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Help me design a workout (college student)

Divisor

New member
I am new to these forums and to weightlifting. While I have lifted casually for the past year, I know nothing about making constructive progress toward getting stronger and bigger.

The basics: I'm 18, male, 5'8", 150 pounds. My diet consists of whatever the college cafeteria has--in other words, junk. I make sure to drink lots of water, citrus juices, and milk throughout the day, but that's about all I do. I try to eat lots of protein. For lunch I always get a 6" roast beef sandwich, and for dinner I usually pick something with lots of protein. However, I doubt this is sufficient.

At the weight room, I know the various lifts, but I don't know how to integrate them into a useful plan.

I want to get stronger, but admittedly, I want to look better and not be considered "skinny" my whole life.

I have access to a weight room every Monday-Friday, and I can dedicate one hour per weekday to lift there. There's a track nearby as well.

I max out on the bench at 185 lbs. I have done squats up to 225 lbs, but I do not know my max.

I am very serious about getting this workout plan going and sticking to it. Can someone recommend a basic workout plan for me given these circumstances? What supplements should I be taking that would increase my lifting potential safely? I am willing to dedicate lots of money and effort into the limited time that I can work out if it brings great success.

Miscellaneous questions:

1. What are good back exercises?
2. What is the correct squat form? Wide stance, thighs parallel to ground? Where do the arms/hands go on the bar?
 
It seems you are on the right track... I would start by lifting 3 times a week, using a full body routine focused on compound lifts.

Be sure to include squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, some sort of bench press (I prefer close grip),bent over rows, chinups, stiff legged deadlifts, farmers walks, and dips.

for isolation exercises, it would be wise to include calf raises, barbell curls, some random neck exercises, and a triceps exercise, such as skullcrushers or pressdowns.

I would invest in a good whey protein (proteinfactory.com sells it for like 4$/lb) and use it once or twice a day (do your best to get a shake within 30 mins after you work out).

ab work is so unbelievable controversial and personal that I'll leave it up to you. do whatever feels right. personally, I believe that abs should be worked just like any other muscle, under 12 reps, weighted and heavy. others do tons of sets and reps, others dont work them because they say they are used enough in other lifts... figure out what's good for you.

if you need any exercise descriptions, I would recommend taking a look at http://strengthtraining.asimba.com/fitness_info/index.html

best of luck.
 
Divisor...Here is the the 5x5 program i told you I would post for you... This origionally came from needsize, and i just saved a copy of it... I believe he is still currently using this with excellent success..... This is the origional post he made with it including diet and other info as well.....



Diet:

This is the simple part. Focus on getting about 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. For instance if you weigh 115 pounds try and consume about 250 to 300 grams of protein. This forces muscle recovery, muscle growth, and aids in strength gain. Increased muscle mass speeds the bodys metabolism and increases its fat burning efficiency. I recommend purchasing a good protein suppliment. Try Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey from DSPnutrition.com to suppliment you dietary protein.

Reduce the amount of sugar in your diet. Sugar causes insulin spikes which can make u tired, lethargic, and causes the body to more easily store dietary fat and carbohydrates as fat.

Always avoid consuming fat and carbohydrates in the same meal. This leads to increased body fat storage.




Workout:

This get much more complicated but we will start you off with a basic plan which can be altered as needed later. I would start you out on a powerlifting program like I am on, but it is very complex in its methods and applications. It requires a great understanding of your individual strengths and weaknesses and focuses more on developing your CNS (central nervous system) more that your skeletal muscle system... So I suggest you start out with a basic 5x5 program to begin with to develop some good strength gains and muscle development. I won't go into overly explaining the various exercises here since it would be much easier to do over the phone. I can also send you some links to webpages with pics and descriptions and video clips.


The 5X5 training approach has been around for decades and has proven to be effective for many types of strength athletes.

THREE APPROACHES
1. Light weight for speed: 5 sets of 5 reps with no more than 60 seconds rest between sets. 60% to 65% of your 1 RM (1 Rep Maximum) is recommended. NOTE: It's important that you move the weight a fast as possible with 100% effort on each rep. Maximum bar velocity is important to get the optimum use of your fast twitch muscle fibers.

2. Medium weight: 5 to 6 sets of 5 to 6 reps. Work up over the first 2 to 3 sets, then do 2 to 3 sets of with the same work weight. 75% to 85% is recommended.

3. Heaviest weight: 5 to 6 sets working up to limit "all-out" set of 3 to 5 reps on the last set. 85% to 95% is recommended.

I've used all three of these approaches to the 5X5 principle and have found them to be ideal for trainees to train compound movements.
Try doing the same compound movement twice in one week with one of each from the 3 choices above.

FOR A CYCLE: Try doing one "light/speed" workout and then on another day do one "medium" workout. Do this for two weeks. Then on the third week do a "light to medium" workout one day and on second workout go for that "limit set" of 3 to 5 reps.

Let's assume you're training the Squat and your 1RM is 300 lb..

If you're doing a light/ speed workout, you would use 180 lb. to 195 lb.. Start with a light weight, let's say 135 lb., and do 10 to 12 reps for a warm up. Increase your speed progressively faster and faster on the last 4 to 5 reps.

Now put your 60% to 65% (180 to 195) on the bar and do 5 sets of 5 reps with no more than 60 seconds rest between sets, and do each rep like there was 300 lb. on the bar.

If you're doing a "medium" weight workout use 75% to 85%. That's 225 to 255. Start with 135 for 10 to 12 reps. Then go 185X5, 225X5, and finish with 255 for 2 to 3 sets. Or if you're not feeling 100% that day, just do the 225 for 3 sets of 5.

On a "heavy" workout day, you would use between 255 and 285 lb.. To progress up do something like 135X10 reps, 185X5, 225X5, 255X5, 280X5. If you can get that 280 for 5, then try 290 to 300 and try to get at least a triple. If you can get 290 for 3 reps or better, you can pretty much estimate a higher 1RM. without actually doing that 1RM.

This is a good way to train both front and back squats, as well as most pressing movements, Bench, Incline, and Seated Presses.


Pick one exercise per bodyypart to do the 5x5, then 2 other ones for 2 sets each, 8-10 reps per set. This way you're hitting the fast twitch fibres with the low reps, and the slow twitch with the higher. The 5x5 on it's own will build strength and some size, but I found the higher rep sets really important to facilitate growth. Make sure your 5x5 exercises are compound, ie, bench press, close grip bench, standing barbell curls, weighted dips, squats, deads, etc. You want to use the same weight for all 5 sets, once you can get 5x5 on the same weight, add a small amount of weight for the next workout. I found that starting the program using weights that you can hit easily worked best for me. The growth comes from progressive overload, the constantly adding of weight, so if you start too heavy or add too fast, you'll hit the wall a lot quicker. 5lbs per week doesn't sounds like much, but that's an extra 40lbs on the bar after 8 weeks.


Here is how your workout split should look ideally

Monday: Chest/Calves
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Back/Shoulders
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Quads/Hmastrings/Calves
Saturday: Biceps/Tricepss/forarms
Sunday: Rest

Do some cardio on your rest day, maybe 30 to 45 minutes.


Monday
flat bench press 5x5 reps
incline dumbell press 2x8-10 reps
incline dumbell flyes 2x8-10 reps
standing calve raises 5x15 reps

Wednesday
Military press 5x5 reps
deadlifts 5x5 reps
side laterals 3x8-10 reps
chins/pulldowns 2-3x8-10 reps
shrugs 2x8-10 reps
Barbell rows 2x8-10 reps
bent over laterals 2x8-10 reps

Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday are rest days

Friday
squats 5x5 reps
hack squats(or leg press) 2x8-10 reps
leg extensions 2x8-10 reps
lying hamstring curls 3x8-10 reps
seated calve raises 5x15 reps

Saturday
1) close grip bench 5x5 reps
standing barbell curls 5x5 reps

2) Dips 2x8-10 reps
incline dumbell curls 2x8-10 reps

3) skull crushers 2x8-10 reps
preacher curls 2x8-10 reps
(These are all supersetted, ie close grip with standing barbell)



That's pretty much it,
As far as rest periods, I aim for 1 1/2 minutes between supersets, on straight sets on something like quads, I'll go 3-4 mintues.

Try to never be in the gym for more that 1 Hour
 
Some good advice here...

B True
 
Ok I dont fully understand the 5x5 principal so I'm going to use Monday as an example.

JDarty6173 said:

Monday
flat bench press 5x5 reps
incline dumbell press 2x8-10 reps
incline dumbell flyes 2x8-10 reps
standing calve raises 5x15 reps


Would I be speed repping on the flat bench, since its the first workout and its only 5 reps? So using like 60% of my max?

Then would I be going medium speed on the incline stuff and really slow on the calf raises? Can I build a 5x5 plan that does some fairly heavy benching and deadlifting (most I see do sets of 20?)

I'm scheduled to get a new routine in about 2 weeks so I've been reading a lot of these threads but I still dont fully understand it, mostly the logic behind it.
 
I'm curious too about this 5x5.
I have always been told and taught to do 4 sets, 10/8/6/4 and increasing the weight after each set (so on set 4, you would be at your max lifting weight).


Please explain this 5x5
 
BoDEAN said:
I'm curious too about this 5x5.
I have always been told and taught to do 4 sets, 10/8/6/4 and increasing the weight after each set (so on set 4, you would be at your max lifting weight).


Please explain this 5x5

Do a search in here on "5x5". It has been discussed lots of times with a lot of the same questions you are asking. It has worked really well for a lot of people in here. I'm willing to bet you could get all of your questions answered by searching.

.02,
Joker
 
Well, I finished my first day of the 5x5 program. This is what I did:

5 x 5 Bench press @ 135 lbs
2 x 10 Incline dumbell press @ 30 lbs
2 x 10 Incline dumbell fly @ 20 lbs
5 x 15 Standing calf raise @ 135 lbs
80 situps in 2 minutes

How can I minimize the soreness tomorrow?
 
Divisor said:

How can I minimize the soreness tomorrow?
Ibuprofen, analgesics, light AR work(do a search on "active recovery"), lots of water, sleep well, eat well, and get a really pretty girl to give you a deep muscle massage:D

and welcome to the board
 
a lot of good advice here...
for back:
pull-ups wide grip palms away
bent-over rows
seated cable rows
Deadlifts

For squatting go at least parallel hand about the same distance as on bench feet about shoulder with and when lowering oneself try to have a straight back without any rounding and rememeber to look up..... Good luck and welcome
 
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