Workout Help

[TennisBeginner]

Hello Warehouse members! In this thread I wanted you guys to give me some feedback on how I can improve my workouts, and what I can do to get a better diet. My goal with this is to help me change up my workout so I can gain muscle (Maybe even a 6-pack), and the diet helps with that.

I am 16 years old
Weight: 116 lbs
Height: 5'4 (I know I'm short)

My workout so far consists of...

Sun,Tues,Thur,Sat

* 3 sets of 10 Squats
* Crunches x50
* (Some other leg thing which I don't know the name of)
* Leg Lifts (Works abs)
* Bridges (Works abs)

Mon,Wed,Fri

* 3 sets of 10 Bicep Curls
* 3 sets of 10 hand weight curls (15lb hand weights)
* 3 sets of 10 Pull Ups
* Push Ups x30


That is my current workout, I'm very small for my age so yeah. Also I randomly run and jump-rope when I can, no schedule yet. Please tell me some more Workouts I could do. Especially ab workouts (I really want a six pack xD)

As for Dieting... I really don't know what to do. Right now all I do is watch my protein, I try to get 116g of protein a day since I weigh 116lbs. I don't drink any soda or anything like that, I basically live off of Water,Gatorade,Powerade, and Juice. As for eating I eat mostly rice, eggs and spaghetti and apples. Please help my diet.

EDIT: By the way I don't have a Gym membership, so I must be able to do any exercises you give me at home.

 

[OldButGame]

Tennis,....I've been involved in lifting and bodybuilding for many years,.....and when i first started i used a program very similar to Yours,.....split routine....6 out of 7 days a week,...high intensity,...(when i was approx 18-21 yrs old).
I gained very little weight during that time,....even though that was exactly my goal,..'to gain',.
What i came to realize later was that i was overtraining all that time. When i finally learned to incorporate more 'rest days' into that routine,....i started to make significant gains....and added weight much more easily.
Regarding diet,...some very general guidelines,....try to get 6 small meals in daily,...(rather than 3),....spread out through the day,...and get one in right after you workout,...with a fair amt of protein in it.

 

[aceX]

Chuck in a rest day otherwise you'll get burnt out.

 

[TennisBeginner]

Alright thanks guys. Exactly how many rest days should I include in my week?

 

[Itagaki]

For workouts, look up Starting Strength(highly recommend the book) and Stronglifts 5x5

Doing a bunch of ab work will likely NOT get you a six pack, its pretty much all in the diet and OVERALL workout plan

 

[OldButGame]

Alright thanks guys. Exactly how many rest days should I include in my week?

Well,..You can partly go by how You feel,...If You feel really run down, dragged out, and burned out,...then You're overdue or certainly due,...for a rest. At Your age,....a total rest day from working out about every 3 or 4 days might be fine. This is also relative to how intensely You're working out. If VERY intense,...then more rest is called for. If theyre lighter workouts,....then You dont need to rest as much.

 

[TennisBeginner]

Alright guys thanks for the info on rest days.

For workouts, look up Starting Strength(highly recommend the book) and Stronglifts 5x5

Doing a bunch of ab work will likely NOT get you a six pack, its pretty much all in the diet and OVERALL workout plan

Alright Ill check into Stronglifts. Also the biggest part seems to be the diet. Can someone please tell me the best foods I should be eating for my diet? I already eat lots of Spaghetti, Rice, Chicken, and apples/Bananas. Are there any cheap snacks I can buy that have lots of protein in them? Thanks a bunch everyone.

 

[TennisBeginner]

and Stronglift5x5

I checked this out. And it really seems great, Im going to start doing this tonight. The only problem is I dont have a Gym Membership, so I can't bench press, I will substitute something else in its place.

 

[aceX]

Yeah man and if you keep up all the stuff in your first post consistently, you'll be sweet.

 

[OldButGame]

Tennis;
In place of the bench presses,....try SUPER slow pushups !!!!....like several to 30 seconds to lower,...and the same back up,....i guarantee You'll FEEL like You were pressing some serious weight !!!!!

 

[Aps1987]

Instead of Stronglifts 5x5 I recommend the Starting Strength 3x5 program.
Allows you to add weight faster, less stalling, quicker strength gains. I've done both programs, so I know what I'm talking about.
After 6 months of Starting Strength I got my squat and deadlift up to 335 lbs and my bench to 235, at a body weight of 165 lbs.

Also, pushups are just an OK substitute for bench press.
The best possible substitute is the Floor Press:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoZX2yPrwkE

 

[TennisBeginner]

Alright, I already do push ups so Im going to try the floor press in place of benching.

Yeah man and if you keep up all the stuff in your first post consistently, you'll be sweet.

Ive been doing this for a few months now, and no results. Well I mean, I have gotten stronger and built a bit more muscle, but my diet is killing me. I have no problem dieting, its just that my parents can't afford to keep buying food for me to have 6 meals a day xD I'll ask again, anyone know any cheap foods such as peanuts, with tons of protein?

 

[charliefedererer]

You have to be realistic in how much muscle you are adding every day. With your physique and regimen you are not adding that much extra muscle, so you may be overestimating your protein needs. (Remember that any extra protein will just be eliminated, not stored.)

Still to answer you question about inexpensive protein, consider milk, cheese, beans, tuna fish, whole grain oatmeal/Kashi oat cereals, and chicken/turkey: http://commonsensehealth.com/Diet-and-Nutrition/List_of_High_Protein_Foods.shtml
Buying a big container of almonds and then putting a handful in plastic bags will give you a source of high protein that you can take anywhere with you and won't spoil.

Another tip on your exercising: Wearing a weighted (even rocks) backpack when doing pullups and pushups will get you closer to your goal of being able to add strength rather than endurance. (Remember if you are doing as many as 10 reps of an exercise, there is not that much strength gain or hypertrophy.)

 

[TennisBeginner]

You have to be realistic in how much muscle you are adding every day. With your physique and regimen you are not adding that much extra muscle, so you may be overestimating your protein needs. (Remember that any extra protein will just be eliminated, not stored.)

Still to answer you question about inexpensive protein, consider milk, cheese, beans, tuna fish, whole grain oatmeal/Kashi oat cereals, and chicken/turkey: http://commonsensehealth.com/Diet-and-Nutrition/List_of_High_Protein_Foods.shtml
Buying a big container of almonds and then putting a handful in plastic bags will give you a source of high protein that you can take anywhere with you and won't spoil.

Another tip on your exercising: Wearing a weighted (even rocks) backpack when doing pullups and pushups will get you closer to your goal of being able to add strength rather than endurance. (Remember if you are doing as many as 10 reps of an exercise, there is not that much strength gain or hypertrophy.)

Thanks a lot for the info man, I have Ankle weights. Ill use those when doing Pull Ups. Thanks for the site about foods too. And finally, what exactly did you mean by "With your physique and regimen you are not adding that much extra muscle, so you may be overestimating your protein needs." How can I add more muscle then?

Sorry for all the questions guys, this isn't my best subject :|

 

[GPB]

my parents can't afford to keep buying food for me to have 6 meals a day xD

The trick here is that it's 6 SMALL meals, so you end up eating about the total amount of food as before, but it's spread out. Among other things (that I might not be aware of) this keeps your metabolism even, and keeps the muscles building instead of starving.

Eating "healthily" will be more expensive than eating "normally", but don't let the 6 meals do you (or your parents) in. A "meal" in this sense might be a cup of cottage cheese and some fruit, or a bowl of oatmeal with some whey powder mixed in. Does that make sense?

You have asked about good, cheap snacks a couple times. You'd prefer them to be high in protein. Any nuts will do, though you should watch out because nuts have a pretty high calorie level (which will keep you from getting that 6-pack you want). Nuts are great, and you shouldn't stay away from them... just don't overdo it.

I like granola as a snack, though I'm not serious enough to eat it plain. I take some plain granola and mix in a bit of chocolate chips (dark) or whatever I'm in the mood for. I snack on this at work, and it keeps me from the sodas or whatever else I could find instead.

I hope this helps ya!

 

[TennisBeginner]

Thanks GBP it helped a lot. When I was told to eat 6 meals I was thinking big meals, if I can just spread out my 3 meals into 6 small ones then that isnt that bad. Thanks again!

 

[GPB]

For more answers (and maybe more questions!) take a look at the stickied post "great fitness sites"... there's a lot of great info there.

 

[aceX]

Check out this thread.

Reading your post more carefully, you want to gain muscle and get a six-pack.

Considering you're taking this muscle gain seriously by eating six meals a day the fact that you're limited to working out at home is probably holding you back. What kind of weights do you have?

Considering you've been doing this workout for months your abs should be decently big, the main thing to get your six-pack to show is to burn all your fat. I'm not saying you're fat by the way lols. For example I have a good set of abs but I'm currently at about 12% body fat so I don't have a good-looking six-pack.

 

[TennisBeginner]

Check out this thread.

Reading your post more carefully, you want to gain muscle and get a six-pack.

Considering you're taking this muscle gain seriously by eating six meals a day the fact that you're limited to working out at home is probably holding you back. What kind of weights do you have?

Considering you've been doing this workout for months your abs should be decently big, the main thing to get your six-pack to show is to burn all your fat. I'm not saying you're fat by the way lols. For example I have a good set of abs but I'm currently at about 12% body fat so I don't have a good-looking six-pack.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one.

According to online sites I have 16%-17% Body Fat. I also found a gym not to far away that's... 10$ a month!!! I'm definitely getting a membership there so that will open me up to more opportunities.

 

[charliefedererer]

And finally, what exactly did you mean by "With your physique and regimen you are not adding that much extra muscle, so you may be overestimating your protein needs." How can I add more muscle then? :|

I meant that your current regimen doesn't hold the recipe for strength gains and muscle growth (hypertrophy).
To get strong, your muscles have to be challenged by lifting weight close to your maximum lift with only the few reps (4-7) you eke out at that heavy weight.
So doing lots of pushups and pullups will give you more stamina, but really won't be giving you an increase in the size of the muscles you want.
And since your muscles are not really big now, there is a limit on the amount of weight you can lift, and therefore on how much your muscles right now can grow. So when you are bench pressing 300 pounds, you will need more protein intake than you do now.

If you can join that gym, you will get a lot further in your workout goals. Check out the following site for weight lifting advice for a tennis player: http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/tennis-strength-training.html

But it is important to realize that being stronger only gives you the potential to hit the ball harder. To hit the ball harder you will have to swing faster, and that can only come by training the entire neuromuscular units of your arms/core/legs in a smoothly coordinated kinetic chain. In other words, you still will need practice, practice, practice hitting the ball to realize any potential you get from strength gains.

And look over that Sports Fitness Advisor site http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/tennis-training.html for the other ways to improve your tennis game with agility drills and HIIT. You should divide your time, or plan to use some time now or later, to add in more movement drills, as movement is so key in tennis. Juggling all of this and continuing to play tennis and keep up with your studies is a daunting task, so some planning and adjusting your planning to reality will be challenging.

Good luck!

 

[Itagaki]

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one.

According to online sites I have 16%-17% Body Fat. I also found a gym not to far away that's... 10$ a month!!! I'm definitely getting a membership there so that will open me up to more opportunities.

Uh oh, $10/month?

I hope its not a planet fitness

 

[TennisBeginner]

Uh oh, $10/month?

I hope its not a planet fitness

Actually it is... Is it really that bad? I hear they have weights and benches

 

[Itagaki]

Actually it is... Is it really that bad? I hear they have weights and benches

Its certainly not good, but some are worse than others. I've heard of some that don't have any barbells, this is total crap

The whole lunk alarm thing is stupid and limits deadlift work, that is if they even allow you to deadlift

So I'd take a look at the place and ask questions, make sure there's a squat rack(hoping for a power rack is just too optimistic I think) and not just some lame smith machine

Basically are deadlifts allowed?
What about hang/power cleans? (should you choose to do them)
Bent over rows?
Etc