My training schedule

Hi, I´ve started training with weights at home about 2 months ago and I would love to hear what you experienced ones have to say about my schedule - if I´m doing something wrong and/or if there are things you would change/tips and so on.

I´m 17 years old and the weights I´m using are at 7kg right now. I started off with them weighting at 5kg and about 3 weeks ago added 2 more kg's to them. I do the following exercises 3 sets 12 reps 3-4/week so that I get a day off resting. Crunches I do in 3 x 20 and I do them every day.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBLunge.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/DBShrug.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBFrontRaise.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/DBCurl.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/DBTriExt.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristFlexors/DBWristCurl.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/WristExtensors/DBReverseWristCurl.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Infraspinatus/DBUprightExternalRotation.html
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtCrunch.html

The last 5 excercises I do with smaller weights - 3kg ones. I dont have a picture of the chest exercise but I just basically lie down and form a T with my arms, holding onto the dumbells with boths hands and raise them up until they touch each other, hope you understand. The reason I do 3 sets of 12 reps is because from what I´ve understood it is a perfect balance for gaining muscle mass, strength and endurance that way, while doing 6-9 reps is almost purely for strength and 15+ focuses more on building muscles. Please correct my if I am wrong.

When I started training I also started eating more than I usually do since I need all those carbs and proteins to gain some muscle mass. This of course means that I need to gain some weight to gain some muscles. So the plan is to keep going at it and after a certain period of time, when everything feels right I´ll start doing some cardio training to lose the unnecessary fat and bring the muscles out from hiding. Again, please correct me if my way of thinking is wrong as I havent researched alot on this issue.

Also, please excuse my english as it's not my main language so there are probably a few errors here and there.


Cheers,
Janne


PS: I´m not training with tennis primarily on my mind but for just getting stronger, bigger and healthier. That this will help my tennis is only a pleasant plus.

Bump! Anyone?

Thanks for the site Janne! I just yesterday got a 10kg chrome set.

You're welcome Duzza! By the way, do you mean 10kg total weight or 10 in both? If it is the latter, I really, really suggest that you start off with something lighter than 10kg in both if that's what you're going to do, since you need time to learn the right technique and become accustomed to the weights first. But if you mean 10kg total than that is a perfectly fine weight to start off with! You'll quickly notice a bump in strength (I assume that you're training to get stronger and maybe a bit muscle mass) and then you'll be trampling water for a while and that is when you can up the weights by 1-2kg's!

Anyway, enjoy browsing the site and coming up with a training schedule and I also suggest that you post it here for others to see and comment on + giving you advice or talk to someone in the "weight lifting business".

Well it was a set of:

2 x 2.5 kg bars
4 x 2.5 kg discs
4 x 1.25 kg discs

so 20 kgs all up in 2 dumbells .

And 10kg I could barely do 10 reps with I'll mainly just be working my back, shoulder and triceps I think. Mainly from doctors orders.

Since we are the same age, can you tell me what you started out doing, and how you built it up?

As in weight/reps/sets/days a week

Well, I started out doing 3 sets of 10 reps with my weights weighting in at 5kg each. After about 3 weeks I began noticing that I didnt have to spend as much energy as I did in the beginning when doing my whole training set so I decided that it was time to move up a bit and added 2kg's to each dumbell, so they both weight 7kg's right now. At the same time I added more weight to them I extended the amount of reps I do per set to 12, mainly because I just think that it's a better combination for gaining these three things: Muscle mass, muscle endurance and strength, where strength gets a bit more focus than the other two. You need to add more weight when you begin feeling that you're not getting any stronger as that means your body has adapted to the current weight and you'll only get weaker from there on, unless you either start doing more sets/reps and/or add more weight.

From the beginning I´ve been doing my whole training set 3-4 times a week. That way I always get 1 day to rest my body before next workout.

As I said, I suggest that you start out with each weight weighting in at 5kg's and train until you start to feel that you're trampling water (aka you're not getting tronger anymore), and it's hard to say when that will be as it varies from person to person. Though I´m 100% sure it wont take more than 2 months since you always notice an increase in strength quickly when beginning and then start to trample water after that. When you feel you've been trampling water for 1-2 weeks, to be on the safe side, you start to add weight to the chromes. How much? I´d say 1-2kg is good.

Having a chrome set like yours will last you a really long time! Right now I can only add up to 7.5kg's on each, so a total of 15kg when counting both dumbells and I´m sure it'll last me at least 3-4 more months before I buy another more to add to them.

Since you said you'll mostly be working on your triceps, shoulders and back, here are some exercises that I recommend and also do:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/TrapeziusUpper/DBShrug.html for your back
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBFrontRaise.html for your shoulders
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/DBTriExt.html for your triceps (you might want to do these with lighter weights)



Cheers,
Janne

Cheers Janne. Do you do all those exercises in post 1? And although Ano is the expert on this, have you changed your diet since doing weights? I feel that unless I do (I'm no pig) weights will not have too much of an effect

Yes, I do all those exercises along with crunches and an exercise for the chest. I´ve changed my diet so that I eat more than I did before I started training. That means I now eat more regular food, sallad and sometimes fruits. I´ve also stopped eating outside as much as I did before and when I eat outside I usually eat a chicken teriyaki at Subway which I consider is healthy food (although I take bbq sauce on it which is not that healthy but still), though you might spot me eating a pizza or something every now and then.

I eat more because you need the carbs and proteins to build muscle mass but I´m not very serious about it since muscle mass is my last priority while strength is #1 and muscle endurance is #2. I´m also not that worried about gaining that much weight from fatty foods since my metabolism is pretty good. Before I started training I tried to gain like 5kg's of weight by eating lots of food, both healthy and fat and not exercise except for my weekly tennis session and. I also used to eat lots and lots of candy and stuff like that and it took me a 5 months to gain 3kg's of weight...

So: Eat more. Eat healthy kind of food that gives you all the things you need to build muscle mass. You'll gain weight from both muscles and fat (mostly fat) by doing this which is normal. After a certain period of time when you feel you've trained a lot (could be 6 months, a year, a year and a half, dont put a time limit just do it when you feel for it.) you start to do some cardio work while still eating correctly and you will lose the unneccesary fat and your muscles will come out of hiding - this applies mostly to your abdominal area and chest.

I´m not an expert on this issue and that is why I posted this thread, so that people with more experience could point out if I´m wrong but no one has done that. So as you said, Ano is one of the experts and I really hope he and others will chime in.


Cheers,
Janne

Here's mine, 4-5 days/week.

Cycle 4 miles to a track,
Walk 1/2 mile.
Stretch a bit
Jog 2.5, sometimes 3 miles (approx 9-10 minutes/mile)
walk 1/2 mile
Cycle 4 miles home, faster
stretch a bit

3 sets of 25 pushups
3 sets of 30 crunches,
3 sets of 12 dumbell curls,
3 sets of 12 dumbell shrugs, or whatever you call it when you lift the dumbells from your waist to your chin.

Takes me about 1.5 hours

Please, I did not put this thread up to get other peoples training schedules, I did it so that people would comment on mine, give me tips and point out the wrongs in my way of thinking.


Thank you,
Janne

Janne said:

Please, I did not put this thread up to get other peoples training schedules, I did it so that people would comment on mine, give me tips and point out the wrongs in my way of thinking.


Thank you,
Janne

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OK, it isn't as good as mine. How's that?

Could you specify why you think that? Any tips? Note that my training is not meant only for tennis but for other stuff as well.

Janne said:

Could you specify why you think that? Any tips? Note that my training is not meant only for tennis but for other stuff as well.

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1. You have no cardio training. Cardio should be the foundation of your training, not an afterthought.

2. I don't see any attention to stretching. This is especially important for weight lifting as lifting will shorten your muscular tissue and limit mobility.

3. Your legs are almost completely ignored.

4. For a young, 17 year old, 3-4 times a week isn't much. You should be doing 4-5 at least.

1. Isnt it harder to build muscle mass when you're doing cardio training? I´m thinking about starting to run again, as I did last summer.
The only reason I took a break from running was that it started getting cold here in Sweden, you know, with the snow falling down from the sky and all that.

2. Of course I stretch, I just thought that it's so obvious you should do that every time before and after you train that I didnt think it was necessary to say it.

3. Yes, my legs dont have that much attention, though they do get their fair share of exercise through other stuff. I ride around in my bicycle alot along with skating with inlines. Usually when I do this I do it for a couple of hours.

4. You say 4-5 atleast so that means you think I should be doing this at the minimum 4-5 times a week, right? Should I also be doing it 4-5 times a week when I up the weights to 10kg? Would that not mean that I would over exert myself or would I need to use much higher weights for that to happen?



Thanks,
Janne

Janne,

1. are you a male or a female?

2. what is your main training objective? Gaining mass or general conditioning?

3. Are you a serious tennis player, or a recretional tennis player? How many times do you play/practive tennis in a week?

Please reply my questions, and I will try to give you my opinions.

1. I´m male.

2. From highest to lowest priority: Strength, muscle endurance, muscle mass.

3. I do want to be a serious tennis player but it is hard since I can only afford to take 1-2 tennis sessions a week and only have 1 person that I can play tennis with, and to do that we'd have to pay ~$17/hour for courts. Right now tennis school is on a break since it's summer but when it starts again in August I´ll hopefully be playing 3 hours a week there and maybe 1-2 a week with a friend.

As I said, I´m not training because that'll make me a better player. The fact that it'll help me is only a plus and I train just because I feel like I want to get stronger, fitter, healthier and a bit bigger since I´m skinny.



Thanks,
Janne

Janne said:

1. I´m male.

2. From highest to lowest priority: Strength, muscle endurance, muscle mass.

3. I do want to be a serious tennis player but it is hard since I can only afford to take 1-2 tennis sessions a week and only have 1 person that I can play tennis with, and to do that we'd have to pay ~$17/hour for courts. Right now tennis school is on a break since it's summer but when it starts again in August I´ll hopefully be playing 3 hours a week there and maybe 1-2 a week with a friend.

As I said, I´m not training because that'll make me a better player. The fact that it'll help me is only a plus and I train just because I feel like I want to get stronger, fitter, healthier and a bit bigger since I´m skinny.



Thanks,
Janne

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Okay Janne, here are my opinions :

1.You selected wrong exercises. Instead of single joint / isolation exercises, you must concentrate on compound/multi joint exercises. For example : instead of front raises, do dumbell/barbell shoulder press.

2. You have to train every bodypart. From your list of exercises, I can see that you don’t train your chest and back.

3. You don’t train hard enough. You only use 7 kg dumbell. That might be enough for bicep curl and tricep extension. But certainly not enough for your bigger bodyparts such as : leg, chest and back. At 17, you are ready to start lifting relatively heavy weight. ( I would not recommend you to lift heavy weight if you were 14).

Here are a few suggestions :

1. For the next three months, do a full body weight training program 2-3 times per week on non consecutive day. Try to use dumbells/barbells (free weights) instead of machines.

Do Squat for front thigh, stiff legged deadlift for back thigh, Calf raises for your calves, Bench press for your chest, bent over row for your back, shoulder press for your shoulder, curl for your biceps and triceps extension for your triceps.

After 1 set of warm up, perform 2 sets for every exercise. Choose a weight that you can only lift between 5-8 reps to failure in good form (until you cannot do another repetition in good form), reduce the weight and do 1 more set for every exercise in the 15-20 rep range. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets (or even better, stretch your muscle between sets). You should be able to finish your workout in under an hour.

Finish your work out with Reverse Crunch, Crunch, reverse trunk twist and back raises for your midsection and external rotation exercise to protect your rotator cuff.


Try to beat your last workout. For example. If on Monday you do 5 reps on bench press with 100 pounds, try to do 6 reps with 100 pounds on your next workout. You have to write every workout in your training diary to monitor your progress.

2. Eat 5-6 times a day (every 3 hours). If you want to gain strength and muscle size, you have to eat more than you eat now. Eat plenty of brown rice, sweetpotatoes, fruits, veggies, lean red meat, eggs, fatty fish like salmon, nuts, olive oil, ground flax seed/flax seed oil. And drink lots of water.

3. Get at least 8 hours of sleep per night.

4. You need to do cardio for your heart and general endurance. Do cardio for 30 minutes three times a week. You can do this on your non lifting day, or as a warm up before you lift weight. If you have the time, it’s better to separate your cardio and lifting session.

After three months, you need to change your training routine. Post another thread after three months. Good luck with your training.

And Janne gets some free advice from a PT guru, right there ^^^. Seriously Janne, many places would make you pay for advice that is that good!

The only thing I'd add to Ano's excellent advice is to remember to include a 'recovery week' every 4th week, drop the weights in this week (either weight or reps or both), make it a sub-max / not-to-failure week, and let your body recover. Doing this is a really basic version of the training principle that is known as periodization.

Ano: Good to see you back - have you been absent for a while? Hope all's good!

OrangeOne said:

And Janne gets some free advice from a PT guru, right there ^^^. Seriously Janne, many places would make you pay for advice that is that good!

The only thing I'd add to Ano's excellent advice is to remember to include a 'recovery week' every 4th week, drop the weights in this week (either weight or reps or both), make it a sub-max / not-to-failure week, and let your body recover. Doing this is a really basic version of the training principle that is known as periodization.

Ano: Good to see you back - have you been absent for a while? Hope all's good!

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Yes, that's really a great advice about periodization. I can't believe I forgot to mention that.

OO, I'm fine, but got really busy for the last couple days. Thanks for asking, buddy!!

Wow, I really didnt expect to get advice this good! Thanks alot!

1. That makes sense. I´ll look up the exercises you mentioned and do them from now on. I also wont be using machines as I dont train at a gym, I do it at home and only have two dumbells that I weight 7.5kg max, so I´ll have to buy a new set of weights!

2. I do train my chest, I just didnt find the exercise to post it here. Also, doesnt the dumbell shrug exercise train my back? Well, not that it matters anymore since you posted another exercise for the back!

3. As I said, I´ll buy a new set of weights so that I can get both dumbells up to 15kg each. I know you said 5-8 reps until failure but do you have a certain weight range you'd recommend, like for example 12-14kg or should I just try different weights and see where I cant do anymore reps after 5-8?

I´ll take your suggestion and do the exercises you mentioned if I found them and start running now that it's actually warm here in Sweden. Should I also do the underarm and rotatorcuff exercises that I listed? Also, about writing my progress, I dont really understand how to do this, so any pointers are appreciated!

Also one question about the amount of reps: I´ve heard that doing 5-9 reps per set is when you want to put more focus towards gaining strength alone, is that correct? I´ve been doing 12-15 reps since I heard that this is supposed to be a good combination between all three things with strength as the first priority, muscle endurance as the second and lastly gaining muscle mass.

Again, I really appreciate you taking time to help me,
Janne

Janne said:

Wow, I really didnt expect to get advice this good! Thanks alot!

1. That makes sense. I´ll look up the exercises you mentioned and do them from now on. I also wont be using machines as I dont train at a gym, I do it at home and only have two dumbells that I weight 7.5kg max, so I´ll have to buy a new set of weights!

2. I do train my chest, I just didnt find the exercise to post it here. Also, doesnt the dumbell shrug exercise train my back? Well, not that it matters anymore since you posted another exercise for the back!

3. As I said, I´ll buy a new set of weights so that I can get both dumbells up to 15kg each. I know you said 5-8 reps until failure but do you have a certain weight range you'd recommend, like for example 12-14kg or should I just try different weights and see where I cant do anymore reps after 5-8?

I´ll take your suggestion and do the exercises you mentioned if I found them and start running now that it's actually warm here in Sweden. Should I also do the underarm and rotatorcuff exercises that I listed? Also, about writing my progress, I dont really understand how to do this, so any pointers are appreciated!

Also one question about the amount of reps: I´ve heard that doing 5-9 reps per set is when you want to put more focus towards gaining strength alone, is that correct? I´ve been doing 12-15 reps since I heard that this is supposed to be a good combination between all three things with strength as the first priority, muscle endurance as the second and lastly gaining muscle mass.

Again, I really appreciate you taking time to help me,
Janne

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2. Dumbell shrugs only involve your trapezius (upper and middle fibers). Shrugs don't involve your latissimus dorsi.

3. You should try different weights and see where you cant do anymore reps after 5-8 reps.

The Rotator cuff exercise you listed is what I mean with external rotation exercise to protect your rotator cuff. Do two sets in the 15-20 rep range.

You can do the dumbell wrist curl and dumbell reverse wrist curl at the end of your work out. 2 sets of each exercise in the 10-15 rep range should be enough.

If you want to train for pure strength, you should train in the 1-5 rep range in the basic exercises (squat, stiff legged deadlift, benchpress, row, shoulder press etc). But that's for power lifter who really specialize in maximum strength and power. For you, it's better to do 2 sets in the 5-8 rep range and 1 set in the 15-20 rep range.

As for monitoring your progress, write down every work out you do. For example :

Monday, June 12th, 2007

Chest/Bench press:

Set 1, weight 100 pounds, 7 reps (failure)
Set 2, weight 100 pounds, 5 reps (failure)
Set 3, weight 60 pounds, 18 reps (failure)

Wednesday, June 14th, 2007

Chest/Bench Press

Set 1, 100 pounds, 8 reps (failure)
Set 2, 100 pounds, 6 reps (failure)
Set 3, 60 pounds, 20 reps (failure)

You should write down every exercise, every set and rep you do in your training diary.
If you keep a record like this, you can monitor your progress. When ever you can do more than 8 reps for the heavy set and more than 20 reps in the light set, increase the weight by 5-10 % in the next workout.

You will find that after 3 months, you can dramatically increase your strength.

Janne, click this link:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=134931

I talk about sets and reps in that thread.

Ah, so the two 5-8 rep/set are for strength and muscle mass and the last one for mostly muscle endurance. Smart! I really appreciate your advice Ano, it's pure gold! Thanks for taking the time to help me!