Newbie with lots of questions
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vicki81868
Posts: 262 Member
Today was my first day, Workout A, and I have several questions. I'm brand new to weight training and am hoping it helps me blast through this dreaded plateau I've been on for months. I'm really more of a cardio-girl (love to run), but I know I need to incorporate strength training to get to where I want to be. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated!
1. How long does a 5x5 workout take you and what (if anything) do you add to it? Specifically, you go to the gym (or whatever) and you do exactly what, besides the three exercises, 5x5?
2. Can you get results from the program doing it 2x a week (I'd like to keep running 3-4 days, the "off" days)
3. I have an Android and use the app called "Liftbug". Does anyone else use that and/or recommend a different app? If anyone is using Liftbug, I have some additional questions for you.
4. My macros right now are set to fuel my runs, so higher on carbs (45 carbs, 30 protein, 25 fat). Should I change those on lift days and focus more on protein on those days, or does changing it for that day not really do much and I should just overall change the macros to accommodate both activities? Or ?????
Feel free to only comment on whatever numbered questions you have an opinion on. Any and all input would be great! I'm sure the answer to many of these questions are on the forum already, but I got lazy after a scrolling through a few pages and thought I'd just start fresh. LOL Great group! Lots of very helpful information!! Thank you!
1. How long does a 5x5 workout take you and what (if anything) do you add to it? Specifically, you go to the gym (or whatever) and you do exactly what, besides the three exercises, 5x5?
2. Can you get results from the program doing it 2x a week (I'd like to keep running 3-4 days, the "off" days)
3. I have an Android and use the app called "Liftbug". Does anyone else use that and/or recommend a different app? If anyone is using Liftbug, I have some additional questions for you.
4. My macros right now are set to fuel my runs, so higher on carbs (45 carbs, 30 protein, 25 fat). Should I change those on lift days and focus more on protein on those days, or does changing it for that day not really do much and I should just overall change the macros to accommodate both activities? Or ?????
Feel free to only comment on whatever numbered questions you have an opinion on. Any and all input would be great! I'm sure the answer to many of these questions are on the forum already, but I got lazy after a scrolling through a few pages and thought I'd just start fresh. LOL Great group! Lots of very helpful information!! Thank you!
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1. Initially, it won't take you long; 25-30 minutes maybe. As your weights increase, so will the time. I was a little over an hour by the end of the 12 weeks. I didn't add any accessory lifts, but I would do a little bit of cardio as a warmup and cool down.
2. I'll leave this to more knowledgeable people.
3. I use LiftBig and Fitocracy to track my weights.
4. This is personal preference and what goals you have. I have mine set to 40/30/30, but find I do better on weights when the day before I have a higher intake of fats and protein.0 -
Hi and welcome!
1. agreed it doesn't take long to start with, now over an hour for me..
you will have energy to do other stuff at the gym to start with but towards the end just the weights! no formal warmup is necessary afaik, other than being warm and doing the warmup sets. STRETCH afterwards though!
2. hm. no expert but it's not recommended. the idea is to do the lifts regularly to ensure form is good and to be able to progress. I'm sure someone else will jump in!
3. I have an android and use Lifting Buddy, it programmes in the stronglifts and automatically calculates your weights for the next session (you can adjust them if you do something different). It's good in that you don't have to keep track of number of times you've failed or what weight to do next time. It doesn't have a timer on it though so as you progress you'll need to time your rests (my HTC's clock includes stopwatch/timer..)
4. It's said that higher protein is helpful for muscle repair. Again I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will have an opinion, I have mine set to 150g/day but am happy if I hit 100g!0 -
1) what CC said is correct, 25-30 minutes, eventually will be over an hour. When you deload 3x OR you get to the point that its just taking too long (creeping towards 90 minutes) its time to drop to 3x5. Your lifting sessions, as a general rule, shouldn't exceed 90 minutes.
2) 2x a week is not ideal but you'll still see progress. 1x a week is not good though so do commit to the 2x.
3) Not an android user but I believe my husband also used liftbig?
4) Macros shouldn't be set to percentages, ideally. Its ok as a shortcut (and its how MFP does it) but what you should do is set protein as a bare minimum number (1.5g/kg of bodyweight is good) and fats as a bare minimum (Can't recall the amount of this off the top of my head but honestly, most people hit this with no problem unless they eat obsessively low-fat foods), and THEN you can eat the rest of your calories however suits you best.
This is somewhat open to experimentation - if you find you have really poor recovery, for example, then low protein is often a factor (regardless of if you're hitting your goals or not) and you should try upping it a bit and see what happens.
The reason percentages are less than ideal, is that as your calorie needs go up (or if they are very low) it tends to ratchet your protein and fat higher than they need to be. You *can* eat more of those, but as your calories go up, its totally fine to eat them all from ANY category you want, including carbs.0 -
Great information! Very helpful. Thank you for the input.
Can't believe this will one day take an hour to do! =O I'm looking forward to that!!!!!
I'm embarrassingly weak at the moment. I'm excited to not be mortified to post real numbers in the group.
Thanks again!0 -
Today was my first day, Workout A, and I have several questions. I'm brand new to weight training and am hoping it helps me blast through this dreaded plateau I've been on for months. I'm really more of a cardio-girl (love to run), but I know I need to incorporate strength training to get to where I want to be. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated!
1. How long does a 5x5 workout take you and what (if anything) do you add to it? Specifically, you go to the gym (or whatever) and you do exactly what, besides the three exercises, 5x5?
2. Can you get results from the program doing it 2x a week (I'd like to keep running 3-4 days, the "off" days)
3. I have an Android and use the app called "Liftbug". Does anyone else use that and/or recommend a different app? If anyone is using Liftbug, I have some additional questions for you.
4. My macros right now are set to fuel my runs, so higher on carbs (45 carbs, 30 protein, 25 fat). Should I change those on lift days and focus more on protein on those days, or does changing it for that day not really do much and I should just overall change the macros to accommodate both activities? Or ?????
Feel free to only comment on whatever numbered questions you have an opinion on. Any and all input would be great! I'm sure the answer to many of these questions are on the forum already, but I got lazy after a scrolling through a few pages and thought I'd just start fresh. LOL Great group! Lots of very helpful information!! Thank you!
1. I a relative newbie too, but it takes me about 30 minutes. My boyfriend and I are both doing it and we alternate sets, so he is lifting while I am resting and vice versa. I add in some ab work after each session but not too much. I do a few different types of planks, regular, side, twisting, and a few sets of sit ups and bicycle crunches. I also run on alternating days. I am training for a 10K and am up to about 3.5 miles now.
2. I am not sure if you will get the same results only doing it two days a week, I would imagine it would just take longer to see results. I started out only wanting to do it two days, but I find I actually love it so much that I want to do the third day! I run MWF and lift tuesday, thursday, saturday. Sundays are my day off.
3. I use the stronglifts 5x5 app and have no experience with the liftbug one, so i can't advise you on that but I love the stronglifts app.
4. I personally have my macros set to allow for 124 grams of protein 1g per lb of lean muscle mass. If you haven't heard of it you might want to look up the group eat more to weigh less, or the thread in place of a road map. This will help you with determining how much to eat and the macros you need. I don't change them day to day. I only recalculate after each 10lb loss.
Good Luck! Have fun! Lift Heavy!0
