Hi Everyone,
This may be a very stupid question in which case I apologise. But first I will let you know where I’m at: so I’m 16 nearly 17 aroun 6"4 and pretty lanky. I worked out frequently last year in Easter and summer but got quite ill at the end of summer and lost a lot of progress. Since then I haven’t been able to workout for various reasons but now i can. So I’ve been working out a fair bit this holiday and will soon be working out everyday.
So for example the workout I did yesterday went something like this: 3x8 biceps curls-3x8 tricep pulldowns, 3x8 bench press 3x8 lat pulldowns, 4x5 squats 3x8 shoulder press (roughly). So my question is, is this way of working out good, as I only really wok each muscle group once, so should I change to maybe doing arms and legs one day then Chest and back the next day etc… Or is working out like I am at the moment ok? Again sorry if that is a dumb question.
Welcome to T Nation. I would suggest you read up a bit more and get on an actual program. Sounds like you don’t have your shit together for the most part. Don’t worry, you still have a long way to go and much to learn. Focus on compound movements, they should be the basis of your workouts for now. Bring up your foundation.
Hey man i started right about your age. I would start with a simple 3 or 4 day a week split working body parts hard and on different days. Honestly once i switched to a “back day, leg day, arm day, chest day” etc my gains kind of blew up. The internet is a great resource research some beginning bodybuilding work outs and youll find something. Animalpak.com has some great beginner splits, as well as this site. good luck
You could do what you’re doing if you wanted to. If going into a gym and doing 4 sets x 37 reps of dumbbell curls followed by 4 sets x 13 reps of bodyweight squats is what you wanted to do and helped you get to your goal, no one can tell you wrong.
However, I would suggest finding what your goal is. What is it do you want to accomplish in the next 6 months in the gym? How about the next year? 2 years? Figure that out and go from there.
You called yourself “lanky” so I assume you probably want to be more muscular (what guy does’t)? Also, strength is great to have too. Who wants to be a weak guy?
In general to get bigger and stronger, follow a proven method to accomplish instead of writing your own programs. Do this for several years before tampering with anything. I would start by researching and reading about “strength training.” Fundamentally, it is where it all starts. Some great places to start are:
-5/3/1 by Jim Wendler
-Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
-Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik
-Easy Strength by Dan John & Pavel
[quote]Evolv wrote:
You could do what you’re doing if you wanted to. If going into a gym and doing 4 sets x 37 reps of dumbbell curls followed by 4 sets x 13 reps of bodyweight squats is what you wanted to do and helped you get to your goal, no one can tell you wrong.
However, I would suggest finding what your goal is. What is it do you want to accomplish in the next 6 months in the gym? How about the next year? 2 years? Figure that out and go from there.
You called yourself “lanky” so I assume you probably want to be more muscular (what guy does’t)? Also, strength is great to have too. Who wants to be a weak guy?
In general to get bigger and stronger, follow a proven method to accomplish instead of writing your own programs. Do this for several years before tampering with anything. I would start by researching and reading about “strength training.” Fundamentally, it is where it all starts. Some great places to start are:
-5/3/1 by Jim Wendler
-Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
-Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik
-Easy Strength by Dan John & Pavel
[/quote]
I’d add to this list: Mass Made Simple by Dan John, I think it’s a better program for a beginner than Easy Strength, which requires a fair amount of self regulation.
Also, basic hypertrophy programs like Jason Ferruggias Muscle Building Secrets etc. work just fine.
Are you getting the results you want? If yes, then there is no need to change anything.
That being said, there are many factors that go into programming effectively: the fact that you haven’t addressed/minimally addressed many of these factors (e.g. progression) would seem to suggest that you have a lot to learn about programming effectively. For this reason, I’d recommend trying something “tried and true” for the time being. If you’re interested in learning how to program effectively for your body, I’d recommend spending a few years working with a few different styles of programming to learn what works for you and reading up extensively on the topic.
I’m a fairly big proponent of GreySkull LP as a good beginner program for many novice lifters, so if you haven’t checked it out, it’s worth a shot. I’ve been training my girlfriend on a modified version of the program over the past month and a half, and she’s seen some impressive gains (she just did 14 reps for a 5th working set of squats with what was her 5RM starting out). The only caveat is that you have to know when to stop. I’d recommend working with an experienced lifter for a couple of sessions to get a rough feel for form.