New to this... seeking some advice

[johnsf1980]

Hello all,

I've been lifting for about 12 weeks now and seeking a bit of advice on this program I created for myself. I'm 5'9", 70kgs and work out Monday and Wednesday evenings. I do the following in the sequence listed below:

Barbell Squats 55kg 3x5

Deadlifts 55kg 2x5

Single Leg Calf Raise (w DB) 15kg 2x10

Barbell Bench Press 40kg 3x5

Assisted Dips 40kg 3x5

Assisted Pullups 40kg 3x5

Barbell Shoulder Press 20kg as many as I can do

1. First problem is with the Shoulder Press, I just cant do very many! I suspect its because I'm doing them last? Should they go before the Dips or may be even before the Bench Press?

2. Am I doing enough deadlifts or too few/many?

3. Is Monday and Wednesday enough to grow? When should I throw in a Friday or Saturday, if at all?

4. Am I getting enough upper body exercise? I tried to incorporate all compound stuff (apart from calves) in so that I wasnt wasting time doing isolation / machine stuff.

5. Any obvious flaws you notice with my program?

Cheers!

[HaNs]

Are you doing the same thing over and over again?

[johnsf1980]

Do I do the same exercises? Yes. But as soon as the load becomes light enough so that I can do 1 or 2 more reps per set with good form, I increase the load.... e.g. I started squatting 10kgs, then the olympic bar... and up to 55kgs now.

Oh also I deep squat.

[two_phat]

No. This is not enough to grow really - you need to be training at least 3 times per week. Plus 1 or 2 reps with good form isn't enough - most of your set should be performed with 'good form'.

What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve?

[johnsf1980]

No. This is not enough to grow really - you need to be training at least 3 times per week. Plus 1 or 2 reps with good form isn't enough - most of your set should be performed with 'good form'.

What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve?

Goals are strength + size... but I'm not trying to get big in a hurry or anything. I just want to get to being able to squat 1.5x my body weight and I hope by then Ill have gotten a bit bigger.

What I meant about 1 or 2 more reps with good form was that.... if I'm squatting 55kg for 3x5 and in time I'm able to do 55kg for 3x6 with good form... then I increase the weight so that I can do only 3x5 again.

Will add in a Friday work out session too, thanks :-)

[Flex]

5. Any obvious flaws you notice with my program?

Lots, starting with the fact that you wrote the program yourself and obviously have absolutely no idea what you're doing.

Get some professional help or at the very least use a properly structured 3 or 4 day split program out of a mag or off a decent website. Whole body workouts aren't going to do jack for longterm size and strength.

4. Am I getting enough upper body exercise? I tried to incorporate all compound stuff (apart from calves) in so that I wasnt wasting time doing isolation / machine stuff.

No - do you really think doing 3 sets of bench and then getting your mate to help/assist you do some chins and dips is going to be enough to grow. You shouldn't be doing weighted dips if you are needing to get assisted. Ditch the weight and the assistant. Or are we talking one of those smegging machines that lift you? - if so ditch that and go and find the dip rack and the chinup bar.

1. First problem is with the Shoulder Press, I just cant do very many! I suspect its because I'm doing them last? Should they go before the Dips or may be even before the Bench Press?

No shit you can't do very many. You've just done squats, deadlifts, bench, chins and dips - that's normally at least 2 or 3 completely separate workouts. Preferably you should be doing shoulders on one day, chest on another, back the next and legs on another day - then you should be able to do more on shoulder press.

3. Is Monday and Wednesday enough to grow? When should I throw in a Friday or Saturday, if at all?

Yes two days a week training could be enough to grow for some people but not with that workout. Throw in the friday now.

[johnsf1980]

Well sure I dont have much idea what I'm doing, which is why I asked :-)

However, I thought I couldnt do much worse, doing it myself, than the program the PT I had created, which sent me on a circuit of the rowing machine, treadmill, leg press, crunches, lat pull down, bicep curls, and seated machine chest press...

Regarding assisted dips and pullsups: I'm simply not strong enough yet to do those unassisted. However, I thought they were supposed to be great upper body exercises and so it was better to work my way through to being able to do them unassisted versus doing things like bicep curls and tricep pulldowns.

[two_phat]

Goals are strength + size... but I'm not trying to get big in a hurry or anything. I just want to get to being able to squat 1.5x my body weight and I hope by then Ill have gotten a bit bigger.

What I meant about 1 or 2 more reps with good form was that.... if I'm squatting 55kg for 3x5 and in time I'm able to do 55kg for 3x6 with good form... then I increase the weight so that I can do only 3x5 again.

Will add in a Friday work out session too, thanks :-)

You really need to using a split in your training programme.

A simple one might be...

Monday: Legs

Wednesday: Chest & Tris

Thursday: Shoulders & Abs

Saturday: Back & Bis

Have a look a some the journals for a more detailed look at how some people structure their workouts

[johnsf1980]

two_phat, the splits idea sounds pretty good, I will give that a go after looking at the journals, thanks.

[Mr_Krabs]

Check out this website: http://stronglifts.com

Its got heaps of info and is great for guys in your situation, its a good full body style to build overall strength and size. Sounds like you are already trying to use some of the principles from the site so maybe you have seen it, but if you follow the 5x5 scheme to the letter you'll be squatn 1.5xBW in no time at all :nod:

[Rag the Dog]

john - not a shocking program to start with. Lets try and be a little bit positive here. Its certainly not perfect, but at least your doing big compound movements and working the whole body. You can work your whole body to get a good base strength and then look to move into a 2 and 3 day split program eventually working up to a 4 or 5 day split as your strength increases. Maybe work in the 10-12 rep range and mix up the exercises a bit. Do your bigger muscle groups first and stay away from the isolated movements until you move into a split program. Buy a flex or muscle and fitness magazine and see what the big fellas are doing. Browse thru the workout journals too cause there are quite a few programs listed in there. Good luck