Need a New Weights Workout

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hey,

Basically a beginner, but I’ve gained a lot of good info from this site as I’ve been reading for a while. please read as this is basically all my training stuff lol…

Basically I’m tryina do weights more seriously now to bulk up a bit an put on muscle. Currently I’m working out and taking protein supplements to get closer to the 1g protein per lb bodyweight.

However, I need more knowedgleable advice about the program I’m following…

Currently I am doing:

Day 1:

set 1 Triceps lift 312 / back extension 312/ shrug 315
set 2 Triceps kickback 38 / abs holding dumbell by side 3*10

Day 2:

set 1 Bench 56/ abs
set 2 Military press 38 / dips
Incline bench

Day 3:

Bicep curl and press 36/
flies 310/
side lift

“set 1” etc are supersets…

for the past 3 weeks i’ve bin on holiday and havent done neting, so i got bk just over a week ago, and tinkin bout it I’ve probably done at least a set of something per day so i might be overtraining?

I also have done one or two cardio sessions in the past week (just 20 mins interval training on a bike) but from what I’ve read putting on muscle mass + losing fat etc is hard to do…

So as I have been doing something every day, I split up my exercises into the 3 day split as above (may be totally wrong, lol)

right now, I’m mainly looking for mass around the chest area so im lifting heavy bench wise,(but don’t really know what else I can do for chest)… but i’m only working with a bench and some dumbells at home.

also - i’ve read a lot about compound exercises - and you’ll notice that I don’t have any of them really. added to this, there is no leg exercise - not thru choice - i was involved in a very serious car accident almost a year ago now and basically shatterd my left femur, which is now pinned and is still healing. therefore I can’t do squats etc as I can’t put that kind of pressure through my leg.

finally - what do you do on your days of? i literally have a lot of time on my handsd at the moment seeing as it’s holiday time, hence why I was doing something everyday - I assume I continue to eat as big as I can, do you just do nothing on days off lol?!

thanks very much, before everyone says search and reh reh reh, i actaully tried that but T-Nation is notorius for completely crashing out my browser so that hasn’t proved useful :frowning:

as I said, much appreciated and ne advice is gratefully received…

Millasur ~

2

Read Total-Body-Training by Chad Waterbury.

Read Massive Eating and other nutrition articles on this site.

Find a work-out plan, find a nutrition plan, and then come back to us with something a bit more specific.

3

umm thanks for reading the subject line and replying, as you obviously didn’t read any of the actual content of my post.

I will find those articles and read them, I’ve alraedy read massive eating, and to b honest, I didn’t actually ask anything at all about nutrition.

I was attempting to be specific, there are questions within what I’ve written. If this isn’t specific enough let me know and I’ll be happy to try and make iti more specific.

4

Hmmm…

I assume you are taking a day off in between these days. I like to lift one day, do cardio the next, etc. so I’m doing a little something everyday rather than trying to do weights and cardio on the same day.

As far as exercise selection, I would definitely add some pulling exercises like upright dumbell rows and bent-over rows to work your upper back. Could you still do something like deep knee bends/squats or lunges without weight? I’d consult with your physician before doing those, but it seems as though lower intensity lower body work would be great to help with rehabilitation. Overall, do more compound movements and less isolation. Maybe something like this…

Day 1
Flat DB bench press supersetted with bent over DB row, overhead press supersetted with a pullup or upright row, back extension, some kind of ab work. 4 sets of 6-8.

Day 2
Incline or flat DB chest fly supersetted with a rear delt fly/bent-over lateral raise, bicep curl supersetted with a french press/skullcrusher or bench dips (both better choices than a kickback), different ab exercise than day 1. 3 sets of 12-15 reps.

Day 3
Very similar to day 1, with more compound exercises, heavier weights. Perhaps a incline bench press, bent-over row, dips or decline bench press, one-arm DB row, back extension, some kind of ab work. 4 sets of 6-8.

If you get clearance to do some light leg work, you could do some kind of lunge or squat for each of those days. Just some ideas.

is right, in that you’d be well off to follow a diet/training plan from a coach here, but I think the above program would have you making better progress than you have so far. Good luck!

5

I’ll give your questions a shot, but I would suggest just checking out one of the full programs by one of the contributers and doing that, adjusting it for your injury. I’ve known so many beginners who don’t do a balance of work/exercises when they do their own thing and it messes them up (I should include myself - I was a bench and curl guy). Take a look at Vroom’s beginner thread and pick one of the programs.

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=640350

But FWI, here’s my thoughts on what you are doing now so you can see why I say the above.

First of all, it’s not necessary to train everyday. We grow when we’re resting not when we’re lifting. Lifting too long or too often is counterproductive. However, you have to work in order to get anywhere - you can’t just rest. So if your program is good then you should feel good about resting.

As far as exercise on off days - any sort of GPP (low-impact cardio, HIIT cardio, easy-going sport, sled GPP, etc) is probably a good idea and will help you be lean and healthy, but don’t go overboard - especially when bulking since that means more calories burned so you’ll have to eat even more.

With your leg injured I can see how you could easily overdo your arms and delts if those are the only muscle groups you used everyday - so I’d be careful. You don’t have to spend hours and hours a day everyday in the gym to make progress, in fact you probably won’t make progress if you do that. So just be smart about your resting and lifting.

Now as far as your current program:

I assume day 1 is after the weekend, yet you are doing tricep exercises. I would switch day 2 to day 1: if your priority is chest you should do it first in the week when you are rested most. Also you are doing triceps before chest which may make it difficult to put enough weight on the chest exercises. So do the bench workout first.

I’m not sure why your tricep sets are such high rep. Set and rep schemes can get complicated if you don’t know what works for you, that’s why I recommend an already made program - it’s got that all covered. Each one is different, but you can try out the different approaches.

You have all of your compound heavy exercises on the same day (bench, military, dips) - I would break those up and do one each day as one of your main lifts ala Waterbury total body training.

“bicep curl and press” ← is that one exercise or two? What’s the “press” part?

Your volume is very skewed towards tricep dominant exercises with very few bicep exercises. This won’t help you gain. The body needs balance. So that is why I ask the following crucial question?

Why is there no back exercises?

Pullups, rows, etc?

These are a must for bulking. So is leg exercises but you’re off the hook for that at the moment. Squats are out - but what about deadlifts or good mornings? The leg doesn’t have to bend in these exercises so they may be possible. If they are - not doing them would be a major disservice to yourself.

Summary:
Do one of the programs on T-Nation. Just pick one. Do it for the required time and then pick another. If you log everything you do then in half a year you’ll have several programs done and you can determine which ones worked best which will help you even better in the long run. They are all good, and they will all help you add mass and strength while covering all the bases. Your current program is very lacking.

Resting is good. Don’t feel like you have to be pushing yourself everyday. Especially if you’re bulking it may just limit your gains unless you can really eat. Just don’t rest too much. It can be a fine line. You’ll learn about your body and how it reacts as your go along.

While shorthand writing may save you one to two letters per word - it really makes reading more difficult. It’d be easier on most of us and we’d be more willing to give a serious reply if your writing was in real english with proper grammer, spelling and punctuation. This isn’t to be a stickler, but it makes a difference. It’s hard to take someone seriously when everything is in lower case with only consonants and abbreviations, etc.

6

Ok, thanks very much for the comments. Will be attempting to write properly also lol…

I have read through the total body training Waterbury manual, so when looking at what Norweige has written in terms of day 1/2/3, it looks a lot better than what I had so thanks very much. I’m understanding the need for more back + the rearrangement of the exercises. I am planning to follow a combination of what Norweige has said + a few exercises such as deadlifts and compound exercises ala Waterbury.

Goldin also thankk you for the comments + help , was a lot of help. The thing with the leg is I will find out about bodyweight squats etc, see how it goes. I haven’t been on crutches for a long time now as it’s basically a year on from the accidnet, I spent 5 months on crutches, (wasn’t working out or anything) now I can walk unaided etc but I can’t run or anything like that.

And to be honest when I drew that up it’s because I need to stop bitchin and get more iron - the reps are high as thats the max I could load onto the DBs with what I’ve got. (So I will sort that).

I have added deadlifts into my program as well, and will be seeing how they actually feel to do…

Much appreciated.

7

ok quick question regarding Waterbury’s total body training…

He says each “workout” consists of 6 exercises… (with 3 workouts a week)

does this mean you work the same muscle groups more than once a week?!

eg in workout one you could choose bench press, and in workout two you could also choose bench press?

8

Yeah, in fact 3 times a week. The difference is you perform a lower volume and more frequency, as opposed to being a tissue assasin (Lonnie Lowery’s excellent term) and beating the shit out of one or two muscle groups once a week.

I find training a muscle group with 1 or 2 exercises three times a week (as in several of CW’s programs) works better for me, but doing higher volume with less frequency works well for others. Ultimately it takes all kinds of volume/intensity/frequency, so you’ll just have to experiment with what works for you.

9

Oh, and as to the second part of your post, yes, you could choose bench press twice or even three times a week. You could do incline one day, flat the next, etc. Or, try using different ways of holding the weights.

For instance, you could do a dumbell bench press with your palms facing each other (semi-supinated), elbows tucked tighter to your body on one day, then do a more traditional DB bench press with your palms facing down towards your feet (pronated) grip the next. Just that small change can ellicit a new training response.

Same thing goes for the bent-over DB rows. You could do them elbows out, pronated grip one day then the next day try palms-up (supinated), pulling through the elbows with your upper arms tighter to your torso. I hope that makes sense.

10

Right, think im understanding lol!

Thanks for all the help boss.