Toning and Defining

A

Atticus

0
Hi, I'm Dan and I'm new here. I'm 19 and I'm in good shape but I want to be in "Great" shape. I'm trying to work on my upper body and am having trouble understanding what is really needed to tone and shape your upper body muscles.

Upper Body meaning: Arms, Chest, and Stomach.

Mainly focusing on Arms and Chest.

Right now I think I have decent size on my body. I know if I just lift heavy weights over a period of time as well as consuming a good amount of protein that they'll grow. But what I really want is good Shape and Tone. I want them to be hard and defined.

So basically, I want them Hard and Defined.

I've read that Low Weight at High Reps is what you should do. But, what exactly do you mean by a "rep" exactly?

I have a small dumbbell that's about as long as my chest (to hold) and I usually had twenty pounds on each side (plus bar -- about 42.5 lbs) and I used to do a lot of reps with those at once. Then finish.

But I want to work on my chest more (rather than arms par-say) so I started holding the metal poles on the ends (which you attach the weights at) and only put on 10 pounds each side. I laid on my back and lifted them in the air and down (benching in an easier sense) 100 times in a row. Took a minute rest. Did it 50 times, took a little rest. Did it 30 times, and then took a rest.

However during the 20th one of the 50th set my body started shaking, but I was able to follow through. Is that okay to happen as long as I don't drop it on my chest/face ?

I'm not sure if that's what you mean by low weight and lot of "reps" which I'm still unclear what that really means.

For any of you that know what you're doing, since I have not a clue, here's some info on my shape and size to help you determine what I can do.

I'm about 5'9.5" and weigh 160 pounds. I recall having a "lower than healthy" body fat %, but I"m not sure what it was exactly. Lower than 10% maybe? I'm not too sure. Don't hold me to that.

The weights that I use is a bar (well it's actually a long oval with two bars in the middle as grips) which I can put on weight on the opposite ends. My available weights to put on are:

2 - 10lb Weights
4 - 5lb Weights
4 - 3lb Weights

Bar is approximately equal to 2.75 lbs to 5lb (not too sure, but I'm assuming it's not too heavy).

How often should I exercise these muscles? Daily?

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Moving onto stomach (since I know more about this one, since I don't have any muscle to really tone or shape [that I don't think anyway]).

I have a little fat on my stomach, not a whole lot. Just about an inch or so that I can pinch at. I was told that if you have fat on your stomach as you work on your stomach, your abs will pop out and they only pop once and they're out for good. I want good looking sunk in abs, so should I work that fat off first or is it not enough to be a bother?

With exercising my stomach, I had these in mind:

Six Inches (with flutters involved)
Regular Sit-Ups
Elevated Sit-Ups (Living my legs at a 45 Degree Angle)
Curls?? (Laying on ground with head and shoulders raised, putting knees to chest and then raising and lowering legs)

Anything else that might help?

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Yet again I thank whomever has read this and is willing to help. I've been trying to stay in good shape for a while now but I think it's about time I get the answers I've been looking for.

Thanks again.

-Dan
 
I read the whole thing and basically what you need is a weight set with a bench, barbell and dumbells. Also you need a fullbody workout routine. The reps you are doing are TOO HIGH. An ideal high rep range is 10-20 reps and ideal sets are about 2-5(most poeple do 3).
 
note, I only read half of the original post but I got the gist.

I Agree with the full body workout. There is no such thing as getting "tone" by doing hi reps (repetitions) and low weight. You have to build muscle, and cut fat to look tone. I would do my exercises 3 sets of 10 or 3 sets of 12. Get a gym membership because you need to train lower body as well unless you want to invest into getting a bench, squat rack, barbell and dumbbells as well as all the weight with it. Along with the upper is not only chest arms and stomach, but back as well, which is important. Bent over Rows and Deadlift are essential.

For a FBW you should maybe begin with (oh and not necessarily in this order)
Squat,
Bench Press
Deadlift
Chinup
Dip
Bent Over Row

All of these should be done 3 sets of 10 or 12.

All of these excersizes should be done 3x a week with a day break in between each workout. You can superset them, this is to say combine two exercises without breaking. Say you were supersetting bench and squat, you do bench, and without taking a break, immediately do squats, then take a 60 second break. I would take 60 second breaks inbetween supersets.
 
So I should put a lot of weight on, do them about 10 times, rest for a second. Then do it again and again (for a total of three).

I plan on running and such too. I have a gym membership, I just can't start going regularly yet but I will.

Thanks.
 
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