[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
Not to keep blabbering on, but I own a comercial gym, and I watch every day how real kids in the real world train.
Mon, arms
Tues, chest
Wed shoulders
Thurs, Arms
Fri, feeling a bit guilty, so throw some leg press in with some cest, and shoulders
It’s nice on the internet that everyone has perfect routines, and trains on a perfectly balanced program, but in the real world, what the OP is suggesting is light years ahead of the above routine, and headed in the right direction. Everyone on T Nation can squat 500lbs and trains like an Olympic athlete, but this isn’t what I see evrey day in the gym, makes you wonder eh ![/quote]
I respect your experience, keep up the good work with the kids.
but I am not a beginner, actually I’ve been training for many years, and I used to be one of the guys with the bad routine not to mention mostly isolation exercises for the 1st few years when I started, including not squatting, not deadlifting and barely benching… because I didn’t know better, but as I started reading many many many books and quality articles like here I changed everything… I used to leg press only, and actually reached 10 plates on each side (20 damn plates, what kinda real exercise would you reach that kinda weight in, unless its useless)…
I switched to squat and started with 1.5 plates, but my legs were always my strongest point, I moved up pretty fast, reached 1.5BW x 12+ reps, then stopped most all other exercises and only squatted, I started smolov base mesocycle, and squatted exactly 1.88BW x 6 Reps, and attempted 2xBW but could only do 1 rep… by that time I was tired and playing soccer as a hobby for 2 hours once a week contributed to me taking a break and now I know I have reached an ok level with legs, I wanna focus on other body parts… (as my Bench Press is pathetic at best, 1.2 BW 1 rep max :S )
I honestly believe Bodyweight exercises are what everyone should base his strength foundation on, I wish someone had told me many many years ago, I could’ve saved a lot of time wasted on bicep curls, cable pull downs and leg press for high reps, and not basing my workout on strength gain. Needless to say I spent many many years going up and down to the same level of musculature (which was far from impressive) and not being able to progress, since I really had no idea what I was doing.
I am actually starting basic gymnastic exercises, as when I switched to ring flyes, ring pushups, ring inverted rows, and especially STERNUM PULL UPS and Handstand pushups without the use of any free weights, I have gained muscle and strength faster than I did IN YEARS! could be just adaptation to new stimulus but I honestly believe bodyweight exercises and not free weights are the base for strength… (by bodyweight I mean closed kinetic chain, like sternum pull ups, squat, deadlifts, and handstand pushups).
I am actually starting to work towards achieving the planche and front lever, which will take at least 6 months.