Workout, Supplement and Meal Plan

Im starting slow at the gym with 30-45min full body workouts. Read an article on BB.com about this type of method. Sometimes i only have 30 mins til the gym closes at night after work to get a day in. I can consistently get 2 days in a week, and trying to add a 3rd day, since 48hrs between these workouts is recommended. Just wanting to look and feel better. Not get jacked or anything like that.

Hitting chest,back,legs,shoulders,calf,bicep,tricep, and abs all in under 45minutes. Using lighter weights and making sure i can struggle some to get 3 sets of 12 reps for each. Only a few seconds rest between sets and maybe a minute between exercises sometimes, stopping for a water break or whatever.

I know a big deal in working out is hitting your muscles with different exercises and movements. I try not to rely on the machines too much and mix in bar and dumbbell movements. Im mostly successful except when it comes to legs. Im by myself so im scared to do squats. Havent even been brave enough to try the Smith machine for them yet. I do the leg press machine though and may start doing lunges. Also do the seated calf raise machine.

From what i hear, and feel while doing them, the front and back leg extension machines arent that great for you safety wise. So am i good hitting legs with only about 4 or 5 different exercises? Leg press machine, lunges, calf raise machine,Smith squat, and maybe Smith calf raise etc.? Seems fine for my meager goals. Those movements in theory should hit all the leg areas.

Dumbbell lunges are solid, but I've been doing farmers walks as a finisher, and they are kicking my butt.

dz00: If you start doing squats with just the bar, and progressively load 10 lbs each workout, 3x a week, you'll be just fine.  At the end of the month, you'll be at 165 lbs, and 200+ lbs in month 2.  Just watch a lot of YouTube vids on how to do them properly.  Don't necessarily have to do them ass to grass, but you need to go down at least parallel, and have the knees follow the feet but not over and past the feet.  Don't do Smith machine squats.

I am all about the deadlifts dz00.  I was going to recommend those to you but I'm not sure what you're "skill" level is with weight lifting, but yes, deadlifts are the shit for lack of a better term.  Be very careful with them though and practice your form with a broomstick if you have to in the beginning, then maybe move to just the bar and then go from there.  I always wear a weight belt when I do squats and deadlifts as well.  I highly recommend the deadlifts of any type (Romanian, Sumo, regular, etc...)  


I think you should do free weight squats, deadlifts, and lunges (barbell or dumbbell) and then build from there.  Those three exercises will be a good base for building your upper legs.  Then add on any "finishing" exercises like leg extensions and leg curls as you see fit.  You also obviously want to hit calves as well but I actually do my calves on a separate day than my upper legs and I do them twice a week.

Also follow this rule: your calves should always be bigger than your biceps.

It's about that balanced look. Bigger biceps make your legs look like chicken legs.

They probably don't, but I'm talking about the average layman. The average lifter will always have room to grow.

16.5" biceps
17.75" calves

I wish they were swapped.

My gf and I are looking at houses at the moment. She's in love with this place that's way bigger than we need, but has a lot of walk-in closet options and potentially a "room for me" that's not the garage...I may trump her shoe collection with a room converted into my denim closet. Boom.

After cancelling my gym membership (could count the number of times I used it in the past 4 months on both hands), I bought a squat rack off of Amazon and set up a home gym.  Bought olympic plates off of Craigslist at 50 cents a pound.

I started the squat everyday workout on Bodybuilding.com, and after two weeks, I'm back close to where I was 6 months ago when I stopping working out regularly.  I don't follow the workout to the letter, often missing the other splits like bench and deadlifts due to time constraints, but I haven't missed a day of squatting.  Everyday I've been able to add on ten pounds, and I haven't faced any muscle soreness so far.  I basically warmup and try to hit my two rep max everyday.  I've been knocking them out pretty consistently, and will be back to form by the beginning of summer, and hopefully break a pr by the end of summer.

For anyone with squatting experience, I find the squat everyday workout pretty awesome.  Quick, about 20 minutes to complete from stretching warmups to final set.  If there's time and energy left over, a split that can be added whichever way you'd like.

Great to have a way to workout right at home. Doesn't have to cost much.
Been working out over 5 years, non stop except for breaks. Squats are part of my 3 times a week routine. They definitely take some energy from you, but in a good way.
I am cutting now. Don't get to eat like crazy any more. Doesn't take long to get used to again though.

This vacation week is killing my cut progress. Starting over when I get home completely from square 1. My elbow has been killing since about St. Patty's days so hopefully it's healed and I can go back and hit the weights.