Advice wanted on weight training.

masto1983

Hi,

I joined the local gym 6 weeks ago. So far I just wanted to get into using it regularly(3 times a week). So I got a 6 week program from one of the instructors and modified it a bit to suit myself.

Im 6"3, 12stone 7lbs, think the Body Fat was 8.9%!! So my main aim is to bulk up my chest/shoulders, dont care bout six-pack or definition at the moment! Not too worried about arms in the workout either, im doing bicep curls at home in between gym sessions.

My session at the moment is as follows: about 1 and a half hours.
Warmup - 15 mins - bike, light stretching
3x15 Chest Press
3x15 Leg Press(name?) (you sit down and push back)
3x15 Shoulder Press C-curve
3x15 Leg Curl Machine? (the one u sit in and lift ur legs up - whats it called?)
3x15 Pec Deck
3x10 Calf Machine
3x15 Chest Press C-curve
cooldown 5mins bike
Stretching

Been keeping the weight as high as i can handle 13-15 reps.

So what i want to do now that ive got into the routine is to stop p*ssing around and up the weight/lower the reps. I'd rather stay on the current machines for the time being. Though I gather free weights give the best results.

So if someone can give me an idea of the number of sets x reps i should be doing with heavier weights?
Also is the 15mins warmup on the bike necessary or could i cut this down a bit.

Thanks.

fischerspooner

yes. You don't need to warm up on a bike. Just do some light weights on whatever exercise you're doing first. Here's what I would do if I were you, going 3 days a week, for optimum results...

day 1 - chest, lower back, hamstrings -

bench press, incline dumbell presses, and deadlifts

day 2 - legs, shoulders

squats, shoulder dumbell presses, lateral raises, bent-over lateral raises

day 3 - back, triceps

wide grip pullups, barbell rowing, shrugs, seated cable rowing, tricep extensions, lat pulldowns

Avoid doing isolation exercises like flys and preacher curls, isolation limits overload, overload makes results

also, you MUST perform squats if you want to develop your legs, if you do squats and deadlifts once a week you're well on your way

Start with 10 reps of a light enough weight, about 60% of your heaviest, then do 4 sets of 5 - 8 reps, maybe one set of 3 or 4 if you want to "max-out". I've been training this way for a while and I'm getting some pretty serious results, so good luck!

masto1983

@fischerspooner: Thanks for the advice.

But I wanna stay on the machines for a bit longer, the bench press and free weights are always being used. But if i stay on the current machines and take your advice on the set/reps, is that program any good?
Like I said my main aim is to bulk up my chest/shoulders, and throw in the leg exercises in between just to give my arms a rest!

For example:
My session would be:
Warmup - some light weights on first machine (forgetting bike),
Then on each of the following machines i would do:
10 x 60% of my heaviest, 5-8 reps of 100%* x 4 sets, maybe 3-4 reps x 1 set to "max-out",
Chest Press
Leg Press(name?) (you sit down and push back)
Shoulder Press C-curve
Leg Curl Machine? (the one u sit in and lift ur legs up - whats it called?)
Pec Deck
Calf Machine
Chest Press C-curve
cooldown 5mins bike
Stretching



* where 100% is when I can do 5-8 reps before the veins in my forehead burst!

ando

After the 5-8 reps at 100% you should be without resting, a superset to failure with another exercise that works out the same muscles, to totally fatigue them particular muscles. Also don’t forget your diet, that’s more important if you’re serious about bulking up.

Boru.

Hi masto1983,

You might want to check out the power to the people routine I outlined in the "Look at this animal thread." Essentially I'd recomend doing the follwoing machine exercieses in this order; Leg Press, Machine Bench Press, Machine Row, Shoulder Press, Ab curls. These 5 exercises will work you entire body and balance you out. (I noticed you didn't mention any back exercises and if you fail to balance your muscles you will end up with decreased range of motion and bing "muscle bound"). Further more all these exercises are functional (they mimic everyday movements) and as such will give you more real world strength.

I'd suggest finding your 1 rep max (the heaviest weight you can lift once) and taking 85% of that for 5 reps, 75% x 4, 65% x 3, 55% x 2, 45% x 1. Do this while statically contracting (tensing) every muscle in you body!!. I guarentee, done correctly this will exhau st you like nothing else and produce dramatic increases in both size and strength.

Drink some type of fruit juice, or eat some fruit within 30 mins of the work out and then get your hands on about 25g of protein (e.g. 1 chicken breast) within 2 hours.

If you have any questions about specific technique or muscle recruitment, feel free to drop into to Arnotts and I'll go through it with you.

vasch_ro

checkout www.hardgainer.com

or read brawn or beyond brawn by mc robert

kazzer

I know you say that you want to stay with these machines for the moment, but you are not getting the most from your workout with them. I strongly recommend you incorporate the following exercises into your routine:

- Deadlift
- Squat
- Bench
- Dips
- Pulldowns/Pullups

In fact these should be the basis of your program.

Transform

How oon earth are leg press or even bench presses functional?
You say they mimic everyday movements boru. I would love to know how
I am a massive fan of hardgainer and HIT but i have discovered over years of training that these compound exercises are good for overall strength but in no way are they functional for lets say sports performance

Boru.

Hi Transform,

To start off both the leg press and the bench press are multi joint exercises as opposed to single joint isolation exercise. This in itself lends them to being more likely to be everyday movements then say a leg extension or pec deck. When moving in everyday life we rarely if ever move just one joint at a time. It's generally several.

The leg press can be seen everytime you get out of a chair. Granted that people generally throw thier weight forward before sitting up, but if you notice, the muscles move in the same manner, except instead of the floor moving you go up to stand tall. Same motion though, also if you ever pick up anything say your shopping or a tv set, you should do so in the safest manner possible, a squat motion, keeping your back staright, bend the legs at 90 degress and then straighten. Again very simlar to the motion of the leg press.

The Bench Press can be seen anytime you push something at roughly chest height. For instance the same muscles are engaged in pushing open double doors at the same time. Your hands should be roughly at shoulder width distance level with the mid chest and push. Also this can be seen in when pushing furniture around the house or pushing the neighbors car in the morning. It's all the same motion.

As such people will have experienced at least one of the above senarios at a point in their life. This provides a helpful image to beginners to give them an idea of the motion you want them to perform. Furthermore after they learn the right movement and develop good technique they can then bring that into their everyday lives outside of the gym, thus ensuring a reduced risk of straining thier back next time they have to move the tv for the wife ;-).

In sports performance the movements aren't generally everyday functionaility, and I would tend to class them as specific. For instance you generally don't jump up and slam dunk things, unless playing basketball, side step, weave and punch unless your boxing, kick in the maner of a footballer unless your are playing soccer, reverse spin kick unless doing martial arts.

I would classify sports realted movement as sport specific and thus train for such. For example take a right jab in boxing. All though you can train the individual muscles used in that movement, (pecs, deltoid, tricep, radio brachialis etc) doing a bench press or hammer curl or any other numbrer of exercises, the best way to train it is to do that specific movement against resistance. Nothing makes you a better jabber, than jabbing repeatedly, (prefferably against resisatance,eg a body band or resistance tube).

I agree that in the case of sports specific movement the exercises I listed would only improve general strength and not the specific movement used in a sport. However as I say I feel that sports are not everyday movement but specfic and unique ones and are what seperate sport from everyday functional movemtns such as sitting up. I should have clarifed that, sorry.

Hope this answered your question.

Transform

Thanks for clarifying that as most people think functionality is the same as sports specific.

With all exercises undertaken the abdominals and core are the FIRST muscle to be called into action and as such i train my clinets and myself using exercises that will activate the core while lifting a weight or performing an exercise that is challenging e.g. standing shoulder press or weighted push-ups as opposed to machine shoulder press or bench press.

Thanks again and your advice in general is spot on

Homer J Simpson

kazzer wrote:

I know you say that you want to stay with these machines for the moment, but you are not getting the most from your workout with them. I strongly recommend you incorporate the following exercises into your routine:

- Deadlift
- Squat
- Bench
- Dips
- Pulldowns/Pullups

In fact these should be the basis of your program.

I agree. Free weights give the best results. The 3 main factors are: Train hard, diet( loads of protein) and sleep\rest. Allow 2-3 days rest between each workout to let the muscles recover.
Compound excercises are best as they work a number of muscles...bench press, squat and bent over row( excellent for the back).

Guvnor

Your attitude is spot on and that is a great thing. You are bulking so forget about keeping the bodyfat etc and bulk!

IN terms of weights split your workouts to:

Chest and arms
Legs and shoulders
Back

Gives you more opportunity to be more area specific.

As for reps maybe try 15, 12, 9, 6, 6, 6 per exercise. Take it easy as you are just starting and leave your ego at the door and take your time as it will take time and if you exercise sense and patience you should remain injury free and get satisfying results.

hth

Jaeger

Guvnor wrote:

Your attitude is spot on and that is a great thing. You are bulking so forget about keeping the bodyfat etc and bulk!

IN terms of weights split your workouts to:

Chest and arms
Legs and shoulders
Back

Recommend doing legs on their own. Just like doing back, I find I'm too wrecked after legs to be up to much. That said I did 10 min on the bike after a full legs session last week, was dying, and have since heard that's not a good idea (anyone know anything about lactic acid?)

We do:

1. Chest and triceps (dips leading from one to the next)

Chest.
Start with sets of 15, 10, 8, 6 on either flat or incline
Then do 4 sets of 10 on whichever one we didn't start on.
(Dumbell presses sometimes between or after on either)
Dips - started out great on these, got better, then gained more weight and am now only doing 4 sets of 6/7

Triceps
Skullcrushers (alternate between fixed bar and dumbells, I prefer dumbells on these though)
Best name I have for this is close grip pushdowns. Using the lat pulldown, palms down, close grip, keep elbows fixed and push down. These are great, hurt (me) like hell tho.
I don't bother with closegrip bench press anymore (not since we got the lat pulldown), I never got into them.
Haven't done kickbacks since trying skullcrushers with dumbells.

2. Legs.

Limited equipment here so:
Leg curls.
Leg extensions.
Squats.
Hard to vary, but still squatting almost double what I was 3 months ago with this routine. Started with 45 and am now on 85 :-) ...my easiest improvements are behind me I think. Will be training with leg press and calf machines soon, anyone got good ideas for where to mix them in?

3. Shoulders and biceps.

Military press. 15, 10, 8, 6
Dumbell presses lately - might go back to lifting the bar behind the neck next for a change.
Lateral raises 3x10

Headin to bed now, I'll finish the rest later.

Originally posted by Guvnor
leave your ego at the door

Spot on. Most important thing to do....my training partner warms up with the weight I max out with on my last set. On most of our exercises....