Weight training plan and how to progress further

[wetnwildnik]

I have been through all the meaningful and crappy stuff on this website and finally decided to start with my own topic. I have tried many things I got to read here but have not got any results out of them. I want you people to provide me suggestions which will really help me to reorganize my weight training.

 

I started weight training around 3 months back. I started with training 1 set of muscles each day. My lifestyle does not allow me to train myself more than 4 days a week thats too with very irregular schedule concentrated on fri sat and sun when I am out of my job. I am 5'10'' and 170 lbs. I have never done weight training before this. My aim is to stay fit, reduce fat (I do not look fat and people are amazed at my weight) and make my upper body stronger and increase muscle mass.

 

Diet

 

I am an Indian vegan. I have been a vegan all through my life and basically eats typical north Indian vegetarian diet which basically consist of milk and bread with butter in the morning and tortillas/chapatis with curd and cooked vegetables/curry(as people call it around the world) at lunch and tortillas/chapatis with curd and cooked legumes/pulses for the dinner. This provided me merely 40 gms of protein a day and around 1600 cals. Rest is contributed by tea and junk food. I have changed this diet to add to high protein shakes made with wheys, fruits, soy milk and lots of nuts. I am taking now around 2500 cal/day. So I have now 5 meals a day. ( I even tried eating every 3 hours but I made my stomach upset). I still think my protein intake is not very high.

 

 

Training schedule

 

 

Day 1 -- Arms

 

Warm up - cardio(12 min) and stretching

 

Concentration curls -- 15 lbs x 12, 20 lbs x 10, 15 lbs x 10

Close grip bench press -- 25 lbs X 6 x 3 sets

Dumbbell Bicep curl -- 15 lbs x 35, 20 lbs x 10, 15 lbs x 35

Lying-Supine Two-Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extension - 15lbs x 10, 20lbs x 8, 10 lbs x 10

Preacher curl -- 10 lbs x 8, 15 lbs x 8, 10 lbs x 8

Standing Bent-Over One-Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extension - 30 lbs x 12, 20 lbs x 15, 20 lbs x 15

Standing One-Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extension - 15 lbs x 10 x 3 sets

 

 

 

Day 2 - Shoulders

 

Warm up - cardio(12 min) and stretching

 

Arnold alternate Dumbbell Press - 30 lbs x 10 x 3 sets

Side Lateral Raise - 15lbs x 8 x 3

Smith Machine Behind The Neck Press -- 15lbs x6x3 sets

Front Dumbbell Raise -- 10 lbs x 8 x 3 sets

Dips - 10, 10, 8

Some more exercises for back

 

 

Day 3 - Chest and upper back

 

Bench Press -- 25 lbs x 10, 35 lbs x 6, 25 lbs x 8

Inclined Bench Press -- 20 lbs x 6 x 3

Cable Crossover -- 20lbs x 10

Decline Barbell Bench Press -- 20lbs x 6 x 3 sets

Dumbbell Bench Press -- 30lbs x 10 x 3 sets

Decline Dumbbell Bench Press -- 25lbs x 10 x 3

pull ups -- lat machine

exercise for upper back on one fitness m/c

 

Day 4 -- Abs, calves, lower back, thighs

 

Decline crunch - 10 x 3

Narrow Stance Leg Press - 90 lbs x 10

Lying Machine Squat - 85 lbs x 8

Walking Dumbbell Lunges -- 35 lbs x 15 steps x 3 sets

Seated Leg Curl -- 85 lbs x 8, 100lbs x 6, 85lbs x 8

Seated Calf raise machine - 100 lbs x 15 x 3 sets

 

 

I have reached a plateau here and not able to increase weights.

[bronco]

First I'd like to point out that you are not a vegan if you eat milk and whey.

 

About your program, I think your are overdoing things greatly, you don't need that many exercises. I think you would have more success with a simple fullbody program done three times a week. Maybe do something along these lines:

 

Day 1:

Squats

Bench press or dips

Barbell row or dumbell row

abs/core

 

Day 2:

Deadlift

Military press

Pull ups

abs/core

 

3-5 sets of each exercise, alternate between the two workouts. Make sure you eat enough.

[Lena01]

I'm no expert here but I hope my advice is somehow helpful.

 

I agree with bronco regarding veganism/whey/milk and full body workouts.

 

If you are a beginner you would need to have some physical conditioning first before hitting the one-muscle-group-a-week program. I've never tried that one myself but what I've read/heard is that it is for people with some good background. Besides, I see exercise more as a means to health (with nice external side effects) than as a way of torturing myself on the machines. Perhaps you might want to try the whole body workout (if you do it in circuit you will also burn some more fat) or you can do a split program trying to work out muscles that won't interfere with each other too much. For example:

 

Day 1:

chest, quads, biceps, calfs

 

Day2:

back, hams, shoulders, triceps

 

Shift your program about every 3 weeks. And try to play sports, soccer, mma, baseball, whatever else...

 

Watch out also what you are eating. You say that you eat junk food, that's not good at all. It's not only the calories you consume but where do they come from. We have some people here that have diets with ridiculously high caloric content and very low bf with great muscles. Try to find out what might work for you but I would clean the diet (e.g. butter does nothing good for you) and eat an amount of food that will support whatever exercise you do throughout the day.

[wetnwildnik]

Okay, I have started getting it. An apology for writing myself as a vegan. I am a lacto-vegeterian or whatever we call .. but I take milk products.

 

I have stopped junk food for the last 3 months. Infact, dont have time to take coffee since my morning coffee is replaced by shake. My calories are basically coming from the shakes which are made of cup of soymilk, 1 banana/mango, 3 strawberries, handful of cashews, handful of sunflower seeds, 1 spoonful of peanut butter and wheys ( I am planning to stop wheys now, I think I am allergic to them).

 

Other than this I eat 1 meal of tortillas with vegetables and curd in lunch, meatless soy meat in breakfast and cooked pulses in the night with wheat bread. My snacks mainly consist of a cucumber and an apple ( to get dietary fiber). I am very fond of chocolates and cakes so I eat them once a week but in controlled amount.

 

 

What I have got is 90 minutes for gym. I would like to stick to gym than playing. Do you want me to stick to whole body workout? I want to loose body fat and gain muscle mass so please give me more suggestions on cardio.

[Lean and Green]

Two quick suggestions and I will look more indepth later and try to post again...

 

Whatever you want to improve the most in, do first. If shedding and burning calories with cardio is your main goal, that do it before your resistance training sessions at least 1/2 of them.

 

Secondly I would never workout out my shoulders the day before a chest workout, that's just me. I would switch up days 1 and 2.

 

If you are vegetarian and that's what you do, though this is a vegan board, I see no problem with throwing out a reco for ya. Ghee (clarified) butter is a better option than regular butter. Sticking with the vibe and energy of this forum, however, it is more than possible to build the exact physique you are looking for with a completely vegan diet and wouldn't hurt to consider it

 

Also 1gram per lb of bodyweight is a good amount of protein for an athlete....

[wetnwildnik]

Thanks lean and green. I am happy that I am not suppose to eat so much of protein because I was finding it impossible. I have almost doubled my diet since I have started workouts.

 

What I am finding difficult is to gain muscle mass at the moment also the strength; I lift 35 lbs on bench press and for the last 1 month I am not able to increase it. I have three questions:

 

I like my schedule. May I shift to wholebody schedule?

 

I do weight training continuously for four days. Does that matter?

 

May I concentrate more on cardio? I want a fit figure and I like to be fat less with increase in size of arms, shoulders and chest. My thighs are quite heavy and there is a mismatch with upper body which I dont like.

[Richard]

Yo, have you tried increasing beyond 35lbs? If so, what happens? You could try it when you're fresh one day, put it up to 40lbs right away first thing and see how you do. It's better to struggle with it and eventually get the sets you want I think, that's how you'll improve the weight you're lifting

[Octopussoir]

OK for strength gains here it is as follows:

 

Quite doing bench every week! Rotate it with dumbbells ir something else. I feel strongest when I dont hit heavy chest every single week. Like say I do a really heavy workout on chest monday and do 3 sets of 15 with the 100lb dumbbells. By the next monday I more than likely will not be able to hit the 100lb's the same way, but if I go light with higher reps and wait til the week after to try it again I more than likely will be able to do more. This is just from my experience.

 

Edit: I dont think youre workout are too much as stated above. Looks as if you might need to change things up and pair diff bodyparts together.

[bronco]

Edit: I dont think youre workout are too much as stated above. Looks as if you might need to change things up and pair diff bodyparts together.

The guy has been training for three months, there is no chance he needs six different exercises for chest. Or a whole workout for only shoulders. Or four different exercises for triceps.

[wetnwildnik]

Hey Richard,

 

I tried 40 and the result was I called for help to get it off. . that is where I have realised I am lacking strength also. Same with chin ups. I am not able to increase it above 2.

 

Exploring the website more I have found that I should go for slow cardio. Right now I do HIIT cardio for 15 min with intervals of 7 mph and 2.5 mph each for 2 min. I have decided to do 45 min cardio at 4.5 mph so that I shall not burn more muscle mass than fat. I will be doing it 3 times a week. What do you people say about it?

 

Yes, 3 months and I don't see any change in me. I hate my mirror and pics of you people. JK. I know its a very short time but every curve is a great motivation. . I appreciate guidance from you people to improve my schedule. Keep me posted. Thanks.

[Octopussoir]

Edit: I dont think youre workout are too much as stated above. Looks as if you might need to change things up and pair diff bodyparts together.

The guy has been training for three months, there is no chance he needs six different exercises for chest. Or a whole workout for only shoulders. Or four different exercises for triceps.

 

 

Um, why not? why should he stick to just a few?

[Lean and Green]

Octopussior, I am with you on this one. I see no problem in that. Maybe i'm a bad example as I have a history of resistance training but i did stop for 2 years and when I resumed in January within only 1 1/2 - 2 months, I was varying my workouts and doing just as many exercises.

 

As for the whole body schedule, I have actually never ever done a routine like that, so im the wrong person to ask. I'm not doubting that it is beneficial but for some reason or another it never appealed to me.

 

I agree 110% with Richard; the only way to progress in poundages is to attempt to work with the next weight up and even if you do a rep or 3 less, your body will acclimate to them and that's how you get a feel for them as well.

 

Well don't get too easy on yourself with the protein. You said you 'almost' doubled your intake. My friend, you were only taking in 40 grams a day. You are 170lbs. To go by the rule of thumb aforementioned, at 1 gram per lb of bw, you need 4X as much as you were previously taking in. Keep that in mind. Work your way up to it, you'll get there

 

Lower body being a mismatch to your upperbody, that is just genetics. I have the same issue. You just have to train your upper body very hard to be more proportional also but your legs will most likely always be somewhat bigger than your upper body. If you bring out your chest enough and take in your wasit/hip/seat by losing bf, then even though your quads will still bulge, your taper and symettry will improve drastically. This is very doable and a actually looks really good

 

I see nothing wrong with training 4 days in a row as long as the muscles you are training are getting adequate rest in between days. You've been training for 6 months, you'll be okay. Like I said separate shoulders and chest a little more, for example...

 

Most definitely concentrate more on cardio, get out there and break a sweat!

[Lena01]

Edit: I dont think youre workout are too much as stated above. Looks as if you might need to change things up and pair diff bodyparts together.

The guy has been training for three months, there is no chance he needs six different exercises for chest. Or a whole workout for only shoulders. Or four different exercises for triceps.

 

 

Um, why not? why should he stick to just a few?

 

I don't know much about this but has anyone ever waken you up in the middle of the night and asked you to do a calculus exam? I think that's what he's doing with his body getting into a hardcore training so directly. Perhaps some conditioning training will help him better at this stage.

[xjohanx]

I am not a great fan of full body workouts. I do however love splitprograms but if I would choose between your split or broncos program I would choose broncos every time. Your routine is really bad for muscle recovery, like L&G said, to do shoulders the day before chest isn't a smart approach. Perhaps that's what slows your benching progress down. And as a sidenote, if you do dips they should be on chest or arm days, not shoulders.

It is completely obivous that your routine isn't good. The first months in the gym should be the time that your strenght and muscle mass increases the most.

 

When I started working out I did a similar thing to this routine. I often reccomend it to friends who are just starting out in the gym and they've all experienced good muscle gains. You should choose one of the excersises under each "category", the complement excersises are voluntary. Do abdominal work when you feel like it.

 

1

Horizontal press excersise

Bench press

Incline bench press

Dumbbell press

Incline dumbbell press

Dips

 

Vertical press excersise

Military press

Seated dumbbell press

 

Complement excersise

Skull crushers

Cable pushdowns

 

2

Horizontal pull excersise

Barbell row

Dumbbell row

 

Vertical pull exercise

Pull-ups

Lat pulldown (either with V-handle or wide grip)

 

Complement excersise

Barbell curl

Alternating dumbbell curls

 

3

Thigh dominant excersise

Squat

Leg press

 

Hip dominant excersise

Deadlift (stiff or regular)

 

Complement excersise

Calf press

Seated calf press

 

The plan is to rest 1-2 day(s) between each workout so it would look something like this:

Mon: 1

Tue: Rest

Wed: 2

Thu: Rest

Fri: 3

Sat: Rest

Sun: Rest or start over.

 

The great thing is that you can switch it up depending how your week look like. If you know you are going to be busy friday, saturday and sunday then make sure you do all three workouts before that. Since it is a split you can do all three workouts three days in a row, but it's not ideal for recovery.

Take the first week or weeks to learn the excersises properly (if any of the excersises are new to you), go pretty lightweight and aim for 10-12 reps per set. Do 5-6 sets of each excersise. Then go heavy and do 4-8 reps but do 8 sets of each excersise.

Just like Octopussir said, it might be a good idea to not do bench press every week, alternate it with dumbbell presses or inclines or something.

Dude, please try this. You won't be dissapointed if you do it properly, I promise.

[veginator]

I'm certainly no seasoned weightlifter--I've lifted off and on for years but never stuck with it for more than a few months at a time. BUT, based on everything I've read including the good advice of experienced bodybuilders here, a couple of things jumped out at me when I saw your program.

 

First, as others have pointed out, it appears you're doing way too many exercises involving the same muscle groups within a short period of time. My understanding is that if you do a workout where you push yourself enough to have a shot at building strength (which you can do without doing three sets of half a dozen exercises that all work the same muscles), you need to give your muscles at least two days to recover before you work the same ones again.

 

Also, for any exercises where you're able to do more than a dozen reps at a given weight, it's time to up the weight. You're able to do I think it was 30 reps of biceps dumbbell curls with 15 pounds, so 15 pounds is too light to be helping you build strength at this point and you need to try 20 or perhaps 25 (I think you said you were doing 20 on some sets). My gym has intermediate dumbell weights such as 22.5, so maybe that would be the right weight for now?

 

And it looks like you're weakest on the chest exercises judging from the weights you've posted--I can't imagine too many people would be able to handle almost as much weight on biceps curls as on presses, so I wonder if maybe you're fatigued by the time you get to the chest stuff? Maybe the best approach for working on this area would be to 1) make sure you're well-rested (at least a couple of days) from the last time you did anything that worked your chest, 2) do your usual quick cardio warmup, and then do, say, a bench press set with 35 instead of the 25 you usually start with. Try to get as many more than the 6 reps you have been doing with 35 as you can. Keep upping the reps with each chest workout, and then when you can do 12 or more with 35 on the first set, it will be time to move on to 40.

 

Lean and Green's advice to switch up which exercises you're doing for each body area makes a lot of sense to me so that you're not always working the muscles exactly the same way, but at the same time you'd want to be consistent enough with which ones you do to be able to track your progress. At least that's what I think. Good luck!

 

Jeff

[wetnwildnik]

And it looks like you're weakest on the chest exercises judging from the weights you've posted--I can't imagine too many people would be able to handle almost as much weight on biceps curls as on presses, so I wonder if maybe you're fatigued by the time you get to the chest stuff? Maybe the best approach for working on this area would be to 1) make sure you're well-rested (at least a couple of days) from the last time you did anything that worked your chest, 2) do your usual quick cardio warmup, and then do, say, a bench press set with 35 instead of the 25 you usually start with. Try to get as many more than the 6 reps you have been doing with 35 as you can. Keep upping the reps with each chest workout, and then when you can do 12 or more with 35 on the first set, it will be time to move on to 40.

Jeff

 

hey Jeff,

 

As such I know I am weak on chest but I lift 35 + 35 + 45(barbell) = 105lbs on chest. I made a mistake here; I meant 35 pounds on each side of barbell. I made it to 40 lbs each today with 2 reps.

 

I have a colleague who is 42 and visits gym with me sometimes on Friday. His warmup on chest starts at 135 lbs, which is my current target and he goes upto 280 lbs . I dont know whether I get motivated or demotivated....

 

hey xjohanx,

 

I am gonna follow the suggested routine .... I will soon post the one with excercises I will do. Can I keep my weekends for doing 45 min Cardio? I am not sure of my days of workouts but I will keep the resting period in between, looks like it has a great importance.

 

I gotto know about HST from a post of daywalker. I am thinking of shifting to it after 8 - 10 weeks. What do you say? Here is the link to it

 

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_II.html

[wetnwildnik]

 

The guy has been training for three months, there is no chance he needs six different exercises for chest. Or a whole workout for only shoulders. Or four different exercises for triceps.

 

 

Um, why not? why should he stick to just a few?

 

I don't know much about this but has anyone ever waken you up in the middle of the night and asked you to do a calculus exam? I think that's what he's doing with his body getting into a hardcore training so directly. Perhaps some conditioning training will help him better at this stage.

 

Yes, I used to do calculus questions at 3:30 AM in the morning.

 

Its true, but it was during the preparation of my engineering enterance exams because I can concentrate better at that time.

[Richard]

As such I know I am weak on chest but I lift 35 + 35 + 45(barbell) = 105lbs on chest. I made a mistake here; I meant 35 pounds on each side of barbell. I made it to 40 lbs each today with 2 reps.

 

Great, that's progress! Keep hitting the 40s until you get bigger sets, then go up to 45

[xjohanx]

hey xjohanx,

 

I am gonna follow the suggested routine .... I will soon post the one with excercises I will do. Can I keep my weekends for doing 45 min Cardio? I am not sure of my days of workouts but I will keep the resting period in between, looks like it has a great importance.

 

I gotto know about HST from a post of daywalker. I am thinking of shifting to it after 8 - 10 weeks. What do you say? Here is the link to it

 

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_II.html

 

yo. doing cardio on separate days seems great. Just remember that your legs might be sore the day(s) after the workout, but I'm sure you will manage.

I know a couple of people who trains by the HST principles and they have achieved amazing results. It's an advanced program so it takes a lot of dedication, not just in the gym but also outside. I'm all in favor of switching it up. I think changing between splits and full body routines is great. Good luck

[veginator]

hey Jeff,

 

As such I know I am weak on chest but I lift 35 + 35 + 45(barbell) = 105lbs on chest. I made a mistake here; I meant 35 pounds on each side of barbell. I made it to 40 lbs each today with 2 reps.

 

I have a colleague who is 42 and visits gym with me sometimes on Friday. His warmup on chest starts at 135 lbs, which is my current target and he goes upto 280 lbs . I dont know whether I get motivated or demotivated....

 

Well, 105 pounds (now 120 with 2 reps) is actually pretty good, then, considering how recently you started out. I did 115 the other day (6 reps) on the incline press machine, so I guess you're close to where I am on chest stuff.

 

I know what you mean; the football team at the university here sometimes works out in the rec. center's weight room instead of their own private one, and it's easy to get discouraged watching how much weight they can throw around. But we should probably stick to comparing ourselves to people with comparable amounts of weightlifting experience, and then we'll be okay! Good luck with the new program.

 

Jeff

[DaN]

Wetnwildnik:

 

Workout

 

I agree with everyones comments on the workout, do bigger weights & less reps.

 

And dont do so many exercises on one group.I only do 60 reps on my chest in one workout (20 fly, 20 bench press, 20 incline bench press)

 

Also you may need longer rest periods, I need 7 days for each group.Example, I work my chest & triceps on a Monday.I dont do it again until the next Monday.It may seem a long time but we are all different.I used to do it every three days & I got nowhere.

 

Diet

 

Firstly give up the milk products dude, I think you will feel alot better, although I understand it is not easy.

 

You need lots of good carbohydrates - potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, pasta & wholemeal bread, & oats (porridge, cereal bars, cereal)

 

You need lots of good protein - lentils, beans & nuts, homous (chick pea protein) & things like that.

 

Good combinations of those are beans & bread, rice & lentils, homous & bread, soya protein powder & soya milk.

 

If you can reach 3000 calories atleast that will help although of course it depends on your metabolism (I need about 4000)

 

Finally

 

You need 2 litres of water a day, & try to drink most of this inbetween your big meals, not with them.Oh & I forgot to mention, eat loads of fruit & vegetables with everything you eat!

 

Any questions about anything specific just ask mate

[bronco]

Um, why not? why should he stick to just a few?

I think a beginner doesnt need that kind of volume. I believe it would be better to focus on a few exercises and learn to do them properly .

 

wetnwildnik, I think xjohanx program looks good if you want to go for a split-aproach.

[wetnwildnik]

yes bronco, I have started following that program. I will keep posting my progress.

 

I have some questions on diet now. I am eating almost similar to what people have posted here. I have a problem in keeping this much food ready with me. I eat 3 out of my 5-6 small meals in office. Each morning preparing this stuff is a fight for me. For eg. baking tofu for my 11 AM sandwiches makes me late. Result is I skip a meal and eat less or lot in the next meal.

 

I think everybody is working here and faces this problem. I need to know what you people do to prepare your meals. Does anybody here is packing the stuff at night? What kind of stuff? Some shortcuts to save time.

[DaN]

I have a fridge at work & I have alot of food in there, so that helps.

 

I get up early to eat a big breakfast & should make lunch then really (although often I dont as I stay in bed too long) I try to eat easy instant foods at work, like homous & pitta bread midmorning (high in calories & proteins) then lunch (which is usually precooked potatoes, lettuce,cucumber, spinach, tomatoes, avocado,mixed beans & some raw veg like broccoli or carrot), then in the afternoon I eat 2 cereal bars & 100grams of nuts* (both are easy to just munch on - no preparation)

 

I then wait till I get home & have a smoothie with a mass of different fruits & soya protein powder & a couple of soy yoghurts followed by dinner.I dont eat after dinner which enables me to have a big breakfast.

 

*This is the key product for me.I have a little plastic tub that takes exactly 100grams of nuts&raisins.I can take it anywhere & you can snack on them over a period of a few hours.They are very high in calories & fats, & also high in proteins.100grams might seem alot but if it is too much or you dont want to have so much fat just do 50grams as an example.. Its great though because it takes no preparation, is high in nutrients & is sooo easy to transport.

 

Can you tell I like nuts?

[wetnwildnik]

Here is one very good site to see the nutrients in any food. Looks like it covers the US markets very well. Here is the link:

 

http://www.nutritiondata.com/