Desperate!

[Pheracus]

O.K... here's the catch. I'm a 19 year old ex-football player (played for 6 years of life), wasn't ever really one of the smaller boys (always overweight or just meeting the weight requirements - obviously played line). I've finally lost some weight and I'm starting to feel a bit better about physical appearance. I wanna keep it up... I use to be 5'11 , 225lbs. I am now still 5'11 but 185 / 190 lbs depending on when I weighed myself. I have small muscle definition ( I would like MUCH more ), a large chest, small abdominal definition and powerful legs (especially calves, pumped and defined those things are!) Anyway I've been in the gym for about 4 months now and I've been going off and on. I'd really like to get serious about it but I'm tired of going there and NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO! I know general workouts but I have absolutely no idea how to work smaller muscle groups to get the definition I want or what workouts would be most effective. I currently do reps with 35lb dumbbells, I bench press 45lb weights on each end (I can probably do more, never really tried - just wanted to be safe), can do several reps of 165 lbs on the ab machine (sit in a chair, hold onto bars above your head and use your abs to lift the weights - the abs are there!! hooray!) and I can push a hella lot with legs. I just DO NOT KNOW WHAT I'M doing and I really hope somebody would take the time to read this and pity me and help me out by: 1) Recommending a workout program (what days to workout etc, hopefully I can do Monday, Wednesday and Friday) 2) Telling me how much weight to use for maximum effects and 3) Perhaps linking me to a website where I can find how to DO the workouts you've listed? I really don't know the names of all workouts so if its possible could you describe it or link me to a website? Thank you so very much whosoever takes the time to help me out. I'm in University -- i.e. I don't have money for a personal trainer.

Thanking you in Advance

- Pheracus

P.S. I bought a workout mat and a strength training (medicine) ball for home to do abs workouts because I was told you can work on your abs every day. Please, it would really help if I can get some advice. THANK YOU!

[jd12]

I don't know how good these workouts are but apparently they were made by the moderator (or something like that) who is a personal trainer so check it out...

http://trainwithmeonline.com/programs.asp

[Pheracus]

Ok I'll check these out and see if there's anything in there for me.

[bigiz123]

first, http://www.shapefit.com/strength-training.html tells u exactly how to do the workouts and includes pictures, i kno they helped me for sure.
heres a nice workout schedule that has worked wonders for me.. (by the way, supersetting is when you go from one exercise immediately to another with no breaks, after 1 complete superset take a 2 minute rest. the reason i suggest it is because it builds muscle much faster, which is what u want)
Monday: chest: 3 bench/bench flye supersets (15 reps, then 12, then 7, or something like that)
abs: 25 crunches/ 26 oblique crunches (13 in each direction) supersets
triceps: 3 dips/ triceps pushdown supersets
shoulders: use whatever u can find, or do pullups

wednesday: quadriceps: 3 Leg extension/leg press or squats supersets
hamstrings: 3 lying leg curls/ lunges supersets
calves: use whatever since u said theyr built already
biceps: again, your call

Friday: repeat monday, and on the next monday, use the leg workout instead, followed by the upper body workout on wednesday etc

-and as for the weight u should use, make sure that u can successfully but with moderate to high difficulty do 15 reps of that weight, that should be a good weight to start at, and as u notice it become easier, increase weight by 5 pounds.. i hope that helps

[Pheracus]

I really like what you suggested, seeing that I can do all of that at the gym at school! I'll try this for about 3 months and let you know how its been working ( I know you would never see results right away ). However, what about smaller muscle groups? How do I get around to working those out? Are Cardio/Pilates better for working out smaller muscle groups? Either way it sounds wonderful and I'm gonna give it a shot.

[Pheracus]

One more question, I do own a medicine ball and I'm wondering how many different exercises I can do with it. I can't find anything on the internet that doesn't require you to buy a book so if anybody has any sources please let me know.

[swanso5]

if training 3/week a full body would be more benefical as instead of training each mscle once a week youtrain them 3/week with varying degrees of intensity (weight, sets and reps)...have a search through this section i've put plenty of workout plans on here...any program that has leg extensions in it can't be that good they're pretty useless (no offence bigiz if that was one of yours)...oh and train abs like any other muscle 3/week maximum not daily

[Pheracus]

if training 3/week a full body would be more benefical as instead of training each mscle once a week youtrain them 3/week with varying degrees of intensity (weight, sets and reps)...have a search through this section i've put plenty of workout plans on here...any program that has leg extensions in it can't be that good they're pretty useless (no offence bigiz if that was one of yours)...oh and train abs like any other muscle 3/week maximum not daily

Ok I'll take a look around, I have a lot of research to do this weekend as I want to start on Monday! I'm so excited! What about medicine ball workouts and the question about smaller muscle groups?

[jd12]

The site i told you about has tons of medicine ball exercises and i like the videos liek someone said. Also if you want to have a look at these sites they have tons of exercises:

http://www.shapefit.com/training.html

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

These sites also have a manakin picture that shows you exactly which muscle groups the exercises use.

[mm]

I really hope somebody would take the time to read this and pity me and help me out by:

The kind of info you are asking for is very specific and without seeing you in person and talking with you in person, no expert in this forum can develop a plan for you.

Why don't you break down your question and ask how much weight and reps. But I think you should get a hold of some books to understand the muscle groups names, etc.

Here are some links I collected (main one is from here) to send to someone: :

Exercise & Muscle Directory at http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Muscle Body Map: at http://www.exrx.net/Lists/MMale.html

All about exercise: http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html
Power Training: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html
Toning: http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Toning.html

What the Terms Mean at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/buy/guides/exer ... g-guide/#1

Elliptical Trainers at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/buy/guides/exer ... g-guide/#5

Free Weights & Benches at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/buy/guides/exer ... g-guide/#8

Another one at
http://www.workoutideas.com/free-weight-equipment.html


Hope this helps.