Am I training right?

[bob_jones]

Hello, I'm new to this board. I'm 18 years old and have been lifting dumbells for a few years now. I have decided to be more serious about my workout schedule recently. I need to know if what I've been doing is right. I know I'm doing all the exercises right, but I need to know if my workout schedule is good. First of all, I am very light. I am 5ft 5in tall and weigh only 115 pounds. My goal is to gain some muscle mass and look more bulk. I've been eating about 4 meals a day lately and some snacks as well. I try to eat as much as I can for each meal. I try to eat healthy foods most of the time, such as eggs, oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc. After workouts I eat Tuna, hotdogs, yogurts, Nutrition bars, etc. I also drink about 3 Ensure protein drinks a day. I workout about 3-4 times a week and do the same exercises every time. My workout usually goes like this:

-I first start out by doing as many bicep curls as I can with a 30 pound dumbell. Once I get tired, I grab a 20 pound dumbell and keep going. After I get tired with that, I use my 15 pound and stop. I do this for about 2-3 sets throughout the workout.

-Afterwards, I do as many wrist curls as I can using all the dumbells like I did for the bicep curls. I do 2-3 sets of these also, using each dumbell.

-I then do 2 types of pushups. I do as many as I can for both types (right now I can do about 40 pushups total) I do 2-3 sets for this.

- After those I do as many tricep extensions as I can with each dumbell again. I do 1-2 sets of these

- I then do dumbell shoulder presses using each dumbell again. I usually do just one set of shoulder presses, but sometimes I do 2.

- I then finish off doing by doing as many situps as I can (several sets)

My workouts generally take about 80 minutes, but I take a bunch of small 2-8 minute breaks during the workout. I don't train my legs during my workouts since I play basketball all the time with friends and do some mountain biking throughout the week. Am I overtraining? Or perhaps I need to workout more? If I want to gain more weight and more muscle, what do you people recommend? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[hornedfrogs07]

My workouts generally take about 80 minutes, but I take a bunch of small 2-8 minute breaks during the workout. I don't train my legs during my workouts since I play basketball all the time with friends and do some mountain biking throughout the week. Am I overtraining? Or perhaps I need to workout more? If I want to gain more weight and more muscle, what do you people recommend? Any help would be appreciated!

I recommend DO LEGS, first off. Next I'd recommend not doing all lifts 4 days per week. Then, cut down the friggin reps son, if you really want to put on size. The rep range you're working in is doing nothing except burn off that size that you want to gain. Also, don't let a workout like that take over 30 minutes. Finally, and I'm probably gonna get flamed for this, pick up a copy of Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Mens Health, etc. They have great advice for beginners, even if they are repetitive bullshit once you know what you're doing.

 

[bob_jones]

On another forum they told me I should workout one body part per night. I'll start doing this, but you said I'm doing to many reps? Is 2-3 sets too many? I thought the recommended amount was 3-4. I'll revise a workout plan and post it here to see what you guys think. Thanks for replying.

 

[GameOn]

Dude...Ensure protein drinks...neg. Get you some weight gain 2500000 or something. If your that light do not worry about eating clean, you need to just eat! Eat a large pizza every night . Also, like hornedfrogsAT said you do not need to work everybody part like that or that many reps. Cut back to one body part per week...you need to be worried about eating more than lifting. Go from 4 meals and snacks to 6 to 7 meals...never go to bed without eating first!

 

[bob_jones]

OK, I made up this new workout schedule for myself. But I need some help coming up with exercises for the back and legs, and maybe another shoulder exercise. I also have a question about reps and sets. I own a 30 pound dumbell, a 20 pound, a 15 pound, and a 10 pound. Should I only use the 30 pound dumbell? Or should I use the 30 pound along with some of the others? Or maybe I can use the other smaller dumbells to warm up? Please let me know how this works! Also, should each set of exercise be done untill I can't do them anymore? For example, I can do about 40 pushups total in one set. Should I do this many for one set, take a break, then do as many as I can again for the second set? Or should I do less? Here is the new workout schedule. Let me know if I can improve it at all:

Day 1: Chest/Triceps
Regular pushups
Diamond Pushups
Dumbell Tricep Extensions

Day 2: Legs/calves/abs
situps
??leg and calve exercises??

Day 3: Off

Day 4: Back/Bicepts/forearms
Dumbell bicep curls (the hammer type)
Dumbell Wrist Curls palms facing up
Dumbell Wrist Curls palms facing down
??Back exercises??


Day 5: Off

Day 6: Shoulders/traps
Dumbell Shoulder press
??Other shoulder exercises??

Day 7: Off


Thanks for the replies so far everyone. I REALLY needed to do this. I know my current methods are sloppy

 

[GameOn]

Bro, you need to research more on your own. Pic up some mags (flex, etc...) and check out the net. The amount of knowledge you seek can not be picked up in a thread.

 

[hornedfrogs07]

Dude...Ensure protein drinks...neg. Get you some weight gain 2500000 or something. If your that light do not worry about eating clean, you need to just eat! Eat a large pizza every night . Also, like hornedfrogsAT said you do not need to work everybody part like that or that many reps. Cut back to one body part per week...you need to be worried about eating more than lifting. Go from 4 meals and snacks to 6 to 7 meals...never go to bed without eating first!

Agreed, Ensure protein drinks = very low protein (compared to a protein supp) = crap.

Also, as I think Game meant, cut back to working each bodypart one time per week, or no more than 2 times per week (I only say this is ok, b/c I did it for 4 years and got acceptable, not good, just acceptable results.).

Also, I think you missed my point about cutting back the REPS. The sets aren't really the issue, since you said you did 3-4 per exercise, which is indeed a very accepted method. What I meant was repetitions. In general, the rep ranges you'd follow for a given goal are as follows: Strength = <6-8, Hypertrophy (growth) = 8-12, and Fat burning/cutting = 12-15+. You have been working in the cutting range, when you say you are trying to gain weight and gain size. You are actually self defeating yourself every time you do a workout. I recommend, once again, getting some muscle/bodybuilding magazines and taking a long crap or something to give you time to read and digest all of it. Other than that, you really need to cut down reps and increase weight.

Oh, and if money is an issue, so you can't join a gym, see if there's a YMCA or something like that, and otherwise, the last time I checked, coffee cans, Sack-crete, and fence posts don't cost that much money.

 

[hornedfrogs07]

Just learn the right way to do it, and we'll help you where we can.

Be CREATIVE.

 

[bob_jones]

Thanks for the tips everyone! After looking online for different exercises all day long, I think I've put together a good schedule. Can everyone read through the exercises for me and see if there is anything that I'm missing? Or if anyone in here has found bad results with any of these exercises, let me know too. Here is the new schedule:

Day 1: Chest/Triceps
Dumbell Press
Tricep Dumbell Kickback
Dumbell Tricep Extensions
Regular pushups
Diamond Pushups

Day 2: Legs/calves/abs
Dumbell Squats
Dumbell Lunges
Standing Dumbell Calf Raise
Bridge

Day 3: Off

Day 4: Back/Bicepts/forearms
Dumbell bicep curls (the hammer type)
Dumbell Wrist Curls palms facing up
Dumbell Wrist Curls palms facing down
Superman
Bent Over Two-Dumbbell Row
Stiff-Legged Dumbbell Deadlift


Day 5: Off

Day 6: Shoulders/traps
Dumbell Shrugs
Dumbell Shoulder press
Standing Dumbbell Straight-Arm Front Delt Raise
Standing Palm-In One-Arm Dumbbell Press

Day 7: Off

On average I will do about 5-6 reps with the heaviest weight that I can lift for each exercise that uses dumbells. I will try and do about 3-4 sets of each exercise. Does this sound like a good plan?

 

[GameOn]

cut back to working each bodypart one time per week, or no more than 2 times per week

Yes, sorry for the confusion

 

[hornedfrogs07]

Bob, that sounds much, much better.

 

[bob_jones]

I have just one more question for you guys when it comes to my workout schedule. I've been doing that workout schedule since I posted this thread, and so far it's all easy. My question is, after I complete the 30-45 minute workout for that new schedule, my body feels healed a day later (I feel no soreness, no tiredness, etc.). Does this mean I should raise my workout schedule to the next level or something? Even though I'm new to this schedule, I HAVE been lifting weights since about the beggining of high school, which has been 5 years I think (All I did back in freshman year was lift 5 pound dumbells by doing curls, and I did pushups, but I was lifing weights nonetheless) Do you guys think my body needs a workout slightly higher than a beginners routine?

 

[JRfromTN]

if your not sore than think about adding a few lbs to your workout
and eat like an animal

i dont think your doing anything bad you just need to change it up a bit