I SUMMON YOU OH MAP FITNESS GODS!

Hello MAP,

As the new year starts in high school, I plan to access the school weight room. Now with this new plan comes with questions.

First off, the routine. A quick background about myself. I'm 15 years old, 5 feet 8 inches in terms of height, and roughly 160 pounds for weight.
My goal is to increase my strength, mostly for martial arts (specifically Boxing at this moment). I might toss in a isolation exercise/s here and there for vanity reasons, but beyond that, my goals are strength.

I Box three times a week, Tuesday followed by Thursday and finally Saturday. I plan to weightlift on the Mondays and Wednesdays, as that is when time permits. Fridays and Sundays are rest/family/friend days.

The gym in my school has the following equipment: Dumbbells ranging from 3lbs to 60lbs, one power rack, smith machine (evil), Dip and Pull Up bars, Skipping Rope, Resistance bands, Stationary Bikes, Leg Press and extension machines, benches and some Medicine balls.

My routine is as follows:

Monday:
- Back Squat 3 x 5 reps
- Deadlifts 1 x 5 reps
- Overhead Presses 3 x 5 reps
- Pull Ups 3 x 7-10 reps

Wednesday:
- Deadlifts 1 x 5 reps
- Back Squat 3 x 5 reps
- Bench Press 3 x 5 reps
- 1 Arm Dumbbell Rows (unknown sets x reps)

First off, thoughts and opinions on this workout? Secondly, Olympic style lifts are not permitted, due to the Physical Education staff banning it. Don't know why.

Unfortunately, as there is only one power rack, it may not be possible to fully complete this workout, so I have to change things out with dumbbells. Does anyone have some nice dumbbell exercises I can do that can possibly replace the exercises above (besides the pull ups)?

I also might be pressed in time, so I'm trying to make these workouts no longer then 45min to an hour, if it is possible.

Finally, I have questions in regards to protein powder. I plan to purchase some protein powder very soon, and I have some questions regarding it. First, does the brand matter? Secondly, what is the average price for protein powder? The place I am planning to buy protein powder is:

http://www.popeyescanada.com/index2.php

I believe that is it. I thank you guys/gals in advance for the help.

Sincerely
~Seventh

 

You are not a normal 15 year old.

The absolute BEST thing you can do is to learn compound lifts first. Get somebody to teach you proper form on Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Military Press, Dips, Front Squats, Rows, and Pull Ups. Don't worry about curls, triceps extensions, or any type of isolation movements.

I know that's a huge list of things but pick a few and then master them. I would start off with Deadlifts, Military Press, Rows, Bench, and Squats. Get good at them. Do many, many repetitions and high rep sets to start out to get some muscle memory built up and then start getting strong with them. Learning how to do big compound lifts properly is going to build TREMENDOUS strength, and since you're just starting and are so young, if you stick with it you'll be not only amazed but will build an AWESOME foundation for when you start getting into the world of Olympic Lifting to start working on your explosive power.

Don't let yourself get overwhelmed, get somebody to teach you, work on proper technique and the strength will absolutely come. Take advantage of any weight lifting coaches or people who can teach you correct technique since you're starting out. Gaining knowledge about lifting weights should be the absolute priority for you.

 

I wouldn't deadlift twice in one week. Other than that seems like a reasonable approach. Maybe squat/press/pull-ups one day and deadlift/bench/row the other.

 

You forget he's 15! Once he gets over soreness once he isn't going to get sore anymore!

 

???

I'm going to see if I can get one of the Physical Education staff to teach me the basic form, and if that fails, I'll probably just look stuff up on YouTube and maybe videotape myself for criticism.

Woo hoo! I hope my experience in working with bodyweight exercises will transfer over, in terms of base strength, though I understand that I have much to learn, and much more to practice.

Got it!

May I ask why?

To be honest, I'm more worried about joint/ligament related injuries and pain then muscle soreness, as joint pain is something I have more of a problem with then muscle pain.

 

Also, any opinion on the protein powder? Please?

 

I would second doing Deadlift just once a week, and Squat each session if you can. Since the dumbbells are there maybe DB Bench Press. I wouldn't use them for Squat except maybe Goblet Squat on a deload session. Since you have med balls have you considered something like this, may compliment your boxing? And with resistance bands if there is still time some Tricep Pulldowns and/or Face Pulls

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTziGGYAgQ"]Medicine Ball Exercises - 5 movements - YouTube[/ame]

I dunno about Canadian Dollar prices sorry, though I would go for a whey protein complex like http://www.popeyescanada.com/inf_biox_wheycomplex.php

 

Why?

Thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate it

 

The deadlift takes a lot out of you physically so doing it less often is important if you want to get better at it. Counterintuitive but it does work. Squatting works the most muscle so squatting more often means big gains.

 

I disagree about the deadlifting and I don't know what information everyone is pulling "just once a week" from. Deadlifting is "my lift" and I love doing it. I got good at it around 16 or 17 years old. I used to go to the high school gym and deadlift 2-3 times a week and I used to be obsessed with it. After about 3 months of training the deadlift like that I hit a wall at about 400lbs from reps of 2 or 3 because of grip issues (I have never used lifting straps while lifting) to which I bought CoC Grips. I worked on just my grip for a couple of weeks to where I could get 10x10 on the #1 grips and my deadlift for 2-3 reps shot up 100lbs. At my peak I was deadlifting about 530 lbs for reps of 3 without placing the bar back on the ground (down position is the weights about half an inch off the ground for me).

In the last 6 or so years, whether I have been training deadlifts or not I have never walked into a gym and not been able to at least deadlift 400lbs for one rep.

While I believe that I am naturally strong I give credit to muscle memory and repetitions and frequency/volume to ANY weightlifting exercise I'm good at. I have never been anywhere near "strong" to what I believe my body is capable of yet because I've rarely trained for a max lift. Once I start deadlifting heavy again (coming back from back issues unrelated to deadlifting, to which I USED deadlifting to rehabilitate my back injury with light weight and lots of reps) I'll make sure I record one of my heavier sets so I'm not talking out of my butt on the internet.

While I agree that lifting hardcore, heavy sets 3 times a week in ANY big compound exercise is too much for your body I do not believe a specific exercises has anything to do with being "too much." It's simply an equation of volume and intensity. Deadlifting has ALWAYS given me an edge in training martial arts because of the leaps and bounds you make in strength in posterior chain for pulling motions and grip strength and I believe for any combat sport that deadlifting should be a staple exercise over squatting. It works the majority of pulling muscles as well as the muscles involved in rotating your hips that deliver power to a punch, as well as the muscles involved in stability when you get hit.

If I am missing something based off of my personal experience with deadlifts and how I've reacted to them physically, some sort of scientific approach to lifting that says "deadlifting is too much to do more then once a week" I would very much appreciate if somebody throws that information my way.

 

I think you would better be able to judge what you need with this statement: "Supplements give you an edge, they do not replace actual requirements for the needed nutritions by food and hard work." Protein powder is GREAT to have, but at the start of a weightlifting journey your focus should be on eating lots of protein for growth from actual food. I would definitely get some protein powder (and maybe some creatine) but in all honesty if you just eat and work hard you're going to be happy with your gains Seventh. I wouldn't worry too much on what is the best protein, or the cleanest protein, or what protein has multiple different proteins that digest at given times. You will probably do just as well if you slam milk for your protein shakes 10 times a day.

 

Bodyweight exercises are great but weightlifting is a pretty different beast. Once you start weightlifting the bodyweight exercises will transfer over to helping with weightlifting as being a supplement to it, especially for muscular endurance. If you do things like pistol squats it'll definitely transfer into learning technique for weightlifting as well as giving you an edge to push/pull heavier weights. Definitely keep up with the bodyweight stuff since you train boxing.

An awesome thing about weightlifting is it strengthens your joints/ligaments as well as your bone structure. Don't get discouraged if certain joints get a bit of a nagging ache as that's very common with weightlifting and pushing heavy weight. Just don't push that particular area too hard too fast, maintain proper form and some of those aches may even disappear altogether.

 

Being young helps with recovery Ero. The problem is it's very easy to overtrain on the deadlift. It's very easy to get deadlift addicted (I know because I used to be one) because it can easily be your heaviest lift. Top powerlifters may deadlift heavy just once a month.

http://www.westside-barbell.com/wes...F/Overcoming Plateaus Part 3 The Deadlift.pdf

 

That article doesn't give me the impression that it's speaking against doing deadlifts, but rather deadlifting too often too heavy. That's totally different and the examples used were powerlifters who are at a point where they have to start tweaking their training and doing different things to "get that edge". I don't think Seventh is going to have that problem for a good two or three years which is why I feel "don't deadlift more then once a week" is not good advice for him.

 

Well, for all the lifts I'm planning to just use the bar for the first time, and then add on 70lbs to the bench press, 60lbs to the overhead press, and 80lbs to the deadlift and back squat. Reasoning behind this is that my weight is 160lbs, so I'm going to start at around half my weight for the lifts, and progress from there.

 

Shutup! We're debating your future in deadlifts in which you are not a part of!

 

;_;

I'm sorry....

*Hides in the corner and shadowboxes whilst crying*

 

First up, go and get a copy of starting strength my Mark Rippetoe and go read it. The kindle version is only $10 these days so there's no excuse not to have access to a copy. It contains a huge amount of stuff about proper technique for the lift, better than your gym teacher will know I bet.

You won't be able to do the Starting Strength program as it contains cleans which are an Olympic style lift. But a good basic program to get you started is Stronglifts 5x5. There's a spreadsheet on the website to get you started. EDIT: There's a lot more rubbish on the stronglifts website then I remember but I'm sure it's there somewhere.

What is most important in any beginner program is to get your form correct to prevent injury. But you also get your body used to the motion. So yes, start with the bar, but then don't suddenly dumb larger weights on there. Progress more slowly and get your body used to the movement.

 

Ive been speed deadlift in with low loads 5 times a week all summer but I really think you shouldn't begin deadlifting so often because he may unknowingly over do it and it's very straining on the nervous system

I think at this stage you should focus on getting the feeling of the movement and develop the skill involved so start light

Seventh if may make some suggestions (thi is a modification of FOD's "little" program) too help correct any issues you could unknowingly have e.g hip tuck, tight rotator cuff or bad posture.
If you want to get into o-lifts I've included some stuff to help

Monday:
warm up - light dead lifts and Scapular retraction
Back squat 3x5
Dumbbell bench press 3x5
One arm dumbbell rows 3x8
Dips 3 sets to failure
Pull ups 1 set to failure
Tennis ball foam roll

Wednesday:
Warm up - yti raises and practice front squats with the bar. Or if you can do front squats then do light goblet squats
Goblet squats 3x10-15 or once you can do front squats 3x5
One arm dumbbell overhead press 3x5 (once you can front squat well then start barbell pressing from the rack position but start light again)
Deadlifts 1x5
Pull up 3xfailure (more than 15 in the last set the add weight)
Dips 1x failure
Farmers walks and plate pinch walks

Friday:
Body weight And band stuff you used to do.

Progression is should be the same as starting strength

 

what righty said re: starting strength. you also don't need a kindle either as you can read ebooks on your pc with free software (i think amazon even provides kindle format reading software that you can download).

re: deadlifts: deadlifts done regularly will kill your lower back if you use grip aids such as chalk and straps, which let you lift more than you ordinarily could. if he sticks to double overhand he should be fine for 2x a week for only one set. i would, however, change it from 1x5 to 5x1, since he's only gonna do 5 reps anyway, so might as well rest up properly for each one and put as much into each rep as possible.