Starting weight lifting again - help please :)

alexakasloth

alexakasloth

alexakasloth

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Hey all!

I want to start weight lifting again this week but I need some people to go over a plan that i've got here (taken from muscletalk forums):

Chest/Shoulders/Tri

Dumbell Incline Bench - 5 sets 5 reps (very low incline)
Weighted Dips For Chest - 5 sets 5 reps
Seated Dumbell military press 5 sets 5 reps
close grip bench press - 5 sets 5 reps

Back/Trap/Bi

Deadlifts 5 sets 5 reps
Wide Grip Chins 5 sets 5 reps
dumbbell Rows 3 sets 5 reps
Barbell Bicep curl 5 sets 5 reps (Strict Form!!!)
Incline seated dumbell curls 3 sets 5 reps?

Legs & Abs

Barbell Squats 5x sets 5 reps
Stiff Legged Dead Lifts 5 sets 5 reps
Calf Raises 5 sets 5 reps (last set to fail)
crunches 4x sets 15 reps
lying leg raises 4x sets 12 reps (if you can do these resisted then even better.)
Dumbell side bends 3x sets 6-8 reps

There seems to be a lot of 5x5 on here, what would the benefits of this be? I started to do some weight lifting at the beggining of the year (for around 4 months) using GordyR's plan.

Is the abs plan over doing it? I thought that squats work your abs out a fair bit.

Another question is on the use of supplements, i've got some whey here, and some creatine on the way. Is it ok to mix these together to have PWO (with some oats)?

TIA :)
 
Hlebio said:
Most big compounds will work your abs sufficiently but there is no harm in having a day where you work your abs specifically.
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I thought 3 ontop of squats would be over doing it, for me they seem to get worked enough with 2 ab workouts.
Also, on my back and bicep day I prefer to have just one bicep isolation exercise. I feel that deadlifts, rows and and pull ups work them enough.
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That would make sense, thanks :)
Also you've got to have the standard barbbell bench press on chest day IMO.
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And I can't belive I missed that :o

oddjob62 said:
Nothing magical about 5x5. IMO if you took 2 identical untrained people, put them on the same routine/diet etc, just with one doing 5x5 and one doing 3x10, you wouldn't see much difference for at least the first 6months-1year.

Persoanlly i feel my core is strong enough with squats/deadlifts/cleans etc to mean i don't need to do direct abs. Some feel differnetly.

Fine to mix creatine and whey for PWO.
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I think i'll try 5x5 then, I find that doing more than 6 or 8 can feel like i'm doing too many reps.

Thanks for all the help. :)
 
Thanks for the reply S7yl3s, I appreciate a different view.

I'm 5'8" and 145lb's, I believe my carbs intake is high, though I will up them more along with protein.

With regards to getting in good fats, will omega 3 tablets/ cod liver oil tablets help with this?

S7yl3s said:
You do know that 8 to 12 reps are premium muscle building reps? That really is generally accepted.
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Not really, otherwise I wouldn't be asking ;)
 
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I've got a small book here where I plan to keep a record of my diet over the next few weeks.

What would you consider your intake of the essentials to be:

Calories:
Protein:
Carbs:
Fat:
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For these I am unsure, and that is what I will be working on, but my general day to day eating will consist of:

Breakfast: Museli, and maybe some yogurt.
Lunch: Sandwhich, a meat/fish with salad.
Dinner: Half of the week it's pasta.

I snack on fruit, or make another sandwhich throughout the day.
 
Morba said:
your going to need to move to atleast a 4 meal diet, probably 5 if you really want to make some good gains.
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Of course, but right now i'm not bulking as I need a gym plan first ;)

In between the main 3 meals, what sort of size should I make the other 2? In terms of calories, how many should I be aiming for, I've heard some say 3000, some say 3500.
 
S7yl3s said:
One more point. Please stretch properly. This is essential to BB. Cheers
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I noticed last time around, it's something that I do along with a warm up everytime. It's shocking some of the people I see just going straight onto the benches from the changing rooms :eek:
 
S7yl3s said:
Btw mate I would love to see you start a 'Journal' thread on here with everything you do in. Watching yourself progress is so much more satisfying when you can look back at what you 'were' doing at the start.
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Sure thing :) I'll update it weekly or something. I'll post up my chest/leg/bicep sizes tomorow.
 
How long does it take you S7yl3s? There's 3-4 exercises for each body part, I think this would be overkill for me. I'll try the one that I posted for now, but changet the rep's from 5x5 to 4x6 (core movements) and 3x8/10.
 
S7yl3s said:
I train 5 days a week.

Back
Biceps & Triceps
Chest
Shoulders
Legs

Doesn't take long at all for me. Each workout takes about 45 mins. Except Shoulders takes 25 mins and Legs take 1 hour.
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That will teach me not to assume, I assumed you were doing 3 days a week...

I wouldn't be able to train 5 days a week, a 3 day split is the type that I want, and to spend an hour in the gym max, maybe 15 mins more.

TRAIN HARD DON'T TRAIN LONG.
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That sounds like my kind of thing :cool:
 
S7yl3s said:
Good stuff, I look forward to reading it.
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Here are some current stats:

Arms: 12"
Legs: 20"
Chest: 37"

Height: 5'8"
Weight: 147lbs.

I'm unsure about how big I would like to get, but to add on a couple of inchs onto my arms, and a few inchs onto my legs and chest would be great by the end of winter, so that I could do some cutting up.
 
It's a target :o And winter isn't up until march ;)

First time back in the weights room today and I say it went well. I'm unsure about how much more I could deadlift, it was around 80kg, which I did for 4x6, I think I could up that more next week. Row was 20kg for first 2 sets, 22.5kg for the last, which is what I was at last time. Though more importantly i'm feeling it a lot more, my back was feeling it in a good way when I came out of the gym. Ontop, i'm feeling more enthused to get it right, my form, and even more to reach this goal!
 
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Hey all,

Going to do my chest/shoulders/triceps tommorow, though I need some assistance on the plan:

Dumbell Incline Bench - 5 sets 5 reps (very low incline)
Weighted Dips For Chest - 5 sets 5 reps
Seated Dumbell military press 5 sets 5 reps
close grip bench press - 5 sets 5 reps

I want to add in bench press, and for the moment take away either the incline bench or dips, which one should I keep?

Thanks :D

[edit] I was also thinking of changing the military press for a dumbbell shoulder press. Will this work in the same way, as i'm more used to shoulder press.
 
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