ExRx.net

I've just moved to a new joint, and had to leave behind my rack and olympic bar and weights due to lack of space. I was gonna try and get back to the old joint a couple of times a week but have realised this is a logistical nightmare.
I've decided to head back once a week so I can do heavy squats and deadlifts, and have bought a bench and some dumbbells to use at the new place.

My goal is to basically gain lean muscle mass and to burn as much fat as possible during my workout. I'm not interested in getting massive or lifting an enormous amount of weight. I'd like to add curls to my workout too cause while my shoulders are a fairly decent size, i have small girly arms.

So can anyone suggest a workout that would see me doing squats and deadlifts with a bar once a week, and dumbbell work the rest of the week. I'm not gonna bother discussing the amount ill be using, because that would just be embarrassing.

I was thinking something like this:

Monday:
Barbell squats (5x5)
Barbell bench press (5x5)
Barbell deadlifts (5x5)

Wednesday:
Dumbell military press (5x5)
Dumbell curls (5x5)
Dumbell squats (Thinking of going at about 50% RM and squatting to exhaustion)

Friday:
Dumbell bench press (5x5)
Dumbell bent over rows (5x5)
Dumbell squats (to exhaustion)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Change one Dumbbells squatting to at least sometimes, Romanian Deadlift - or something to work the hamstrings more and balance all the squatting, which likely use your quads and glutes, and less hams.

Buy a duffle bag and fill with smller bags (contractor bags work well) filled with pebbles or sand
You can do a lot with the sand bag.

Find somethig to use for pull ups.

Eat right.

A good chance to do some unilateral leg work. I (theoretically) like high-box step-ups. I hate to do them. Yes, I'm a hypocrite.

Also, think about some triceps pullovers or kickbacks to balance the curls.

I agree with Oscar's comment about chins. Those door-way chinning bars are cheap and work fine.

Also, if you can get something like the TRX straps (real TRX are expensive, and there are sites around that show how to make home-made ones that are cheap) they can be hung from rafters in a garage or beams in a basement, from tree branches or playground equipment at parks, and you can really do a lot with them.

And don't ever be embarrassed to discuss specific weight when it's relevant (it's not really for this discussion)--we have people all over the spectrum of strength here. We have those who are just starting out in becoming strong(er) and those who are still getting stronger although they are already very strong by most standards. That's one of the great things about this board.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Cheers fellas.

I actually have a spare standard bar with about 60 kilos of weight that I could use to do romanian deadlifts. I might do that in favour of one of the dumbell squat sessions.
I'll include kickbacks and chin ups in there too.
How does this look?

Monday:
Barbell squats (5x5)
Barbell bench press (5x5)
Barbell deadlifts (5x5)
Chin ups (3 sets of as many as i can do...) - I have a wide chin up bar on the rack.

Wednesday:
Dumbell military press (5x5)
Dumbell bent over rows (5x5)
Kickbacks (5x5)
Dumbell squats (Thinking of going at about 50% RM and squatting to exhaustion)

Friday:
Dumbell bench press (5x5)
Dumbell curls (5x5)
Romanian deadlifts (5x5)

Monday is gonna be a nightmare but I always feel like hammering myself on Mondays after hitting it on the weekend.

Curious what your goal is for this 50% RM ?

Overall, at this point I would say go forth and lift and be mindful of you diet to achieve your state goals. I presume you will add weight as regularly as you can. Likely you'll hit a point, decent chance on the 5x5 Deadlifts where you may decide to lower the volume.
But for now, give this a fair shot. No doubt you'll get stronger and burn soem fat if you put more iron on the bar and dont skip workouts.

Well I've been squatting 100kgs on the barbell, but there's no way I'll be able to lift two 50kg dumbells.
Also, a mate of mine who is a personal trainer had a look at my form and said I wasn't leaning back enough. Basically my knees were over my toes too much. He suggested I drop 40kgs off my barbell squat and focus on form, and just smash out more reps. I think that's probably a good idea because i don't want to injure myself.
I always feel really unstable if I lean back when squatting (ie. shins perpendicular to floor), like I'm going to topple backwards.

Doesn't it have the same effect? Less weight but more reps?

Do you have any history of knee problems? If not then don't think much about how far your knees travel in relation to your toes, just pick a stance you're comfortable with (powerlifting or olympic).

Uh.... Yeah, sure it does. Just the same. Uh-huh.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

We looked at rep ranges earlier. If 100Kg is your 1 RM, dropping 40Kg would put you at 60% which is at the lowest effective weight range. If you're doing reps with 100Kg, you probably don't want to go that low. It's really just a warm up weight following by a ridiculous amount of reps to get to failure. I would suggest that if he's giving that kind of advice on one hand, he probably doesn't know what good form on squats is anyway. Vary your load in the 60-90% range without spending too much time at either end.

The 50 Kg DBs feel heavier than the barbell since you use a differnet musculature to support the weight. Try doing progressively heavy farmer's walks. You'll hit 50 Kg in no time. The other aspect is that you lift from a dead stop from the floor, similar to a deadlift, only deeper. That's harder than back squating since you don't get the stretch reflex to help you out of the hole.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Doc he obviously doesn't know and is questioning....lol I know it get's tedious but not answering or being sarcastic could do more harm than good.

I remember once Arnold wrote that some twig of a kid came up to him and asked him how to get big like him. Arnold obviously laughed and told the kid the salt diet a lot a lot a lot of salt. Workout but take an abundance of salt arnold then said I guess the kid almost died. He learned then not to give horrible advice even if sarcastic cause some people will believe anything and go hard....

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"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door"

Kyle Chandler

Farmer's Walks. I'd assume holding some dumbbells in each hand and walking? lol Seems with real heavy weight it would just about work everything except the upper mirror muscles, yes?

*edit* Seems like it would get your heart pumping a bit too.

It's what I do for cardio.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Hmmm, you do it short distance I assume? 30 second rest in between each set distance? Do that for a total of 10 minutes? Walk fast as possible or a nice easy pace?

I thought I was answering sarcasm. I assumed that he is someone who knows the straight answer.

If not:
No, varying your sets from higher reps (8-12) with lower weight to lower reps (1-5), higher weight will change the effect. Higher reps has usually been felt to have more effect on muscle size, lower reps more to strength. Either extreme benefits both to some extent. Many people use sets of 5 for a compromise.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan