Starting weightlifting!

[Honken]

My workouts so far has mostly been focused upon muscular endurance, aerobic and anaerobic endurance. I paused my training due to a knee injury and now I plan on starting to hit the gym for a while before I get back to Thaiboxing. Anyway, my main goal is to increase my strength-speed ratio and max strength.

I'm planning on using a three-day split, M (chest, shoulders, triceps) W (back, biceps) F (legs). R/S would be 5x3, about 3 excercises per workout.

Monday - Bench press, Military press, Lateral raises.
Wednesday - Deadlift, Lat pulldown, Bent over row.
Friday - Back squat, Hamstring curls, Calf raises.

Any suggestions? Modifications?

[Gazapo]

Looks like a good start to me...Might want to increase the reps to about 8-10 per set.

Also I'd throw in the incline press either bar or dumbbells on Mondays, and perhaps lunges on Fridays.

[chicanerous]

A split routine doesn't work with 5 x 3 -- the volume is way too low.

Something like this would be better:

Monday

Squat
Bench Press
Hamstring Curls
Bent-over Row

Wednesday

Deadlift
Military Press
Lat Pull-down
Calf Raise

Friday

Squat
Bench Press
Hamstring Curls
Bent-over Row

I still wouldn't do it all with 5 x 3, but, if you did, this would be better than what you're currently planning to do.

[Honken]

I'm not really that into weightlifting, but isn't it ideal to split musclegroups up as evenly as possible? For example, M & F seems packed with alot of different groups?

[chicanerous]

I'm not really that into weightlifting, but isn't it ideal to split musclegroups up as evenly as possible? For example, M & F seems packed with alot of different groups?

Monday

Quad-dominant
Horizontal Push
Hamstring
Horizontal Pull

Wednesday

Everything
Vertical Push
Vertical Pull
Calves

Friday

Quad-dominant
Horizontal Push
Ham
Horizontal Pull

...

Quad vs. Ham = 2 / 2
Horizontal Push vs. Pull = 2 / 2
Vertical Push vs. Pull = 1 / 1

With the exception of calves, it seems balanced to me. Ideally however, I'd make those hamstring curls a compound movement -- romanian deadlifts, good mornings, or pull-throughs -- or, at the very least, change them to glute-ham raises.

[Honken]

Sorry, my bad. Thanks again!

[Rahf]

I assume you get decent ab workouts from MA? Just a reminder in case you've forgotten completely about it.

[Honken]

I figured that as I allready train my abs at Thaiboxing, and that I get some training from all the compound lifts it wouldn't be neccessary.

Anyway, I've always been interested in Olympic weightlifting. The more I've read up on it, the more I've realised that it involves pretty much what I'm after (MAX-strength, strength-speed ratio ect ect).

I don't have any personal experience in training OL, but I've always been interested in it and have watched many competitions, clips and so on. Would it be a bad idea to start a OL program without any tutoring first? I've read up ALOT on technique and has practiced (+imitated) all the major lifts and it feels and looks good.

I searched for a sample routine and got this:

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/images/olympic_weightlifting.jpg

Of course I wouldn't jump right into it, I'd probably spend a week or two training with lower weights just to get the technique down before increasing the load.

[mr popular]

i imagine chicanerous will pretty much cover anything necessary haha, but I would like you to keep us all informed of the progress you make. Where are you at now (your weight, how much weight you are lifting and for what, etc.etc...) ? Where do you want to be, and in what time frame?

~Brian

[Honken]

Well, since everything I've done so far has been bodyweight based (sprinting, plyometrics, chins, pushups and so on) I don't really know any of my MAX'es. So I'll hit the gym on wednesday and test out my max on various lifts.

But for now, I'm 68kg (149 pounds) and a bit over 180cm (5'10"). My goal would be to hit about 72kg (158 pounds) in no particular timeframe.

[Syn]

do a 5x5 holmes


edit; nvm you just started, do full body routines

[chicanerous]

If you've only done bodyweight, your body is not ready for maxes, etc. You need to work with the basic lifts and develop a tolerance for higher intensities (e.g. heavier weights) in relation to volume. Bodyweight training will not have prepared you for this.

Syn's 5 x 5 idea is not a bad idea, as long as you start conservative and don't go for your absolute maxes right out of the door, but, instead, build up to them over the course of the next month. After 2-3 months of that, you will be ready to do pretty much whatever you want as long as you don't try to use a routine that is too advanced for your level of training experience.

Right now, you are not ready to do that program that incorporates the Olympic lifts. Also, I would highly recommend finding coaching if you want to train any of the lifts (other than power cleans and jerks) seriously. Without ace technique, the amount of weight you will be able to use will be drastically limited. It's simply not possible to lift to your full potential on these lifts without utilizing the best technique possible. This can, of course, be said for most lifts, but the classical lifts are much more complex and nuanced than any others so it is highly unlikely you will be able to refine your technique to an acceptable extent alone.

Additionally, bad habits that are formed now will become much harder to break each time they are reinforced. You want to achieve the best form as quickly as possible, not suffer through with mediocrity.

[Honken]

Fuck. I was really looking forward to OL. Guess I'll just have to digg more.