My routine now, any good?

[TW]Sponge

[TW]Sponge

[TW]Sponge

Soldato
Joined
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Hereford
Hi guys, been going to the gym 3 times a week, Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Everything I do is 3 sets of 10.
I start off with some ab crunches on the big bouncy ball thing (sorry don't know what it's called!) Then I do some lower back stretches (lying face down and lifting only chest up, helps with my weak lower back),then some dead lifts@30k. That is my ab and lower back bit I do to strengthen my core.

Then I move onto the free-weights. I start off with some butterflys@15k each arm on a flat bench, then some bicep curls on the e-z bar@20k, then I do some tricep pull downs on the v-grip on the big machine thingy (sorry again) Then I do some more ab crunches on the ball to finish off.

I know this is a terrible routine, but it is all I know! I do this exact same routine every time I go and it takes me about half an hour. My starting pics are in the bodybuilding pics thread on here, and I basically want to gain muscle size and more definition.

If anybody has any suggestions then please let me know.

Cheers, Sponge.
 
Morba said:
Take a look at the sticky by gordy r. thats a good starting point.

Or take a look at riptoes starting strength or strong lifts routines.

All of the above will be miles better than what you are doing as a routine.


As you are looking to gain mass, what is your diet like?
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My diet is a little shoddy to be honest. I never eat consistent foods, just whatever I fancy eating. I agree this needs sorting but I don't know where to start with food. I have 2 whey protein shakes a day to keep up the protein that I don't really eat.
 
Morba said:
take a look at what i suggested then, they will all have the basics covered for you.
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The thing is though, I don't believe in what you eat really affects you that much. My mate eats crap all day every day and he is one of the cuttest people I know. Also I really can't cook so it is really difficult to get the right foods inside me without eating out. Also my gym has quite limited equipment. All it has is a load of free-weights, a couple of benches and a load of machines that I do not use. (should I use the machines?) And I don't know what half the exercises are, let alone how to do them!

Cheers, Sponge
 
Morba said:
then starting strength and stonglifts will be good for you, the websites have vids that show what to do, however it is always good to ask a PT at the gym to help with form and instruction.

some people are blessed with genetics that allow them to eat what they want. others are perceived to eat lots but burn off more than the others realise.
they are other people, you are you. if what you think is correct then surely as your diet is admittedly crap, you would be cut like your friend. the fact that you arent says you need to start with the basics and get them right, get a good base sorted then move on from there :)
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I have only just started training the past few weeks. Have you seen my pics in the pics thread? People say I have the perfect natural base to build on, what do you think?
 
Ok I've figured a routine out from the guys on youtube. Please tell me if this is any good.

Monday is all I have so far.

Chest
Flat bench dumbell press 12-10-8-6.
Flat bench dumbell flys 12-10-8-6.
Then same again but incline bench.

Biceps
E-Z bar curls 1x8 30k
1x8 20k
1x8 10k

Cheers, Sponge.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I think I'm going to work something out just by trial and error. I would like to do a 3-day split instead of the same old routine every time I go that's not really doing anything for me. As you can tell I am a complete noob at weights and have no idea where to start! I watched Scott Herman on Youtube and he has some pretty good routines and that was what I was going to follow until you told me not to!

I go to the gym on my own so it is difficult most of the time. Like I was going to go this morning and I talked myself out of it! I basically need a base routine that I could stick to and work around.
 
I know I'm a pain in the rear guys! It's just I would like everything laid out in-front of me all of the time and I guess It's not going to happen when it comes to weight routines. I promise you I will start with the sticky on here and see where it goes. I guess I'm kinda nervous about being on my own in there, so don't want to try anything new. (Terrible Gym)

So I am going to start taking this seriously, as boxman and benny said I will start to cook a bit more and learn about different foods and how they affect me.

And to answer your question icecold, I basically made the decision that he was good by his body. I have no idea if the stuff he does is any good or not!
 
Definitely looks interesting Benny, something which I would never have thought of doing. I fancy the 'a' and 'b' workouts more though. Would definitely get me used to the freeweights after that and I would find them a lot easier. Would you recommend doing these workouts only 2 times a week? Or a little more?
 
BennyC said:
I'd say to start the A workout and then have a day or 2's rest, then the B and then again a day or twos rest. When you feel recovered start the cycle again. In the beginning you might find it'll take you a while to recover from DOMS (aches) so will just want to do each workout once a week for the first 2 or 3 weeks but your recovery should soon speed up. In which case a rolling Monday, Weds, Friday will work well. For example:

Monday: A
Weds: B
Friday: A
Monday: B
Weds: A
Friday: B

and so on...
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Thanks mate you have been a brilliant help, I will start that on Friday and keep you updated. Once again, thankyou.

Sponge x
 
Mark M said:
Are you for real sponge? Every bit of advice people have offered you have ignored.

Honestly mate you need to change everything and start again or your going to end up wasting 3 years of your life training and then realise youve been doing it wrong all those years and then start to do everything the guys are telling you above.

I have a 3 day split, chest and tris, back and bis, legs and shoulders (sometimes split legs and shoulders if I have time) There is also the stronglifts as people keep saying but my 3 day split works well for me.

Start off with light weights and keep your form right. To put on mass though you really need to be training your legs hard.
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That's what I was going to do before, but I don't really know many exercises for each muscle that's why I'm asking for advice.
 
Morba said:
And you have been suggested to look at the sticky and a few other well known routines.
You clearly have not taken this advice ;)
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Nooooo! Don't get me wrong you guys have given me loads of good advice. I just don't find the sticky all that helpful to be honest. And every time I suggest something, somebody else comes in and says no that's no good, when I thought I was on to a winner, and then they suggest me something else. And then when I have a routine in my head somebody else comes in and tells me to do something else. Trust me I am listening to all the great advice and I thank you all very much it's just knowing how to do each exercise properly that's all.

Sponge
 
Mark M said:
Start light and try and watch yourself in the mirror. Keep your back straight and if anything is moving that shouldnt be moving then its too heavy.

Post up your new routine that your planning on doing and we can give you an indication of weight to start on.

Although for certain exercises (squats, deads, bent over row) that you havent done before you might as well start on the bar (assuming its an olympic bar) and work from there as the last thing you want to do is do your back in.
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It's the one in the sticky on this forum mate.
 
Hi guys, not long got back. WOW I can feel it! Only managed to do chest as the gym was very busy. The only negative I have is that most of the chest exercises in the sticky are basically the same, and was really starting to struggle going onto the close grip bench press. I was using 15k on each arm for all the chest stuff which I thought was pretty good for my first time.
 
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Mark M said:
Youve missed 2 massive muscles out of your routine!

Dont just work your chest and biceps or you'll get no where!
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Don't panic! I'm doing chest/shoulders/triceps on Mondays, back/biceps on Wednesdays and legs/abs on Fridays.

As I said in an earlier post, if you look at Gordy's sticky, that is the routine I am doing atm.
 
BennyC said:
Glad you've found something you're happy with. There's tonnes of routines to try and you can always tweak things once you understand the principles of a specific one :)
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Yeah I'm starting to get my head around the whole thing now! Thanks for your help though!:D Looking forward to some serious DOMS in the morning!
 
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