23m, 5'9, 145 lbs I am going to do PPLPPL, then a rest day. Today was my first day of the program
It was my first time working out (never played sports or anything either), and I have some questions. I started with a Push day, and this was my workout:
First concern: bench pressing I could only bench press the bar, and it was surprisingly difficult. I wasn't going to drop the bar or anything like that, but my form sucks and is very wobbly. I was a little embarrassed. Do people bench and overhead press the same amount generally?
Second concern: overhead press I used a "static" barbell of 20lb for this, and then I discovered that the bench press bar was much heavier. 30lb was too heavy for me too. Should I be trying to bench press and overhead press the same amount, or should I progress this separately?
Third concern: overhead tricep extensions My first attempt with these I was using one 20lb dumbbell. I couldn't make it past my first 5 extensions, so I moved down to 15. After one set, I failed form. I went down to one 10lb dumbbell, but it feels like a low number. Is this normal?
Final concern: How much weight do I progress, and how often? Should I keep a uniform progress between the barbell exercises and the dumbbell exercises? Any kind of advice here would go a very long way.
OP, I know you're probably all excited after your first day.
But do you have a clue why you chose a PPL as a complete novice? A lot of OPs never reply, so I don't want to waste too much time, but know this: a PPL is not only unnecessary for a novice, you will make less gains on it.
Camden Long
I read a lot of back and forth online about if I should do SS or something else. I couldn't find anything that was super clear cut, so I went with PPL because it fit my schedule very easily (workout before going to work 5 days a week, then work out before volunteering on Saturday with Sunday as a rest day) It didn't have anything to do with me thinking it was "the best", it was more of me thinking that anything is better than nothing
Jaxson Brooks
Doesn't seem to be a good choice. I'll try to give you a comprehensive answer:
When you're a complete novice you don't need too much volume to see good progress. In fact, your work capacity should be fairly low as you're new to sports in general. So this means that you usually don't need to start out with all that volume in one session. Why are you isolating with triceps pushdowns and triceps extensions? Some people will claim otherwise, but those should be completely unnecessary for a novice. You don't even have a strength base. As you noticed you can barely move some weight on those small exercises. 10lbs dumbbells are probably just right for you on triceps extensions, but doing that exercise is a joke when you're just starting out. That's one of the reason why you should focus on the "big compound movements". They will allow you to learn the important movement patterns, learn good form in general and they will make you much stronger. So that when you switch to another routine you're not going to mess with pink dumbbells.
How would a novice program like starting strength 3 times a week not fit your schedule easily? 3 days a week instead of 6 - that's as good if not better. Right now you might be overly enthusiastic, but realistically you'll have to choose something that you can stick with in the long run. Going to the gym almost every day gets tiring really fast.
On another note: If you train full body 3 times a week you will hit the same muscles 3 times a week and you will be constantly growing. If you split it up with a PPL routine you will only hit the same muscles twice a week and you'll hence have days where you don't grow / you will alternate growing just half of your body .
Adrian Phillips
>doing 6 day ppl as a beginner >doing 6 day ppl as a natty Read the sticky. Not even going to bother with the rest of your wall of text
Luke Reyes
Give it time, I could almost not lift the bar when I started. I can lift much more now and it feels super nice not being super weak.
Most important thing is to do basic stuff and keep up with it every week. And get all the protein and calories.
Can almost deadlift my own body weight now and it feels amazing. Keep going on user
Jackson Fisher
Don't do PPL as a complete novice, and especially don't do it as someone who who hasn't worked out before and is completely sedentary. Do a beginner routine, stick with it for 3 months MINIMUM, then you can do a basic PPL if you wish. Don't try to speed up the process. Also rest is important, as a beginner it is better to do something like PPLxPPLx
Jason Watson
>I never worked out before but I made up this routine, thoughts? I think you need to read the sticky.
Jonathan Green
>doing 6 day ppl as a natty >literally a body part 2x a week *craaack* yep, you need roids for that kind of frequency *sips*
John Robinson
>asks for help >only replies once
Based non-responder OP
Never gonna make it
Landon Evans
You have the right idea of doing high volume. Every concern you've expressed is normal, I started with the empty bar and in only maybe 1.5 years I can do 2pl8 for reps. Every single lift should be thought of as seperate, while there is carryover don't let your idea of what you should be doing impede what you should really be doing. Do tricep extensions seated in a straight back bench, it helps keep form and gets you mad gains. Think about how really muscles are almost never strained in modern day, even a small resistance like 20lbs is enough to probably bamboozle your CNS so don't worry about starting small. Keep it up bru you'll make it.
Mason Jones
Good post
Asher Edwards
SS and stronglifts are horrible programs. Stay the fuck away.
If you want to do PPL, I'd recommend Reddit PPL for beginners. Otherwise, 5/3/1 for beginners or something like that is my pick.
There's no issue in you being weak. You'll get stronger. Keep trying and don't quit, nigga
Parker Sanchez
>1 and 2: Your bench press will be much higher than your overhead press given a similar amount of training. About 75% higher is about right. It makes sense given this ratio that you would be able to do 20 but not 30 for ohp if you can only do the bar on bench. Most people have an even higher ratio than that because they overhead press much less often than they bench, or not at all.
>Final: Starting off just focus on getting ok technique at whatever weight and shaking off the initial DOMS. If after a session or two you can handle more weight across the board, do it.
I would say if you're doing some n times m program, you should be trying to use a weight which you can just barely manage on your last set of your last rep (without hurting yourself, of course). That way you know you couldn't possibly have done more. If you can't confidently add weight across the board from session to session, consider instead gradually replacing earlier sets with the next weight increment up (2.5lbs to 5lbs) until you can do the new weight for n sets.
Use the smallest possible increment to increase the weight. For bench press and ohp you might want to try microplates (1.25lbs each). Your gym will probably only go as small as 2.5lbs though, so you would have to buy your own. Plates and bars vary to a certain tolerance, so the actual weight you lift may vary by a pound or two, but your moving average of weight lifted will be smoother with smaller increments.
Don't get discouraged, you will probably progress pretty quickly.
Samuel Wright
OP here, thanks for all the advice everyone
It's given me some stuff to consider and a healthy dose of motivation
This is shit bait, always start with SS if you find that benching only the bar is difficult, there's so much value in doing SS for you as a complete novice.
Mason Rivera
I think that most novices are only interested in aesthetics, and PPL is great for it. SS won't give them the visual gains they're looking see
Ayden Myers
Based
Jackson Perry
I will never know the doms OP is going to enjoy these next two weeks
Don't listen to this retard. You can do PPL as a natty, but it's probably not best as a totally new beginner
Thomas Jenkins
The doms you're gonna get is going to make you hobble around and people are going to ask you if you got fucked hard in the ass the night before.
3x full body with a low starting weight and ramping up from there will be much more effective for your noob gains and you'll be telling new people to read the sticky here before you know it.
And then no one will know how much getting fucked in the ass you're doing nightly.
Andrew Turner
Of course you can, the guy was literally saying you need roids to do 2x a week frequency, you'd get more frequency from a full body workout. I built up my foundation from SS and switched to PPL and i'd recommend any beginner to do the same.
Eli Lee
This. If youre just starting, dont overcomplicate things and just do fullbody dumbells exercises three times a week. If you still have time and energy, do mobility or light cardio in your rest days.
Jose Ward
Daily reminder that just a litttttle bit of steroids would make your gains so much better with that dedication
Owen Phillips
It's not a race so why would I care
Benjamin Wilson
Everything is a race in time.
Henry Morales
Everything that actually matters yes, why would the timespan of any recreational activity matter.
John Howard
That girl is literal perfection
Ryan Martinez
Do 5/3/1
Daniel Anderson
Don't wanna hijack the thread but are you supposed to perform like shit and be exhausted after the first 2 exercises on PPL when switching from another program?
