The Student Room Group

Skinnyfat old guy gets fit

Just thought I'd make a thread here to track my progress from the beginning. Hopefully it will help with the motivation to keep going.

Age: 35 (mature student hence why on TSR)
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 186 lbs

Haven't really done any kind of sport in years except for the odd set of tennis and a cricket match with mates a couple of times a year. Haven't been in a gym since I was 21, probably...

I'm going to be following a program a personal trainer at my gym gave me when I got a free training session with my membership on Saturday. I'm sure it's terrible but I'll give it a few weeks and see how it goes. I haven't done any free weights yet but these are my results on the crappy machines I tried today, so that I can track my improvement:

Chest Press machine - 10x3 - 64kg
Upright Row - 10x3 - 74kg
Lat pulldown - 10x3 - 44kg
Chest Fly - 10x3 - 55kg
Rear Delt - 10x3 - 29kg

I know everyone is going to **** on me for not following Starting Strength or AllPro etc but, like I said, going to follow the PTs crappy workout for a bit and might see some noobgains.
(edited 9 years ago)

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Law crew support checking in
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Reply 3
Thanks, I'm not really sure what the goal is - I guess just to stop being skinny/fat and look reasonable.

According to my trainer's program, today was supposed to be 'cardio and abs' (don't laugh). I was going to do HIIT but I somehow managed to pull my calf in my sleep (this is what happens when you get old).

This morning I did 350 kcal on elliptical and 10x3x55kg on the ab crunch machine.
This evening I did another 350 kcal on elliptical.

I need to improve my diet. Too many packs of quavers and sandwiches today, although the total number of calories was fine as was the protein.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 4
Morning workout - shoulders and arms

50kcal on elliptical to warm up.

Shoulder press machine - 11x43kg (fail), 12x2x41kg; superset with dumbbell front raise 12x3x10kg (each arm)

Triceps pulldown on cable thing - 12x3x32kg (this was way too easy, should have increased weight); superset with bicep curl on cable thingy with the mini straight bar - 12x3x32kg (few cheat reps on set 3)

Dumbbell shrugs - 8x27.5kg (each arm). Miserable fail, couldn't get any range of motion at all with these. 12x2x25kg (no problem at all with these, bizarrely).

Military press with barbell (not sure what the difference is between this and overhead press. also not sure why the PTs workout has both shoulder press machine and free press on the same day, isn't it the same exact muscle?) 10 x 2 x 30kg. 7 x 1 x 30kg (fail on 3rd set).
Original post by Forum User

Triceps pulldown on cable thing - 12x3x32kg (this was way too easy, should have increased weight); superset with bicep curl on cable thingy with the mini straight bar - 12x3x32kg (few cheat reps on set 3)


How is your form for these two exercises? The weight looks pretty high for a novice to be doing with correct form. For both, your elbows should remain tucked by your sides and not move. So many people at my gym do cable pushdowns rotating at their shoulder by moving their entire arm - this is not the correct exercise. You want to isolate your triceps by making sure that it is only the tricep which moves.


Note how his elbows do not move.

If you're already doing it like this then gratz - you're strong :biggrin:
Reply 6
Original post by illusionz
How is your form for these two exercises? The weight looks pretty high for a novice to be doing with correct form. For both, your elbows should remain tucked by your sides and not move.


I certainly tried to keep my elbows still and tucked into the side - yeah basically like the form videos that I've watched. The only movement was forearms on both exercises, except for the last few reps of curls since a friend told me it was better to do cheat reps than stop on these... so I finished the set however I could by bending my back a little :smile:

Next time I do them I'll double check the form and maybe even post a video if I can, especially if you say the weight is high for a newbie. I don't think I'm naturally strong so more likely that I'm using bad form...
To be honest, it seems like you're naturally strong judging by your press.
Original post by tehforum
To be honest, it seems like you're naturally strong judging by your press.


He's 35. It's dad strength.
Reply 9
Ugh, had a friend's barbecue on Thursday and ate and drank like a slob, then couldn't get to the gym today before it closed. Not good and need to stop slacking :smile:

Tomorrow I'll just do some cardio to lose the weight from Thursday, then I'll do legs on Sunday... maybe I'll post some pics on Sunday as a memorial of where I started on this quest to get in shape :smile:
Original post by Forum User
I certainly tried to keep my elbows still and tucked into the side - yeah basically like the form videos that I've watched. The only movement was forearms on both exercises, except for the last few reps of curls since a friend told me it was better to do cheat reps than stop on these... so I finished the set however I could by bending my back a little :smile:

Next time I do them I'll double check the form and maybe even post a video if I can, especially if you say the weight is high for a newbie. I don't think I'm naturally strong so more likely that I'm using bad form...


IMO, Scott Herman doesn't have the best fitness videos on YouTube :biggrin:

For the tricep pushdowns, keep the elbows tucked and motionless but also I think you should try locking out and then let it up slowly until your bicep almost touches your forearm, you'll feel a great stretch 'n burn :cool:
Just cardio today - burned 1290 kcal on the elliptical in two hours while reading a law textbook on my Ipad :smile:

I know that's a lot but I wanted to lose the weight I gained on Thursday and I have pretty good stamina (once half ran/ half walked 100km to raise money for charity), so I figured why not?

Feel fine so will do more cardio and legs tomorrow.
(edited 9 years ago)
Meh, this training programme isn't very good at all. 'Leg day' didn't even have any squats in it, just leg press / calf press / dumbbell lunge and leg curl. I don't think it's a very efficient way to achieve my goals.

What would anyone recommend for a complete beginner? SS? Ice-cream fitness?
Original post by Forum User
Meh, this training programme isn't very good at all. 'Leg day' didn't even have any squats in it, just leg press / calf press / dumbbell lunge and leg curl. I don't think it's a very efficient way to achieve my goals.

What would anyone recommend for a complete beginner? SS? Ice-cream fitness?


Ice cream fitness is what a few regulars do here.
Original post by tehforum
Ice cream fitness is what a few regulars do here.


Okay - just looking through it now.

Novice question - how do I figure out what weight to start with? Just start pathetically low and do 5 reps, increase it do 5 reps, until I find the weight I can't do 5 reps with, then take 10% off that? Does that sound about right?

Also my gym has no hyperextension bench thingy, and I don't have a spotter. Shall I do cable pull-throughs instead?

Last question. Looks like a long workout. Any reason not to break it into two workouts and do half in the morning and half in the evening (so that I still do the whole workout in one day)?

Edit - nm all those questions are actually answered in the FAQ :smile:
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Forum User
Okay - just looking through it now.

Novice question - how do I figure out what weight to start with? Just start pathetically low and do 5 reps, increase it do 5 reps, until I find the weight I can't do 5 reps with, then take 10% off that? Does that sound about right?

Also my gym has no hyperextension bench thingy, and I don't have a spotter. Shall I do cable pull-throughs instead?


I suggest that you attempt to figure out your 5 rep max, and use the following calculator.

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html

You then start your compound exercise at 75% of your 1RM

Compound exercises are bent over rows, deadlifts, squats, bench press, OHP.

For isolation exercises i.e. the rest of them, use 65% of your 1RM.

Yeah, do cable pull throughs instead.
Original post by tehforum
I suggest that you attempt to figure out your 5 rep max, and use the following calculator.

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html

You then start your compound exercise at 75% of your 1RM

Compound exercises are bent over rows, deadlifts, squats, bench press, OHP.

For isolation exercises i.e. the rest of them, use 65% of your 1RM.

Yeah, do cable pull throughs instead.


Yep, have watched the video now and he says the same thing :smile:
Okay so did the exercises on Workout A today, not to the reps stated but just to get an idea of where to start. On Wednesday for those exercises in both workouts, I will use the weights calculated today. For those new exercises I will just test where my starting weight should be. By Friday I should know where I stand and start progressing.

Bear in mind the following are my first ever attempt to use free weights, so might be laughably bad.

Age 35
Weight 85.04kg in the gym this morning (clothed and wearing shoes!)
Height 6'2"

Squat
Bar (standard 20kg bar) x 5 - pointless and trivial
40kg x 5 - pointless and trivial
60kg x 5 - hard but could still get low enough
65kg x 5 - couldn't do it, my brain told me not to go below parallel and I was doing crappy little half squats :smile:

I will start with 60kg squats

Bench press
Bar x 5 - could throw it around with one arm
30kg x 5 - pointless and trivial
40kg x 5- very easy
45kg x 5- moderate to difficult effort
47.5kg x 5 - only just got the last rep up, no way I could do 5 sets of these I think, and no point trying a higher weight.

I will start with 42.5kg bench press - if that's too easy I can always just raise it to 45kg straight away

Bent over row
20kg x 5- no idea why I started with this, had never tried the exercise :smile:
35kg x 5- trivial
45kg x 5- difficult, had to focus to not move any body part except arms
50kg x 5- couldn't do a set of eight properly without my back collapsing, hips driving and all kinds of extraneous moving parts.

I will start with 40kg bent arm rows and move up to 45kg after one workout if too easy

Barbell shrug
35kg x 8 (pointless)
50kg x 8 (still easy)
60kg x 8 (didn't feel like I was getting a full range of motion)
65kg x 6 (no longer felt like I was doing the exercise as intended)

Will start with 55kg barbell shrugs and move up from there. Maybe my technique is bad, but how do you avoid the bar rubbing your dick on these things? Are you supposed to hold the bar out an inch or something? Is there a reason not to do DB shrugs? My gym has DBs up to 50kg so could do those until 100kg total weight.

Triceps extension (not the skullcrushers as in the original version of ICF, but I saw a version with these so assume its okay).

36kg x 8 (pointlessly easy)
41kg x 8 (still fairly easy. At this point I thought I must be doing them wrong as has previously been mentioned in this thread that this is a lot of weight for a noob. I moved to a cable station opposite a mirror and watched my elbows as I did them, they're definitely not moving but I'll get the PT to check form on Sunday).
46kg x 2 (I couldn't do these without cheating in the most blatant fashion).

Will start with 41kg triceps extension

Incline curl on bench

7.5kg each arm - easy
10kg each arm - couldn't complete with proper form
8kg each arm - bizarrely the extra 0.5kg seemed to make the difference and these were doable but not easy.

Will start with 8kg each arm incline curls

Cable pull through

Not sure I was doing these right as seemed to hurt my wrist but did feel like it was working my back.

25kg x 10 (trivial)
27 kg x 10 (trivial)
32kg x 10 (reasonably tough and hurt my wrist so decided to stop)

Will start with 32kg cable pull through

Crunches - someone else wanted cable machine so I just used the ab chair thingy. Don't suppose it matters which ab machine you use?
50kg x 10 - trivial
59kg x 10 - hard

Will start with 59kg crunches

Glad to hear anyone's thoughts about those starting weights, but bear in mind I'm a noob. It seems I'm a bit of a dad-bro as my bench and triceps extension are disproportionate to my squat? I'll try and video my squats to make sure I get them correct given was my first time trying today. Will also video triceps extension and cable pull through.

Workout B on weds will give me my deadlift, OHP, and CGBP starting weights.
(edited 9 years ago)
This is what I look like so this time next year I can see how much I've improved :smile:

003.jpg

As per title - skinny/fat/old :smile:
Hi there, good to see you're starting ICF. A number of us, myself included have made excellent progress on it. It is a long routine but a few exercises can be skipped if you're running out of time (any of the isolations really - those are the 3x8 ones).

It is always more sensible to start off light and make progress rather than starting heavy and stalling. From your comments you may want to start on a slightly lower squat. Remember you will be squatting every workout.

One thing I would ask is what is your diet plan is? ICF is a high volume routine and you will want to be eating at least maintenance if not a small surplus whilst running it. JB does include a cutting variant but you wouldn't want to start doing that imo as your body will take time to get used to the volume.

Feel free to record yourself doing any exercise and look at it/post it here if you want feedback. You can generally learn a fair bit just by watching yourself and comparing to tutorial videos.
(edited 9 years ago)

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