age: 18
height: 6'0
starting weight: 145-150
goal weight: ~175

I just entered my freshman year in college so I have access to a pretty much brand-new, amazing gym. Instead of just *bleep*ing around with random exercises, I'm going to stick with a set routine, currently a variation on the Starting Strength workout. If you think that's a shitty workout please feel free to tell me/give me suggestions on a better one.


If I can remember it, I might try to add my diet in here on a day-to-day basis, feel free to critique that as well.



going to edit in some pictures as soon as possible







This message was edited by mkb2009 on Jan 26 2010.

Sept 1-A Day

Smith machine back squats: 135*5, 165*5, 210*5 (*bleep*ed this up, meant to use power rack)

Bench Press: 115*5, 135*5, 125*5 (i'm already maxing out, why are my pecs so weak )

Pull-ups: forward grip*8, reverse grip*10



Daily Diet (no order)
2 apples
1 orange
3 bowls of Cocoa balls or whatever that cereal is
1 bagel w/cream cheese
1 ham/cheese sandwich
1 hamburger
1 bowl other sugar cereal
2 glasses whole milk
(1 w/whey powder)
2 glasses skim milk
Lemonade
Orange juice
Water
definitely need to get some vegetables





This message was edited by mkb2009 on Sep 03 2009.

quote mkb2009

Power Rack: 135*5, 165*5, 210*5

That's a piece of equipment, not an exercise. Do you mean back squats? Starting Strength is a good routine, highly recommended for newbies.

Where to start on your diet? The milk is good, especially with SS. Drink whole milk all the time though while looking to gain mass, skim milk won't do you any favours. As you're trying to gain weight, I can appreciate the focus on calories and not quality foods, but as you said, you really need to add a shitload of veggies. Furthermore, try cutting some of the rubbish carbs (bagel, cereal) and replace them with high quality protein (which is essential and you're sorely lacking). Some bacon and eggs, tuna, meat, chicken, salmon will all be good options, as well as some eating more nuts for the fat content.

I never thought of cereal to be pretty bad, but yet it is packaged. Is oatmeal better versus cereal? I just don't want to be eating just a yogurt for breakfast. Don't mean to jack the journal, but I don't want people to repeat the question twice.

carbs are carbs. none of that good/bad/etc carb stuff really matters for the average person if you watch calories.

cereal and bagels are some of the easiest foods to take out of the dining hall, but I'll definitely try to add some more protein (like eggs instead of cereal for breakfast) and keep using stuff like cream cheese and peanut butter on the bagels i do eat.

what other exercises can the power rack be used for?

quote Tumbles

carbs are carbs. none of that good/bad/etc carb stuff really matters for the average person if you watch calories.

Hardly. I know the whole glycemic index stuff is overplayed a lot, but there is a big difference on insulin production, health and physique from eating a bagel compared to eating vegetables for instance. I know he's trying to put on some weight because he is severely underweight right now, and my main point was to sub protein for the simple carbs, but it's good to have the healthy eating habits now.

quote mkb2009

cereal and bagels are some of the easiest foods to take out of the dining hall, but I'll definitely try to add some more protein (like eggs instead of cereal for breakfast) and keep using stuff like cream cheese and peanut butter on the bagels i do eat.

what other exercises can the power rack be used for?

Have a low suguar/low carb yogurt with breakfast and make sure you do not have a lot of orange juice as that has sugar in it. You are better off eating oranges.

Starting Pics









are there any good poses for legs? or do i just pull up my shorts and take a pic of the entire leg

pull up shorts, flex legs

ok i'll get those up soon.

are power rack squats equivalent to non power rack squats? if not, then what's the benefit of using the power rack?

Are you perhaps confusing a power rack with a smith machine?

Power rack
Smith machine

The power rack is essential just a structure with pins running along the sides, paralell to your body. The pins should be below waist height, and the point of the pins, are that if you get caught in the bottom part of the squat, rather than being squashed underneath the bar, you can drop down and let the weight land on the pins.

A smith machine is where the barbell has a fixed range of motion (up and down), and you simply lock it in to one of the rungs if you got stuck in the bottom position of the squat (sometimes called 'the hole'). Using a barbell in the power rack is infinitely better than using the smith machine, because it allows you to use your core and stabiliser muscles to keep the load in a straight line, rather than letting a machine do it for you.

damn youre right, i was using a smith machine. should i still start out with actual back squats as a beginner or try something safer like hack squats?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm really kicking myself at this point for not signing up for the beginning weight training class.

B Day

Deadlift 155*5 165*5 175*5 I'm feeling most of the strain of this on my abs, is that the right area?

Bent Rows 95*5 105*5 115*4

Military Press 75*5 85*3 85*3 (kind of disappointed here, as I was up to 90 at one point).

just read an article that really made me rethink the whole dirty bulking thing so im going to definitely cut out some of those bagels and cocoa puffs. also going to add a couple days of cardio just cuz i can

This message was edited by mkb2009 on Sep 05 2009.