Beginner's Muscle Building Program?

justiceevers

Hey guys. So I started my fitness journey about 5 months ago. I've lost about 35 pounds in that time and am finally getting close to my ideal body fat percentage. I would like to start adding muscle to my frame. Pretty much all of the workouts I have done so far are DVD workouts like Jillian, and I've also got a couple weeks left of Insanity. At this point, I'm pretty skinny ( 6 feet tall and 145 lbs), so I would like to add strength and size. Does anyone have an easy-to-follow muscle building program that is suitable for beginners or know where I can find one? I do have access to a gym (free-weights and machines). In addition, (sorry if this is getting long) would it be beneficial to incorporate Insanity workouts on certain days to help me stay lean and maintain cardiovascular health?

FrnkLft

You want to start a program that is focused on strength, which will allow you to build muscle and keep you progressing. Staying lean doesn't have anything to do with your exercise, that's all diet. I wouldn't recommend doing insantiy with a weight training regime, but you could do some HIIT on your off days to keep your conditioning in check.

You want the weight training program to be focused on the 4 big compound lifts: Bench Press, Overhead Press, Barbell Squat, & Deadlift, and you want it to be simple with programmed incremental progress (weight goes up on a regular basis).

The two best programs I suggest to everyone who is starting out, are Stronglifts 5x5 (free online), and Starting Strength (great book with lots of detail on the big 4).

Once you stall out on those programs, you should move on to an intermediate program. I would suggest Wendler's 5/3/1, which is the program I'm using now.

Why focus on compound lifts and not isolation work? Because compound lifts work multiple muscle groups at a time (your whole body in the case of the squat and deadlift), and because the weight is distributed this way, and the movements are big and natural, they will be the best lifts to build your body and strength.

jacksonpt

You'll need a calorie surplus to build size... with that surplus will come (in time) more muscle mass, but also more fat. It's unavoidable. Keep the deficit fairly small to minimize fat gains if that's your main concern.

As for a routine, I'd probably go through a month or two of something like starting strength or strong lifts. Learn the lifts, get comfortable with the weight, etc. Then move to something like 5/3/1 big but boring.

FrnkLft

Yeah, muscle gain for a newbie on a surplus is ideally at around 2 lbs per month, and you can expect about a 1:1 ratio of muscle gain to fat gain.