SomeDudeOnline
New Member
- Sep 12, 2023
- 3
- 2
Hello all,
I'm a small guy (5'6 150 lbs), just joined the forum, and am really just looking to maximize my time/efforts in the gym. I'm not looking to put on a ton of muscle as I have other things in life I want to focus on. But I do want to put on some muscle and just be generally more fit than I am now. I know that there is A LOT to learn about to get big and strong but I'm mostly hoping to increase certain muscles just a little for aesthetics, some other muscles for function, and other muscles to balance it all out. I did read the Road Map for the Beginner thread which of course has a bunch of good information but I'm guessing because I'm not trying to put on a lot of mass, that certain things won't apply to me (like eating a ton of protein 5 times a day), but of course, I could be wrong.
So my goals are basically to increase strength and size some but not a lot. I realize that's vague but I'm not really sure how else to describe it without getting into specifics for each muscle group so I'll list my questions below and if they don't make sense or you'd like more info before trying to answer, please don't hesitate to say so
I'm a small guy (5'6 150 lbs), just joined the forum, and am really just looking to maximize my time/efforts in the gym. I'm not looking to put on a ton of muscle as I have other things in life I want to focus on. But I do want to put on some muscle and just be generally more fit than I am now. I know that there is A LOT to learn about to get big and strong but I'm mostly hoping to increase certain muscles just a little for aesthetics, some other muscles for function, and other muscles to balance it all out. I did read the Road Map for the Beginner thread which of course has a bunch of good information but I'm guessing because I'm not trying to put on a lot of mass, that certain things won't apply to me (like eating a ton of protein 5 times a day), but of course, I could be wrong.
So my goals are basically to increase strength and size some but not a lot. I realize that's vague but I'm not really sure how else to describe it without getting into specifics for each muscle group so I'll list my questions below and if they don't make sense or you'd like more info before trying to answer, please don't hesitate to say so
- Is it better/worse/indifferent to do a lot of different muscle groups on the same day? I typically try to get to do back/biceps on Monday, chest/triceps Wednesday, and legs on Friday. However, life and a lack of motivation occasionally get in the way and cause me to skip a day in the week or even two. I know, bad... stay motivated, stick to your regimen... but it is what it is. I'm thinking, I could do all of my workouts two days a week (Monday and Friday) and if/when something comes up that makes me unable/unwilling to get to the gym on one of those days, I can simply go on Wednesday instead. It's not a perfect plan but it's an improvement that should help me be more consistent. Unless of course there's a good reason not to do many different muscle groups on the same day.
- I understand that protein is still going to be important for me even though I'm only wanting minimal gains but I'm not sure how important. Should I still be aiming for the 1.5-2 ish grams per lb of lean fat or maybe just .5? Should I still spread it out throughout the day every day? Just eat like that for x days after a workout? Eat whatever extra protein I need to eat in my regular daily meals (Lunch and Dinner for me, never been a breakfast person)?
- This one might be answered with the answer above but I wanted to ask if there's any benefit to eating shortly before a workout? I try to get a run in before lifting as a warmup and just so I can get some cardio in, but I've always found running to suck extra if my stomach isn't empty. The food/liquid sloshes around making me generally uncomfortable and causes stomach cramps, stitches, or something along those lines. However, if having fresh protein as I'm working out would be a huge benefit, I may want to deal with the stomach pain in the run.
- If I do end up splitting my workouts into just two days instead of three, would it be a bad idea to duplicate certain workouts where I want to see the biggest improvement but do them at like 70% or modified to be easier? For example, I would like to have strong legs again just to have strong legs so I'm doing parallel squats on Fridays and am thinking it would be good to add in box squats on Mondays (I'm not sure if box squats is the right term but instead of squatting parallel, you squat somewhere between standing and parallel).