Spreading gymwork over 5 days

Bottle_of_Smoke

Hey

Just joined my gym at my new job. It is only open monday to friday and I can only spend one hour at a time there.

Therefore I'm thinking best go everyday and spread the exercises. So far I've been going and using weights but not had a proper structure

I used to try to go to the gym about 3times per week. I would do something along the lines of this

Day1
Deadlift, Lat pulldown, bent over rows and an upper back bent over lift(not sure the name. I would also do three bicep exercises

Day2
Bench press, incline bench press, flys and another chest lift I dont know the name of. In between would do three tricep exercises

Day3
Squats, Leg press, calf raise, hamstring curl, shoulder press, and some other shoulder exercises

So I'm prob gonna do deadlift monday, bench press wednesday and Squat fridays. Other than that not sure where to put the other exercises.

The gym isn't that brilliantly equipped. Though it has a bench and squat rack which are the main things. Not sure how I'm going to do calf raises as the leg press machine isn't that suitable. The heaviest dumbells are 16kg.

I'm 5'7, 72kg. Cycle to work(7km each way but its the netherlands so flat cyclepaths the whole way) Been out of weight training for 2months.

Want to gain more muscle as main goal. When I gain a sufficient amount I will be looking to lose some fat.

Diet what I've been doing the last few days is protein shake(casein) with half fat milk for breakfast

Lunch have something with meat or cheese. Usually with rice or a wrap. Would also have one or two boiled eggs.

I also drink a lot of mugs of coffee. Usually half milky coffee half hot chocolate(from a machine) Prob about 6/7 between 9-5

After I go to the gym I stop off at the office have a mug of coffee/chocolate mix and then cycle home. As soon as I get in will have another protein shake. I make dinner usually a wrap with meat, beans and cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and mexican salsa/garlic sauce (make myself its garlic paste with half mayo half plain yoghurt)

Go out drinking about 2-3 times a week usually have guinness or beer. If drinking at home usually wine

So mostly looking for suggestions of how to structure workouts, commentary on diet also welcome

Roger Marbles

If you want to gain muscle then it's a two step process, diet and weights:

Diet: aim to get 1-1.5g of protein per pound of body mass per day into you, spread over 5-6 meals with a pre and post workout shake..this is what I do.

As for a 5 day routine, I'm interested to hear what the more qualified people here think as I am currently doing starting strength 3 days a week and was thinking of switching to a 5 day program.

But diet is major, as you don't grow muscle in the gym, it happens in the hours outside all that lifting with proper nutritional support.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Cheers man, how do you calculate your lean muscle mass? When I got an induction at the gym he put my bodyfat% at 14%

What do you make of the diet I mentioned? I'm a student and don't have much cash - any tips on cheap calorie/protein sources?

Roger Marbles

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Cheers man, how do you calculate your lean muscle mass? When I got an induction at the gym he put my bodyfat% at 14%

What do you make of the diet I mentioned? I'm a student and don't have much cash - any tips on cheap calorie/protein sources?

You mean lean body mass

For example, say you weight 100kg, well if you are 14% bodyfat, the remaining 86% would be your lean body mass.

So 100 x0.86 = 86kg.

86kg x 2.2 = 189.2 pounds

So protein intake would be between 189g - 283g of protein

In terms of diet I can get all of my protein for less than 20 euros a day into me easily e.g 2 cans of tuna, whey protein, salmon, steak etc.

Just eat 5-6 meals make sure you have a good protein source in it, and then build some healthy fats and carbs with it as well.

It would be much cheaper for example to cook some mince meat the night before with a few potatoes, reheat the next day = 2 meals, compared to say 10 euros for a college bar meal.

Check out these videos as well: http://www.youtube.com/user/Transform1234#p/search/1/Nqa30-mnhAc

Hopefully someone can come up with a 5 days weights routine..

El Horseboxo

I'm not surprised that you are unsure where to put some of the exercises. As in my opinion you are doing too much. You mentioned that you plan to Deadlift on Monday, Bench on Wednesday and Squat on Friday. That's a good start as it gives you a day rest in between and allows your first exercise of the day to be a compound movement.

For the Monday i would suggest the bent over row after the deadlift. To me that is much better than the lat pulldown. I wouldn't bother with an upper back exercise after them. The DL's and rows should be enough.

On the Wednesday i would suggest you drop a lot of what you do after bench pressing. If you are going at it hard on the bench there isn't much need to be doing inclines and flyes aftwerwards. Which are useless in my book. If you really wanted to do another chest exercise after the bench i would suggest dips if you have that equipment available to you. Or maybe press ups with a clap in between.

I prefer to do triceps on days i deadlift but biceps would be fine as well. So you can do the biceps on monday at the end and triceps on Wednesday at the end. But no need to be doing 3 exercises for each one. For triceps try a close grip bench press and for biceps keep it simple and stick to curls. There isn't much point in lashing multiple exercises for each of those small muscle groups. 1 or maybe 2 if you feel you need to should be enough. Just give them time and you will see your arms get bigger.

On the Friday starting with the squats is fine. And since you have a squat rack you would be better of doing straight leg deadlifts or good mornings than any of the machine assisted exercises. Drop the leg press, calf raise and the hamstring curl. Instead go straight into the press.

As already mentioned you should be aiming for smaller but more regular meals. Some cheap sources of protein are eggs, tuna, beans, nuts (not the salted kind), chicken fillets, steaks, oily fish. For carbs stick to wholegrain oats, brown rice and pasta. Peanut butter and fish oil are great forms of good fats. But watch salt conent in peanut butter. Lots of milk will help you bulk up. But you will gain some bodyfat from that. Also eat fruit and vegetables. Just try tailor your diet for what works for you. But try give your body a constant flow of protein throughout the day. Use shakes when eating isn't an option.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Cheers for the advice guys.

El Horseboxo I'm actually planning to go in on the tues and wed as well. thats why I want to get a new routine and spread the exercises around

brianthebard

yates 4 way split