What's up, ladies and gents!? I'm Ricky and I just recently started getting a little more serious about working out. A few weeks ago, I bought a pretty nice bench setup from Chick's Sporting Goods complete with Olympic size bar, 300lbs. in weights, incline and decline capabilities, 35lb./25lb. dumbbells, and preacher. I'm basically looking to utilize this equipment as much as possible, and with your guys help, more efficiently.

I'm a 6' tall, 185lb. (I lose/gain 5lbs. on a daily basis) male. I have a pretty athletic build, but I'm looking to get more tone. I'm definitely happy with the 185lb. weight that I'm currently at. Anymore then that would be pushing it in my opinion.

I eat pretty healthy, but nobody's perfect. On a typical day, I eat 2-3 large meals (1 meal of lean chicken with white rice and broccoli and the other/s usually consisting of either pasta, steak, shrimp, fish, or Mongolian barbecue; no fast food/junk food!), have 2 protein shakes (1 in the morning as soon as I get up and 1 directly after my workout), and some fruit throughout the day along with a whole lot of water.

I'm basically looking to start a routine in which I can stick and utilize on a weekly basis. I was thinking something along these lines...

Monday [Upper Body]
Tuesday [Lower Body]
Wednesday [Cardio]
Thursday [Upper Body]
Friday [Lower Body]
Saturday [Cardio]
Sunday [Rest]

I have been working out the past couple of weeks, but I would like to have a larger range of exercises and I would also like to what exercise works out which muscle/s in specific. As of right now, I'm only doing bench pressing, incline bench pressing, dumbbell curls, preacher curls, push ups, sit ups, crunches, etc... I would like to have a strong exercise list to choose from. This is where you guys come in and shed some knowledge on me. What exercises will give me the most workout and best results for these categories?

Upper Body [Chest, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Forearms, Back]
Lower Body [Wings, Lower/Upper Abs, Obliques, Thighs, Calves]

I appreciate all of your guys help in this matter! Any further advice and/or criticisms are more then welcome! Show this how to get ripped!

Here's the Marcy Gym Equipment 850 Weight Training Bench that I bought. I also got 300lbs. in Olympic weights that came with an Olympic size bar, and a weight rack.

Don't do too many upper body isolation lifts. Big compounds movements like bench, bent over row, military press, pullups, squats, and deadlifts are your best friends. I like the plan though. I think you'd be better off with 4-6 smaller meals a day than 2-3 large ones

Thanks, Dave. So I've been researching a little and it seems that I want to arrange the order of my exercises by the biggest muscle (chest, back, shoulders) and work my way down to the smallest (bicep, tricep, forearm). Am I correct in assuming this?

Yes, you'd start with exercises requiring the most energy which usually involves the biggest muscles.

for instance, on upper day. lets say you were doing, Bent Over row, DB upright row, db shoulder press, and Bench

you'd order it, Bench, Bent over row, db shoulder press, and DB upright row.

bench requires the most energy for the chest, tris, and delts,
bent over rows requires the most energy for the bis, rhomboids, and traps (pretty much the upper back, and lower back and abs stabilize of course).
now that you've given the first msucle groups a break, you can move on to the shoulder press, which works the delts and tris and some trapezius.
then db upright row, which works bis, traps, and delts.

I'm not saying this is what you should do, because this is alot of work for the delts, but thats how i'd lay it out.

Leg day
Deadlift, lunges, stepups
most to least energy.

You should try to see if you can get the New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove.

and if by "wings" you mean lats, they are part of the back, upper body, and should be worked with rows, pullups, etc.

you need: Squats, deadlifts, rows, pullups, overhead press, bench press.
that's the basics

you are one of the smartest "noobies" i have encountered so far...
i think an upper lower split can do you some good.
if you encorporate the compounds well, then all you have to do is fix up your diet.
diet is very important. you should be eating at least 5 meals a day. make sure you are eating a caloric surplus to allow weight gain, or you cannot gain muscle. water is also important.
i recommend you look at the stickies in the nutritional section and learn about that.

other than that, your well on your way. have fun!!!

Thanks! That makes me feel a lot more confident in what I've been learning here.

I'll definitely check out the stickies in the nutritional section some more.

I'll pick up the book and check it out. Thanks for the reference!

Would you be able to point me in the right direction as far as what exercises to incorporate in my routine and what muscle group they serve please? I also want to make sure that I'm doing the exercise correctly so, if possible, please include specific instructions on how to complete it most efficiently. Thanks again, Dave!

I've updated post #1 with a picture of the weight set I have.

check out the technique articles sticky, you'll find articles for deadlift, squat and bench.

Hey everyone! I'm doing my new routine and exercises, but I feel as if I might be able to push myself a little further sometimes with a few exercises. Do you suggest that I do push myself to the point of not being able to continue or just continue to workout moderately?

I wouldn't go to faliure, but training shouldn't be easy.
Faliure being actually failing to preform the last rep, so that you need help or have to abort. I usually try to stay about one rep shy of faliure..

Perfect. I'll try it tonight. Thanks!

Do you use a body fat monitor at all? I'd be curious to know how this changes over time with different workouts and such. I'm trying to work one into my workouts...