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Garage Training for my wife and me...

bumperplates

New member
Hi,

I'm seeing some great motivation in these forums, along with some great transformations. Kudos to all for their dedication, and commitment.

I've recently devised a crazy idea to go for the home/garage gym option due to our commitments with our kids (who are now in the crazy toddler stage).

I've bought a power rack, rowing machine, all of the bits and pieces (bench, Olympic bar, and bumper plates), and I'm wondering how I can best structure a program for both of us with getting "healthier" meaning I want to buff up, and my wife wants to slim down.

I'm 194cm's tall, and have roughly 25% body fat, and my wife is 174cm's tall and she is roughly 35-40% (just don't tell her please!).

Reference for Men Body Fat:
http://imgassets.com/irorio/uploads/2013/05/body-fat-percentage-men.jpg

Reference for Female Body Fat:
http://forums.steroid.com/attachmen...-pics-men-women-body-fat-percentage-women.jpg

How do you think we should structure our workout with the equipment that we have available to us?

Should we do a Starting Strength/Bill Star/5-3-1 type workout for both of us, with rowing on the off-days or in the mornings of the three workouts per week?

Should I do a Starting Strength/Bill Star/5-3-1 type workout for myself, and barbell complexes for my wife with rowing involved?

Any other recommendations will ensure that we are loving life!!!

This is the power rack that's been purchased so you can see the workouts that we could possibly achieve:-

http://static.gymandfitness.com.au/.../f/-/f-vr_folding_power_rack_main_image_1.jpg

Keep on Keeping us motivated!!

bumperplates
 
Men and women don't need different routines.

Personally as a beginner I would be lifting three - four times a week, full body routine.

5/3/1 progresses too slow for a beginner IMO, and is more suited to an advanced trainer.
 
Do a search on here for the Ptc beginners programme its pretty good. I've just got back into this programme after injury but my wife has been doing it the past 6 months and seeing good results.
 
All of the programs listed will be effective at building strength for a beginner trainee without injuries.

Starting Strength is both a lifting program and a diet program together which would not meet your wife's goals of "slimming down" (its about getting bigger and stronger as fast as possible). If I were you, it would be my choice however (disclaimer: I have done both the PTC beginners program and Starting Strength for more than 6 months each at different times).

If you want to train together, PTC Beginners all the way.
 
Thanks again for the advice Semillon, iamwilso, and Big Mick.

I wonder if I should somehow create some hybrid attempt at doing both PTC/SS with her and then once she is done with her PTC component (although I still can't seem to find the official workout regime) , I then finish off with the SS component.

I wonder if I can use the rower myself after the workout, and see if I can still somehow bulk. Perhaps I have to keep measurements every couple of weeks to see if I'm shrinking or getting bigger?
 
I suggest you do one program at a time and don't mess with it until you have a deeper understanding of what is going on and what suits you best.

Getting bigger is simply a matter of eating more calories than you burn.
 
I'm just a novice, but I think the most important thing is sticking to the routine until you meet certain goals or for a pre-set period of time.
Doing the same routine 3+ times per week might seem boring, but SS and the PTC routine etc have been designed by people who know a lot more than us about weight training.

Once I don't feel like a novice lifter (i.e. meet my current goals) I'll look at changing the routine to focus on development in areas I feel need it at the time.
 
Yep don't think too much into it.

Personally I would recommend eating at maintenance, sticking to generally accepted healthy foods, (meat, veggies, salad, water), staying away from sweets, breads, cakes, pasta, rice, grains and anything excessively processed.
Don't fall into the low fat diet fallacy, but watch your calories, may be use something like My Fitness Pal Application on your phone to track food intake. Diet has to be something that you can sustain,

Lift weights three times a week (mon, wed, fri or sun, tue, thur, or what ever).

PTC beginners is good, Arnolds golden 6 routine is similar or even the Reg Park Beginner Routine, which will give you two different workouts, so it might stop some boredom.

I am shortly going to go back to a basic routine similar to the Reg Park Beginner Routine, but I will be designing my own with three different full body workouts each one done once a week.

May be read here:
http://muscleandbrawn.com/why-you-shouldnt-do-arnold-schwarzenegger-style-volume-workouts/
 
The issue I have with all of these full body workouts is that they don't take account of the vicissitudes of life.. I can always make it 3 or 4 times to gym, but not necessarily evenly spaced out (i.e. with rest days). I find an upper/lower split much better because if need be you can just go 4 days straight.
 
The issue I have with all of these full body workouts is that they don't take account of the vicissitudes of life.. I can always make it 3 or 4 times to gym, but not necessarily evenly spaced out (i.e. with rest days). I find an upper/lower split much better because if need be you can just go 4 days straight.

Yeah. It's all about flexibility.
 
Got you!

I'm in desperate need with finding the PTC beginners program, and for the life of me - I can't find it. :(

Any ideas on where it might be located?
 
Squat 3x10
Bench 3x8
Stiff leg deadlift 3x8
Overhead press 3x8
Bent row 3x8
Curls 3 x max

I think thats it. Though ill find the thread...

Tim.
 
Got you!

I'm in desperate need with finding the PTC beginners program, and for the life of me - I can't find it. :(

Any ideas on where it might be located?

There is a link to it in the 4th post in this thread….and now also in the 14th post in case you miss it again!! :p
 
Thanks everyone! We do appreciate it.

Am I able to substitute SLDLs for traditional DLs?

Can I add dips, and pullups into the program, and also add a cardio/rowing component after the workout, or on the off-days, or am I asking for trouble?
 
Just add two.or three sets of each to the end. No huge deal.

Cardio is for another day.

Tim.
 
Fantastic!!

Should cardio for me only be 30 minutes to not burn myself out, and one hour for my wife to go into "slimming mode"?

What are your thoughts on exchanging the SLDL's for traditional DL's?
 
Do any dead lift you like.

Cardio is up to you. No need for cardio if you eat accordingly. Doing cardio will allow you to eat a bit more, really up to you. Do the rower while watching tv or something to burn some extra calories.
 
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