Turned 40 time to live in shape!!!!

[Cactus52]

Hi all

Turned 40 in august and I figure it's time to live in shape instead of just out of shape. I spent the last 4 months shedding 35 lbs. and now I want to switch to lifting and looking fit. I don't want to do bodybuilding but I want to add thickness to my arms chest shoulders, while keeping slim and building abs and letting them show thru.

I am built like Mark Wahlberg, without the muscles of course but his physique is my goal, especially the arms.

My question is how many sets, how much rep to achieve this? Do I start with high weight and low reps and switch? How many exercises per body part? How many times a week do I work abs?

I know nutrition is important. I do pretty well at this now that I kicked junk food. Lean meats, veggies, some fruits but not a lot, complex carbs etc.
I got some Nitro-Tech Hardcore (good or bad I'm already invested for the first month) I plan on a scoop and a half post workout and a scoop before bed. (if I took more than that based on what I read, I would gas my family out of the house)

Any suggestions additions or subtractions would be most welcomed.

Thanks

Scot
(Cactus52)

[gymNut]

Congrats on the weight loss. What's your height & weight, and do you know your % body fat ? How did you drop the weight - cardio ? These might help me make suggestions about what you should do to put on some size. You might need to cut back on cardio, for instance, or stop altogether, in order to put on some bulk. Since you're just starting with the weights, you will make gains no matter what type of program you try. Are you going to a gym or working out at home ? That info would help, too. How many days a week do you plan to lift (somewhere between 3 and 5 is good) ?

[Cactus52]

thanks for the response:

I am 5'7 and have no clue about body fat. I travel 4 days a week but the hotels have pretty good gyms. I have a gym down the street that I use when I'm home. As far as the weight loss goes, yes cardio was the big player 3-5 hours a day. Treadmill, recumbant bike, 15 mile mountian hikes, or whatever else I can find. My workout schedule is going to be flexible but I am shooting for 4 days a week. I have dropped down on the cardio already to 3-4 times a week and no more than an hour at a time since I am back in my skinny jeans.

Hope that helps

Thanks

Scot

[liftnw8z]

Originally Posted by Cactus52

I am built like Mark Wahlberg, without the muscles of course but his physique is my goal, especially the arms.

)

Your sets and reps are not going to give you marky mark arms. Your diet and intensity of training will. Train for hypertrophy (muscle growth) and eat for it and you will get it. There are so many set/rep ranges that will work, to list one would be dumb.

Heavy compounds, squats and deads, and rows will give you large arms. Curl all day long and watch nothing happen.

[gymNut]

You'll need to reduce your cardio, for starters. Like maybe 10 minutes to warm up before you lift. I think you'll have trouble getting bigger unless you do that. The lifting will help keep your metabolism going strong. Let your waist size be your guide to the cardio- if your pants start getting tight, get running again.

Like the last guy said, there are lots of ways to get bigger. You want to focus on the big muscle groups first - legs, chest, back. Try working opposing muscle groups on any given day - if you go four days, try this:
Chest and abs
Shoulders and back
Legs and abs
Biceps and triceps

I have two different ways to lift, and there are plenty of others.
1. Do three sets that increase in weight and decrease in reps (for example 12, 9, 6 reps).
2. Do three sets, each one ten reps, increase the weight each set.
Find three different exercises for each muscle group, for example, flat bench, incline bench, pec deck for chest. So for chest you're doing 3 sets x 3 different exercises (9 sets total). If you're not that familiar with the different exercises and what muscles they target, ask around, look online, or buy a book like Arnold's encyclopedia of bodybuilding.

Maybe do more than three exercises for legs 'cuz you want to hit the quads, glutes, calves, hamstrings (squats are great).

Either way, go heavy enough on the last set that you have trouble finishing. Working muscles to exhaustion is the way to get hypertrophy. You want the last set heavy because doing 50 reps of a light weight will not cause growth. You'll be surprised how much progress you make in the first few months. Good luck to you. By the way, I'm 48 years old. I'm no giant (5'9", 175 lbs) but I can put up some decent weight.

[Cactus52]

Thanks for the input. It all sounds good. I don't know if I will do legs since I do hike a lot but I will feel it out.

I start tomorrow so I will post my progress!!

Thanks

[gymNut]

You want to do squats - this will build size all over your body. I used to ride a bike a lot, and I had the body of a runner. Hiking will give you well-defined leg muscles but not much in the way of size, just like my bike riding. The other (more important) thing to realize is that working the large muscle groups like legs increases your testosterone levels, and at "our age" you need all the help you can get with that. Lots of people will tell you that to build big arms, you need to do squats ! (you also have to work the arms, of course)

Ya don't want to look like that cartoon guy with the huge upper body and the stick legs, either.

Go hit those weights !

[BTH]

When doing squats and deads, don't for forget about sumo squats and sumo deads. I really like them.
Tom McCullough on the Deadlift