So I pulled a ligament in my hip a few weeks ago and can't go to Norfolk for Navy training in June because of that, so I'm looking to get a stronger upper body over the summer. I've lifted on and off for the past 2 or so years but never really knew what I was doing, I just got a book called "The Body Sculpting Bible for Men" and the workouts from that are awesome, I'm only a week in however. I modified it it a bit to go with my Navy PT work but here's a typical workout: Tuesday/Thursday: Pushups (4X40) One-Arm Rows Incline Dumbell Press Dumbbell Pullovers Incline Dumbbell Flys Dumbbell Curls Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions Concentration Curls Triceps Kickbacks Lat Pulldowns Wrist Curls Wednesday: Situps (4X60) Dumbbell Squats Leg Curls Ballet Squats Stiff-legged Deadlifts Dumbbell Calf Raises (1 leg) Dumbbell Shoulder Press Dumbbell Calf Raises (2 legs) Bent-over Lateral Raises Saturday: Tues/Thurs workout plus Dumbbell Shoulder Press, Bent-over Lateral Raises, 4X60 situps Anyone else into lifting?
I'm more into maintenance of my muscles rather than bulking up. With the 2003 climbing/hiking/cycling season in full swing I haven't been able to get into the gym as much as I would like the past month or so. My strength sessions are rarely over an hour. I'll use either free weights or machines...just whatever is available at the time. I'll progress from chest --> shoulders --> back --> arms. Bench press Incline bench Seated shoulder press Lat pull-downs Seated row Lateral raises Front raises Bicep curls Tricep kickbacks Wrist curls If I have time I hop on the pullup/tricep dip machine. With lower body I progess from upper leg --> lower leg. Squats or walking lunges Hamstring curl (I need to do more of these ) Calf raises My home workouts differ than my gym workouts... Pushups Lateral and front raises Bicep curls Tricep kickbacks Wrist curls Walking lunges Calf raises All workouts regardless if I am at the gym or home always end with crunches and supermans. I usually work at my second job on a combo of Monday/Tuesday/Thursday...either one day a week or two days a week and in rare instances three days a week. When the weather is not so great or if I am scrunched for time I'll be in the gym on my non-work days...well actually now I'm either hiking or climbing. The weekends are when I mainly do my home workouts.
I'm a one muscle group a day kind of guy- I'll spend as little as 30 minutes if I'm just doing biceps, or as much as 1 1/2 hours if I'm doing my back with a friend. I get bored easily, so I change up my workout almost everytime. I've just found that that's the style that works for me. I do some kind of cardio everyday, as well as ab work. I don't do any kind of leg weight work in the gym as my legs are as developed as I want them to be from soccer, biking, running, and hiking.
I’ve got a bunch of free weights at home which I occasionally supplement with a visit to the University gyms. Workouts ideally take 90 minutes or less. When I was single, I’d lift 6 days a week. Now it’s more like 3 or 4, and I’ll break my chest/arms and shoulders/back workouts into smaller pieces for time’s sake. For legs I do full squats with light or heavy weights, leg extensions and curls, and lower back work. Chest: I do flat and inclined benches plus dumbbell flies. Arms: I do 3 different tricep (always including close grips) and 2 different bicep (always including dumbbell curls). Back: I do pull-ups or cable pull-downs, cable rows, and dumbbell rows (single), shrugs, and wrist and forearm curls. Shoulders: I hate these so I superset to get them over with: flies with behind the neck, and some rear delt flies. Misc: If I can get my wife to cooperate, I’ll do some donkey calf raises. I do either leg raises, crunches, or cable crunches with each workout. I'll run 2 miles 2-3 times/week.
I had a quickie workout tonight....all of the following were 3x12s: Bench Lat pull-down Seated row Pull-ups/dips Then I went on a 30 minute walk (I didn't have my running shoes...I had my hiking shoes) and then came back and stretched and did crunches and Supermans.
I decided to use the workout bench I have in my basement instead of having it sit there. I'm a pretty skinny guy so I'm lookin to add on a few pounds of muscle over the summer, but I have no idea where to begin. I do bench presses. Usually 3x10. Then I'll do curls with free weights, but I don't know if my form is even proper. I have one of those triceip bars and use those. Then I'll do some situps. I'm clueless on how to set a proper regiment, but my friend swears by seperating his areas into set days. Any advice would be appreciated.
I use free weights or machines at Clarkson (I got a membership).I also have a set of dumbells at home and my brother has a full set of weights and bench. There a lot of good basic texts out there for anyone beginning to lift.Work more on your large muscle groups first.Concentrate on form-if you don't have right form,you're not working the muscle you think you are. Alex,are you doing any hip-specific exercises?Long-term,if you build up the muscles around that hip,you reduce the odds of reinjury. otter,the reason it's good to rotate areas IMO,is that you reduce the chance of overtraining an area and causing injury.Making sure you only do certain areas on certain days is the easiest way to do this. Oh,one more thing.Crunches good,situps bad.Just ask my back.
As with almost anything, a certain degree of "what works for you" is true with lifting. However, there is a logic to it, also. For example, I try to organize my workouts into pushing muscles one day (chest) vs pulling muscles another (back) but there's bound to be exceptions and overlap. I also do legs on their own, because I'm pretty wiped out after a good leg workout. You should also strive for an overall balance. Work all major muscle groups in some way. Otherwise you risk strengthening one group so much it will overpower the other muscles it's supposed to work with, with strains, spasms, even stress fractures as a possible result. Plus it looks funky. I always get tickled looking at the guys with enormous upper bodies and little birdie legs. Russ is right, in any workout you're probably better off starting with the largest muscle mass first. For upper body, that's the chest, and from there progress to the arms, shoulders, or whatever. For lower body, if you do something like squats or leg presses, do those first, because they involve your butt. The reason is you're going to use up a lot of energy moving the weight necessary to properly exercise those areas, so do the hardest first. Also, if you tire out your arms first, for example, it'll be harder to get a correspondingly high level of exhaustion for your chest. (Note: this is more true of free weights. With machines, there are stations that isolate the muscle groups pretty effectively.) Beyond that, I'd emphasize the simple rules: Lift regularly, stretch often. Breathe properly, exhale during exertion. (When I first started with squats, I was doing a set with 235 lbs and passed out because I held my breath when I was pushing the weight. Fortunately I just toppled over backward. I came to with my feet poking up in the air, the barbell still on my shoulders, and 3 guys looking down at me with their eyes bugged out saying "are you alright, dude?") Don't exercise the same muscle group 2 days in a row (allow recovery time). If it hurts while you do it, either do it differently or do something else. Do not work through pain.* Balance is important. Partners make it more fun and safer. Find a book. There are some really good ones out there and it'll help you decide whether you want to, for example, try for a more aerobically oriented circuit training program or something that focuses more on building mass. (I go the mass route, but that's mainly because the first gyms I worked out in were hard core powerlifter/bodybuilder places.) *I don't see any problem with muscle soreness the next day, however. That's just an indication you did the job right and I actually kind of like the way that feels. A day after a good leg workout my butt will be sore enough that I have to collapse into chairs from a height of 6-12 inches rather than easing into them normally.
There's a bunch of great workout books out there. I got "The Body Sculpting Bible For Men" by Hugo Rivera and James Villepigue a few weeks ago and love it so far. One of the tips they say is that you should use dumbbells instead of barbells whenever possible, as it forces you to use both arms instead of using your stronger one to take up the slack for the other. Also, if you mentally focus on the muscle you're trying to work, your workout will be a lot better (you'll notice that you're a lot more tired when you're done your set, as opposed to when you're just "going thru the motions" as they put it but not really thinking about it). Russ, I actually don't know any hip-specific exercises, what would you suggest? I've been doing some leg work and a lot of running (when it's not too painful) and swimming so hopefully that will help strengthen it. I basically pulled it by going for a run without stretching properly first, so I'm a lot more careful about that now.
Well I just joined this gym a week ago and apparently they close at 5 on Saturdays--I didn't know that so I couldn't do my last 2 exercises, but I still got a good workout in: Pushups - 2X40, 2X35 Situps - 4X60 Two-arm Rows - 2X12X60 Lat Pulldowns - 12X110, 10X120 (I'm looking to improve on these) Dumbbell Pullovers - 1X12X40, 1X10X40 Incline Dumbbell Flys - 2X12X50 Dumbbell Curls - 2X12X60 Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions - 2X12X50 Concentration Curls - 2X12X25 per arm Triceps Kickbacks - 2X12X25 per arm Bent-over Lateral Raises - 12X30, 12X20 Wrist Curls - 2X12X30 Run - 2 miles I hadn't lifted in about 2 months before this week and I just started this new program which has a bunch of exercises I've never done before, so I've been going a little light this week, but I'll hopefully be stepping it up a bit on Tuesday.
Does your gym have a rotary hip machine?That's a good way to isolate.Squats are very good too of course.I'll hope to see my friend at work (who's a PTA and serious runner) tomorrow for any further info. Make sure you stretch,but do something to warm up first;this sounds counter intuitive, but you can more safely stretch a warmed-up muscle. That's a good upper body program.Don't rely on running alone for your lowers,though,particularly since you have had a lower body injury.
my routine ok im doing this new routine. been doing it 2 weeks and so far the gains have been great 3 day split. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. Day 1 Incline DB press. (next month ill do flat db press instead) 20% weight 10 reps immediately with 50% weight 10 reps " 100% weight failure DB Flys (same as incline db) DB Tricep Extensions 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure (2x) Weighted Dips (not bench dips) 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure Day 2 Bent over DB row 20% weight 10 reps 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure Deadlift 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure weighted wide grip pull ups 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure standing barbell curl 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure (2x) dumbell concentration curl 50 % weight 10 reps 100% weight failure (2x) dumbell shrugs 100% weight failure (2x) Day 3 Leg extensions 20% weight 10 reps 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure immediately with Squats 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure (2x) Leg curls 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure immediately with Stiff legged dead lifts 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure dumbell standing calv raises 100% weight failure (2x) Calv raises on leg press machine 100% weight failure (2x) Dumbell shoulder press 20% weight 10 reps 50% weight 10 reps 100% weight failure DB side raises 50% weight failure 100% weight failure (2x) I do Abs every other work out day. weight decline crunches 3 sets crunches leg raises some hip twistin machine for obliques
fantaz, do you rest before you move up to the higher weights? In other words, how long a pause, if any, do you have between the sets?
I've always been very skinny. I've been playing around with weightsa mostly up till a few months ago when I thought it might be an idea to actually get a bit more serious. Things are going allright except that I have to watch my back a bit. It gives me some trouble ocassionally (has done so for a long time) I'd post the schedule, but I'd have to lookup some of the exact names of the exercises. But globally: Monday --> Chest + front & side shoulders Tuesday --> Back + back shoulder + legs (upper legs only for the time being) Friday --> Biceps + Triceps Have stopped the ab-work since two months because it really gives me back-troubles sometimes. Have to find a solution for that. Change the routine once every 6 or 8 weeks (depending on how I like it and what I think I need to put emphasis on) and take one week rest then. I usually feel a lot stronger after that. Must say however that sometimes I lack the discipline to do EVERY training. I miss out sometimes. Pretty weird, cause when I'm at it I usually enjoy it. No need to get all blown up (ugly in many cases). Just a pair of nice firm arms, reasonably big chest, not too muscular legs and a nice V-back (which I have when I lose my fat after the summer).
The usual ground routine. The standard crunch, a butterfly crunch (is that how it's called) and another one (no idea what it's called) in a circuit kind of way. When I was younger I played waterpolo and we did the same thing... didn't always work out back then either. I'd use a machine... but I train at home.
Another great workout today, really felt it: Situps - 4X70 Pushups - Pyramid workout to 25 (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5) One-arm Rows - 2X12X45 Incline Dumbbell Press - 1X12X60, 1X12X70 Dumbbell Pullovers - 1X12X35, 1X12X40 Incline Dumbbell Flys - 2X12X50 Dumbbell Curls - 2X12X60 Triceps Extensions - 2X12X40 Concentration Curls - 1X12X25, 1X8X25 (ran out of juice on the last set) Triceps Kickbacks - 2X12X25 Lat Pulldowns - 2X12X120 Wrist Curls - 2X12X30 Run - 2.5 miles
I'm surprised to hear that something like this is hurting your back. Do you do anything that's designed specifically to strengthen those areas in your back that are hurting? Because maybe the problem is muscles getting torqued out of alignment because a strength imbalance or lack of stretching?
I did my heavy leg workout: squats: warmup 10 x 135 lbs first set 10 x 235 second 8 x 315 third 8 x 315 fourth 8 x 275 extensions 4 sets at 200 lbs curls 4 sets at 100 lbs straight leg deadlifts 3 sets at 135 lbs cable crunches 3 sets to exhaustion
That might be possible. Except for deadlifting nothing. But I don't really know exactly how much that does for your back. ATM I don't really miss the abwork. Plans are basically to to a lot of compound stuff and grow. Then in september I want to get rid of the excess fat (I'm not fat, but surely a good 15-20% BF) and after that ab work will become more of a priority. I do hear from some people however that you need strong abs to perform certain excercises safely. Others say your abs are strong enough naturally for almost anything you can lift. Problem is they're all quite in the know. So the way I see it... as long as all goes well I think I'll manage till september. I'll be in a gym then anyway, so I might as well use the abmachines there. Besides, I hate ab work
Do you have tight hamstrings? That often leads to lower back problems. I am a FIRM believer in that having a strong core...back and abs...is very important especially if you are an active person. ------- I had a light workout (but with heavier weights) last night. I first ran for about 45 minutes and then went into the gym and did: (all 2x12s) Bench press Lat pulldown Seated row Pullups Dips Barbell curls Tricep extensions on a machine 5x20 crunches 3x15 Supermans
BINGO. I have very short hamstrings. They are one of the things that stood in the way of a glorious footballing career (sort of ). The (I don't know the English word - sportfysioloog) told me to do stretch excercises. I was twelve back then and did it about 3 times C'mon, what 12 year-old is going to do ballerina excercises? I understand that strong abs and lower back are important for total strength. Maybe I'll start doing it again and build up very, very slowly. I can always try of course.
Well I've always been pretty good about stretching out which I got from taekwondo, but I still have lower back problems...weird thing is it usually feels a lot better right after I work out, it hurts like a bitch in the morning after I wake up and after I'm in the car for awhile. There's a chiropractor who works at my gym and has a free diagnostic service so I got an appointment to have it looked at next week.