another newbie says hello

[JRSAC]

Hey guys, so I've been reading on this and other forums for a few weeks and decided that this one had the most knowledgeable members that I could learn the most from in my quest to get stronger. I've read most of the stickys so I will try not to be redundant but I apologize if I ask questions that have been answered.

I'm 22 and have about 3 years of weightlifting experience, but most of that consisted of me doing a bunch of isolation exercises to "really feel that pump" and maybe the occasional compound movement. On top of that, I had some bad luck with sports injuries and was unable to lift for the past year or so, which translated into me sitting on my ass sans-exercise for far too long. In that time I've lost a lot of size and strength, and I'm looking to gain it back and then some. I'm more interested in gaining functional strength than getting big.

For the last month I've been doing a 2-day split, something like this:
A: deadlifts, leg presses, calf raises, abs
B: DB flat/incline bench, seated DB shoulder press, cable rows, chinups

I was hesitant to jump into doing bent-over BB rows, squats, overhead press, etc without a better base of strength, which is why I started with easier replacements like the cable rows and leg press. I realize now that I'm not doing myself any favors by doing the easier exercises, so I'm going to focus on the compound BB exercises even if I need to start really light and get the technique down. I've been practicing deadlifts all month, started at 135 to learn technique and strengthen my lower back, and have worked my way up to 315x3 and 325x1 on my last workout. I'm confident that I can continue to make weekly gains in this lift. I did squats for the first time 2 days ago, first a few sets with just the bar making sure I was getting deep enough (below parallel), then 3 sets of 135x10. I feel like I need to rep out 135-ish for a few workouts to strengthen all the supporting muscles in my legs/back that the leg press didn't work before I start adding more weight to the bar.

The remaining lifts that I want to start ASAP are the bentover BB row (pendlay?), overhead press, and BB bench press. I was planning on starting at 135ish for reps on the bench because I've done it before (but still need to start light to get back into it after so long), but am not sure where to begin on the other two. Should I just start with the 45lb bar for the first workout and concentrate on technique, then slowly go up weekly? Keep in mind I've never done these 2 lifts.

I'm also not sure how much lightweight squatting I should do before starting to up the weight significantly. My first sets of 135lb-squats hit my legs/glutes WAY harder than leg pressing with like 8 45lb plates piled onto both sides of the sled, so I know I have some stabilizing muscles that need to get stronger before I can load up on the weight. I also want to be sure my back is strong enough to maintain a healthy arch throughout the squat before going heavier.

Any advice you guys have for a newbie would be greatly appreciated. What kind of weight/reps/sets/frequency should I do for the lifts I've never tried? How quickly/slowly should I start to add weight on these new lifts? Are there any essential compound lifts I'm missing? I also want to learn power cleans, but I'm not sure that's something I should be doing without a knowledgeable teacher with me in the gym to correct me. Any thoughts?

 

[rupert559]

Hey bro nice for you to join im still new as well lol.. But anyway sounds like you have a good plan set up im not an expert but id continue from there till ur base strength is up mayb try the new lifts at the end of the workouts for one or two sets light to work technique an jus c were your at.. Bench and squat are tricky tho you always want to maintain form wit those lifts with a weight that you can handle mayb uping the weight in small incriments till you learn your own body.. I also wanted to mention an this is probably only my opinion but ive always felt that leg press helps deads mor then squat even my powerlifting coach has me do heavy leg press som days for accessory deadlift work.. Again im no expert but any advice or opinions i can give jus ask lol

 

[thecompound]

hey glad you are here. Try this out, I am on it now and I absolutely love it. It combines strength and size.

Mega Feature: Layne Norton Training Series + Full Power/Hypertrophy Routine (Updated 2011) | SimplyShredded.com

 

[JRSAC]

Thanks for the replies, I'm goin in today to work upper body and will start with a few sets of OH presses and bent-over rows with just the bar. Do you guys recommend starting out with 3 sets of each of the new exercises, or would going up to 5 sets of each be better while I'm doing such low weight? Should I keep reps around 10-12 for these new lifts or do lots of reps and go to failure?

As far as learning to do power cleans, what's a good starting point? I was going to do a couple sets of Romanian deadlifts (with the bar), followed by hang cleans to get the hang of the movement. When I "practice" the rack position (mainly to get wrist flexibility), should I load some weight on the bar and pick it up off the power rack or just practice hang cleans with the 45lb-bar to get the rack position down? I don't care about looking like an idiot, I just want to learn to correctly do a power clean. If anyone with experience with this lift thinks it isn't something to be teaching myself, please chime in and I will hold off until I find someone that can help me out in person. Thanks

 

[JRSAC]

Last night I did bent-over rows and military press for the first time... 12x45lb 12x65 10x75 10x75 for the rows and 10x45 10x65 10x65 10x75 for the presses. I'll try adding 5lbs each workout on both, and after I get used to doing them after awhile I'll start lowering the reps down to 5 and use slightly heavier weight, but for now I want to concentrate on technique before going too heavy.

I also did 3 sets of chinups to failure (8, 6, 5) then sqeaked out a measly 4 pullups. Hopefully I can add a rep each workout and eventually start doing weighted chinups/pullups. Then I did BB flat bench: 45x15 135x10 135x10 135x8. I'll keep doing sets of 10 with similar weight (or 5lbs more each week) until I feel more comfortable with the lift before lowering the reps to 5 and going relatively heavier.

I'm turning this into a workout log as motivation to improve my lifts every week, and also to leave my workouts open for comments/criticism. Tomorrow will be deadlifts, squats, calf raises, BW squats where I try to focus on being explosive w/ a vertical leap at the end of each rep, and some core exercises.

 

[zedhed]

Welcome to EF bro.
Looks like your off to a very good start here.
On the squats you def dont wanna increase the weight significantly, take baby steps bro and save yourself the injuries. Same for all your lifts.
On your bench press. Go to google and type in Dave Tate Bench Press. There is a hell of a lot more to injury free benching then just laying there putting the weight up.
Good luck and I will be here and watching out for you bro.
Regards.

 

[JRSAC]

Thanks for the support. I definitely won't be adding weight unless I can complete the reps with as perfect form as possible. For the bent over rows, I did them at very close to parallel but not quite 90 degrees... I am working on stretching out my glutes so that I gain the flexibility to go the full 90 (If I do that now, my posterior chain is too tight and my lower back rounds slightly). For the squats, I can get my thighs to parallel with good posture but if I try to go lower my glutes won't stretch any more and my lower back rounds very slightly at its lowest point. Is squatting to parallel good enough until I get more flexible to go deeper safely?

I'm pretty confident in my bench press form, I haven't done it in awhile but I am using lighter weight compared to what I used to and I'm very conscious of keeping my back tight for a good base, keeping my elbows at 45 degrees from my torso, and pausing for a second with the bar touching the bottom of my sternum. I did it with high/wide elbows in high school and my rotator cuffs did not thank me for it, so I quickly learned to press in a shoulder-healthy way. Please correct my form if what I wrote above isn't right

 

[tilltheend]

Welcome to EF

 

[joeblow12345]

For 2 weeks stay with ultra light weight and focus on technique. Then add a little weight for 2 weeks until you get to a 10 rm. Then max out in everything the 5 th week. Once you have your maxes plan your program around these numbers. Add weight slowly and always focus on technique.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using EliteFitness

 

[JRSAC]

For 2 weeks stay with ultra light weight and focus on technique. Then add a little weight for 2 weeks until you get to a 10 rm. Then max out in everything the 5 th week. Once you have your maxes plan your program around these numbers. Add weight slowly and always focus on technique.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using EliteFitness

Thx for the input... when you say max out do you mean hit my 10RMs in the 5th week or work up to my 10RMs in the 4th week then do 1RMs the 5th week to gauge where I'm at?