Where to start with Strength and Conditioning

ce17

hi, I am looking to get into more Strength and Conditioning training. I am 5.9 and 56KG so would be quite thin and just want to build muscle and have good definition

I have bought a squat rack for home training. I don't have the money to start with a PT so am looking just for some tips and advise

like should I only be concentrating on specific areas in a training session. at the moment I am doing a bit of everything (legs / core / upper body) should I stop this and only do a leg day / arm day etc

I am starting off with only the 20KG bar

I am restricted at the moment to 3 times a week. is this okay or am I wasting my time

Food: I understand food is so essential but in terms of personal goals and wanting to get really good definition do I need to go to what would be extreme to me with meat and veg at breakfast and that crap

any helpful tips would be great

freemenfitness

If you can find a PT who will assess you and give you a plan to work on at home then go and do it.

Then you need a solid plan to stick to if you want something simple there are tons out there but a good one to check out is the 5x5. You can if you want to train specific body parts its really down to your own goals that however would be more in the realm of bodybuilding so its down to your goals. Add in some form of mobility work so that you move better and prevent injury too.

When it comes to getting muscle definition this really depends on your goals if you want to get into single digit bodyfat % then you will need to get to a very strict diet in order. If your exercising hard and eating right you will gain muscle but as I say this all depends on your goals as to what you want to do.

If you want some simple to follow diet advice precision nutrition is a place I usually recommend people to look at.

Tigger

Strong lifts or starting strength will be perfect for you and three times a week is plenty
And if you eat better it will happen easier

Tigger

https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

FTA69

I recently started a Stronglifts type program and have gotten significantly stronger as a result in a short space of time. It's basically three hour long sessions a week.

Regards nutrition, this will be the biggest factor in whether you build muscle or not. Read the stickies above which will give you a good starting idea. A good first step would be record everything you eat in a week into myfitnesspal.com which will show you the breakdown of what you're eating and the areas you need to improve.

It needn't be massive initial changes or anything that involves eating loads of stuff you don't like; for instance porridge and eggs for breakfast instead of a bowl of cornflakes would be one example.

laurie88

ce17 wrote: »

Food: I understand food is so essential but in terms of personal goals and wanting to get really good definition do I need to go to what would be extreme to me with meat and veg at breakfast and that crap

Nutrition is the first place you should begin. You get that right and everything will fall into place. If you don't address what your body is going to react to; example- feed it the proper balance of nutrients, proteins and minerals carbs etc and you will have the correct building blocks for you body to be shaped upon.
If you exercise without taking this into consideration, your body has no core base to take from to build on. When you cant feed you muscle growth properly, your body will take it from your muscle mass. Hence you won't bulk up properly like you want to.

Nutrition 1st, always
it will make your exercise routine a hell of a lot easier having such a good base

Meat and veg in an omelette for breakfast is lovely

ce17

thanks all. basically my diet is porridge for breakfast / then an apple and banana usually between that and lunch. lunch is generally a chicken sambo / wrap, something with coleslaw lettuce nothing too varied from that. I have tried to have wholemeal toast with peanut butter and banana about 1 hr before training

then im finding having a small dinner, spag bol / homemade soup / chicken breast. sometimes I would just do an omelette or something quick like that. I have been buying protein bars like fulfil for a while, mainly cos I am always going to eat choc but I was swapping them for a normal bar to cut down on the sugars. so I would have that as my treat after dinner with a cuppa generally on training nights

just wondering what I need to change / add

Brian?

Have you read the stickies at the top of the forum. A lot of your questions are answered there.

laurie88

bluewolf wrote: »

Meat and veg in an omelette for breakfast is lovely

I use a vegetable supplement powder and sprinkle a good dose of that on top after the omelette mix has cooked for a minute,

Amirani

Would echo the advice to follow a beginner/intermediate program like Stronglifts - great way to build strength and improve on the main compound lifts.

Don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but based on you being just 59kg at your height, if you want to build strength and muscle then you should be running some sort of calorie surplus when you're training - which you're in a great position to do. The typical diet you listed seems too light to me.