Being new to bodybuilding is a huge advantage in terms of gaining muscle mass. Find out how to achieve maximum results!

Author: Ray Clerk

Everyone started somewhere. Even the best of the best once crossed the threshold of the gym for the first time as green bodybuilding recruits with shaking knees. Fortunately, you’ve already taken a giant step in the right direction by educating yourself before diving into the abyss of strength training. When it comes to building muscle, losing weight and improving functional fitness, it’s much easier to go wrong than accidentally stumble upon the right path.

For absolute beginners, the best solution is to gradually immerse yourself in the training process. If you’re tense and the veins in your forehead can be read like a roadmap, prepare yourself to feel stiff and stiff the next day. Yes, slight pain after training is natural and quite expected, but why work so hard that your favorite ibuprofen will be the only salvation from pain. You have to go the other way.

Below we will suggest a basic muscle building program that will suit everyone. If you have had any kind of injury, consult with a specialist to see if you can do these exercises. You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable doing the exercises in this program. Some might argue that I am suggesting advanced exercises, while beginners should start with machines. However, these exercises are built on irreplaceable, everyday movements (but carried out with weights), so that even a 5-year-old child could handle them effortlessly.

If you are unable to complete these exercises, consult with your doctor about solutions to existing problems, and only then proceed to any training program. If you have a long-term, intractable or incurable injury, simply put aside the exercises that you cannot do and replace them with the most similar movements on the machines that are installed in your gym.

In less than four weeks, you will have to set aside some money to buy a new T-shirt. Such a low price for a muscular physique and powerful arms, on which the sleeves of T-shirts are popping at the seams.

On your marks

Do the workouts below 2-4 times a week and try to do a different exercise every day. You are not required to go to the gym on the days of the week indicated in the proposed program. The days of the week are given as an example, but you should make sure to practice either two days in a row followed by a day off, or alternating workouts and rest days. And rest 60-90 seconds between sets.

For the first two weeks, decide How long weight you can handle. After that, try to increase the load by 5-7% every week, and in a few weeks you will become the proud owner of a renewed body, woven from brand new muscles.

Workout 1: Monday

Training 2: Tuesday

Workout 3: Thursday

Workout 4: Friday

Complicating the training program

Phase 1 (weeks 1-8): Strictly adhere to the training program for about two months. However, if you have already gained a little experience and feel that you are starting to mark time, proceed to the second phase. Try to raise your working weight by 2-7% every week. If you’re starting off with bodyweight exercises, progress with variations of these weights to test your strength.

Phase 2 (weeks 8-12): Do 12 reps instead of 15. At the end of the first phase, raise the working weight by 10-15%, and rest no more than 60 seconds between sets.

Phase 3 (weeks 12-18): Do 10 reps instead of 12, 4 sets instead of 3. Rest 45 seconds between sets. Raise your working weight by 10-15% compared to the second phase.

Are you finished? Excellent. You are now officially a weightlifter.

Ray Clerk answers questions

When do you think you became a weightlifter? And have you been influenced by literature like your book “Body Trainer for Men”?

The first time I crossed the threshold of the gym was when I was 18. I would really like to have a book like “Body Trainer for Men” exist in those years, because it would prove the possibility of time travel, and I could fix all those things, which I did horribly wrong. Fortunately, the muscular giant Juan Ozet, who was and still is a good friend of mine, put my efforts with baby weights back on track. He was experienced, we trained together, but over time, our training schedules ceased to coincide, and I began my own journey.

It was difficult at first, because it is not clear how to tune in to a battle in which you yourself act as your own worst enemy. Basically, it’s like a border drawn in the sand. The world slaps you, challenges you. And when, as a skinny youth, I took refuge in the citadel of cold iron, I realized that I had crossed that border. Feeling the cold touch of steel, for some reason I realized that we would never part. And although I was then at the very bottom of the food chain, when I looked up, I realized that I had become part of this citadel.

Unfortunately, the lion’s share of my early mistakes were related to nutrition, if I knew then what I know now … I can only imagine what success I could achieve. In short, I hope that people will learn from my mistakes and will not search for knowledge only on the Internet, because searching for information on the Web is often comparable to trying to get drunk from a fire hydrant.

What would you change if you could start over?

My diet back then was so bad that I still feel like I should have paid for the sins of my youth by scourging myself with organic asparagus. After training, I leaned on Marmite, ate sandwiches with white bread and completely ignored protein – yes, it’s about as smart as playing leapfrog with a unicorn. Since my post-workout nutrition was totally counterproductive, my muscle gains were at a snail’s pace despite conscientious training. Plus, I was stuck on the same program and always trained the same muscle groups on the same days.

If I had a time machine, I would start with a full body workout; they give better results. I would also throw a handful of protein powder right in my eyes, adding a kick to the kidneys, so that the lesson is not wasted.

When embarking on a strength training program for beginners, what is more important: avoiding imperfections in diet (alcohol, sugar, or something else) or leaning on impressive servings of healthy foods?

Healthy bodies create more muscle because they can retain it over time. If your body or your immune system is weakened, you risk losing a significant percentage of your progress at the first illness.

In terms of dietary blind spots, I would not recommend starting with a drastic change, because that might make you want to quit both food and exercise. On the contrary, do everything in stages. Start exercising. Raise your protein intake before and after workouts. Then, try to gradually improve your overall diet, taking inspiration from your results.

Tell someone that once they start a workout program, they will have to forget about their favorite food forever, and you will doom them to failure. Step by step is the key to success.

Whom did you represent while making this program? Share your findings and draw a portrait of the person.

My readers are aspiring guys in their 20s and 50s with varied backgrounds in strength training and sports. And even if your training program consists of living in a three-story building and constantly forgetting things on the top floor, you will still learn something from this book. The reader will be able to clearly determine at what stage in his life path he is, and what goals he should set for himself. Also in the book there are a lot of sections and chapters for readers who have completed their chosen program, achieved a certain goal and want to progress further.

Strategically, the lion’s share of programs load certain parts of the body on certain days, but I’ve found that life surprises us too often to schedule workouts weeks ahead. Invited to a birthday party, went fishing with friends, stayed up late in the office or at the bar, and you have to catch up. As such, I firmly believe that people should choose whole-body workouts. In this case, even if you miss a workout, no target group will be harmed, and you can train as usual next week.

The principle of working out a separate target group in one training session has a right to exist, but I came to the conclusion that it is better to alternate this approach with training for the whole body. Plus, doing a full body workout forces you to sweat like a dachshund in a Vietnamese restaurant, and it brings a sense of deep self-satisfaction.

Many men seeking to get in shape practice long cardio sessions on stationary bikes or treadmills, while others begin training exclusively with their own weight. Why do you recommend starting with strength training instead?

Let me first state that barbells and weights are not for everyone. Yes, we all need to lift weights, and God knows How long scientific evidence exists, but it doesn’t have to be barbells and dumbbells. You can lift boulders on the beach, toss children in your arms (most importantly, your own, not someone else’s) or climb rocks – anything that pulls muscles out of your comfort zone makes you stronger.

These activities, like strength training, test your muscles for strength and strengthen your body, and as you age, this will be a reliable insurance policy in terms of maintaining physical activity and mobility. It doesn’t matter if you are 24 or 64, you have to try to get stronger, because our body obeys the law of “use or lose”. Exercise machines and weights help you build muscle and develop strength in low-risk environments, while body weight can be overwhelming for an untrained person.

Try to imagine a guy who drives a McDrive all the time doing push-ups. He will do 4 reps, shaking like a constipated Chihuahua, feeling empty and likely to quit because he can’t do the simplest bodyweight exercises, which will remind him of his failures in gym class at school. But let this guy climb onto the bench press and he will enjoy an incredible sense of victory that will keep him coming back to the gym again and again.

Obviously, from a technical point of view, the more muscles work, the more calories are burned during the activity, and strength training in this regard will give a cardio head start of a hundred points ahead. Plus, riding a stationary bike or running a treadmill is unbearably boring, so it’s no surprise that people lose motivation.

If someone is too carried away by watching videos on YouTube about “failures in CrossFit” and now they are afraid to take a barbell on their chest, what is your advice?

I recommend trying a combination of exercises: add vertical rows with dumbbells in each hand to your workout, deadlift options, and barbell shrugs. And very soon you will be ready to lift the barbell to your chest.

Your book, prior to the section on advanced training techniques, focuses on full-body workouts and says nothing about split training for specific target groups. Do you think split is being abused? Is there a need for it at all?

Splits are a great way to take your mind off a repetitive, full-body workout. If you do the split for two months and then return to full body workouts, you will see tremendous gains in muscle mass. But time after time the scientific results (listed in my book) confirm that a full body workout lasting less than an hour improves your hormonal profile and leads to more muscle gain. It saves time and dramatically improves the average guy’s training results.

If you are aiming for more peak biceps or more visualization of the pectoral muscles, then turn to a bodybuilding program. But this approach is not without its drawbacks, because in this case you will realize the limited potential of local muscle growth. It works to a certain extent, but by doing large basic exercises in every workout, you can develop your entire body in the correct proportions. I even found scientific papers in which guys for a month did only deadlift or only curls for biceps, and in the group of the dead arms of the guys they became more muscular. This was enough for me to stop fixating on useless details, that is, on isolated exercises and days devoted only to biceps.

In my opinion, most people go to the gym because they want to look great in their new selfies. And only a few have an irresistible desire to participate in bodybuilding competitions, go on stage and pose in the spotlight. However, people with no competitive bodybuilding ambition continue to do bodybuilding programs, which is why I always highly recommend full body workouts. If you work hard, you will achieve great results.

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