Getting back into it, how does my plan sound to you guys?

[monk_13]

Hey guys n girls of ausbb,

I'm Shane, and after a 10 year hiatus, I have decided to get back into the gym/fitness thing. This was mainly decided due to the fact that the old spare tyre and man boobs are/were starting to get beyond a joke. Also need to strengthen the shoulders due to old sports injuries that seem to be niggling at me again.

Training for me is usually whilst I am away for work (I work fly in fly out, 2 and 1) and due to the rather small facilities, I have found it hard to stick to a set pattern, as other people are usually using the equipment, or the equipment is busted, so here is my list.

Day 1:
-Shoulders: Vertical and incline dumbbell press, front dumbbell Raise, carious rotator exercises, cable lateral raise, back flys.
-Chest: Bench press (various grips), dumbbell flys, push ups (feet at various elevations), cable crossovers.
-Abs: Sit ups, decline crunch, dumbbell side bend, knee raises on bars.

Day 2:
-Biceps: Hammer curl, preacher curl, concentration curl (bars/dumbbells or cable, standing or seated depending on what is available at the time)
-Forearms: Wrists curls (palms up and down)
-Triceps: One armed DB extension, dips (sometimes adding weight), push downs, pull downs (rope or bar)

Day 3:
Rest or go for a paddle in the pool

Day 4:
-Back: Various dumbbell and cable rows, various grip pull downs, forward and reverse barbell shrugs, hyper-extensions. (Going to start on the deadlifts next session)

Day 5:
-Legs: Squats (hack, barbell or db), leg press, cable kickback, leg curls, lunges, various calf raises.
-Abs: Sit ups, decline crunch, dumbbell side bend, knee raises on bars.

Day 6:
Rest or go for a paddle in the pool

Day 7:
Start the process all over again, or rest and start again the next day, depending on what day I change shifts.

Sets involve a light weight set of 10-12 reps, followed but 3 sets of 8-10 reps, upping the weight a bit each time.

I don't do each and every exercise mentioned for each muscle group, it depends on equipment/space available at the time. I also try and start off or follow up with a quick cardio session as well, whether it be suicides, skipping rope work, basketball, bike or treadmill.

Thoughts?

 

[vader-nator]

Hey Monk,

If you have been away for a while, I would suggest removing all of the fiddley specific gym rat bodybuilder stuff and do the basics.

Some kind of consolidation workouts to get it all happening.

Squats, leg press, dips, inclines , declines. BTN Press, Rows, chins, D lifts , shrugs etc etc.

Just don't bust yourself until you have been at it 4 weeks or so.

Get rid of the non powerful movements for now. They will cut into your recovery ability and are a waste of time.

my 50c

Best

ROb

Hey guys n girls of ausbb,

I'm Shane, and after a 10 year hiatus, I have decided to get back into the gym/fitness thing. This was mainly decided due to the fact that the old spare tyre and man boobs are/were starting to get beyond a joke. Also need to strengthen the shoulders due to old sports injuries that seem to be niggling at me again.

Training for me is usually whilst I am away for work (I work fly in fly out, 2 and 1) and due to the rather small facilities, I have found it hard to stick to a set pattern, as other people are usually using the equipment, or the equipment is busted, so here is my list.

Day 1:
-Shoulders: Vertical and incline dumbbell press, front dumbbell Raise, carious rotator exercises, cable lateral raise, back flys.
-Chest: Bench press (various grips), dumbbell flys, push ups (feet at various elevations), cable crossovers.
-Abs: Sit ups, decline crunch, dumbbell side bend, knee raises on bars.

Day 2:
-Biceps: Hammer curl, preacher curl, concentration curl (bars/dumbbells or cable, standing or seated depending on what is available at the time)
-Forearms: Wrists curls (palms up and down)
-Triceps: One armed DB extension, dips (sometimes adding weight), push downs, pull downs (rope or bar)

Day 3:
Rest or go for a paddle in the pool

Day 4:
-Back: Various dumbbell and cable rows, various grip pull downs, forward and reverse barbell shrugs, hyper-extensions. (Going to start on the deadlifts next session)

Day 5:
-Legs: Squats (hack, barbell or db), leg press, cable kickback, leg curls, lunges, various calf raises.
-Abs: Sit ups, decline crunch, dumbbell side bend, knee raises on bars.

Day 6:
Rest or go for a paddle in the pool

Day 7:
Start the process all over again, or rest and start again the next day, depending on what day I change shifts.

Sets involve a light weight set of 10-12 reps, followed but 3 sets of 8-10 reps, upping the weight a bit each time.

I don't do each and every exercise mentioned for each muscle group, it depends on equipment/space available at the time. I also try and start off or follow up with a quick cardio session as well, whether it be suicides, skipping rope work, basketball, bike or treadmill.

Thoughts?

 

[Fadi]

I like Rob's 50 cents!


Fadi.

 

[monk_13]

Thanks for the reply's fellas!

I did however forget to mention that I am now on week 9 of my little fitness/strength program.

For the last 2 weeks I have been trying, as you both alluded too, to stick with the main sorts of exercises, but as I mentioned it can get a little hard, so have had to compromise.

In addition to my OP, here is a little background of my start....

For the first couple of weeks, I basically tested the waters with my range of movement (especially in the shoulders which I have dislocated a few times each, in the past playing league), and strength.

For that first couple of weeks of exploration, I was very sore, and pretty much went from upper body on day one, to lower body on day two, with two days off to recover. But I very quickly found that recovery time dropped to only 24 hours max. Granted I am/wasn't pushing big weights, and don't intend too right now, as my main goals are fat loss, strength and definition (with a little size being a good side effect).

Once I found the big differences in my body strengths (IE right shoulder vs left shoulder) I worked the weak spots a little more with light weights (say 10lb left hand cable lateral raises x 12 reps vs the same weight x 10 reps on the the right side, left being my weakest, and continued in this fashion until both felt/feel about equal)

In essence over the last eight or so weeks I have attempted to strengthen my weakness's to the point of almost being equal.

According to the sports physiologist chick at work, I am very lucky to have the sort of body that responds well to exercise in this way. She (and I) was also a little shocked at how quickly my body started recovering once it started getting used to doing stuff again.

Now that I feel that I have reached the goal of getting both sides of my body almost equal, time to step it up a notch...

 

[Kyle Aaron]

I basically tested the waters with my range of movement (especially in the shoulders which I have dislocated a few times each, in the past playing league), and strength.

Definitely watch out for that shoulder, have regular visits with your physio, mate.

Granted I am/wasn't pushing big weights, and don't intend too right now, as my main goals are fat loss, strength and definition (with a little size being a good side effect).

If your goals include strength, you need to push (and pull) big weights. Of course "big weights" is relative. The point is that you need to be lifting weights you can only lift for at most 10 reps, and probably more like 5 reps. Whatever that weight is will be "big weights" for you.

According to the sports physiologist chick at work, I am very lucky to have the sort of body that responds well to exercise in this way. She (and I) was also a little shocked at how quickly my body started recovering once it started getting used to doing stuff again.

She is hitting on you. Everyone's body has a strong response to training after some years of not training, or never having trained. The reasons she comments favourably on your body's response is that she wants your body to respond to her

You need to do basic compound movements to build strength - a "compound movement" is one where more than one joint is moving. Bench press, squat, deadlift, bent-over rows, powercleans, chinups, overhead press, that sort of thing.

I understand that in a crowded gym you can't always do the same exercises. But there are easy substitutes. In every session you want to have*,

press from the shoulders or press from the chest - barbell bench press, dumbell bench press, barbell overhead press, dumbell overhead press, etc
deep knee bend - squat, lunge, bulgarian split squat, pistol squat, leg press, etc
pull from ground - deadlift, bent over barbell row, cable row, bent over one-armed dumbell row, T-bar row, etc

Ideally you do the same exercises every time. But if you can't, that's okay - in every session, a press, a deep knee bend, and a pull from the ground.

* in this I'm using the phrasing of Markos, to give due credit. But on reading some old books, I see he got it from Sandow and Hackenschmidt and guys like that

 

[Josh_GTiR]

Yep, if you want strength you need to. Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Row and Military Press.

 

[monk_13]

Definitely watch out for that shoulder, have regular visits with your physio, mate.

If your goals include strength, you need to push (and pull) big weights. Of course "big weights" is relative. The point is that you need to be lifting weights you can only lift for at most 10 reps, and probably more like 5 reps. Whatever that weight is will be "big weights" for you.


She is hitting on you. Everyone's body has a strong response to training after some years of not training, or never having trained. The reasons she comments favourably on your body's response is that she wants your body to respond to her

You need to do basic compound movements to build strength - a "compound movement" is one where more than one joint is moving. Bench press, squat, deadlift, bent-over rows, powercleans, chinups, overhead press, that sort of thing.

I understand that in a crowded gym you can't always do the same exercises. But there are easy substitutes. In every session you want to have*,

press from the shoulders or press from the chest - barbell bench press, dumbell bench press, barbell overhead press, dumbell overhead press, etc
deep knee bend - squat, lunge, bulgarian split squat, pistol squat, leg press, etc
pull from ground - deadlift, bent over barbell row, cable row, bent over one-armed dumbell row, T-bar row, etc

Ideally you do the same exercises every time. But if you can't, that's okay - in every session, a press, a deep knee bend, and a pull from the ground.

* in this I'm using the phrasing of Markos, to give due credit. But on reading some old books, I see he got it from Sandow and Hackenschmidt and guys like that

THATS EXCELLENT NEWS!