I want to get into the best shape of my life in 5 months?

R

ronburgundy

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Hi, im 15 male and i play basketball. I was always told not to do weights but i think nows the time. Im 184cm 68 guard and im kind of lanky got long arms and im pretty athletic. But my aim this offseason is to get stronger in the arms. I always do push ups but never did weights. Over the last couple of months i've done some bicep curls etc but nothing to serious. But the one week i've stepped it up and this is what i usually do on a daily basis, i'll skip my cardio and basketball exercises ill just tell you guys what i do weight lifting and core wise. Oh and have no clue with the names so im going to have to use my adjectives.

everything i do is 4 sets and 10 reps im not sure why though lol.
During the sets say i do bicep curls ill do and then ill do bench press vise versa

bicep curls each arm 7.5kg 4 sets 10 reps each set
bench press 30kg 4 sets 10 reps each set
the one where you get the dumbells and put it behind your head and raise up works your triceps 4 sets 10 reps each set 7.5kg
the one where you sit down with your back straight and you lift two dumbells up and then bring them down like you do a bench press 4 sets 10 reps each set 7.5kg
10kg dumbell and raise it above my head and down 4 sets 10 reps each set
this one works your triceps, you stand up straight and out your arms out wide and with a dumbell you got up and down 5kg 4 sets 10 reps each set

Thats pretty much all the workouts i do with weights. i wont do deadlifts by the way

i also do

4 sets of 50 crunches=200 crunches
4 sets of 50 bicycle crunches
4 sets of where you ly down on your back and lift your legs up and touch them 4 sets of 20reps of those
ill sometimes do the bridge etc

so those 3 workouts work the abdominal region and i do all those 3 in between each set so one after the other no break, ill do 2 sets of all those have a 30 second break then again do the othe 2 sets

4 sets of 10 rep push ups
4 sets of 10 rep triangle push ups

So thats pretty much all my strength workouts

My diet: well its healthy breakfast is usually eggs or healthy cereal i.e oats(porridge) or weetbix, lunch=tuna plus wholemeal bread=dinner=meat and salads, plus i eat lots of apples and bananas and fruites during the day and drink tons of water. every now and again ill have junk food but im stricter on my diet now.

So thats pretty much it, what do you guys think. I want to come back into preseason in top nick. i got a plan by december is where i want to be in that top nick, is it achievable? if i do this everyday.? will i get bigger and stronger in the arms by doing these workouts? also for instance the bench press i started off with 25kg and now i went to 30kg im gradually adding more weight. Is my workouts good? will i get 6 pack abs? and what should i eat?
 
Why won't you do deadlifts? Most good programs are built around variations of squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, pull ups and rows, with a little bit of isolation work where needed. Squats and deadlifts (not necessarily max weight or powerlifting deadlfits, but perhaps speed pulls, high pulls etc) would be very beneficial to your sport, and a program that strengthens your whole body will give you a more proportionate physique where everything looks good, not just your arms and abs. Food for thought: pretty much every guy on Earth with good-looking arms and abs has a good-looking body in general, and pretty much every guy on Earth with unflattering arms and abs has an unflattering body in general. There's something to that.

Will you get a little bit more muscle and a little bit stronger doing what you're doing? Yeah, probably. Is there a better way, that will make you look even better, benefit your sport, and minimise the risk of harm caused by muscle imbalances? Most certainly.
 
ronburgundy said:
deadlifts will stunt my growth? do i need to go to a gym or wat im doing is fine?
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What moron told you that deadlifts will stunt your growth? Deadlift is the way you should always pick up a bar and one of the most fundamental exercises for safety and maintaining posture. I could take you to any gym and point out the deadlifters in minutes, they will be varying in heigh but have perfect spinal alignment and confidence to perform moves others won't for fear of hurting thier backs.
Basketball is very explosive and performing deadlift fast with moderate weight along with high pulls jump squats and some plyometric will give you explosive power and coordination required to improve your game.

Your workout is incredibly uneven. If it is kept that way long term you will damage your back and a lot of upper torso as they struggle to compensate for this.
Trust me yours is not the worst I have seen but it is up among them, so the best thing I can say is well done for asking first.
Even training is best kept to using the BALS system (Back, Arms, Legs, Stomach) to keep it even. You like your b-ball so Ihave given a simple circuit here that is part of what I used on a team improving fitness for the game to illustrate it.

Back - High pull with jump using medicine ball. This was taking ball form the ground up to shoulder height with elbows high while jumping then landing and taking it back down. Medicine ball was to avoid possible impact shock on landing.
Arms - Medicine ball push press with throw and catch. Basically bending the knees and throwing the medicine ball up in the air from the chest then catching it and bringing it back to the chest.
Legs - Deep squat jumps.
Stomach - Crunches with basketball in hands. Where this was held depended on core strength.

You will notice no isolation work. Basketball uses all of the body at once so compound was far more useful. Team condition and appearance improved when I worked with them.

Getting in shape means getting all of you in shape. As goldie says this includes your legs, back and of course areas you don't seee like heart and lungs.
 
ronburgundy said:
wait so my workouts is terrible? why
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Lots of muscle imbalances and almost no benefit to your sport. It's the worst of both worlds.
ronburgundy said:
and every 1 says deadlifts stunt ur growths due 2 the pressure put on ur back
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When in doubt, use RPE (rating of perceived exertion). How RPE is scaled varies between different types of training, but for strength training, it goes as follows:

10/10: You either failed your final rep, or would have failed if you attempted another rep.
9/10: Once you've finished your set, you're confident you could have done 1 more rep.
8/10: You could have done 2-3 more reps.
7/10: If you pushed hard the concentric would have been quite fast even on the last rep.
1-6/10: You get the picture on how much less challenging these loads are.
0/10: Chilling out in a comatose state.

If you're not sure about your growth, stick to about a 7/10 RPE, and you'll have a pretty hard time putting too much pressure on your back. I generally recommend that adults train until they're 1-2 reps away from failure -- for teenagers I recommend finishing every set 100% confident you could have done 2 more reps, and at least suspecting that you could have done 5 more reps.

Take that on board, and EAT. Other than injury, the main thing that will stop a teenager from growing is malnutrition. Eat enough to grow, and odds are you will grow.
 
ronburgundy said:
wait so my workouts is terrible? why
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Following on from what I said and what Goldie has said. Missing out 90% of your body in training is not a good idea. At best it will cause you discomfort and you will quit, at worst you will stick to it and end up with serious problems when older. I am old enough to know and talk to lot of guys who concentrated on arms, shoulders, chest and abs, they all have chronic back pain, knee issues and often shoulder problems too.
Train everything either in balance or as close to balance as your sport demands. If you don't you will regret it guaranteed.
Case in point, a couple of months ago I hurt my back on deadlift, first time I have ever done this with more than slight twinge we all get occasionally with any muscle. I have been doing them for over 20 years usually in the 9 to 10 range of RPE, so high risk. Already 80 to 90% recovered and back to training well. Because by body is trained all over so what for others less even would be debilitating was for me an inconvenience.

You are smarter than many for asking first. Correct now and do well.

ronburgundy said:
and every 1 says deadlifts stunt ur growths due 2 the pressure put on ur back
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Google search the following
thor bjornsson wsm
This is a man who has been doing deadlifts for many years and at 6'10" I wouldn't say his growth was stunted.
Your spine compresses during the day because you are upright, due to gravity. Put a bar on your shoulder to do squats, rucksack on your back to carry school books or training gear, or do deadlifts, this compresses it more. You then go to sleep, usually laid down, and gravity pressure is removed and you go back to normal. If this wasn't the case the only way to grow would be to never stand or sit up, gravity puts constant pressure on our backs.
The sections compressed are not your vertabrae but the compressable discs between them. In the same way as putting pressure on muscles in a controlled sensible manner enables them to get stronger, working your back will improve the health of these discs. You won't get taller or shorter but this has been proven to stop the shrinking normally associated with age. So while everyone 'knows' that deadlifts stunt your growth, what everyone is missing is that research has shown the opposite it stops your growth being stunted.

Obviously keep your age and stage of growth in mind. If you are still growing and the centre of your bones is still soft any seriously heavy weight training will inhibit growth. Use Goldie's RPE and keep it dialled to the right level.


We are giving you a hard time and I am not apologising for this. You are smart enough to ask for help, Goldie and I have either made the silly mistakes or witnessed them in others so we are being tough on you to avoid you doing so yourself.

There are some great books out there regarding balanced training, and some horrendous comics telling you about blasting your arms or belly etc. Those following the first get old, crazy but bloody fit with it, the rest go away declaring fitness is bad for you because they did it wrong.
 
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nah its all good man i've been through elite bball programs im use to it all. Im a harder worker and im ready tp put the work in, to be honest i just have no clue what im doing so basically every workout i know i do and i do it all in the same day. I've done what i wrote for abour 4 days straight and my arms are fatigued not necessarily sore. So if you have the time and if you dont ill understand but could you tell me what do to how much etc? i dont go gym by the way.
 
Okay, so the basic movements I recommend for a balanced program are:

- Deep knee bends (some for of squat, lunge or leg press): quadricep and glute dominant
- Hinge (some form of deadlift, hyperextension, or bridge): glute, hamstring and lower back dominant
- Horizontal push (some form of push ups, dips or bench press): chest and triceps dominant
- Vertical push (some form of overhead press): shoulder and triceps dominant
- Horizontal pull (some form of row): shoulder, trapezius and bicep dominant
- Vertical pull (some form of pull up, pull down): lats and bicep dominant

You can then add in some core work, isolation exercises or whatever else needs bring up around that.

So, instead of your workout being:

bicep curls each arm 7.5kg 4 sets 10 reps each set
bench press 30kg 4 sets 10 reps each set
the one where you get the dumbells and put it behind your head and raise up works your triceps 4 sets 10 reps each set 7.5kg
the one where you sit down with your back straight and you lift two dumbells up and then bring them down like you do a bench press 4 sets 10 reps each set 7.5kg
10kg dumbell and raise it above my head and down 4 sets 10 reps each set
this one works your triceps, you stand up straight and out your arms out wide and with a dumbell you got up and down 5kg 4 sets 10 reps each set
4 sets of 50 crunches=200 crunches
4 sets of 50 bicycle crunches
4 sets of where you ly down on your back and lift your legs up and touch them 4 sets of 20reps of those
ill sometimes do the bridge etc
4 sets of 10 rep push ups
4 sets of 10 rep triangle push ups
Click to expand...

...it might be:

Circuit 1: 3-5 rounds of
- High Pull x3-5
- Push Jerk x3-5
- Bend Over Row x10-15

Circuit 2: 2-3 rounds of
- Step Ups x8-12
- Bench Press x8-12
- Pull Ups 1 rep for each rep of bench press (continuing doing extra sets of pull ups after completing the circuit if need be)

You'd probably only do that 2-3 times a week. If you're willing to train every day, you have a good training ethic, but you generally won't see great results from it, as rest and recovery are just as important as training (there are exceptions to this, but there's usually a very specific set of parameters set up to allow more frequent training; parameters which don't apply to you at this point in time). Case in point, I know a guy who recently deadlifted 230kg in competition and made it look easy, and like me he only weighs about 70kg. He used to train every single day, and didn't get very far doing that -- since he cut back his training to every other day, he's added about 35kg to his squats and 50kg to his deadlift in 6 months. He's also buffed out a lot over the last 6 months, whereas for at least a year before hand he just looked skinny and soft.
 
Then do dumbbell pullovers and 1 bicep exercise instead of pull ups. Other than that, everything there should be achievable with your equipment.
 
ronburgundy said:
and every 1 says deadlifts stunt ur growths due 2 the pressure put on ur back
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I'm late to this conversation, I know, but I've never heard that, ever. Dead lifts are the best and most basic of lifts and should be incorporated to any good weight routine. You'll never tell me otherwise. I'm 6'5 with a family history of back problems. Of my mother, father, brother, sister and myself, I am the only one who hasn't had back surgery. My body has made it's best progress with dead lifts. If you're doing them and hurting yourself, then your form is wrong. Simple as that.
 
ronburgundy said:
i dont go to a gym i do it at home i've got a bench press dumbellts and a barbell only
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Adding to what Goldie gave you, with a barbell, you can also do power cleans, overhead presses, hack squats, dead lifts, Romanian dead lifts, neck presses, barbell curls, Pendlay rows, and t-bar rows, to name a few. A Barbell is arguably the best piece of workout equipment there is due to it's versatility and how much weight you can pack onto it.
 
Create a caloric deficit. Shave 500 to 1,000 calories off your daily eating. Measure everything you eat and read labels so you can be as exact as possible and get an accurate account of calories. Use a notebook to write down what you eat and add up your calories, or use an online food diary to track what you eat and add up your calories.
 
k... So you have a barbell... Hopefully with enough plates... 100kg should be more than enough for a good while, but you can get away with half that.

First thing I'm going to say is this: You can't grow bigger arms without working out your legs. There are a few reasons for this. The most basic one is that your body will always try it's best to stay proportionate (although you can f*** it up to a great degree) and it will essentially prevent your arms from strengthening more than a certain amount. The other thing is, squats and squat type exercises stimulate more testosterone production than any other kind of exercise. This is proven fact, look it up. So, if you want to grow, squatting would be a GOOD idea... Deadlifts would ALSO be a good idea.

There is this little exercise that basically covers a whole lot of ground. If you add deadlifts, benches, rows and pull ups, you will have most ranges of movement covered. It's called the thruster. You can do these with a bar, dumbbells or kettlebells.
[video=youtube;AqSuHN5ecc8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqSuHN5ecc8[/video]

What I like about this exercise is that with one exercise, you're training your ENTIRE body throughout a MASSIVE range of motion. In reality I think that if all you ever did was thrusters, you'd have fewer muscular imbalances than 80% of gymmers out there. Add pulling exercises like pull ups and rows, a horizontal push, and a hinging exercise like the deadlift, and you have a complete strength training regime, IMHO. Add stretches and maybe something for muscular control like Pilates, and add cardio, and you're a completely balanced athlete right there...
 
From my experience do as many body weight exercises as you can
 
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