Advice for newbie weightlifter (no haters :( )

Why can’t you do deadlifts? It’s a basic movement we do every day. You essentially do it every time you lift something off the floor.

Any variation of squats is better than leg presses. In addition to dumbbell squats try doing these: hack squats, front squats, overhead squats.

For squats and deadlifts, try low weights first and work on your flexibility. I’ve known guys that have a hard time with them because they have tight hamstring, calf and groin muscles.

Be careful with doing 20 reps. You’ll find out how hard it is to follow correct form once you go past 15 reps, esp at higher weights.

Here’s a link to another full-body workout routine, it’s another variation on the 20rep squat workout:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/irontamer5.htm

 

why would you not lift till failure? youll never get stronger inless you push yourself to do more reps and/or wieght.

 

You dont always want to go to failure if your looking to just gain strength and not size. Going to failure with a heavy weight (meaning something you can only do up to 6 reps with) will cause you to use crappy form and with heavy weights your alot more prone to hurt yourself. Not to say you shouldnt lift heavy weights hard, its just best to always leave at least 1 rep "in the hole". Going to failure is a bodybuilder thing, unfortunately bodybuilding is exactly what people think of when people think of strength training, its even worse when people try to apply bodybuilding methodologies to athletic development.

Theres also the motor learning aspect of the lift too. If you use good form all the time and stop before failure you still get stronger (particularly if your using heavy weights) and your body gets better at that movement (because its doing it in a uniform fashion most of the time and the muscles learn how to fire ideally, not like when your form is way off and your moving the weight in an awkward way to try and get that last rep). I added 50lbs to my deadlift in 1 month (I started at 335 for a 1 rep max) by stopping close to failure and using 5-3-1-3 as my rep scheme and always stopping 1 rep from failure (for the 1 I used a weight I could do 1.5-2 reps with). Im only 165lbs

 

WHOA!!! I gotta try that 5-3-1-3. I'm really lazy and usually just do 5x5 and just recently started doing 5-5-2-2-1-1-1-1-1.

 

"There is no point in being alive if you cannot do the deadlift." - 4 time world strongest man winner Jón Páll Sigmarsson.

The big four - Deadlift, Squat, Benchpress, Military Press (standing). If you don't have one of those exercises every day you lift, scrap the workout.

If you are a newbie lifter like you said, I suggest a program geared toward newbies with a proven track record. Thousands of people have made GREAT total body strength gains off of Mark Rippetoes Starting Strength program, and Strong Lifts 5x5 program. Go with one of those two programs, and when you stop making progress you should have learned enough by that point to figure out where to go on your own (if you've continued to read up and study strength training during that time).

Edit: Keep in mind that you WILL need to periodize your training to make the most of a heavy lifting/strength building phase. All your other work (cardio/conditioning/muscle endurance) will need to be dropped to the bare minimum you need to maintain your CURRENT level of fitness if you want to recover properly and really see the gains. I've been training and fighting for years, and I've developed a pretty high work capacity, but even for me after a couple of weeks on this program and working everything else hard too I start to burn out and have to cut back on something. If you view my training log you can see what I'm talking about (there are only 2 weeks on the log, but I was on the same program for two weeks prior, so a month total so far). I added weight, added weight, stalled, then couldn't make my lifts.
Since I have a boxing match coming up, cardio/conditioning is more important than strength right now, so I have chosen to cut the lifting back to maintainance levels (twice a week) and just staying with the same weight on the same program. Since this is a boxing training forum, I assume you are or will be in the same boat, so when you have a fight coming up I suggest making the same cut back. In the "off-season" when you don't have any fights scheduled, do the opposite. Cut cardio/conditioning back to maintainance levels, and hit the weights hard.

 

^^ Solid advice.

 

Google the two programs. You will squat three times a week with either of them. The weights start off ridiculously light, and your legs will become conditioned to it. The other lifts will rotate. Once you get to the point that you're lifting enough weight to need more than 48 hours to recover, you won't need to be asking for advice here anymore.

More effective at what? The point of building weights is to make you stronger. Sprints and anaerobic training will increase your anaerobic threshold and give you a "bigger gas tank". They won't make you stronger. Lifting heavy weights will make you stronger, it won't give you a bigger tank. You need to figure out what you're trying to do.

You're overdoing it. You are new to lifting weights. This is a boxing board, so I assume you want to lift weights to increase your sports performance. You DO NOT need to be training like a bodybuilder. You need to get as strong as you can while minimizing weight gain.
Seriously, 3 months of Starting Strength, then start thinking about bodypart splits. Right now you need to be developing total body strength with a handfull of heavy, basic exercises. Worry about developing individual bodyparts when you've hit a decent level of strength. When you can bench press your bodyweight, squat and deadlift 1.5x your bodyweight, then you can start worrying about advanced protocols and crap like that. Until then, stick to the basics.

 

Thanks for all the advice GreatWhiteHype. Awesome stuff.

 

This is a boxing training forum, so I assume you box or at least do the training.

What are your goals with lifting? Because the sets/reps, rest, intensity, exercises, frequency, etc. all depend on your goals.

 

Why are you weight lifting?
This will answer many questions.
Leg Press not as good as squats.
Why are you training calves and yet no triceps/biceps.
Training heavy has nothing to do with failure.
Why can't you do deadlifts, is it because you can't be bothered to learn the form correctly and do them with a rounded back and only back to pull the bar, and then get a "bad back" for days?

M
Back squat
Deadlift
Abs

T
Overhead press
Bench Press

F
Dumbell row
Pullups
Abs

On everything work up to a weight where you do 1-2 reps (except friday and abs) with good form, but couldn't do more comfortably, then drop down about 10-20% and do 3x3, again good form.

Fridays and abs 5x10-20 reps.

Every week on your top set attempt to do a rep more on your top set, when you get to 3-4 reps on your topset add a little more weight and carry on as before.

 

I started out using 5-3-1 but I added another set to take advantage of the stimulation to the nervous system after the heavy rep and the last set just flies up all by itself. Its pretty sweet and keeps you coming back for more.

 

Would you ask for boxing advice on a weightlifting website?