weight training program...comments, hits, suggestions?

[blakesq]

weight training program...comments, hints, suggestions?

Hi all, I am in my early 40's, play tennis about twice a week in the winter, and I want to maintain my strength and avoid injury. This is my work out program:

Day 1 (most sets are 10 reps)

Bench press (3-4 sets up to 185lbs 10-reps)
dumbbell shoulder press (3-4 sets up to 50 lbs each arm)
front shoulder raises (3 sets, up to 25 lbs)
bent bar curls (3-4 sets up to 70 lbs)
dumb bell curls (3-4 sets up to 25 lbs per arm)
Lat Pull Downs (3 sets up to 120 lbs)
Tricep cable pull downs (3 sets up to 50 lbs)
30 minutes walking/jogging on treadmill

Day 2

Squats (3-4 sets up to 225 lbs)
leg press (3 sets up to 360 lbs)
leg extensions (3 sets up to 150 lbs)
leg curls (3 sets up to 120 lbs)
seated calf raises (up to 225 lbs)
stomach crunches on excercise ball (3 sets up to 20 reps)
hanging knew raises (3 sets)
30 minutes walking/jogging on treadmill

Thats it, plus my 2 days of tennis. I usually make it to the gym 2 or 3 times a week. Any comments, suggestions, hints? Thanks!!!

 

[blakesq]

anyone, anyone? beuller?

 

[chess9]

Why do you walk on the treadmill? What pace are your treadmills sessions? Are you just warming up or down? When do you do sprints or intervals? Are you overweight or injured?

My view:
1. Two days per week I'd do 30 minute runs with 5 minutes of warmup, 5 minutes of cooldown, and 20 minutes of uptempo running. At your age you should be able to hold 7-7:30 minutes per mile for 20 minutes.

2. One day per week, I'd do interval training at the courts, on some grass near the courts, or at a track. Say, warm up 5 minutes, cooldown 5 minutes, then 10 x 50 meters.

-Robert

 

[blakesq]

I am walking around at 245 lbs. So, thats why I am walking a lot on the treadmill, i dont want to hurt myself by running too far at this weight. I hear what you are saying though, I need to get myself moving faster , thus my weight needs to get down to at least under 200 (i am 5'10.5", pretty strong, but obviously need to lose some weight). Thanks.

But, does anyone have any comments on the weight lifting/ab work part of my routine?

Why do you walk on the treadmill? What pace are your treadmills sessions? Are you just warming up or down? When do you do sprints or intervals? Are you overweight or injured?

My view:
1. Two days per week I'd do 30 minute runs with 5 minutes of warmup, 5 minutes of cooldown, and 20 minutes of uptempo running. At your age you should be able to hold 7-7:30 minutes per mile for 20 minutes.

2. One day per week, I'd do interval training at the courts, on some grass near the courts, or at a track. Say, warm up 5 minutes, cooldown 5 minutes, then 10 x 50 meters.

-Robert

 

[timokabo]

i am currentl 270 and comming off of a knee injury and do am on this cardio plan at the moment. you shoulc have no problem with it. heres a link to it.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

 

[bee]

Sounds pretty good to me.

I suspect you're busy and have only a limited amount of time. I do a full body weight routine when I go to the gym, which is generally about every 4th or 5th day. I don't like the concept of upper body one day and lower body the other, and feel that's more for bodybuilder types. Crunches, back extensions and lunges are good core movements that I try to do plenty of, but I tend to do a lot of upper body stuff at the gym (can't break that habit). Other days I ride a Schwinn Airdyne or use the eliptical machine here at home. Play tennis once or twice a week. Some days you need to just rest and recover, of course.

Sounds like diet is something you might want to look into. I recommend 2 excellent no B.S. books: Superfoods and The Okinawa Diet Program. Don't have to follow these exactly, just get the concepts.

Long walks with a weighted vest is another good activity. Be cautious of anthing that adds more pounding on the feet and knees as tennis is a pounding in itself.

I going to add: We just purchased this very affordable elliptical maching about a month ago and have it right here upstairs. It's the Fitness Gear 821E and it was only about $600 at this new fitness store that just opened here in town. It's really nice and very tennis like in the movements and all. I think it's going to help me quite a lot as I tend to do too much upper body stuff and not enought dancing/foot work movements.

In any event, good luck with your conditioning and general health. I'm gonna" jump back on that thing for a little longer.

Bee

 

[Ano]

Hi all, I am in my early 40's, play tennis about twice a week in the winter, and I want to maintain my strength and avoid injury. This is my work out program:

Day 1 (most sets are 10 reps)

Bench press (3-4 sets up to 185lbs 10-reps)
dumbbell shoulder press (3-4 sets up to 50 lbs each arm)
front shoulder raises (3 sets, up to 25 lbs)
bent bar curls (3-4 sets up to 70 lbs)
dumb bell curls (3-4 sets up to 25 lbs per arm)
Lat Pull Downs (3 sets up to 120 lbs)
Tricep cable pull downs (3 sets up to 50 lbs)
30 minutes walking/jogging on treadmill

Day 2

Squats (3-4 sets up to 225 lbs)
leg press (3 sets up to 360 lbs)
leg extensions (3 sets up to 150 lbs)
leg curls (3 sets up to 120 lbs)
seated calf raises (up to 225 lbs)
stomach crunches on excercise ball (3 sets up to 20 reps)
hanging knew raises (3 sets)
30 minutes walking/jogging on treadmill

Thats it, plus my 2 days of tennis. I usually make it to the gym 2 or 3 times a week. Any comments, suggestions, hints? Thanks!!!

You want to maintain your strength and avoid injury. But your training program will invite injury.

1. where's the dynamic flexibility warm-up? When are you doing soft-tissue work in the form of foam rolling?

2. There's absolutely no structural balance in this program. Here are the glaring weaknesses I see on this front:

- Far more shoulder internal rotation than external rotation

- Far more scapular elevation than depression exercises

- No single-leg exercises

- No hip dominant exercises

- No side core and back core exercises

Incorporate some lunge variations, deadlifts, external rotations, twisting exercises, back rises and rows.

3. There's a ton of overlap in this program. Do you really need to do both dumbbell shoulder presses and front raises? Bar curls and dumbbell curls? Squat, Leg Presses and leg extension?

4. You are doing three exercises on machines (leg press, leg extension and leg curl). It should be zero exercise on machine. You said that you want to avoid injury, right?

5. You do bicep exercises before lat pull down. You should never train biceps before back exercises.

My suggestion : hire a good Fitness Trainer/Consultant.

Good luck.

 

[stormholloway]

Seems if you only have a 2 day split, then overlap is almost inevitable, particularly if you're going to be doing so many exercises that isolate muscles in the arms.

Lately I don't even do arm specific exercises, mainly because my arms are already disproportionate to the rest of my body, and secondarily because you can't work the chest and back without engaging all of the muscles in the arm. Arm workouts are fun, but can be redundant, especially if you're only lifting twice a week.

I like a workout with few exercises but lots of volume and intensity.

 

[Ano]

Oh, one more thing.

You only train a bodypart once a week. that's not enough.

If you want do do upper - lower bodysplit, you should train 4 times a week ( 2 upper body sessions and 2 lower body sessions).

If you ony work twice a week, you should train the whole body.

 

[blakesq]

Thanks for the input!!

 

[stormholloway]

Agreed with Ano. Twice a week is optimal for muscle growth while avoiding over training. I do chest/back & legs twice a week each. I'm probably going to toss in one arm session at the end pretty soon.

 

[TW CSR]

I do a 4 day split very similar to yours and have had really good success with it. My routine looks something like this:

Tuesday- Chest and tris- Bench press, Incline DB press, DB flys, Decline DB press, Tri pulldowns, tri extensions (machine), Tri extensions DB.

Wednesday- Shoulders - Shoulder DB press, Shoulder press BB, Shoulder raises front and side DB, Shrugs, bb shoulder raise.

Friday - Legs - Squats, Hack Squats, lunges DB, Leg press, leg curl, front leg raise, step downs DB.

Saturday - Back and Bis - Bi curl DB, Preacher curls BB, lat pulldown, wide grip pulldown, pull ups, deadlift, lower back extensions, rows either cable or DB.

I do sit ups at home but have actually gotten pretty defined by doing core lifts like squat and deadlift. I plan on adding more olympic lifts maybe clean and press next. Everyone always thinks that their routine is right and anything different is wrong. I think you should just keep and open mind, try new lifts and see what works for you. Sometimes something as small as changing the order of your lifts can be helpful.