New Having Troubles Training.

Ok, this is my last resort. I have looked over the web, but my search has not come across anything concrete.

I’m new to weight training, having only done it for 6-7 months (with a three month gap, due to A Levels, High school finals I believe, if your American).

I have been doing Dumbbell Bent Over Rows for about three weeks, and I love them,. I love the workout it gives my whole back. Though the day after, I have a sort of pain in the centre of my upper back. This dissipates after a day or two, but what I’m wondering is if this is natural?

I stretch well for this, but it persists, and I don’t think I’m doing a too heavy weight (24kg/about 50lb), as I do 3x8, where the last two reps on the third set are very hard.

I’d like input from those who have experience doing weight training.

As I’m mentioning pain, do deadlifts help with pain that you get in the lower back? I’ve had a pain in the lower back, which is painful when I run. I stopped weight training for about a month to let it heal (which my GP said I should do), but it still remains. So are there any exericses that could help strengthen the lower back and get rid of the pain?

By the way, hello everyone.

If the only thing you’ve been doin is bent rows everyday for the past three weeks, theres your problem right there. Do you have a routine? Whats your form look like or do you not know? Do you do any other exercises, how often do you lift?

If you know a little bit, then you would know that doing the same muscle group everyday will lead to over training which isn’t cool at all. But just answer those questions and i’m sure people will have more for you, but if you want help provide as much info as possible.

You could work a whole routine with those dumbells, just read through the beginners thread at the top of this forum.

exercises like dumbell press, db bench or floor press, db lunges and step ups, and some bodyweight stuff like dips, press ups.

Do that 2-3 times a week for no more than an hour each time. Eat heartily of wholesome foods like eggs, meat, milk and vegetables and you’ll be doing better pretty soon.

Oh no, I do have a routine (which at the moment is lacking in the region of the legs, i intend to add deadlifts and squats).

I don’t do these everyday. I do them about 3 days a week (non-consecutive days of course).

All I’m asking is why there seems to be pain a day or two after (when theres pain I dont train, also an obvious point). Is it just that db bent over rows are new and im getting used to them, or should i incorporate something to help stretch (workout) my back enough to do them without much pain.

Something I thought that would help might be doing bench press sets before, and I just want to see if there is anyone who does this to help with b o rows. Are there any stretches that I should do for back that people on T-Nation do (that are not so widely known, but good)

I do a variety of stretches (prob 3 for back), but the pain seems to continue, so is the problem me? Am I not used to them.

Actually while I’m at it I could post my new workout idea (yes, it probably has been created by someone else somewhere, but I thought of it around what I want for me).

Any C&C on it would be welcome.

Mon - Bench Press, DB over rows, machine pec fly, chest press machine, deadlift, squats
Tues - Rest
Weds - Bicep curl (of varying types,Concentration curls, cable curls)tricep pushdown, front raises, lateral raises, rear (or reverse I think) lateral raises, various forearm exercises
Thurs - Rest (perhaps cardio here)
Friday- (SAME AS MONDAY)
Sat - (SAME AS WEDNESDAY)
Sun Rest (perhaps cardio here)

Any good ideas for chest exercises?

My current workout stands at everything minus deadlifts and squats, and is done three (non-consecutive) days a week.

Oh and I’ve nailed the lower back pain on the head from looking through some of the older posts. Sorry for not doing that in the first place.

pretty screwed up routine for a begginer.

A workout
Squat 3x8
Bench 3x8
Rows 3x8

B workout
Deadlift 3x8
Military press 3x8
Powerclean 3x8

Add 1 or 2 isos a workout

basically switch which days are A and B days
workout on 3 consecutive days a week. Or ask for a decent upper/lower split. Have fun.

Thanks for the input Zephead. Though one question, will this be good enough for a whole body workout, as I see little for the pecs. And is military press a workout for the entire shoulder?

Oh and my workout (old one) was created by a personal trainer at the gym. I obviously don’t know how to make a good one, or even find a good one, but this input is much appreciated.

2lb

The routine Zephead gave you is Mark rippetoe’s Starting Strength routine. Great program, and you can’t help but get strong with it. It’s a little hard to addapt to dummbells though. gswork gave you some good advice though.

Your back ache that you wrote about initially is likely DOMS in your rhomboids. You will always get some DOMS when starting a new exercise or changing the exercise but there are things you can do to minimize it.

The trick is conditioning. You need to work every body part at least twice a week. Some people like to to do 1 brutal workout per week but a light one partway through will maintain the conditioning until the next big workout and prevent the DOMS that they would be sure to get otherwise.

Here’s a body weight routine to start your conditioning:

Build up Chinups, pushups with feet on chair, situps, air squats in a 1,2,3,4 ratio. Start with 1 chin up and increase by one chin up every day. Do them twice a day. If you can’t do them in straight sets, do them in as few as possible.

Do all the chinups, then all the pushups, etc. In 25 days you will be at 25 chin ups, 50 pushups, 75 situps, and 100 squats twice a day. You can continue this progression if you like but this will give you a good foundation. This will condition you for the workouts. Starting small and keeping the frequency high should prevent DOMS.

Keep doing this even after you start the weights. You can use it for your warmups or do as a separate workout. It takes about 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night.

Stu