Hi my name is Tan. I'm 21, 5' 3.5" and 124-128lbs. I'm currently studying PA in grad school. I started lifting around 6th grade using dumbells. I would do basic curling and that deltoid exercise where you lift the weight up in front of you. At that age, it was just about having fun and something to do. It felt good to do 50 pushups in 1 minute, although one black kid beat me by 1 pushup XD Anyway, I didn't lift in high school due to extracurriculars and stupid busy work aka homework. I've been lifting since my first year of college though I only got serious within the past year and a half. I consider myself to be fit and fairly cut due to my low body fat. My goal is to get bigger and put on weight. I'm starting to fill out my shirts, but genetics still limit my size. While I'm not a fan of jerks, I find having someone to lift with can help my mindset and help me push myself to my limit. I feel like thinking in this mindset INTERNALLY helps me push it TO THE MAX! (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC2QLorSKss&feature=related) (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g424IGwR3zA&feature=related) (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbAmh7hfaBM&feature=related)
As a regular lifter, except during test weeks, I have a lot of pet peeves when I go lifting. My college doesn't have a gym, so we mooch off of a college nearby. Also, I have access to a gym in an apartment complex. Please note, however, that both these gym pretty much suck. They lack a lot of diverse machines to give different workouts. They are both really small. Really small. The college gym gets pack with 7+ people and the apartment gym gets packed with 3-4+ people legit. Anyway, here are some pet peeves:
-Jerks: the people that take you machine when you get a drink of water or go looking for weights to add/decrease from your routine. Though if you tell'em off, they'll give back your machine, but they should ask. I usually ask if someone is done with a weight or machine before taking it unless they clearly go to another machine.
-Jerks who scream: If you need to breath out hard, maybe a lil grunt, or a tssssss, that's fine. There's no need to yell "YEEEAAA" or "GGGRRRRRR" or have your spot yell "YEAAA BRROOO, YOU GOT THIS! COM'ON! YEA! YEA! YEA!" It's just a bother to the people next to you.
-Poor Form: I understand that some people casually lift and that's fine. You can usually tell the difference between someone who pushes their limit to get bigger and those that do it for everyday fitness. When I see people racking on weights only to use their whole body instead of isolate, I tend to cringe inside. If you're gonna use the cables to do tris, don't move your whole arm, keep the elbow stationary and use them tris to pull down. Gonna pull down for lats? Don't use your back to pull back. Keep your back straight and stationary and pull down using those lats with some obvious overlap with arms. The poor form goes on. The worst is not that the person will not effectively strengthen their body part, but they put themselves at higher risk for injury. I've had times where I feel a burning pulling sensation that results from bad form. I usually get a spot and have them observe how to improve my form. If it still burns, I stop.
-Habits: I tend to take breaks between sets, but d*** it, don't just sit there ****ing around. The gym is small enough. Use it or get off. There's another casual lifter I see there and apparently he doesn't know the meaning of personal space haha. Stop pacing between sets and if you do, don't come withing inches of me.
Anyway, besides that rant, I tend to use whey protein. I typically do 1 scoop (~23g or 32g) a day. I can't do those 5 small meals due to class restrictions and need to stay focused when studying for test. My eating habit is pretty meh. I don't drink soda often, but lots of coffee and junk food. I don't eat much though. That's probably a reason why I have trouble putting on weight. As for my schedule, during non-testing sessions I go by this:
- Sets x Reps @ XXX lbs (+### lbs : depends if I have a spot haha) By the way, I hate hate hate those smith machines. They are deceptive as you can put up more weight on them. You don't have to stabilize and you can push up and forward. I prefer free weight, but there are a lack of benches that have racks or benches that can change elevation. I assume the bars I use are 45lbs. I can't tell sometimes :/ A tilde "~" means "approximately" as I don't remember everything. Schmot has an excellent term called "failure." It's when you go till you physically can't push anymore. Also, my schedule changes depending on which gym I go to. some gyms just don't have the necessary equipment.
Warm ups:
Various stretches
Planch pushups/ pushups from the waist - 3 x 20
Various forms of crunches - 1x30 > 1x35 > 1x30
Day 1: Pectorals
Wide grip pullups (palms facing away from face) - 3 x failure
Flat bench - 3 x 10 @ 135lbs (+20lbs)
Decline bench (smith machine) - 3 x 10 @ 155lbs (+20lbs)
Incline bench (smith machine) - 3 x 10 @ 115lbs (+20lbs)
Flys - 3 x 10 @ 35 each hand (+5lbs)
Cable Flys ~ 50-60 lbs each side (+10lbs)
Some exercise my brother showed me - 3 x 10 @ 15lbs (Mainly form and to keep the burn)
Wide grip pull downs (cable) for Latismus dorsi - 3 x 10 @ ~60-110 lbs... I really don't remember what the resistance feels like.
Close grip pull downs (palms facing toward face) - 3 x 10 @ 60-110 lbs...
Those side dips for obliques - 3 x 10 @ 25-35lbs (Form is incredibly important here.)
Abs - medicine ball @ 6lbs tossed > grab > go down > twist and touch both sides of the decline bench > up > toss > repeat - 1 x 15 > 1 x 15 (+5) > 1 x failure
Day 2: Bis and Tris
*Pull ups
Hammer Curls - 1 x 10 @ 25lbs each hand > 1 x 10 @ 30lbs each hand > Burnout (without breaks 1 x 8 @ 30lbs, 1 x 10 @ 15 lbs, 1 x 12 @ 10 lbs) You really feel the burn by not taking breaks AT ALL.
Skull Crushers - 3 x 10 @ 40lbs + bar weight (+10lbs)
Preacher Curls (palm up) - 3 x 10 @ 50lbs + bar weight (+10lbs)
The tris exercise where you hold 1 dumbell and dip it behind your head while sitting straight up - 3 x 10 @ 55lbs (+5lbs)
Preacher Curls (palm down) - 3 x 10 @ 30lbs + bar weight (+5lbs)
Cable Pull downs (tris) - 3 x 10 @ 110-120lbs
Tricep Dips - 2 x 10 > 1 x Failure
*Abs
Day 3: Shoulders, Deltoids, Back
*pullups
~Rows - 3 x 10 @ ??? I can't even guess.
Deltoid side lifts... - 1 x 10 @ 15lbs > 1 x 10 @ 20lbs > Burnout ( 1 x 8 @ 20lbs, 1 x 10 @ 10lbs, 1 x 10 @ 5lbs)
Deltoid front lifts... - Same as above
Deltoid exercise where you side on a bench w/back rest and keep arm at 90 degree angle and push up till the weights touch each other - 3 x 10 @ 35-40lbs each hand (+5lbs)
Shrugs (hold for 1 second > 1.5 seconds > 2 seconds) - 3 x 10 @ 25-40lbs (I go for form and some isometric excercise.)
Same thing above but using a preach curl bar and starting raised and dipping behind the head - 3 x 10 @ 40lbs + bar weight
*Obliques
Day 4: Rest
Back to Day 1
Occassionally I'll do legs which mainly consist of dips 3 x 10 using 45-55lbs on each hand. I don't squat cause I have scoliosis and, more importantly, I'm not used to it. I don't have someone to spot me that knows what their doing, so I don't have anyone to pay attention to my form.
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Do you have something to measure body fat? I'd love to know how to measure it.
