I Need Help Gauging my Progress

R

Rakoczy

0
Hey everyone. I'm a relatively new to weight lifting and I'm unsure of how my progress has been going so far. I've been lifting 3x a week since Nov. 1st to Dec. 18th, and then again from Jan. 22nd to Mar. 25th (today).

Here's my routine (I feel like it's too many lifts per session but I'll get to that later), in order*:

Squat 3x10
Bench 3x10
Barbell Lunges 3x16 (8 each leg, alternating legs)
Pull-Ups 3x7 (or as many as I can do, right now it's at 3x7)
Calf Raises 3x10 (sometimes with 25/35/45lbs., sometimes bodyweight)
Incline OR Decline Bench 3x10 (alternate every week)
Core (captain's chair, bicycles, crunches, v-ups, throwdowns, front/side planks)

*my lifting buddy and I will always start with bench or squat, whatever is open first when we get to the gym. So if a bench is open first, it would go bench - squat - pull-ups - lunges - incline/decline - calf raises - core.

Here are the gains I've made since starting in November. I'm not positive if the starting weights are right, but if they're not they're close. Starting number on the left, current on the right, all in pounds. I'll do the number shown for 3 sets of 10 reps, so it's not like a one-rep max.

Bench: 95 lbs. - 135 lbs.
Squat: 135 - 215
Barbell Lunges: 75 - 95 (is this a "relatively lower" rise in weight compared to the squat?)
Pull-Ups: 3 sets of 4 - 3 sets of 7.
Calf Raises: Don't do a set weight
Incline Bench: 85 (at 3x8) - 115 (at 3x10)
Decline Bench: 105 - 145
Core: Ditto with Calf Raises

So to reiterate, how is my progress on the above lifts? Sorry, I know this post is long and confusing. I've been lifting for almost 4 months now and I've seen the gains above without really periodizing my routine. If the gains are good, I figure I'll keep going. If they're not, then I'd like to know what I should do see better gains.

I'm a 19 year old male. I'm 6'0" and 160-165 lbs. depending on water weight. I got my body fat percentage measured using the calipers by my college's rec center and I was at 5.1% body fat about two or three weeks ago. I'm not sure how high or low that is, and what it was before I started lifting.

Also, is that routine too much to do in one session? It usually takes me and my lifting buddy 1.5 to 2 hours to get it all done. Granted, my college's gym is always crowded and my friend and I waste some time talking.
 
I should also throw some more background information in:

I play Ultimate frisbee for my college's club sports team, and my goals with lifting weights are 75% towards improved athletic performance.

The other 25% is appearance, I can't lie. That's why I do the incline/decline, because I'm pretty skinny and I'd like a bigger chest. Not sure if the extra lift is actually effective, but yeah.
 
I think your doing pretty well. Some good progress. It will get harder to increase at that rate for long though so don't give up.
As regards how much your doing I think as your doing full body workouts you should only do one press out of incline/decline/flat bench. And dips would be better than decline in my opinion so do either flat/incline and dips. Also squats and lunges is probably too much in a FBW.
And your doing too much core/ab work really.
But you are missing some exercises.
Your missing a horizontal pull, ie row and a vertical push ie military press - incline comes close but I wouldn't neglect the military press.
Some deadlifting would be good too, to work the posterior chain more. But again, not best to do them when you squat.
Its probably best to mix and match some so you get a good balance workout each time.
One final comment, try to keep your workout under an hour as this means you don't waste recovery time. So to do this will mean doing less exercises and shortening breaks in between sets.
ps 5.1% body fat is low.
Make sure your eating loads if you want to build muscle.
 
Some people have been able to achieve on the 5x5 in as little 6 months :-

Squats :- 1.5 x Bodyweight
Deads :- 1.5 - 2 x Bodyweight
Bench :- 1.0 x Bodyweight

There are strength standards somewhere for what you should aim for depending on how long you have been training (I'm too lazy to dig the link). :action11:
 
I think you are doing fine. I've been working out (somewhat-school permitting) seriously for about 8 months, am almost exactly the same size, and bench, lunge and squat (depending on squat depth) the same but for 5 sets, though bench is admittedly my weakest area.

I wouldn't obsess about how well your progress has been, as long as you are making progress you are doing good. If you notice there isn't a discrepancy with your barbell lunges, you have gone up 20 lbs each leg, whereas for your squat you have gone up 40 lbs total. Seem about right to me.

Also, 5% bf seems extremely low.

I agree with some of the other posters is you are missing some important exercises such as:
- **Deadlifts
- Bent-over row
- Overhead press
- Military press
- Chin-ups
- Dips

Personally deadlifts is the staple of my workout and has done a lot for improving my lifts all around.
 
First off, thanks everyone for the great responses.

Andyroid: I should have clarified about the core workout. Though I always do the planks at the end, I only do 2 maybe 3 of the core exercises each session. That's just a lift of the different exercises I mix and match.

Blackbeard: I like the Ronnie Coleman signature. Ain't nothin' but a peanut.

Everyone in General (though Dagman had an exceptional response):

It sounds like I AM spending too much time in the weight room for one session and doing too much (over an hour, do squats/lunges same day) each time. But, at the same time, it's also clear that I'm missing out on some important movements and lifts.

How would you recommend I include the other lifts/movements (deadlift, dips, horizontal pull, vertical push) without doing too much at a time? The dips one is easy, I can just drop the incline/decline and do dips instead. Not sure about deadlift, because I know I shouldn't do it on the same day as squats, and same with the rows and military press.

Again, thanks everyone for your respones and I appreciate your continued help.
 
I'll tell you what I do but I wouldn't take it necessarily as a good example because I am not that knowledgeable about routine construction. But this works for me.

I work out 3x a week and concentrate on two muscle groups per session, one push and one pull. But people have recommended you do push or pull for each session. The reason is you can work to exhaustion so I'll probably change mine soon.

So I have:
back/triceps (pull/push) (deads, row overhand, pull-up, dips, cable pulldown)
chest/biceps (push/pull) (bench, decline db, incline, curl, row underhand)
legs/shoulders (push/push) (squat, lunge walk, military, oh press)

So I'd do back/biceps, chest/triceps instead... but maybe other should comment because I'm still learning. I keep these to five exercises, 4 or 5 sets of 6-8 reps. Some times I stack a muscle group, ex. chest-chest-chest-tricep-tricep, to make sure they are worked to exhaustion. I do the big muscle group 3x and the smaller one 2x.

I also try to do my leg day before my back day. The reason is that I lift relatively heavy on dead-lifts and it takes my back awhile to recover. It's hard to do squats following dead-lift because you need to keep good form which requires the back.

I don't spend any time doing abs from my assessment it's a waste. The squats and the deads will work the core then you just need low bf %. Hope that helps for a starting point.
 
Or alternatively if you want to stick to a full body workout which you would probably see quicker improvement in size and strength check out the 5x5 workout that blackbeard mentioned. Its on the site in one of the stickies.
 
I just thought about my last message again and the 5x5 is not necessarily the best for you as your still quite knew at it and you'll probably improve quicker not following the regimented increases of that program. Basically I would set 2 different workouts and alternate them getting all of the basic types of lift you need.

For instance
Workout A
Squat
Bench
Row of some kind
Military Press
Ab exercise

Workout B
Deadlift
Incline Bench
Row
Dips
Pull ups
Core exercise

This isn't an exact science and people will make other suggestions but this is the sort of idea as all the muscle groups are getting some kind of work each time.

Stick with the 3x10 as long as you see improvement, after that change as your body will become acustomed to it. Maybe 5x5 etc.

Hope this helps.
Have fun and keep us posted.
 
Hey thanks a lot guys for the suggestions. I'm going to give the two workouts Andyroid posted a try under the 3x10 deal.

One quick question before I go ahead with that though.

Are there anymore lower-body exercises I could incorporate into the routines, maybe at the expense of one of the upper-body exercises? I'm definitely going to work the deadlifts in, but I'd hate to stop doing lunges and calf raises. As I mentioned before most of my reason for lifting is to see improved performance in my sport, which requires LOTS of sprinting, jumping, and legwork.
 
Yeah I'd stick calf raises in maybe once a week and lunges in maybe once a week too but after the deadlifts or squats. Remembere though lunges are working quads and glutes which are also being worked in squats/deadlifts but just a bit differently so don't go overboard.
Work out what's best for you. If you find this workout isn't best for you can always try something else. After a couple of months its good to change anyway.
But definitely make sure the diet is good. You want a calorific excess of about 500 calories to build muscle and as you've got such low body fat you can't afford to scrimp on your diet. Plenty of complex carbs and split your food into about 6 meals a day.
 
That routine takes you 1.5-2 hours?!? Do you take showers between sets?

Seriously though, how long are your rest periods? You're doing a standard 3x10 on 7 lifts which makes 21 sets in all so you could easily have that done in an hour with 1-2 minute rest periods between sets.

As for progress, you're doing well, but you might want to change your routine soon to keep it interesting and keep your muscles adapting to new things
 
Andyroid: Thanks a lot for the advice. I'll throw the calf raises and lunges into one of the workouts each.

Typhon: Two hours is probably the longest it's ever taken, and we probably spend a good half hour waiting for squat racks and benches to open up. Plus all the showers we take in between sets, you know, it really adds up.

Also, you know how there are those animated "smileys" to the right of the message box where you type up your responses? This was one of the smileys.

:love2:

Kind of graphic...maybe...
 
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