Workout / Weights Advice/Help

[rsrider]

Hey Guys (Sorry if this is in the wrong area).

New to this forum and need some help. (Sorry it’s long winded!)

I am 29 year old male, 6ft 1” and currently weighing approx 75kg.  Over the years my weight has fluctuated between 73kg and 90kg.  .  I would say that my body type is a mixture of Ectomorph and Endomorph, with my lower half (legs) being naturally bigger than my upper body.

 I have always been into sport and have played a number of them at rep level.  Until September last year I had fallen into a bit of a lazy state and was quite out of shape.  In the past 12 months I have begun to ramp up the amount of exercise and sport I am doing and managed to drop 10kg.

I recently (past month) started a lifting/weights routine at home.  I want to make sure that I am eating enough and perhaps that I am not overdoing the cardio side of things which may be detrimental to the muscle/mass gaining.  Also maybe some comments about my weights routine, but bear in mind I am not a fan of gyms and I am doing this all at home with only a bench, dumbbells and a chin-up bar as my tools.  My goal with the weights is mainly to gain some extra muscle mass, strength and definition, particularly around my chest area and also my arms.  I have no interest in becoming overly huge or being a bodybuilder.

Each time I do weights I stick to the same routine.  I don’t do specific days for legs because my legs are naturally quite large and toned and I feel the sport and running I do are enough for them.

In terms of my eating I think I have a relatively healthy diet but I am concerned that my caloric intake may not be enough in order to see any sizeable gains.  My diet is similar each day and consists of:

Breakfast:  Coffee (Milk & 3 sugars) with a large bowl of Muesli & a Banana

Mid Morning:  50gm Raw Mixed Nuts & an apple

Lunch:  Large Multigrain Tuna/ Chicken and Salad sandwich

Mid Afternoon:  1 x 85gm can of flavoured chicken breast

Dinner:  Meal consisting of High protein, low fat.  Normally around 600 calories in total.  Sometimes it is vegetarian, other times it could be chicken or red meat.

Late evening:  Bowl of muesli & Banana

I try to steer clear of sweets, cakes etc, but I do occasionally (once per week) have a burger and fries as a dinner meal.  I am not currently taking any sort of protein shake.  I am taking creatine monohydrate daily and am open to taking protein shakes if needed.

Currently my weekly exercise routine consists of:

Monday:

• 3 x 10min Abdominal Planks (spread out over the evening)
• 2 hours of Tennis (high level play).

Tuesday: 

• 2 x 10min Abdominal Planks

Weights routine consisting of:

• Flat bench press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Bench Press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Dumbbell Flyes (4 x sets till failure)
• Overhead Dumbbell Pullover (4 x sets tll failure)
• Dumbbell Hammer Curls (4 x sets till failure)
• Straight Bar Curls (4 x Sets till failure)
• Palm-in Chinups (4 x sets of as many as possible)

Wednesday:

• 4km Run
• 3 x 10min Abdominal Planks
• 2 hours of Tennis (medium level play)

 

Thursday:

• 2 x 10min Abdominal Planks

Weights routine consisting of:

• Flat bench press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Bench Press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Dumbbell Flyes (4 x sets till failure)
• Overhead Dumbbell Pullover (4 x sets tll failure)
• Dumbbell Hammer Curls (4 x sets till failure)
• Straight Bar Curls (4 x Sets till failure)
• Palm-in Chinups (4 x sets of as many as possible)

Friday (Rest Day):

• 2 x 10min Abdominal Planks

Saturday:

• 2 x 10min Abdominal Planks
• 1.5 – 2hours of tennis (high level play)

Weights routine consisting of:

• Flat bench press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Bench Press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Dumbbell Flyes (4 x sets till failure)
• Overhead Dumbbell Pullover (4 x sets tll failure)
• Dumbbell Hammer Curls (4 x sets till failure)
• Straight Bar Curls (4 x Sets till failure)
• Palm-in Chinups (4 x sets of as many as possible)

Sunday:

• 2 x 10min Abdominal Planks
• 4km Run

Thanks, your help and advice is appreciated!

 

Cheers

 

Rory

 

 

[Pseudonym]

Hi Rory, welcome to Gymnation.

Overall, it looks like what you're doing is a pretty good match for your goals. However, here's my two cents...

 

I think you need more protein if you're wanting to gain size (that'll also increase your calories a bit, too). Get a basic protein powder (whey protein concentrate is fine) and add two scoops to both your muesli meals. You could also add more meat, but your current diet might be enough if you're not desperate to be a bodybuilder.

Weight training looks ok, but there's a lot of muscles you aren't working - triceps, shoulders, and limited exercises for back. I would try alternating a 2-day split across the 3 days you train. Something like this:

Day 1: Workout A - Chest/Triceps

• Flat bench press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Bench Press (4 x sets till failure)
• Incline Dumbbell Flyes (4 x sets till failure)
• Close Grip Dumbbell Press (3 x sets till failure)
• Overhead Dumbbell Extensions (3 x sets till failure)
• Dumbbell Kickbacks (3 x sets till failure)

 

Day 2: Workout B - Back/Shoulders/Biceps

• Pullups, palms out (4 x sets till failure)
• Dumbbell rows (4 x sets till failure)
• Bentover rows (3 x sets till failure)
• Seated (or standing) dumbbell press (3 x sets till failure)
• Side raises (3 x sets till failure)
• Alternating Bicep Curls (4 x sets till failure)

 

Day 3: Workout A again

 

Hope that helps

[rsrider]

Hey,

Thanks for the reply!  Much appreciated.

I did wonder whether I was limiting myself in terms of the excercises I was doing for certain body areas.  So you think I alternate each weights day from Routine A to Routine B?

Any comments on rest periods?  At the moment I am leaving a days rest between weights workouts (i.e do weights on monday and dont do them again till wednesday night).  Is this ok, or with the different routines can I do them one day after the other now?

I will give your routine a go and hopefully see some results!

 

Thanks

 

Rory

 

[Pseudonym]

In general, you'd want to leave more rest time - particularly since you're also doing serious amounts of cardio. (For comparison, many bodybuilding routines only train a muscle once a week.)

 

I'd leave your weight training days as they are, but alternate the workouts:

Tues - Workout A
Thur - Workout B
Sat - Workout A
Tues - Workout B
etc...

[Kalidane]

Don't fret too much about getting too bulky.  It probably won't sneak up ya while you're sleeping *blum3*

 

On the no legs training thing - chances are you will have good muscular endurance 'cos of the stuff you mention.  It might be argued that by gaining some additional strength and mass you'll increase performance as well as reduce injury risk.  Injuries suck so I'd give that some thought.

 

In a fairly similar vein, hips (and the surrounding bits) are pretty important in any activity.  Deadlifts are a good one for training at home.

 

Remember stretching and massage are an important part of any training programme so sneak a bit in there somewhere.  Pretty easy to leave them out until a little strain/injury reminds us why we should be doing them...

[Gabora]

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