I am in pretty good shape and pretty fit but looking to "shape up" my body muscle wise. I have access to a bench and free weights but no multi-gym. I have been training with the weights a few months and am seeing some results but I would like to get the opinions and advise of you seasoned trainers to give me the best chance of seeing maximum results.

I am excersising as follows:

Mon -
5 min aerobic
chest
shoulders
arms
back

wed -
5 min aerobic
legs
abs

Fri - same as monday

I take protien powder on the days I train and eat fairly well.

Any advise

Willy

Ok just let me start by saying that i'm not a seasoned trainer by any means, but the popular opinion seems to be to start off by doing 3 full body workouts a week and doing compound exercises, avoiding isolation until later stages. I skipped this stage when i started out but probably shouldn't have. And 45 minutes is a good time to work with as well.

Dumbell Exercises For Every Muscle Group
I'm pretty sure this is the same website i used when i started out i'm not 100% sure though. It has exercises for every muscle group and you all need is dumbells and a bench, it also has some basic guidelines on how to use dumbells properly.

With your diet, in my opinion, you really don't need to be supplementing espeically at this stage of your training. You can get enough protein, creatine etc. from the foods that you eat. If you're looking to put on some good mass eat alot! And stick to meat and dairy for protein and make sure you get alot of complex carbohydrates.

I don't mean to insult your intelligence but doing some sort of aerobic exercise before a workout is just simply to get blood pumping around the body and well do as the name suggests - warm you up. I've always done about 5 minutes of running before i stretch and lift. Others choose to do warm - up sets (using less weight but doing more reps) do prepare the muscle, some do both and some (although they shouldn't!!!) do neither. I guess it's just whatever works for you.

I often wonder what people mean when they post this as well.

I'd say so yes. Personally, i use it for both.

No one is saying that warmup sets are a bad idea. It's just that a 5-10 minute low intensity cardio warm up raises yoru HR, helps promote better circulation, and starts pushing more oxygen through your blood stream as well. Also, it's bad to stretch cold muscles, so it's great before stretching too. I do a 5 minute walk/jog before I stretch now, and it seems to be helping out.

about willy's post...I agree full body would be better. But if you're gonna stick to this, give a lot more detail than that. exercises, sets, reps, everything...(not just naming muscle groups) so we can see what's up.

Diet is equally (and even more) important, everyone can use some tweaking in their diet, post it up in the nutrition area.

Your split is ok, but here's the deal...on one week you should either do upper and lower twice, or if you stick to only 3x a week, then next week should be 2 lowers and only one upper workout. the week after its 2 upper 1 lower, and back and forth like that.

half your muscle is in the lower body, so it should be trained just as often as upper body.

I would also agree that in your situation you'd probably get better results with 3 good fullbody workouts a week.

Thanks for the responses.

I have to say that I started pretty blind with the weights. I should have done some research but like most people I just jumped in.

Normal kinda food routine is as follows:-

B/Fast:
Fruit Juice, Wholemeal Toast with butter and cerial with semi-skimmed milk.

Mid morning:
A slice of Malt loaf (love this stuff) and a piece of fruit.

Lunch:
Beans on Toast, yogurt and fruit.

afternoon:
A Handful of nuts and dried fruit.

Dinner:
Chicken, veg, potato, etc (lean meat, lots of veg, lots of potato)
I also eat plenty of pasta, rice, salad, fish etc.

Evening snack:
ryvita, cottage cheese, onion, beetroot.

As I said, on training days I also have a protien drink on an evening made with semi-skimmed milk.


As for training:

The warm up routine has been covered I see.

Upper body:
I vary the excersises but gnerally go as follows. Chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms.

Lower:
Thighs, calves

I always do sit ups or crunches when I work the abs.


Willy

I have just done some reserch on protein foods.

lean Meats, Poultry, cheese, fish, eggs, milk...it was a long list.

SO I need "some" protein every meal.

I will try incorperate some and post a new meal list in a week or so.


willy

see my comments in bold. notice a trend?

Not enough carbs?

I have been shopping today. Plenty of protien foods in the basket.


Cheers for the info.


willy