Starting out and wondering some stuff

[presumptiousz]

Hello, I'm 20 years old and have always wanted to gain a more fit body. I've never really been "out of shape" or lacking in muscle to badly but I've never had mass, so I am going to pursuit it strongly now. I just have a few questions before I start.

I don't have a whole lot of equipment, but I do a lot of boxing (heavy bag, shadowboxing, and sparring), a curved bicep curl bar, and 2 bench press bars (no bench, have homemade one). I've set goals and specific muscles to work on first and develop first before working on the rest.

Routine:
1.Weighted crunches, 2 sets as many reps as I can before can't do anymore then a 1 minute break before next set.

2.Weighted Oblique crunches, 2 sets of 10 reps, then 2 sets of 10 reps with no weight.

3.Bicycle Crunches, 1 set of as many reps as possible before not able to do any more.

4. Bench Press (I don't know name of workouts I do but its one with the press bar with hands far apart, then again with them close together about 6 inches), 2 sets of 10 reps

5. Bench flies, 2 sets of 10 reps.

6. Squats, 2 sets of 20 reps, then halving weight and repeating.

7. Bicep curls, 3 sets of 10 reps.

8. 20 minutes of shadowboxing with 3 pound weight (jab, crossjab, shovelhook, uppercut, hay-maker)

9. Heavybag boxing until to sore.

10. Light cardio (skip rope, jumping jacks, jogging)


I repeat this routine after 2 days of rest. Is there anything I can do to improve my routine? I want to work out my pecs largely, abdominal, obliques, and biceps.

Also I'm excited to take part in the community thanks in advance, Kyle.


P.S. For reference this is my current build (tried to get the assumed most important views)
http://i46.tinypic.com/wvr4tz.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/24o4tgi.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/ix8nsj.jpg

 

[raze]

Hey bro and welcome to EF. To be honest with you if your wanting more mass I think you need a more complete workout using dead lifts, squats, bench, shoulder press, t bar rows, barbell rows along with some isolation work. I personally do 2 x muscle groups (eg. chest and tri's ) in a weight session because you cant hit your muscles with enough intensity for them to grow with a full body workout. Have a look around for some programs that incorporate most of these lifts mentioned. I don't know what your financial situation is but if you are planning to lift heavy weights in the future I would be wanting to purchase a proper bench because if it fails while you are laying under it you could get hurt.... I think you will have to upgrade your equipment and get a squat rack, bench and some dumbbells. You can do a lot with that or sign up to your local gym. Don't forget your diet will be key to your results. Best of luck to you man and I hope it all goes well.

 

[oxymoron]

U can get an "ok" workout with the equipment u have but u will likely need to buy more equip for ur home gym or join a gym/fitness club.

Are u able to join gym or do u have problems doing that?

Good to hear ur making a change to start working out more.


Sent using the elitefitness app.

 

[stevesmi]

here is what I would do in your shoes.

keep in mind the body you have every person on here had at one point around that age. you still have some growing to do and your body is still very raw.

get a gym membership and go there and WATCH the workouts the big and cut dudes are doing.. take a notepad and write it down... I wouldn't go so far as be-friending them and asking if you can workout with them.. but kind of shadow them and whatever they do that day you do. like going fishing and watching the dude catching all the fish and copying the bait and rig he is using. you won't catch as many fish as him but you will atleast learn the strategy that will help you improve. (if the guy is a embassador to the lifestyle of lifting he will have no problems with this as long as you don't get in his way, steal is bar etc.. just like when i go fishing we communicate as to what is biting on what etc so we all can have more success.. only a selfish punk will keep things secret)

a good tip is COMPOUND LIFTS. another tip is 3 day splits workouts.. read my workout in my signature below. read the whole thread actually and it will serve as a guide. also if you want to build muscle you gotta workout and put in the hours in the gym. i would be goin atleast 4X per week. forget the crunches... do lifts for men. bench press, pullups, dips, squats, deadlifts.. those are the lifts that will grow your body, not crunches and curls.

next is DIET, this is important. you have to feed your muscles. just imagine when you eat sending nutrients into your muscle.. you won't grow on hot dogs, burgers, pizza, and that other shit 20 year olds eat. you gotta step up your game and eat bodybuilding food.

grab some chicken breasts, throw one in boiling water.. boil for 25 minutes along with some veggies and brown rice/sweet potato and boom you have a nice muscle building meal. read the bulker in my signature below for more ideas

 

[presumptiousz]

Financially I can't afford much right now but soon I can start saving up, my town has a pretty amazing facebook sales page where people sell there stuff dirt cheap and ive seen a few benches on it before, As far as diet, on the days I work out and the day immediately following I try to take in a few hundred grams of protein minimum, I eat a lot of chicken, potatoes, as much milk as I can drink, bacon, eggs, and vegetable juice. I forgot to add that I am 5'10'' and currently weigh roughly 155 pounds. For doing specific muscle workouts do I do say bicep and chest one day then the next day do another 2? or do I still wait 2 days in-between?

 

[presumptiousz]

I just threw together a routine....maybe some critic on it?




MONDAY
Alternate Hammer Curls
2x5 Bar
2x5 5lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 25lb
2x5 30lb
Barbell Curls
2x5 Bar
2x5 10lb
2x5 20lb
2x5 30lb
2x5 40lb
2x5 50lb
Concentration Curl
2x5 Bar
2x5 10lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 20lb
2x5 25lb
Squats
2x5 Bar
2x5 20lb
2x5 40lb
2x5 60lb
2x5 80lb
Barbell Lunges
2x5 Bar
2x5 10lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 20lb
2x5 25lb


TUESDAY
Pushups
2x5 Both arms
2x5 Left arm
2x5 Righ arm
Dumbell Flyes
2x5 Bar
2x5 10lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 20lb
2x5 25lb
Wide-grip Barbell Bench Press
2x5 Bar
2x5 20lb
2x5 40lb
2x5 60lb
2x5 80lb
Hammer Grip Incline DB Bench Press
2x5 Bar
2x5 5lb
2x5 10lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 20lb
Barbell Side Bend
2x5 Bar
2x5 5lb
2x5 10lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 20lb
Plank
2x 1 minute Both Arms//legs
2x 1 minute Single Arm//leg
2x 2 minutes Both arms//legs
2x 2 minutes Single Arm//leg
Weighted Crunch
2x5 No weight
2x5 5lb
2x5 10lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 20lb
WEDNESDAY
OFF

THURSDAY

Barbell Deadlift
2x5 Bar
2x5 60lb
2x5 80lb
2x5 100lb
2x5 120lb
Hyperextensions w/o Bench
5x5
Bent Over One-Arm Long Bar Row
2x5 Bar
2x5 10lb
2x5 20lb
2x5 30lb
2x5 40lb
Reverse Grip Bent-Over Rows
2x5 Bar
2x5 10lb
2x5 20lb
2x5 30lb
2x5 40lb


FRIDAY
Clean and Press
2x5 Bar
2x5 20lb
2x5 30lb
2x5 40lb
2x5 50lb
One-Arm Side Laterals
2x5 Bar
2x5 5lb
2x5 10lb
2x5 20lb
2x5 25lb
Standing Palm-In One-Arm Dumbbell Press
2x5 Bar
2x5 5lb
2x5 10lb
2x5 15lb
2x5 20lb
Barbell Shrugs
2x5 Bar
2x5 40lb
2x5 50lb
2x5 60lb
2x5 70lb
SATURDAY
OFF

SUNDAY
OFF

 

[raze]

Check out Steve's info here on diet in case you didn't see it. http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/diet-bodybuilding/bulking-up-using-your-diet-steve-way-830603.html. Do your bench press before your flys and pushups. I would just use the push ups to superset my dumbbell flys after bench or for a bit of a warm up. An example of a superset is you set up for bench press with 150lbs and press it 10 reps till failure, immediately you cut the weight to 75 lbs and press it as many times as you can. I normally do them for the last 3 or 4 sets of the night to burn out that muscle completely. So start with your compound lifts which are lifts that use primarily one muscle but also a variety of other muscles to complete the lift and that is what makes them great mass builders. Try and aim for 1.5 grams protein per pound of bodyweight so around 230 grams protein a day. As far as how often to train everyone does things a bit different but I would be aiming to train 4 days a week. What days I take off really depend on how I am feeling so I don't personally use a set routine.

 

[presumptiousz]

Okay so here is what I am thinking. Instead of starting this week and jumping into it, I'm going to plan it in MASSIVE depth for 1 month, that includes a very planned out routine that focuses on efficiency and mass, a well structured diet plan (a list of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that work for me), what supplements I'm going to order, as well I'm going to wait to get a good quality weight bench and maybe a few other things (What is some other smaller equipment worth investing in?), possibly another 200 pounds in weights simply to support an increase of mass over time (I have 180 pounds at the moment), I do work but its low low physical demand, as well I have a major love for coffee and tea ( i love cream and lots of sugar) and I assume that is very bad for my diet so I am going to cut back on anything bad for me so I don't go through withdrawals during my workout time. I'm going to set goals, and start up a log thats easy to record in so I don't waste time with that, and I'm gonna find a ton of guides on proper structure for workouts, and drinking a ton of milk and possibly calcium supplements soon because I drank a lot of soda before and I don't want to work out with weak bones. Anybody care to add to my list of things worth doing?

 

[raze]

Its good you want to jump in with both feet bro but from my personal experience it isn't always the best way simply because it can be very hard to just stop something your used to and switch on too complete health mode. I would suggest starting training with what you have now and start work on your diet and your routine like your thinking and keep making improvements as you go. I train at home too and I started off with a cheap bench, a half squat rack that was less than ideal but got me through, brought an olympic bar and dumbbells and just enough weights to get me going. I saved my pennies and brought a full squat rack with a cable system on it (Powertec Power Rack System) and now have a lot more weight than I will be needing any time soon. Even if you spend a month trying to work out the perfect way to set up everything I a guarantee you will keep changing it and improving on it and besides that in a month you can accomplish a lot. Just a suggestion anyway man, we are all different so do what you think is best

 

[presumptiousz]

wow...thats some amazing advice man.... I think I will take it slow maybe start jogging lots, get cardiovascular fitness done (it also helps muscles ever so slightly so itll still be slight progress) and maybe stick with a low routine just to build small definition and small gains... then once im there I can work on the big stuff like a full routine and stuff