Helping A Beginner

Discuss your weight training questions, concerns and tips!

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DonnyZ222
STARTING OUT
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:24 am

Helping A Beginner

Post by DonnyZ222 »

Hi im new to the site here.. I joined this site seeking help to gain muscle for upper body, NOT to loose weight. Im 17, 6 foot tall and weighround 58 kilograms, I describe myself as fit but lacking in any kind of muscular strength. I play english football on a regular basis and play two 90 minutes matches a week and have a piss around with mates most nights. The things that im wanting to increase in size and muscle is pretty much all of upper body e.g. abs, chest, biceps etc.. I dont have time to go to them gym and therefore im restricted to home, I also have no access to weights at the time being. I have come up with an excercise plan to try and improve muscular strength, here it is after the first week


Chest and Arms
1 set of 10 regular pushups
1 set of 10 wide grip push ups
1 set of 10 close grip push ups

Abs
2 sets of 200 sit ups /30 minutes between

This is what ive decided for first week, I aim to do this routine everday of the week. After every week I want to increase the amount of each push up by 2 making it 12 and increase the sit ups by 10

Any advice or information on the basics would be really appreciated... ( Sorry if Ive used the wrong terms )
Noosk
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Posts: 218
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:52 am

Re: Helping A Beginner

Post by Noosk »

200 sit ups seems a lot. I don't do crunches or sit ups at all and I've lost 3 inches off waist in 5 weeks. Personally I feel they are a waste of time, you want to work your lower back and abs (called your core) and you will have fab abs develop from those without doing 200 sit ups (which can cause compression in the lower back and injury).

You could try doing other bodyweight exercises like squats, burpees, plank (great workout for core (abs)), mountain climbers, lunges etc. If you're not going to the gym do all these with your body weight. Also pull ups and chin ups (these and push ups are the best around afaik) great for the upper body.

I'm sure some of the others will have more ideas, but google these exercises if you're unsure of them - forget the sit ups - planks are a fantastic ab/core workout.
Also reverse crunch, tricep dips off a chair (add books onto your lap to add weight). When you're ready you can add in some headstand push ups (upside down against a wall and push yourself up and down with your arms), again google it to see what it looks like.

Just a few ideas to get you going.
Ensure you're eating enough - especially protein to sustain muscle growth and workout every second day (you need to give your muscles at least 48 hours between workouts to grow - that's when the magic happens!).

Best of luck and keep us updated on your progress! Oh and welcome of course!
Noosk
swanso5
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Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:25 pm
Location: melbourne, australia

Re: Helping A Beginner

Post by swanso5 »

search "your body is a barbell" by alwyn cosgrove

read

do
TheFitRebel
STARTING OUT
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Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:41 pm

Re: Helping A Beginner

Post by TheFitRebel »

I second the notion of sit ups and crunches being mostly worthless. Maybe not worthless but certianly not worth their time.

I like all of your push up variations they rock!

I would combine that with equal parts pulling exercises. Things like inverted rows and chin ups are going to be a great combination with the pushups.

Also don't forget your legs! I made the mistake of not doing anything for legs for years because I'm a bike racer and I thought that was good enough. HA! Not ever close!

it's funny but the whole body kind of likes to grow as a unit, and not really so much in bits and peices. Once I started doing squats upper body got much stronger as well, so some simple lunges and squats will also be great as well.
brendon.snee
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Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:53 pm

Re: Helping A Beginner

Post by brendon.snee »

try working on core strength instead of crunches, add body weight squats and burpees, pullups and handstand pushups mix it together with shuttle runs. Think functional fitness as apposed to isolated muscle movement ( circuit training>curls) remember the key to training is variety. Check out crossfit.com they post a daily work out most of which you can do at the park or in the front yard or better still see if there is a crossfit affiliate near you.
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