Introducing me and my routine - some opinions/help please...

[Rebel87]

Hi everyone, I'm newish here and guess I better do a bit of an introduction... I'm 18, and from the UK. About 2 years ago "mandatory" sports/fitness through school stopped and basically I did nothing more than occasional cycling/climbing/football and walking to school. I got overweight and unfit!

Over the last 6 months I made a decided effort to eat better (just basically cutting out most of the junk and eating a bit less) its worked so far - I'm down 3 stones to around 10 1/2 - 11 stone (I am 5 foot 6) and seemed to have settled a bit. My diet is OK-ish, it's not specially geared like i see some of you people have but I dont know if that is realistic for me at the moment to be honest.

5 weeks ago I joined a local gym/fitness place and have been going 3-4 times a week doing a "full body workout" with a few machines and free weights and some cardio in the form of running or cycling afterwards... There has been a vast improvement visabley in the fact that i now have some muscles, and in terms of the weights I can lift increasing. However I feel a bit like this isnt very practical anymore (I've been adding different lifts and experimenting a bit to see what works for me, etc...) so I've decided it's time to try out splitting things up. I have devised what is seen below based on some posts of cursor's I read and some of the other general information/introductory threads...

Mon - chest & shoulders
bench press - dumbbell (lying)
fly - dumbbell (lying)
pullover - dumbbell (lying)
shoulder press - dumbbell (seated)
lateral raise - dumbbell (standing)
reverse fly - dumbbell (lying)

Tue
Cardio

Wed - back & triceps
lat pull-down - machine-cable (seated)
row - dumbbell (bent-over)
shrug - dumbbell (standing)
triceps extension - dumbbell (lying)
kickback - dumbbell (bent-over)
pushdown - cable-machine (standing)

Thur
Cardio

Fri - legs & biceps
leg press - machine-sled (seated)
leg curl - machine-level (seated)
calf raise - dumbbell (standing)
curl - dumbbell (standing) done in style that barbell would be
hammer curl - dumbbell (standing)

Saturday/Sunday
Cardio

Sunday/Saturday
Rest

WEEKLY ROTATION OF SETS/REPS:
Week 1- 3 sets 4-6 reps
Week 2- 4 sets 7-9 reps
Week 3- 5 sets 4-6 reps
Week 4- 3 sets 7-9 reps
Week 5- 4 sets 4-6 reps
Week 6- 5 sets 7-9 reps


A point to note is that there isnt barbell available (this should change in a few months when I go to uni - which is getting a nice new gigantic gym built...)

For cardio I am doing whatever I can (usually works out at 30mins to 1hr) any comments?

Other than that I was wondering about crunches and wrist/reverve wrist curls which seem to cover neglected/uncovered areas?

Basically I am looking for any thoughts/advice/opinions on any of this please

[Karl]

First I would consider pullovers a back exercise, so instead of that try some incline press.

[gcs118]

Squat. And deadlift.

[m@xpower]

for monday i would add:
-incline bench press (upper chest)
-bardips or decline bench press (lower chest)


Also, on leg days, add squat and deadlift like gc118 suggested

[Rebel87]

Originally Posted by Karl

First I would consider pullovers a back exercise, so instead of that try some incline press.

Originally Posted by m@xpower

for monday i would add:
-incline bench press (upper chest)
-bardips or decline bench press (lower chest)

Ok, thanks - so that should leave mondays looking something like this now?
Mon - chest & shoulders
bench press - dumbbell (lying)
fly - dumbbell (lying)
incline bench press - dumbbell (lying/seated)
decline bench press - dumbbell (lying) OR bardips
shoulder press - dumbbell (seated)
lateral raise - dumbbell (standing)
reverse fly - dumbbell (lying)

...novice question #99, lol, are bardips these? because I dont know if I have anywhere to do anything like that at the moment...

Originally Posted by gcs118

Squat. And deadlift.

Originally Posted by m@xpower

Also, on leg days, add squat and deadlift like gc118 suggested

Glad these were raised - there are only dumbells available (until uni in september anyway) and the maximum combined weight of two of these are 45kg / 100lbs (i.e. 22.5kg / 50lb per hand) during the course of experimentation i tried deads and squats with this kind of weight and it wasnt a massive exertion to perform them repeatedly - any thoughts?


Thanks for the comments / critiques so far, any more would be much appreciated

[gcs118]

If that is the case, there really isn't much you can do then to squat or DL, unless you buy your own barbell. I'm sure there are inexpensive ones out there that don't hold a lot of weight you could use until September.

[threenorns]

what about single-leg squats?


that oughta put some pressure on the ol' quads even with a 50-pounder.

[gcs118]

Walking lunges with the 50s should definitely make you feel something.

[Rebel87]

Ok, good ideas thanks - hadn't thought of the 1 legged squats and lunges, so they will be added to fridays legs & biceps day. I'll look into cheap barbell and stuff but most likely will leave it for now unless i get seriously into this and wanting something more...

Thanks so far any other thoughts/comments anyone?

[midgetcop]

I'm thinking that:

- bench press
- incline press
- decline press
- flyes

will be too much. Drop the flyes, and go with the presses.

[gcs118]

Plus all that benching will hit the shoulders pretty hard as is, be sure to take that into consideration.