Getting started as an overweight beginner

[Clars]

I'm 21, 6'1, 225 and have never really been active before in my life. I maxed out this week on the bench, squat, deadlift, pullups, and 1 mile run and my numbers are:

Bench: 175
Squat: 195
Deadlift: 255
Pullups: 1
1 mile run: about 8 minutes

My goals are aesthetics (getting to single digit bodyfat for the first time in my life), endurance (being able to run 3 miles in less than 21 minutes and 6 miles in less than 45 minutes), and strength (a 300 pound bench press and 20 pullups). I know those will take a long time to reach but I am willing to spend a lot of time to get there.

My questions:
-How should I set up my training for the foreseeable future? I was planning on doing base building and then operator and green until I reach my goals.
-How can I set up my training to be as effective at fat loss as possible? I know weight loss is 90% nutrition but is there anything I can do to help out the 10% e.g more cardio? I was thinking of adding either walking or biking to help burn some more calories. I have a decent amount of time available everyday to add something like that to my plan

[Maxrip13]

You could go through and do a basebuild as per the TB books. Do it exactly as written provided you can run for half an hour straight without pain. If you can't then just substitute run/walking until you can to keep your heart rate in the right spot.

Once you finish your basebuild you can re assess what you need to work on.You will lose weight just from the training so at 21 you don't need to complicate things.

Eat like an adult, 3-4 x a day. Healthy protein, Vegetables or something fresh and green and a healthy carb source is what you need to look for.If you like fish then eat a lot of it because fish is awesome. Minimise alcohol, soft drink and sugar and your main drink is now water.

That should do for the first 8 or so weeks while you basebuild. See how that goes and decide where you want to go with continuation after.
You eat well and train smart I guarantee you will reach 85% of your aesthetic goals with minimal issues.

[Clars]

Thank you for the advice. I found a "Pre Base Building" template on here that I'll do first if I start the full BB and it's just way beyond my abilities. So for the 8-14 weeks of BB I'll just do everything exactly as written and then I'll come back and assess what I should do from there

[ectional]

Awesome that you're trying to make a change for the better.

TB really isn't optimal for aesthetics as it's not the goal of this program. And you will find that getting to single digit bodyfat is years and years away. I would argue it's not even worth it as a natural because of how much performance you will lose. It will also start interrupting your every day life because you will have to sacrifice social events. Everyone who does weight training and is around the healthy bodyfat range (10-15) is considered aesthetic by general population. Don't go chasing after the look of social media models. I'm not trying to shoot down your goals but there are too many misconceptions that new lifters have and then quit because it's not to their expectations.

The goal of this program will help you towards 300lbs bench, 20 pullups and run times. But don't forget you have a lower body too.

You really don't need to add in any more cardio in form of walking, biking etc. Your conditioning program has that already structured into training. Especially in the beginning. When you've trained for a while and have a better understanding of your capabilities then start thinking about that.

For diet, I would suggest that you start counting calories. You can get a food scale quite cheap and MyFitnessPal is free, as are other calorie counting apps but that's just what I use. Luckily as a beginner you can eat at a slight deficit while still improving your performance.

[Ibrahimovic105]

I'm 21, 6'1, 225 and have never really been active before in my life. I maxed out this week on the bench, squat, deadlift, pullups, and 1 mile run and my numbers are:

Bench: 175
Squat: 195
Deadlift: 255
Pullups: 1
1 mile run: about 8 minutes

My goals are aesthetics (getting to single digit bodyfat for the first time in my life), endurance (being able to run 3 miles in less than 21 minutes and 6 miles in less than 45 minutes), and strength (a 300 pound bench press and 20 pullups). I know those will take a long time to reach but I am willing to spend a lot of time to get there.

My questions:
-How should I set up my training for the foreseeable future? I was planning on doing base building and then operator and green until I reach my goals.
-How can I set up my training to be as effective at fat loss as possible? I know weight loss is 90% nutrition but is there anything I can do to help out the 10% e.g more cardio? I was thinking of adding either walking or biking to help burn some more calories. I have a decent amount of time available everyday to add something like that to my plan

Did u use tb itself to reach your current numbers on your lifts or did u use any any other program ?

[Clars]

Awesome that you're trying to make a change for the better.

TB really isn't optimal for aesthetics as it's not the goal of this program. And you will find that getting to single digit bodyfat is years and years away. I would argue it's not even worth it as a natural because of how much performance you will lose. It will also start interrupting your every day life because you will have to sacrifice social events. Everyone who does weight training and is around the healthy bodyfat range (10-15) is considered aesthetic by general population. Don't go chasing after the look of social media models. I'm not trying to shoot down your goals but there are too many misconceptions that new lifters have and then quit because it's not to their expectations.

The goal of this program will help you towards 300lbs bench, 20 pullups and run times. But don't forget you have a lower body too.

You really don't need to add in any more cardio in form of walking, biking etc. Your conditioning program has that already structured into training. Especially in the beginning. When you've trained for a while and have a better understanding of your capabilities then start thinking about that.

For diet, I would suggest that you start counting calories. You can get a food scale quite cheap and MyFitnessPal is free, as are other calorie counting apps but that's just what I use. Luckily as a beginner you can eat at a slight deficit while still improving your performance.

Yeah, my goal isn't to look like a bodybuilder or something, I just want to feel good with my shirt off and see my abs for the first time ever. It sounds like TB can get me there if I just stick with it with my calories adjusted accordingly?

[Clars]

I'm 21, 6'1, 225 and have never really been active before in my life. I maxed out this week on the bench, squat, deadlift, pullups, and 1 mile run and my numbers are:

Bench: 175
Squat: 195
Deadlift: 255
Pullups: 1
1 mile run: about 8 minutes

My goals are aesthetics (getting to single digit bodyfat for the first time in my life), endurance (being able to run 3 miles in less than 21 minutes and 6 miles in less than 45 minutes), and strength (a 300 pound bench press and 20 pullups). I know those will take a long time to reach but I am willing to spend a lot of time to get there.

My questions:
-How should I set up my training for the foreseeable future? I was planning on doing base building and then operator and green until I reach my goals.
-How can I set up my training to be as effective at fat loss as possible? I know weight loss is 90% nutrition but is there anything I can do to help out the 10% e.g more cardio? I was thinking of adding either walking or biking to help burn some more calories. I have a decent amount of time available everyday to add something like that to my plan

Did u use tb itself to reach your current numbers on your lifts or did u use any any other program ?

I haven't done any weight training before other than messing around at the gym a few times in high school. If my numbers seem high it's probably just because I've been inadvertently bulking my whole life

[Ibrahimovic105]

I'm 21, 6'1, 225 and have never really been active before in my life. I maxed out this week on the bench, squat, deadlift, pullups, and 1 mile run and my numbers are:

Bench: 175
Squat: 195
Deadlift: 255
Pullups: 1
1 mile run: about 8 minutes

My goals are aesthetics (getting to single digit bodyfat for the first time in my life), endurance (being able to run 3 miles in less than 21 minutes and 6 miles in less than 45 minutes), and strength (a 300 pound bench press and 20 pullups). I know those will take a long time to reach but I am willing to spend a lot of time to get there.

My questions:
-How should I set up my training for the foreseeable future? I was planning on doing base building and then operator and green until I reach my goals.
-How can I set up my training to be as effective at fat loss as possible? I know weight loss is 90% nutrition but is there anything I can do to help out the 10% e.g more cardio? I was thinking of adding either walking or biking to help burn some more calories. I have a decent amount of time available everyday to add something like that to my plan

Did u use tb itself to reach your current numbers on your lifts or did u use any any other program ?

I haven't done any weight training before other than messing around at the gym a few times in high school. If my numbers seem high it's probably just because I've been inadvertently bulking my whole life

So these numbers are purely the result of hitting the gym and just doing them and not because of some beginner program like starting strength or greyakull or something?

[Barkadion]

Some great advises here. I'd add my 2c by saying:

- Make sure you train safely. Take time to develop good technique with compound lifts.
- Make performance your priority. Make sure you can train year around with consistent training schedule succeeding with prescribed sets/reps/ conditioning protocols.
- Keep your diet targeted to your performance. Eat more if your results suffer. Eat ~ 1g protein/ 1lb of your BW or 1g to 1lb of your LBW if you have more than 30% BF. Follow 30% protein/35% fat/35% carb diet but don't overthink it.
- Give yourself a year without thinking about your body composition. Adjust afterwards.

Good luck.

[StayGrey]

Some great advises here. I'd add my 2c by saying:

- Make sure you train safely. Take time to develop good technique with compound lifts.
- Make performance your priority. Make sure you can train year around with consistent training schedule succeeding with prescribed sets/reps/ conditioning protocols.
- Keep your diet targeted to your performance. Eat more if your results suffer. Eat ~ 1g protein/ 1lb of your BW or 1g to 1lb of your LBW if you have more than 30% BF. Follow 30% protein/35% fat/35% carb diet but don't overthink it.
- Give yourself a year without thinking about your body composition. Adjust afterwards.

Good luck.

Excellent advice here and in the rest of this thread.

One distinction I feel I need to make. TB is AMAZING for aesthetics. It SUCKS for physique competition. If you're getting judged by the sweep of your calves next to another dude on stage then don't use TB. In other words, with TB you'll look like Daniel Craig or Rich Froning rather than Arnold or Dorian. Provided you choose the appropriate template and your nutrition reflects your goals.
No one can tell me you won't look better than 90% of the population with a near double bodyweight bench press along with a respectable 3mile. Form follows function. I've been using TB S&C regularly for a couple years now and my abs are visible. Approx 10-11% BF. I'm not doing anything special other than fueling for performance, eating like a grown-up (ty Maxrip), and training strength and cardio consistently.

Phew, now that I've gotten that off my chest I'll pile on to what others have suggested....

Run Base Building, standard version. Eat to fuel your training. For Continuation, I personally find templates with frequent strength work more effective for aesthetics. So Operator or Zulu instead of Fighter. In my own experience Operator + Black is the best all around combo for aesthetics and performance barring any special requirements you may have (occupational or training for special events).

Like Barkadion and others said, forget about aesthetics and don't even look at yourself for a year. If all the pieces are in place (strength, conditioning, nutrition) you'll have the look you want in no time.