High-intensity lifting newbie... your advice please?

[David_Is_Right]

Hi all,

I know there are some pretty knowledgable people on here, so I thought I'd ask for your advice...

I'm 26, 155lb and having never really lifted weights before other than as a teen I'm embarking on high-intensity training with compound barbell exercise. I decided to go with this method because pretty much everything I've read points hard gainers to heavy weight, low reps.

I worked out for the second time yesterday (after playing tennis.) As such a novice, I'm really not sure what type of soreness is good and what soreness basically means I'm damaging something. It's only in my serving shoulder. It's a little bit more sore than the other general soreness I'm feeling after the workout, so perhaps I'm answering my own question here.

The exercises I'm doing, by the way, are barbell curls, seated reverse barbell wrist curls, military presses, deadlifts, clean and jerk (all with a barbell).

I know that these kind of free-weight exercises require good form, so perhaps it's a bit risky to do these with heavy weights to start with?

Perhaps I should dial the weight down a bit next time. I'm leaving 3-4 days between workouts anyway. The last thing I want is some kind of shoulder injury.

Thanks so much in advance...

David

 

[BullDogTennis]

instead of leaving 3-4 days between workouts id isolate things into days.

maybe somethin like this:

day 1: upper body
day 3: lower body
Day 5: shoulders chest
Day 6: abs

maybe somethin like that. you're leaving one day inbetween, but your isolating differnt muscle groups for differnt days. you can obviously change that around, to isolate differnt things.

the thing that worries me is doing things like "cleans and jerks" you say your a "novice" but that isnt a very "novice" workout, it is extremely easy to get injured without the right form doing workouts like that, dead lifts too. they both require near perfect form, or you're gonna have a hurt back. i recomend getting a trainer for a little while just to make sure your doing things in a way that you arnt going to injure yourself in the long run.

id say its gonna be hard to know if your just sore, or are injuring yourself, i guess the only way to know right off the bat is soreness is gonna feel more "tight" and if your injured it'll prob feel more like a sharp pain. the only way you'll prob know for sure is keep working out for a while, and if the pain doesnt go away you know somethins wrong.

 

[chess9]

instead of leaving 3-4 days between workouts id isolate things into days.

maybe somethin like this:

day 1: upper body
day 3: lower body
Day 5: shoulders chest
Day 6: abs

maybe somethin like that. you're leaving one day inbetween, but your isolating differnt muscle groups for differnt days. you can obviously change that around, to isolate differnt things.

the thing that worries me is doing things like "cleans and jerks" you say your a "novice" but that isnt a very "novice" workout, it is extremely easy to get injured without the right form doing workouts like that, dead lifts too. they both require near perfect form, or you're gonna have a hurt back. i recomend getting a trainer for a little while just to make sure your doing things in a way that you arnt going to injure yourself in the long run.

id say its gonna be hard to know if your just sore, or are injuring yourself, i guess the only way to know right off the bat is soreness is gonna feel more "tight" and if your injured it'll prob feel more like a sharp pain. the only way you'll prob know for sure is keep working out for a while, and if the pain doesnt go away you know somethins wrong.

Yes, and ditto that.

Squats should be a staple of your training for a few months. I'd squat at least two days a week. One day do heavy squats on the Squat Rack (power), and one day do Goblet Squats (muscular endurance). Squats will put on muscle everywhere!

Kill the barbell curls. Do the reverse curls once every other week. I'm really not a big fan of them. All your lifts use your arms, except for squats, so why do arm exercises at all unless you want big guns?

Focus on back work, after squats. Tennis players have notoriously weak backs. Watch them all slouch around the courts like lemurs out for a meal. They are almost as bad as swimmers!

Do not even think you are going to play half decent tennis with a 4 day a week lifting schedule! If you are lifting right as a beginner, you should be very sore, and only able to do a light hit two or three days a week.

You don't say how tall you are or what your body fat percentage is. For tennis, you want to be strong, but LEAN. If you can get to 10-12% bodyfat, that would be ideal, IMHO.

These are just my views, and are probably worth what you paid for them. I'm sure I'm wrong, which is the usual case on these boards.

-Robert

 

[David_Is_Right]

Thank you very much for these posts, guys, I really appreciate it.

Height-wise, I'm 5'10 and body fat must be very low. Although I don't know a percentage, I've always been very ectomorphic. It's only the last year or so at 26 that I seem to be 'filling out' and looking leaner.

I'll kill the clean and jerks and curls... like you say, this is probably too much for a novice lifter.

Splitting the exercises out into chest, arms, legs etc. makes sense to increase the amount of workouts in a week makes sense. Would this still apply to a high intensity workout? I'm lifting weights that allow for 8 reps before failure, and doing 1 or limited sets....

 

[chess9]

What is your goal? If you want bigger muscles, then SOME heavy lifting is indicated, but you must move gently in that direction. I.e., build to heavy. Just as runners need base miles before they do speed work, lifters need base training to adapt their muscles, tendons, ligaments to the stress of heavy lifting. Lifting is always a work in progress, like an unfinished painting.

If your goal is to play your best tennis, then there is no need to add more than about 5-10 pounds of solid muscle. You might still weigh 155 too. Btw, you might think you are lean because you are thin, but thin and lean are two different things entirely. Lots of guys are your size and 20% bodyfat. Yes, I know, that's scary!

-Robert

 

[BullDogTennis]

Thank you very much for these posts, guys, I really appreciate it.

Height-wise, I'm 5'10 and body fat must be very low. Although I don't know a percentage, I've always been very ectomorphic. It's only the last year or so at 26 that I seem to be 'filling out' and looking leaner.

I'll kill the clean and jerks and curls... like you say, this is probably too much for a novice lifter.

Splitting the exercises out into chest, arms, legs etc. makes sense to increase the amount of workouts in a week makes sense. Would this still apply to a high intensity workout? I'm lifting weights that allow for 8 reps before failure, and doing 1 or limited sets....

yes. its still good. high intensity, every workout, like i said id recomend 4 days a week. especially for a while. i have never really done the "jerk" part of clean and jerk, we used to only do the power clean part. its a great workout, it works everything out from calves to shoulders. but like i said it can be easy to hurt yourself. id almost recomend not getting rid of it, but DO NOT do high weights in this, start out with like the bar or somethin. and make sure you bend at the waist, and not the back.

 

[Slicendicer]

Link here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm

Choose 3-5 exercises for each muscle group. Find a comfortable weight and start there. Try 3 sets of 10, or 3 sets 12, 10, 8 reps. for each exercise.

I recommend using machines for 3-4 weeks. Find a workout partner who knows weight lifting technique, if possible. If not, watch the videos and mimic the exercises. As you get stronger, you will improve technique and hit the muscle.

As for weekly workout plan, you can do whole body 3x a week (drop the amount of sets for to 2 sets for each exercise and 3 exercises for each muscle group.)

I prefer a 4 day split with bonus workout Friday or Saturday.

Mon: either chest/bicep or chest/tricep
Tues: upper back/tricep or upper back/bicep
Weds: shoulders/calves
Thurs: legs/lower back

Fri/Sat: 2x chest, 2x bicep, 2x tricep, 2x shoulder exercises

I have had good results with this schedule.

 

[coyfish]

If your a beginner I wouldn't start lifting super hard just yet. I would try and work with your bodyweight so you can develop a little muscle before you kill yourself in the gym. If you just start working out as you have . . . you will probably feel some overly painful soreness / tenderness.

As a beginner lifter you don't need to isolate certain small muscle groups like bicepts / tricepts / traps. You need to focus on more general strength builders that hit large muscle groups like bench press, squats, pull ups, push ups,shrugs, deadlifts, and shoulder press. Working out bicepts is like trying to build a sandcastle using a spoon instead of a shovel. You need to lay down the foundation first . . . then work on the small groups. Bench press / pull ups will work out your arms sufficiently for now.

As a beginner you can also cicruit train and do multiple muscle groups a day. Machines are a good idea when you first start.

Like slice said just look around as you work out. Learn what others do. Not saying everyone else is right but you get my point.

 

[The Watchman]

David

I strongly recommend getting your hands on a copy of "Starting Strength" written by Mark Rippetoe. I certainly wish I had this resource when I started training with weights. (Google it for all the good reviews).

A similar free program is Stronglifts (google that); however, I still recommend getting your hands on Starting Strength, as it will describe (in exhaustive detail) how to do all the major lifts (squats, deadlift, overhead press, power clean, bench press) with good form as well as some accessory exercises.