should be better than only one person today, that was you yesterday.
What types of exercises are there?
Exercises are divided into basic and isolating. Read more in this article.
Compound exercises involve multiple joints and muscle groups during their execution. Such exercises include, for example: bench press/dumbbells, squats with a barbell/dumbbells, barbell rows, etc. The principle, I think, is clear.
Isolation exercises involve only one muscle group and one joint. For example: leg extension/bending in a machine. Such exercises are good for pumping blood into the muscles or for pre-tiring the muscles, but not for great muscle growth.
Therefore, in the training program for a beginner, I included only basic exercises! No isolation for a year and a half of training!
Now it's time to get down to the fun part. How you should train in the first 3-4 months of your training.
Coaches' mistakes
For beginners, a training program is important, and it is unacceptable for a beginner to create it himself if he does not have the proper experience and knowledge.
The correctness of the program will determine the result you will achieve. However, people working in fitness clubs are not always gurus in their field.
A chemist is not an adviser to a natural athlete
A beginner, unfamiliar with the world of iron, is guided by the size of the muscles and the relief of the trainer’s figure. That is, the healthier the coach, the more confidence he will inspire. The beginner does not know that impressive dimensions could be achieved thanks to the use of steroid drugs and pharmacology. That is, the coach has achieved good results, but, alas, he cannot always tell you how to achieve something without chemicals.
This is the main problem - an experienced jock is not always an experienced coach. He may recommend a program for chemists that is not suitable for natural athletes. In the case of chemists, the program will work great, but in the second case, a beginner will waste time and will not achieve the desired result. He wanted 50 cm biceps, but received an increase of only 1 cm to the existing result. Without knowing these subtleties, one might think that the beginner has bad genetics, or he did the exercises incorrectly. But that's not true.
Therefore, when turning to a person for a program, emphasize that you are interested in natural weight gain.
Irresponsible attitude towards the health of a newcomer
Many people suffer from back pain. They are advised to strengthen their backs and start going to the gym. This is the right recommendation because you need to train your back and abs. Then the load on the spine will be less, and the pinched nerves will go away. The muscle corset will create comfortable shock absorption when jumping and moving.
What do trainers do: a person complains of lumbar osteochondrosis or hernia. And they told him to do deadlifts. You can probably already guess how it will all end.
Of course, with careful attention from the instructor, everything will be fine, the person will be able to heal his back. But in some cases there is no such control; most beginners go to the gym on their own. Beginner and deadlift are an explosive mixture, the explosion of which leaves an injured lower back.
The same applies to squats. Incorrect technique, haste in choosing a weight - and now the newbie is already at an appointment with a neurologist.
Training program for beginners
The training program for beginners will look like this:
- Army press
- Barbell row to the chin
- Barbell curl
- Squats
- Bench press
- Bent-over barbell row
- Hanging straight leg raise (abs exercise)
Do the above workout 3 times a week, every other day (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday).
We start with the shoulder girdle, because... in the future, this will allow you to increase your chest and back volumes.
First, we perform one warm-up set (usually with an empty bar) for 12 repetitions, then 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions with a weight that allows you to perform the exercises with the correct technique and feel the work of your muscles.
The weight, as you already understand, will increase on its own. But make sure that you don’t fall out of the corridor in 10-12 repetitions. Can you lift more reps without muscle failure? Throw another 2.5-5 kg onto the bar, don’t be afraid. But remember, now the main thing is technique!
If you are not yet 23-24 years old, then your growth zones are open, and you can significantly expand your backbone. Therefore, the above complex needs to be slightly adjusted.
Therefore, one workout (usually the middle one, for example on Wednesday) should be replaced with this one:
- Deep squats (20 repetitions) + Pullover with a dumbbell, lying across the bench (15 repetitions). They are performed one after another without rest (first squats, then pullovers...rest 1-1.15 minutes...then again). Complete three super series.
- Pull-ups by the head with a wide grip (30 repetitions, excluding approaches). For example: 10, 8, 8, 6.
- Pull-ups to the chest with a wide grip (30 repetitions, excluding approaches). For example: 10, 8, 8, 6.
- Pull-up with a medium reverse grip, palms towards you (on the biceps) until your stomach touches the bar (30 repetitions, excluding approaches). For example: 10, 8, 8, 6.
- Push-ups on wide bars with maximum chest stretch at the lowest point (100 repetitions, excluding sets). For example: 25, 25, 20, 15, 15
- Hanging straight leg raise (abs exercise)
This alternation of training will give an even greater effect, because... work with weights will be performed not 3, but 2 times a week. Plus, it will expand your core.
This is how your training will take place over the next 3-4 months! No isolation! Only basic exercises! It would be enough! You will grow well the first time, because... At first, the progress is generally great! The body gets used to the load and responds to it very well!
Write everything down in your training diary! All! Dot! Otherwise, you will not be able to control the weight on the apparatus! Go ahead.
How to continue training in the gym
Everything listed above is information for those who are at the beginning of their sports journey. Subsequently, the load should be gradually increased, for example, in addition to the fourth training day and adding approaches and exercises, you will need to resort to changing the type of load to remove the body from comfortable conditions. For example, include exercises aimed at developing strength in the training process, or diversify the process with high-intensity CrossFit exercises.
In the future, the training process can be changed to a five-day training scheme, in which one muscle group is worked out in one workout. In fact, not many professional athletes use this option. In fact, such training may not be effective for all athletes and, most often, it is used by those athletes who use pharmacological agents to achieve results. After all, despite training just one muscle group, the number of exercises and their intensity does not decrease, which will sooner or later lead a follower of natural bodybuilding to overtraining.
Good recovery
This is generally the shortest point, I think, of the four) Just sleep, be sure, for 8-10 hours and that’s it! You will be happy!
The fact is that muscles do not grow during training, but grow after! Because training is destruction! And during recovery, growth hormone (somatotropin) and testosterone (the main anabolic hormone) are produced in sleep, and cortisol is released from lack of sleep, which contributes to the destruction of muscle tissue! In short, healthy sleep everyone!
Small, high-quality meals
It's not that simple. Nutrition is no less important than sleep. Go.
Train yourself to eat 6-8 times a day! This is necessary to speed up your metabolism (metabolism). You will be able to get more from your food. The body will absorb nutrients better! If you starve, you won’t get pumped up! I'm telling you exactly!
Remember that there are two phases in bodybuilding! The muscle mass gain phase and the cutting phase (anabolism and catabolism, respectively). Combining these two phases is impossible! Either you're bulking up or you're drying out! If there is no muscle mass, then there is no point in drying out!
Sample diet for building muscle mass:
- Meat (any), chicken, fish about 500 g per day
- Milk (about 300-500 g), eggs (6-10 pcs), cottage cheese (200 g), kefir (300 g).
- Rice, Buckwheat, potatoes, vegetables (fresh, boiled, etc.) approximately 500 g.
- Drink plenty of water! I talked about this in this article. During training and throughout the day! At least 2 liters per day! Remember, minimum! Buy yourself a shaker (250-500 rubles). Pour water into it and drink while studying, at home, or while training. Everywhere! The bigger, the better! There is never too much water.
By the way, I posted a lot of cool and simple recipes in an article about protein shakes at home for a set. There are protein shakes for weight loss that you can easily prepare at home.
Understand that to become bigger you need to get out of your comfort zone. Those. you won’t be able to eat either! We need to eat more! To trigger high-quality anabolism, you must eat a lot, i.e. there must be a calorie surplus! Belly fat, etc. may even appear. It's all bullshit! It will all go away quickly during drying! Moreover, the more muscle there is, the faster it will burn!
For example, like this:
- 07:40: Drank a mug of water
- 8:00: Ate oatmeal, cheese sandwich, 2 eggs.
- 10-11 o'clock: A piece of chicken, an egg, rice.
- Lunch: Chicken or meat, rice, vegetables, egg, washed down with milk.
- After school or work, before training (15-16 hours): vegetables and a couple of eggs, so as not to overload and not have a hard time, or, better yet, drink a protein shake! Delightfully digestible and very useful!
- After the workout, we ate meat, vegetables, a couple of eggs, milk (carbohydrates, such as rice, etc., are better not worth it, they will go into fat and the body won’t have time to use them up).
- Before going to bed (at night): a pack of low-fat cottage cheese (200 g) and a mug of kefir! Recommendation: buy cottage cheese no cheaper than 45-50 rubles, otherwise you will simply eat coconut fat or other contamination.
- Plus, take some multivitamins!
The basic circuit will look something like what I indicated above.
You will find this difficult! Naturally! It is not simple! But I’ve been eating this way for a very long time and it’s bringing results! This must be hard! That's the whole point! To get bigger, you have to eat more and progressively lift!
To become something you haven’t been, get ready to do something you haven’t done!
You can vary the products differently, don’t be afraid! The main thing is to eat more often! 6-8 times will be great! Just opened the vacuum container, ate a couple of pieces of meat with cucumber and it was fine). Then a little more!
You should feel the muscles
The trick of bodybuilding is proper muscle contraction! You must know how this or that muscle contracts!
To do this, take five minutes before going to bed and just do exercises without weights! For example, to learn how to bench press, lie on a bed and raise your arms as if you were holding a barbell and contract your pectoral muscles! I think everything is clear here! It seems crazy, but it works! Just do it! Learn to contract your muscles correctly, learn to follow the correct technique when performing exercises!
