New weights routine from home - advice please?

A tad better for bicep curls? It's 15kg not including the bar. Thanks begbie for the squats advice.

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By all means do as many dumbbell curls as you like, all variants, they will give you some good broceps but seriously make sure you get some sweet compound lifts in there aswell.
 
Gustov said:
A tad better for bicep curls? It's 15kg not including the bar. Thanks begbie for the squats advice.
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Why the focus on bicep curls? I don't pretend to know much about exercise but the body likes to grow in a relatively symmetrical fashion i.e. it is much more of a struggle to just get big arm muscles by only working arms and chest than it would be if you did an all-over workout.

If you're absolutely determined then you can just work on your arms and chest, there's a couple of guys at my gym who do little else and after 5 years (or whatever) they've managed to get a reasonably impressive upper body but chicken legs. I could guarantee with near certainty that if they'd actually put as much effort into a more balanced workout that they'd have achieved much more impressive results including bigger arms than they've currently got because your legs are a huge part of the musclemass in your body - working them (and you've got to work them fairly hard - remember that your legs are the part that carries you about all day) will improve your overall musculature and speed up the ability with which you can add muscle.

The above is ridiculously simplistic and I'm sure that if you were to ask nicely someone can add in the technical explanations but I feel that we need to start with getting a basic understanding before moving on.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Why the focus on bicep curls? I don't pretend to know much about exercise but the body likes to grow in a relatively symmetrical fashion i.e. it is much more of a struggle to just get big arm muscles by only working arms and chest than it would be if you did an all-over workout.

If you're absolutely determined then you can just work on your arms and chest, there's a couple of guys at my gym who do little else and after 5 years (or whatever) they've managed to get a reasonably impressive upper body but chicken legs. I could guarantee with near certainty that if they'd actually put as much effort into a more balanced workout that they'd have achieved much more impressive results including bigger arms than they've currently got because your legs are a huge part of the musclemass in your body - working them (and you've got to work them fairly hard - remember that your legs are the part that carries you about all day) will improve your overall musculature and speed up the ability with which you can add muscle.

The above is ridiculously simplistic and I'm sure that if you were to ask nicely someone can add in the technical explanations but I feel that we need to start with getting a basic understanding before moving on.
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According to BB.com:

Leg training is hard but productive since compound movements like squats, leg presses and dead lifts will elevate your testosterone levels and call upon other muscle groups--leg workouts are almost a total body effort so to speak.
 
Huh? There's no emphasis on bicep curls but everyone has told me to up the weight so I have :(

I'm not stupid guys, I'm a complete newbie (PARADOX YO) here and am more than happy to listen to your advice regarding targeting all of the body, I just need your advice with regards to a routine.

Like I say, bicep curls, bench presses, tricep extensions, push ups and dumbbell flys should be enough to get my uppper body on it's way - just need some suggestions on how to work the lower body in terms of reps and types of exercises.

I'll look into YouTube tonight for the correct squatting technique.

Thanks,

Gustov
 
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You asked if it was a tad better weight for bicep curls... That implies curls are the thing most important to you ;)

There is no way you would use the same weights for curls and bench press so that's really the problem here..
 
Gustov said:
Huh? There's no emphasis on bicep curls but everyone has told me to up the weight so I have :(

I'm not stupid guys, I'm a complete newbie (PARADOX YO) here and am more than happy to listen to your advice regarding targeting all of the body, I just need your advice with regards to a routine.

Like I say, bicep curls, bench presses, tricep extensions, push ups and dumbbell flys should be enough to get my uppper body on it's way - just need some suggestions on how to work the lower body in terms of reps and types of exercises.

I'll look into YouTube tonight for the correct squatting technique.

Thanks,

Gustov
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Look up gordyr's old sticky. It's well worth reading 3 times over tbh.

Just remember the body likes balance or you will create issues for yourself.
So training chest you need to train back. Core is essential. Upper / lower balance is needed.


What do you look like now and what do you want to look like?
 
Some of the mocking is a bit unnecessary. Unless you are going to injure yourself, doing some exercise is going to be better than none, so well done for doing that.

Pitching something at your level, which is essentially my level, you are better off doing 'compound' movements than isolated exercises. This is because they work out more of your body. For example, a bicep curl may only work your bicep, whilst a pull up or a row will also work your back as well. Bonus!

The most obvious of these exercises, and the ones that would be a good place to start, are:

  • Bench press
  • Military press
  • Squats
  • Dead lift
  • A row variant / pull ups (the latter are impossible for a beginner but you can get there!)

Ideally you want to sign up to a gym because that will have all the equipment and space that you need. If you don't have access to a gym now, I'd just try to do the above as best as you can and improvise with what you've got.
 
Thanks a lot nightfly - I'll look into incorporating dead lifts and Military Presses.

I'll have to draw up a 4 day a week routine and run it by you guys, hopefully you can steer me in the right direction.

Another thing to flag, I was planning on waking up 35 mins earlier and doing my routine in my room - is it a bad idea to lift with essentially having not eaten or can you get round this by eating something before sleeping? I ask as it's really hard to fit the routine in at any other part of the day.
 
Training when fasted isn't an issue.

Some BCAAs or something may be helpful though, that and a strong coffee.
 
Hey guys, it's me again.

The routine isn't going too well as I'm spending so many days hungover at the mo :/

Anyway - I've been looking into exercises which target different muscles other than my biceps, chest and triceps.

Here are the new exercises I'm looking to implement into my routine

Dead lift - love this but so hard to tell if I'm keeping my back straight or not - I also found another 20kg in the garage so I can deadlift 40kg + the bar itself which must be 5-7. Not much I know but it's a start.

Bent over dumbbell rows - works my back, shoulders and biceps - once again, bloody hard to make sure my back is at the right angle.

Dumbbell prone row - loving these - technique is easy, just lie on the bench and lift vertically up to my chest.

Goblit Squats - I'm looking to implement these but my book advises me to use a kettlebell - can I not just use dumbbells for this and if so, how heavy should it be keeping in mind I'm weak and a newcomer.

I'm also going to try and work on dumbbell squats as they seem relatively simple in terms of technique.

What do you guys think?
 
Since you're doing the workouts at home do you have a full length mirror that you could move into position to check your stance and back angle etc? It would be better to have someone who knows what they're doing there to check it out but that would be better than nothing. Another option is to video yourself doing the exercise and post it up in the form check thread to ask for opinions of what you're doing right/wrong.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to advise on the precise formation of your routine but why not post it up in one single post giving the days that you're intending to do it per week plus the rep range etc.
 
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