Newbie looking for some help

[Johnlatv]

Hey from New Jersey. I am not a "Jersey Shore" kind of guy. I am just a normal guy. I am looking to do a upper body only circuit with short breaks 15-20 seconds (trying to keep the HR up) and like to keep it moving. Just a few exercises per body part. I would also like to do this 3-4 days a week. It would be great if i could do the same circuit each day but don't know how smart that would be. Just getting back into things so the weights would be on the lighter side.

i have been out of the weight lifting world for a long time, i know it has changed from the 3sets 12reps, 10reps 8reps. I know that still might be used but you can do other things now. So is this a smart program?

BTW -- i like dumbells/cables and machine.

Can anyone help?

Thank you in advance.

[decu68]

I am looking to do a upper body only circuit

I think you are approaching this all wrong John. You NEED to work on your lower body probably more than your upper body. Remember, your lower body is the foundation of your body, the larger and stronger you can develop it the larger and stronger your upper body can be. If you eliminate this than you will never reach your potential.

To me it sounds like you just want the "show me muscles" and if that is the case than you probably aren't serious enough about lifting and you might as well just go to the gym or use your home weights and just lift what you want when you want.

[decu68]

I probably could have wrote that nicer; lots of stress at work which envelopes much that I do, my apology. I just think you need to revisit what you really are looking for and how to accomplish that which MUST include legs. Trust me, if you don't you will regret it later.

[Johnlatv]

I had a feeling someone would mention legs. I do triathlons/running/biking and i get enough of a leg workout so that's why i said upper body only. I don't want my legs all tired when i need to run or bike.

No worries. Trust me i am not a "muscles" kind of guy never had never will, just looking to drop some lbs and improve my upper body strength.

hope you can still help. Thanks again

john

[Deviation]

I had a feeling someone would mention legs. I do triathlons/running/biking and i get enough of a leg workout so that's why i said upper body only. I don't want my legs all tired when i need to run or bike.

No worries. Trust me i am not a "muscles" kind of guy never had never will, just looking to drop some lbs and improve my upper body strength.

hope you can still help. Thanks again

john
Well as someone that runs a bit myself, its not the same. Running/biking/etc are considered conditioning exercises. They build endurance not strength. What you'll find is that strength training your legs will lead to some really great results on your other activities. Now that I've harped on that some more... ;)

Bench Press (both incline and flat)
Cable Crossovers

Shoulder Press (aka overhead press, military press)
Rear, Lateral, Front Raises

Cable Triceps Rope Pushdown
Hammer Curls
Pushups

That's a few ideas to get you going. As far as sets & reps, a higher rep range will generally sculpt the muscles more. I will say that if there isn't much there, I'd focus on low reps with heavy weights.

[tjwood]

Well as someone that runs a bit myself, its not the same. Running/biking/etc are considered conditioning exercises. They build endurance not strength. What you'll find is that strength training your legs will lead to some really great results on your other activities.

True but still - until I started weight training I cycled a lot, had relatively large muscley legs and a skinny upper body (many cyclists do - this (http://cdn4.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/photos/2004/olympics04/kilo/oly2004-cycling-track-ho-36_600.jpg) is British gold medallist track cyclist Chris Hoy - OK he's not exactly skinny up top but look at those legs!).

If you do triathlons you'll probably have a better balance, because the swimming part uses your upper body more than legs.


Still. I started just over a year ago with mostly upper body work, and after a few months when I started to get a bit more balanced and used to weight training then began to do more leg work. In the last few months I've been doing legs once a week and upper body twice a week. I think soon I'm going to give the stronglifts thing a try - which involves a lot of squats but emphasises them as a whole-body exercise.

[decu68]

I had a feeling someone would mention legs. I do triathlons/running/biking and i get enough of a leg workout so that's why i said upper body only. I don't want my legs all tired when i need to run or bike.

No worries. Trust me i am not a "muscles" kind of guy never had never will, just looking to drop some lbs and improve my upper body strength.

hope you can still help. Thanks again

john

I thought the same way. For 5 years I worked out like a body builder. I than joined Taekwondo and Brazilian Jujitsu and figured I was getting enough of a leg work out so stopped working my legs to the extent I was doing prior and did so for almost 7 years. Now having been away from that for 2 years and back to working my legs, I have come to the conclusion that I made a HUGE mistake. By working my legs more than I was I would have BENEFITED greater.

Ask yourself this, why do all of the elite athletes whether martial artists, runners, cyclists, gymnasts, football players, etc. all lift weights and work their legs? They may lift differently for their sport/activity however they are all trying to accomplish the same thing; be better at their sport.

[tjohnstad]

If you run alot, and ride a bike alot, you can if you feel that you get enough leg training, work your Back at a gym,
in addition to incline benchpress(with dumbells) -high intensity and quite few reps (5x5) ;)

But as they all say, the more pain, the more gain(legs!)

[Johnlatv]

Thanks everyone. You guys talked me into it, i'll add some legs into the workout. :)

This is my plan.. is it a good start? Can i do this on back to back days, with light weight and high reps (15)? Or should i do low reps and higher weight and do i need to take a day off. I am just looking for general fitness, i am not looking to be on the Jersey Shore. If it is higher weight low reps, how many reps are we talking about. Sorry for all the questions, i haven't really done weights before.

Dumbbell Press
Dumbbell Fly
Cable seated row
One Arm dumbbell row
Dumbbell Lat raise
Dumbbell forward raise
Dumbbell Alt curl
Preacher Curl machine
Bench Dips
Dip Machine or something using the cables.

will add legs.

[mrwright]

Thanks everyone. You guys talked me into it, i'll add some legs into the workout. :)

This is my plan.. is it a good start? Can i do this on back to back days, with light weight and high reps (15)? Or should i do low reps and higher weight and do i need to take a day off. I am just looking for general fitness, i am not looking to be on the Jersey Shore. If it is higher weight low reps, how many reps are we talking about. Sorry for all the questions, i haven't really done weights before.

Dumbbell Press
Dumbbell Fly
Cable seated row
One Arm dumbbell row
Dumbbell Lat raise
Dumbbell forward raise
Dumbbell Alt curl
Preacher Curl machine
Bench Dips
Dip Machine or something using the cables.

will add legs.

Looks like a reasonable routine, if you've not worked out before you might find it easier to mix up the body parts, like instead of doing chest, chest, back, back etc, do like chest, back, biceps etc

and in terms of reps/sets/weights it's all based on your goal

Generally higher weights, lower reps such as 5 reps for 5 sets, is all about strength and adding mass
Lower weights, higher reps like 12-20 reps for 3 sets, mainly about toning and muscle endurance

I'd personally rotate between the two, say 1 week do light weights and high reps for the toning and endurance, then the next week do low reps high weights and high intensity the next for strength

You can do it on back to back days, but especially for the first week or 2, you may find that after the first day you'll be to sore to really do anything properly.