Getting a decent program

Lockstep

Just wondering if the program I have is any good or whether it should be changed. Here's the program the gym gave me:
Bench Press:3*12
Incline bench press 3*12
flat bench flys 3*12 , each set of flys followed by 10 push ups

Lateral Pulldown 3*12
Leg press 3*12
Chin ups 3*6

Bicep curls 3*12 (2nd set of curls is hammer curls)
Tricep machine 3*12

Crunches 3*12


Any feedback? Hoping to put on weight and all that. Just wondering if this program is decent.



Male/6 foot/150lbs/8% bodyfat.

Hanley

How long are you on it?

Is it all you're doing, how often?

Where's the leg work?

Ps "Lat pulldowns" = pulldown for latisimuss dorsi (aka your back)
"Lateral" = to the side (so lateral raises are named so because you lift your arms up to the side!)

Lockstep

Sorry, should have put more info in:

On it for a few weeks now, twice a week.



Leg work is in the leg press they told me to do, although I'm guessing a squat would be better?


Other stuff I do:
boxing twice a week but that seems to be mostly cardio.

Hanley

And how much do you eat?

Lockstep

Hanley wrote: »

And how much do you eat?

Ha, yeah, I should've known that would come up.

At the moment I have college exams pretty soon so food is a bit hectic.

Aiming for 4-5 meals a day with a MassX thrown in.

shels08

Ok, firstly you must be fairly skinny if your 6 foot and 10 and a half stone, so your main aim should be to gain size and mass and the program your on will not help you in the slightest, apart from bench press.If you want to get big forget about machines, they're for sculpting when you have something to sculpt!!you should start off with compound lifts, squat, deadlift,bench, clean and press and chins. if you only do these, but do them heavy and for 6-10 reps (up the weight when you can get to ten, and drop it if you dont get 6), you will become alot stronger than you are, and you will put muscle on.Unfortunately, training on its own wont make you bigger or stronger,but will make you smaller unless you increase your carb and protein intake. Get a good protein drink and multi vitamins, flax seed oils, vitamin c tablets etc. A person of your size and weight shouldnt worry about what your eating once your training hard and often enough.to sum it all up, forget about machines(dont listen to what gym staff tell you, remember they want you to come back as often as possible, so if you dont see results you're gonna go more to try and get them, which gives them more money!) train hard and heavy, eat LOADS and DON'T GIVE UP!!!

Lockstep

Squat, deadlift, bench,clean, press, chin.

Sound, thanks mate.

By press do you mean military press?



Problem with my gym is that space for free weights is extremely limited as nearly all the gym is taken up by cardio machines and a few weight machines.
There's a barbell knocking around my house so I could do the squats, bench and chin at the gym with the military press, deadlift and clean at home later on in the day if that would work.

jim2008

shels08 wrote: »

Ok, firstly you must be fairly skinny if your 6 foot and 10 and a half stone, so your main aim should be to gain size and mass and the program your on will not help you in the slightest, apart from bench press.If you want to get big forget about machines, they're for sculpting when you have something to sculpt!!you should start off with compound lifts, squat, deadlift,bench, clean and press and chins. if you only do these, but do them heavy and for 6-10 reps (up the weight when you can get to ten, and drop it if you dont get 6), you will become alot stronger than you are, and you will put muscle on.Unfortunately, training on its own wont make you bigger or stronger,but will make you smaller unless you increase your carb and protein intake. Get a good protein drink and multi vitamins, flax seed oils, vitamin c tablets etc. A person of your size and weight shouldnt worry about what your eating once your training hard and often enough.to sum it all up, forget about machines(dont listen to what gym staff tell you, remember they want you to come back as often as possible, so if you dont see results you're gonna go more to try and get them, which gives them more money!) train hard and heavy, eat LOADS and DON'T GIVE UP!!!

Thats good advice!

shels08

kickoutthejams wrote: »

Squat, deadlift, bench,clean, press, chin.

Sound, thanks mate.

By press do you mean military press?
quote]
military would work fine but i prefer shoulder press(theres not much difference just the military is more to the front)

If you wanted, you could combine the cleans and sholuder press an do clean and press, cuts down on workout time and makes you work harder!!

Al_Fernz

Make sure to do the presses standing up because pressing when standing engages and strengthens the core. When you sit down with a back rest you lose a lot of auxiliary functional muscle engagement. The functional aspect of this should appeal to you as a boxer.

Hanley

But at the same time is it wise to sacrifice shoulder strength for increased core activation when you're not specifically training that area??

I don't know the answer, but if you're already doing beltless squats and deadlifts I would personally think shoulder pressing should be targeted at increasing shoulder strength with only a passing thought, if even that given to the core benefits of that particular exercise...

Roper

It would depend on what you goals are. Sitting certainly isolates the shoulders but I suppose the question is whether the OP wants to build his shoulders or build all round strength.

What I would say is that the programme in the original post is definitely not a boxing oriented one. You could do better yourself with a bit of research. Biceps have very little roll in boxing bar maybe a supportive role in keeping your guard high, which the shoulders and upper back muscles are going to do for the most part. The leg press has no crossover really unless you use it for your calves and even that is stretching it really. To be honest, it sounds like a programme designed with a beginner in mind which is fine for someone who doesn’t do a sport and just wants to shed a few pounds. I take it you want crossover to boxing though, in which case that programme is very limited.

Off the top of my head, if I were thinking about strength training for boxing I would do legs (squatting and lunge variations), core and back (pull-ups, deads) and shoulders and neck (pull-ups, dips, M presses). I’d also do as much stomach work as I could and split my days one for speed and explosiveness and the other for strength.

Al_Fernz

Hanley wrote: »

But at the same time is it wise to sacrifice shoulder strength for increased core activation when you're not specifically training that area??

I don't know the answer, but if you're already doing beltless squats and deadlifts I would personally think shoulder pressing should be targeted at increasing shoulder strength with only a passing thought, if even that given to the core benefits of that particular exercise...

I agree that doing the exercise seated will allow anybody to move more weight. However, IMO this will allow the OP to build incredibly strong shoulders that they will never be able to use properly because the back will be too weak to allow them to generate full power in a standing environment, thus rendering all that hard work useless.

This is obviously from a sports specific functional training aspect that I thought the OP might be interested as a boxer.

Lockstep

Sorry, should have put in my goals.


I'm not too fussed about the biceps, if they get bigger then thats well and good but I'd like a bit more mass on my triceps and delts.


Anything to help me with boxing would be very appreciated.

xebec

I find push-ups are great for working both the delts and the triceps. For boxing you need to be able to do a large number, but also being able to do them reasonably fast. There are other isolation exercises which can help, such as tricep dips, but push-ups will work more muscles...

Btw, I'm a boxer too. In our boxing training push-ups are the major exercise for upper-body strength, but we do superset them with other exercises to increase the speed and endurance.

celestial

xebec wrote: »

I find push-ups are great for working both the delts and the triceps. For boxing you need to be able to do a large number, but also being able to do them reasonably fast. There are other isolation exercises which can help, such as tricep dips, but push-ups will work more muscles...

Btw, I'm a boxer too. In our boxing training push-ups are the major exercise for upper-body strength, but we do superset them with other exercises to increase the speed and endurance.

+1 on the push-ups. King of all exercises (ok actually squats are the king of all exercises, let's call push-ups the em, the squat's right-hand man?)

Seriously though, kickoutthejams, I wouldn't over-analyse. There is a lot of analysis on workout programmes done on this board, which is great to an extent, but if you think about it push-ups/bench press, squats, pull-ups/deadlifts pretty much cover all bases.

Hanley

Al_Fernz wrote: »

I agree that doing the exercise seated will allow anybody to move more weight. However, IMO this will allow the OP to build incredibly strong shoulders that they will never be able to use properly because the back will be too weak to allow them to generate full power in a standing environment, thus rendering all that hard work useless.

This is obviously from a sports specific functional training aspect that I thought the OP might be interested as a boxer.

Oh yeah I would sort of agree. But if he's already squatting and deadlift heavy without a belt then chances are his core's getting a really good workout already. But I guess the question ends up being which is more important fr a boxer, shoulder strength or core strength. I don't have a clue what the answer is.

It might be an idea to do some rotational core work to considering the nature of the sport.

Lockstep

Don't worry about it, I'm not panicing over a perfect workout, but I'm increasing the food I eat so I'd like to have a reasonable workout.


How's this sound:

Bench Press 10/8/6
Squats 10/8/6
shoulder press 10/8/6
chins 8/6/6
curls 10/8/6


At home:
push ups
deadlift 10/8/6
Clean 10/8/6