Hi, I'm 15 years old, and I've just recently started trying to get in shape. I've been doing Scrapper's first workout three times a week for about a month and a half now, but prior to that, I had pretty much neglected exercise. When I was younger, I played on soccer (I live in the United States, so we call it soccer) and baseball teams a few times, and from time to time I've worked on my pushups and pullups, but until now, I've almost always given up within days. I'm far from athletic: I can run a mile in about 6:30, but that leaves me gasping for breath and in pain. I can do roughly 40 pushups and 9 pullups. As I mentioned before, I've been doing Scrapper's first workout, but I can't even complete all of it. I have to knock down the reps on dips, and sometimes pushups and pullups. After doing a pryamid of 12 pushups, I can usually only manage about 5 diamond pushups. However, I'm not fat either. I'm about 5'8", and weigh around 120 pounds. I'm a stick figure. Now, I'm planning to start lifting weights. I'm getting a barbell set and a bench, so I can do bench presses and squats. Although I am very far from an expert on the matter, I've been reading these forums for around a month, and from what I've gathered, I believe I want to be doing deadlifts as well, and possibly military presses and bent over rows. I also have a pullup bar, and can do dips. As a beginner to weights, I believe I want to be doing something like 3x12 for most exercises, at least for a few months (this will be impossible for dips and pullups, as I can't do that many.) However, despite my (limited, and quite possibly wrong) information, I don't really know how to go about designing a routine and deciding on when to lower reps, raise volume, and do more sets. I'm also not sure whether I should do three full-body workouts a week, or split them up, and if I should split them up, exactly how I should do that. Help here would be appreciated. One of my goals is to develop leg strength and improve my vertical jump, and eventually be able to do a backflip. Also, a few questions about diet: I've never been fat, despite my lack of exercising in the past. I'm basically skin and bones, and I attribute this to high metabolism. I've never eaten extremely unhealthily, or very healthily, but I've always eaten in fairly large quantities. My mom usually cooks dinners at home, and we VERY rarely (read: maybe twice a year) eat fastfood. Most of the time, I drink milk with meals, and water between meals. So here's my question: Now that I'm starting to exercise, should I increase my eating even more, and take in more meat and foods containing protein, despite the fat content, etc.? In other words, since I've never had any trouble staying thin, then if I eat more, will I have faster strength gains, or will I just start putting on weight around my middle? Also, I've heard that it's good to eat cottage cheese before going to sleep at night, as it contains slow-acting protein that will benefit muscle growth during the entire resting period. Is this true (if it's not, don't kill me!)? Sorry if I wrote too much. Don't feel compelled to answer, but I would greatly appreciate some input from some of the more experienced forum-goers here. Thanks!
If your super thin like me you want to be eating everything, moving or not, quivering or cooked. Upping Protein, Carbs, Vits and generally everything is a good idea but especially Carbs and Protein. Protein to rebuild muscle and Carbs for the energy to do your exercises. As for Rep Scheme 3*10 is good for a beginner but personally I do a slightly different one which has worked wonders for me, but everyone is different. To split your routine you could do soemthing like this: Day 1: Legs and Abdominals Day 2: Back and Biceps Day 3: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps and an Optional Day 4 for Forearms and Traps
Thanks. Here are a few more questions: How do I go about deciding how much weight to lift? Do I want to figure out how much I can lift for around 12 reps, and then do that for 3 sets of 10, or take a set percentage of my 1RM? Should I wait a few weeks or months before even testing my max one rep lifts? How long should I wait between sets? I think I've heard people saying that they rest 3 minutes between sets (I could be wrong) but the Scrapper workout that I've been doing only has 20 second rests between sets (this is bodyweight, so would the resting times be different?)
I would generally say 60 - 90 seconds rest between each set. 1RM you don't need to fiddle with at this stage. Just try a weight and after a few reps you will know if its too heavy or too light. If its too hard to complete 3 sets of 10 ... say you fail after the 8th rep of the 3rd set fair enough thats fine. But make sure you have perfect form on all your exercises and don't let your pride get in the way of dropping the weight if you need to. As for 1RM you never really need to test it, its just a powerlifter/ego thing.
OK, thanks. How many different exercises should I be doing each day? Also, I'm not entirely sure where some would fit. Would deadlift go with legs or back? If legs, then should I alternate every week between doing squat before deadlift and deadlift before squat? If you could just type up a routine to help get me started, it would be greatly appreciated.
Deadlift goes with back, just do your back day later in the week. Personally this is what Id go for to start with. Day 1 -Legs/ABS Squat 4*10 (ONly one major front leg exercise, your legs are a big muscle group so can handle the extra set) Stiff Leg Deadlift 3*10 (Or hamstring curls but you don't have the facilities) Calf Raises 2*20 (Looks odd but it rules for the calfs) Weighted Situps 3*10 Day 2 - Chest/Shoulders/Triceps Bench Press (Flat or Incline, one or the other) 3*10 [OPTIONAL- Chest Flyes 3*10 as well] (Requires DSumbells) Military Press 3*10 (Be careful with your form on this one) [OPTIONAL - Lateral Raises 3*10] Requires Dumbells Skullcrushers or Tricep Extensions 3*10 DAY 3 - Back/Biceps Deadlifts 3*10 Chins 3*Failure (Start with weighted when you get over 8 reps) Chins - Overhand Grip Bent Over Row 3*10 Bicep/Hammer Curls 3*10 DAY 4 - Forearms/Traps Shrugs 3*10 Thors Hammer 3*10 Forearm Curls 3*10 Others may disagree but nevermind
Sorry to ask so many questions, but... How would I go about weighting situps? Would this be a Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday setup? Sorry for cluelessness, but isn't a bicep curl an isolation exercise?
Yes, as is a Lateral Raise, Shoulder Press, Hamstring Curl etc. Mostly there is one Compound one Isolation there, the Isolations are mainly optional. In the case of hammer curls or bicep curls, I personally Think Chins and Bent over Rows don't do justice for the biceps and they require a dedicated exercise. Yes, you can have the days whenever. Weighted situps, put your feet under something, a hard point like under the edge of a heavy supboard. Put your barbell/Dumbell on your chest and just do situps. Load the Dumbell/Barabel as you see fit.
http://students.umw.edu/~bstri0lk/homepage/index.htm Have a look at that. Obviously most people don't want to put on 130lbs or whatever but everyone has goals! The Count - why do you seem to always recommend 3*10? It's a boring, outdated and fairly ineffective protocol when compared to others like 5*5 or 10*3.
Wow, those are quite impressive gains! The lifting program that he mentioned, however, uses a number of lifts that I can't do (dumbbell, cable, etc.) What would you recommend? Also, let me get this straight: So I should be eating basically as much as I want, as long as it's healthy, and upping my protein and carbohydrate intake?
Can't go wrong with squats, deadlifts, chins, bench press, rows, overhead press, cleans, snatch etc. There are loads that you can do with just a barbell and a load of weight
So, something like... Monday: Squat Weighted Situps Wednesday: Bench Press Clean and Press Snatch Military Press Friday: Deadlift Bent Over Row Chinups All 3x8 or so?
Did I put all the exercises on the right days, and/or did I neglect something I should use, or overdo a certain muscle group? Thanks so much for your help, guys.
Nah i believe heavy or think chins and bent over rows is more than enough work for the biceps but they definatly dont need a dedicated exercise basically isolation to work the biceps the compounds would do just fine. As with day 4 on your routine there isnt any need the forearms and traps get hit enough with the other lifts you mentioned. If you were to do another day i would recommend a dynamic day. Cheers
Ohh and about the exercise selection i would personally mix some of the pressing exercises about to different days such as military press, bench etc. As that would be imo to much tricep work in one day along with snatches. Cheers
Something like this? Monday: Squat Weighted Situps Wednesday: Bench Press Chinups Clean and Press Friday: Deadlift Bent Over Row Snatch Military Press If this is a reasonable routine as far as exercises go, what order should I do them in?
Thank you. Just one more question though. Should I be starting with 3x3 and 5x5 or should I start out with higher reps until I am more used to weights?
