Hi everyone:

I am 5'9'' about 180 lbs. I like to consider myself "skinny fat"...i have a little gut, but i look somewhat slim - i'm not a big guy at all, most people consider me 'skinny'.

i started lifting weights about 3 months ago, and i was doing a simple basic routine every other day. about a month ago i started a split routine. in the past 3 months i've noticed growth in my arms, but not my chest and back. this is frustrating. i think my arms take away a lot of work that my chest/back should be getting, because they are relatively stronger...well anyawys, here is what i am doing:

day 1 - chest, shoulders, tri's

chest: dumbell bench press: 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 50-55 lb dumbells.
pec fly deck (lever machine): 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 90-100 lbs

shoulders: upright rows (barbell): 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 55-65 lbs
military press (dumbell): 3 sets, 20-25 lb dumbells

triceps: tricep extension (dumbell): 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 30-35 lbs
tricep dip (leverl): 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 50-60 lbs

day 2 - cardio, elliptical, 45 min, heart rate ~150

day 3 - off

day 4- back, bi's

back: bent over row (dumbell): 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 40-50 lbs
front pulldown - wide grip (Cable): 3 sets, 10-12 reps, 90-110 lbs
pullover (lever): 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 50 lbs

bi's: curls (barbell): 3 sets, 8-12 reps, 55 lbs

day 5 - cardio, elliptical, 45 min, heart rate ~150

day 6 - off

day 7 - chest / shoulders / tri's.....

other random info about my routine, etc:

-i have a protein shake after my weight workouts
- i don't eat veggies ( i hate them), but i eat a lot of fruit
-i am eating about 2000 calories a day, most "good" calories.
-i take a mulitvitamin (megamen)
-i am not taking any other supplements

i should probably add more ab's, the only ab workout i really get is in the pullover's, and a little in the front pulldown. recently i added the "pullovers" for back. my buddy tells me that i'm never gonna get big because i've already made most of my gains in the first 3 months and that pisses me off, im determined to get stronger...

have any recommendations for my routine?? is it normal that i haven't seen much visible growth in my back / chest after 3 months? when i started lifting, i was doing dumbell bench at 30-35 lbs, 3 months later i am now doing 50-55 lb dumbells...so i guess im gettin stronger, im just doin seein it...help anyone?

thanks for your time.

theres a topped thread here:
Sticky: Weight Training 1

read it AND check out the links.

"my buddy tells me that i'm never gonna get big because i've already made most of my gains in the first 3 months"

That is absolutely absurd. If that were true then everybody could work out for just three months and they would all look like Arnold, and it would not take 10 years plus of practice and training to become a world class athlete. It takes 2-5 years of consistant, hard, correct training to develop your CNS, connective tissue, etc. to support real muscle growth. I have been lifting weights off and on for over 40 years and get stronger and thicker and learn something new every year.

It is true that newcomers will see great improvement within the first 60-90 days of exercise. However that doesnt mean that you stop growing after that and that by the end of the three months you will be some ripped person. I think your calories are a little low, how old are you? I used your height and weight with an age of 20 and came up with 1900+ BMR alone.

Hi - thank you for your response.

I am 25 years old. Maybe you can help me out with this too...

Is it true it's "very hard" to lose body fat (around my stomach) and add muscle mass? I hear/read a lot about "don't try to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time"....I would like to lose my gut, and put on muscle. Should i concentrate on one at a time?

I look at it like this - If i am lifting 2/3 times a week, and i'm doing moderately intense cardio 2/3 times a week, I should be able to gain mass and lose my gut. What do you think?

Thank you.

1. you are working tiny triceps muscles for as many sets as your large pectorals. why? big muscles need more sets than little muscles.

2. where is your leg training? I mourn the loss of your legs.

well the tricep dips are a compund exercise that hit more than just the triceps. do you think i should do more chest, or less triceps?? this is what i am tryin to get help with...developing a routine that will maximize my growth.

as far as my legs...i know...i probably should do legs, and i plan on doing them eventualy, but to be honest, i just dont want to be bothered now. relatively speaking, my lower body is a lot stronger than my upper body, it would take a lot of muscle growth for me to look like i have "chicken legs"....but maybe i could add an exercise or two for legs.

i should probably add some abs, right?

the big leg exersices, like squats and deadlifts will promote growth in the entire body, not just the legs

i have heard that before about leg workouts making the rest of your body grow. I saw someone said it releases more growth hormone. How does it actually work?

the extreme stress of squatting, due to the large number of muscle groups involved, causes the body to produce more growth hormone in response.

remember, weight training is just used to 'trick' the body into adapting to the stress, by adding more muscle and more strength.

that's why the biggest guys at the gym are always doing two things:
1. mostly using compound exercises, because its more stress and gets more work done all at once
2. they do squats, deadlifts, pull ups, bench press....all the 'hard' stuff because it reaps the best benefits.

Malkore, like always, is right.

You have no leg exercises, plus the fact that you are overtraining your tiny muscle groups like your triceps. Furthermore, try to put in more sets for the heavy compound exercises like the benchpress, than the light auxilary exercises like the pec dec. Running does not make your legs stronger. Running, at best, tires out your legs and just gives you a good cardio exercise.

Don't overtrain your abs by doing like 100 reps of sit ups everday to try and get 6 packs, because abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. Keep up your cardio if you want to get lean, and lessen your cardio if you want to bulk.

Good luck.

Wow Im surprised. You didnt just say that sucks. Good.

Anyways audigym, maybe you should give fullbody workouts a try or supersets. Instead of doing two exercises of each part, do something like db chest press, incline db cp, and dips. This will effectively work your chest, anterior delts, and triceps. Same for back.

hehe i know I've started taking English class and exercise science and now all i like to do is write long comments on this forum!!