Well, first off here’s some info about me.
Age: 15
Weight: 201.5 lbs
Height: 6’1"
BF%: No idea (I’ve got a bioelectrical impedance scale that says 31.4% - not very accurate)
BMI: 26.6 (not that it really matters)
No body part measurements yet
Years of Training: 1 (In-Season)
So here are my questions. What type of lifting program should I start? I was going to go with a classic upper-lower split every other day, 6 days a week; maxing around every 2-3 weeks. Currently I’m on a cycle for bench and squat, which I uploaded here: http://nvtrackandfield.com/cycle .
My major problems I’m having are that I have a lower back issue right now I’m going to the chiropractor for. My spine is crooked and I can’t do heavy lifts for a while. Also I have very short-lived motivation, so I would appreciate any tips (if there are any).
Here are the exercises I was thinking about doing:
Upper Split
Bench
Incline Bench
Jerk*
Curls
Lat Pull Downs
Rows
Wrist Curls
Military Press
Iron Crosses (DB Press)
DB Flys
Ground Zero (shotput motion)*
Plate Twists*
Weight Walks*
Pushups & Dips until failure
Lower Split
Squats*
Deads*
Cleans*
Box Squats*
Overhead Squats*
Front Squats*
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Calf raises (smith machine)*
Standing or Walking Lunges w/ Weight*
Pushups & Dips until failure
Possibly can’t do due to back injury.
Now with this upper and lower split, I will be adding HIIT 3-4 times a week and an ab workout 6 days a week.
Now as for diet and nutrition and how it will play in to this workout schedule and my goals… I’m wondering if I should go with the gain lean mass → lose fat or vice-versa or a mix of both. I’m currently looking at a T-Dawg diet, but I’m not sure if this will help me put on lean mass at the same time and help my reach my strength goals.
You are trying to incorporate too many exercises. Stick to the basics. For shot put, pressing will be your bread and butter. Remember to balance pushing with pulling, however. That means if you lift a total of, say, 10,000 lbs in bench press one week, you should aim to row 10,000 lbs as well.
Other exercises that will be extra good for you include power cleans and snatches, push press, front squats and overhead squats.
If you stick to a program that uses just the above lifts, you will be fine.
Best to keep the reps low (3-5) with 4-6 sets. You need explosive power.
Alright, thanks for the advice. That list of exercises were just some I had planned to use in combination with the power lifts and presses (not all at once, maybe 4-5 lifts a day).
So anybody have any suggestions on whether I should bulk first and cut later, cut first bulk later, or cut and bulk at the same time, and suggestions on diet?
[quote]XTTX wrote:
So anybody have any suggestions on whether I should bulk first and cut later, cut first bulk later, or cut and bulk at the same time, and suggestions on diet?[/quote]
Nail a solid diet and training be consistent with them for heck a year ride them out get used to eating and working out RIGHT that will take you a long way in shifting body comp.
at your height and weigth IMO no need to cut if your ultimate goal is be bigger and your a newbie. Youll make great changes just implementing good habits and will do that magic we all wish we could gain LBM and lose fat at the same time.
Sharetrader gave you some good advice. You’ll need to develop your program better though (rep range/volume/exercises). Are you going to follow a specific program or are you creating your own from scratch?
According to your program you’ll be putting out a high energy output, so you’ll need to eat a lot of clean foods. I wouldn’t recommend “cutting” if you are looking to dramatically increase your performance. So yes that means “bulk”. And thats not an excuse to pig out on cookies.
You have three primary goals:
Dramatic lean mass gain
Dramatic body fat reduction
Dramatic increases in strength
Those are all hard to do by themselves yet you want to do them all at the same time.
Choose one goal and you’ll be there a lot quicker! Have one primary goal and maybe a secondary goal.
You said Shotput is your main athletic goal. Losing weight (whether fat or muscle) probably would be a disadvantage to you considering Shotput doesn’t have weight classes. I may be wrong with the weight class part that’s what I understand I never did Shotput just Track.
You are strong for your age. Keep up the great work. Remember to maintain good form. Do not let your form deteriorate on any set. Not when you are 15. It’s not worth it. You already have a spine problem so you know better than that.
As to which program you should follow, find a 3 Days or 4 Days-a-week split.
Westside for Skinny Bastards is an excellent program for increasing strength and size too (depending on how you set it up).
Day 1: Max Effort (ME) Upper Body
Day 3: Max Effort (ME) Lower Body
Day 5: Repetition Effort (RE) Upper Body
Day 7: Repetition Effort (RE) Lower Body
Chad Waterbury has great routines on increasing strength and/or hypertrophy. Everything is well-laid out in Chad’s routines so it eliminates guessing and thinking work.
Setting up a Westside program by yourself may cause more harm than good. It depends on your experience level.
If you like having a program already clearly laid-out or like tweaking your own.
I throw shot put and discus as well and the things in the last 6 months that i have felt very diffrent and i can see a 2-5 feet increse (varying based on your techinique) after i started doing a good bit of military presses, clean and jerks, squats and worked my calfs.
If your trying to increase your throws and get stronger work your major muscle areas chest, shoulders, legs, back. If you want more stuff on shot putting and etc, go to danjohn.org and e-mail him he can help you out.
As for working out working your major muscles should do it. Im still a newb as well but those are things that have worked for me.
[quote]Kevin Haywood wrote:
As to which program you should follow, find a 3 Days or 4 Days-a-week split.
Westside for Skinny Bastards is an excellent program for increasing strength and size too (depending on how you set it up).
Day 1: Max Effort (ME) Upper Body
Day 3: Max Effort (ME) Lower Body
Day 5: Repetition Effort (RE) Upper Body
Day 7: Repetition Effort (RE) Lower Body
Chad Waterbury has great routines on increasing strength and/or hypertrophy. Everything is well-laid out in Chad’s routines so it eliminates guessing and thinking work.
Setting up a Westside program by yourself may cause more harm than good. It depends on your experience level.
If you like having a program already clearly laid-out or like tweaking your own.
-Kev[/quote]
Yeah, I was thinking about getting CW’s Muscle Revolution book with my next order from T-Nation. I know my goals are pretty much insane to accomplish all at once, so I’ll probably set aside most of the cutting for after I get my strength up.
Now, the problem I have with having a diet that is specific to a certain caloric intake, carb intake, protein etc. is that I am a full time student at high school so I don’t know how I would be able to get all the meals in.
Now, the problem I have with having a diet that is specific to a certain caloric intake, carb intake, protein etc. is that I am a full time student at high school so I don’t know how I would be able to get all the meals in.[/quote]
A back pack and planning ./ food prep frozen pre cook chicken breasts, in bags, shakes nuts eat between classes.
Let me ask one question: When does your season start? If soon, throwing far via technical throws should be the focus. I understand the requirements of strength are a large focus in the throwing events, yet committing technique to muscle memory should be an emphasis, especially at your age of development.
You are strong enough to compete with the 12lb shot, and you will get stronger. But do not forget the relationship of advancement in technique versus strength. Attaining strength increases are achieved easier than technical perfection.
Indoor season is over, outdoor just started. My coach has this in his priorities for our training:
Technique (we spend a good 45 min a day on technique alone)
Speed/Conditioning (suicides, sprints, etc)
Strength (1 hour+ a day)
As for our technique work… Our coach is teaching us the glide, and we usually have this daily (without an actual shot, and with criticism with each exercise):
5 Glides into power
5 Throws from power w/o recovery and blocking
5 Throws w/ the block
5 Throws w/ block and recovery
5-7 Full throws
Hop Drill (Glide 5 times in a row in a straight line - we usually do around 4 of these)
A Drill (Kick back 10 times into a split-like stance)
Power Throw Drill (Throw from power repeatedly w/o rest 10-15 times)
I’m going to assume that your outdoor season meet schedule starts up relatively soon, so your best bet to throw far is to incorporate dynamic lifting (as said in an earlier post by a wise T-Nationer). Stay within the 4-6 rep range as well as the 4-6 set range.
Focus should be placed on the most recruited muscles. Use dynamic lifting within the muscle groups of the glutes, hamstrings and quads (areas make up most of the power production within the event); and use higher rep ranges for the triceps, delts and calves (higher rep ranges progressively train the muscles and tendons around the shoulder and elbow joints to prevent overuse injuries).
Stay within 55-75% of 1RM on the dynamic lifts; your throwing work should have you pretty tired, being your focus within the season. Save a lot (not all) of your strength building for your off-season training, it will benefit you the most and not take away from your throwing distances.
As for diet, per your coach’s workouts, focus on the usual 1g of protein per lb bodyweight and save your carbohydrate intake for breakfast and post-workout. You could also slowly begin phasing out carbohydrates (not all but, say, half) because your training work stays within the immediate and lactate energy systems.
It’s going to be difficult because of school food, so see if you can’t invest in some protein powders, such as a complex.