Burrenguy's journey to build strength and size.

burrenguy

Age: 16.5 years old
Weight: 52kg (if I'm lucky!), 8.5% BF (according to online calculator)
Height: 5'8/5'9

Hi all. Making a start on my fitness journey. My goals are to put on a good amount of muscle mass and gain strength. I only weigh about 8 stone, so my medium term goal is to get up to 10 stone. I hope to have made decent progress towards this benchmark by my birthday in 6 months time.
I have recently acquired 105kg of standard weight plates second hand. I went for the cheaper option to make sure I am committed before spending too much.
Before jumping into a weights routine, I have been advised to do a bodyweight routine for 6 weeks (or more) beforehand. I Here is the routine, recommended by Jason Ferruggia on his forum:

Day 1
1a) DB Split Squat 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps
1b) Chin Up 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps
1c) Parallel Bar Dip 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps

Day 2
1a) Back Extension 3-4 x 10-15
1b) Inverted Row 3-4 x 8-12
1c) Weighted or Suspended Pushup 3-4 x 8-12

60 seconds rest between each set. You just rotate between day 1 and 2, four days a week. Day 1 on Monday, Day 2 on Tuesday, Day 1 on Thursday and Day 2 on Friday.
I'll be playing the odd game of soccer (2x a week depending on the weather).

As winter is coming in, my conditioning will consist of jump rope intervals for up to 15 minutes twice a week.
That's all I can think of for now. I start on Monday. Advice or discussion welcome. Also should I take/post a "before" photo?

RidleyRider

Best of luck with this. Base your workouts around the big movements and add your accessories to that. At your weight, I'd be horsing back the food. You seem knowledgable enough to know that lifting weights alone is only 50% of gaining mass.

burrenguy

RidleyRider wrote: »

Best of luck with this. Base your workouts around the big movements and add your accessories to that. At your weight, I'd be horsing back the food. You seem knowledgable enough to know that lifting weights alone is only 50% of gaining mass.

thanks, I'm hoping to get on a Stronglifts/Starting Strength type program after I've built a bit of a foundation with bodyweight exercise. And yep, I've a feeling the next few months are going to be me filling myself with food repeatedly... can't wait :pac:

burrenguy

first workout done.
Split squats: 6,6,6
Chin ups: 6,6,6
Dips: 6,6,6
60 seconds rest between each set. Started off at the bottom range of each exercise. This will allow me to build up gradually, adding a rep here or there whenever I can.

burrenguy

second workout done. Major DOMS today.. that shows its been a while :P
Back extensions: 10,10,10
Inverted rows: 8,8,8
Push ups: 8,8,8

found the rows tough enough. Started from the bottom with each exercise.. better to build up gradually.

runawaybishop

burrenguy wrote: »

thanks, I'm hoping to get on a Stronglifts/Starting Strength type program after I've built a bit of a foundation with bodyweight exercise. And yep, I've a feeling the next few months are going to be me filling myself with food repeatedly... can't wait :pac:

Either of those programs are a good foundation. You shoudl start now organising your diet, especially on getting enough protein into you.

Yes, take a pic of yourself every month if you can be bothered, but definitely take a starting pic. No need to post them here, you can just use them yourself to see how you are getting on. You'd be surprised how much progress you can see in pics that you wont notice yourself.

burrenguy

just did a a light session with the skipping rope. Set a timer and just focused on getting as many consecutive jumps as possible throughout the time. I'll start skipping straight for specific periods next week. I'm thinking starting with a 2 minute round, then building to 3/4 mins.. when i reach that point, I'll start doing interval skipping.. 1 minute on/1 minute off.

burrenguy

bodyweight workout today.
Split squats: 7,7,7
Chin ups: 7,7,7
Dips: 7,7,7

Took slightly more than 60 seconds rest on the dips as I got interrupted a few times.
Found the chin ups rather difficult. My form isn't great on them. The squats seem easy.

burrenguy

Bodyweight session today.
Back extensions: 11, 11, 11
Inverted rows: 9, 9, 9
Push ups: 9, 9, 9.
felt relatively easy to get through.. 60 seconds rest between each set. Not too shabby!
I'll max out the reps on the three sets before adding a fourth set of any exercise.

Ablork

Nice going man, im around the same age and had the same visions as you, (want to get bigger) i started mid august and have seen a dramatic change up until now! keep it up and you will see results, just keep the diet in check and keep the form precise!

burrenguy

Ablork wrote: »

Nice going man, im around the same age and had the same visions as you, (want to get bigger) i started mid august and have seen a dramatic change up until now! keep it up and you will see results, just keep the diet in check and keep the form precise!

nice to hear from someone else young! It's gonna be tough going sometimes, but I'm going to push ahead.. I need to make a change badly. What kind of progress have you made so far if you don't mind me asking?

Ablork

burrenguy wrote: »

nice to hear from someone else young! It's gonna be tough going sometimes, but I'm going to push ahead.. I need to make a change badly. What kind of progress have you made so far if you don't mind me asking?

Shure its going to be tough, these things dont come easy, hard work, dicipline, and a good diet is what its all about, and if you want to get bigger, eat like an animal,! Since late august ive seen more definition, bigger gain in muscle and strength, have upped all my weights and thouroughly enjoy it, 6'3 67 kg starting (pure ectomorph) and today i am 6'3 72kg, it may seem small, but in another 3 months i hope to have another 5kg and so on, you will notice it in your cothes and just now other people are starting to notice.. Its amazing what you can do when you push yourself

burrenguy

Bodyweight workout.
Split squats: 8, 8, 8
Chin ups: 8, 8, 4!
Dips: 8, 8, 4 (again)

Felt tired and weak today.. not sleeping enough I think. Need to eat more/ warm up better/ sleep more..

burrenguy

workout done.
Back extensions: 12, 12, 12
Inverted rows: 10, 10, 10
Push ups: 10, 10, 10

Didn't get back from school properly till after 8.. still made time for this though, as I know I won't always have the energy!

burrenguy

Todays workout..
Split squats: 9, 9, 9.
Chin ups: 8, 6, 3.
Dips: 9, 7, 4.

Really focused on full range of motion for the chin ups, as I've been prone to swinging and not going all the way down before.
Arms... why do you fail me?

burrenguy

Todays workout...
Back extensions: 13, 13, 13
Inverted rows: 11, 11, 11
Push ups: 11, 11, 11.

Slept so badly last night. Happy enough with my form on all exercises.

burrenguy

workout today..
Split squats: 10, 10, 10
Chin ups: 8, 6, 4
Dips: 9, 7, 3.
Ok, not too bad. Going to try hit the same numbers across all sets before adding further reps.

burrenguy

todays session..
Back extensions: 14, 14,
Rows: 12, 12, 10
Push ups: 12, 12, 12
Got rushed through this one as I was trying to squeeze it in before a dinner that arrived much too early.

burrenguy

todays workout..
split squats: 10, 10, 10
Chin ups: 10, 6, 3
Dips: 10, 9, 4.
Really need to work on breathing properly.. I go so red when I'm exercising.
Doing things slightly different now. Since my end goal is 3 sets of 10, I'll just do as many reps as I can cleanly in each set.
I also need to really make my form perfect for these exercises.

Also did a skipping workout yesterday where I went 30 seconds on, 90 secs off five times over... easy enough, obviously. Will shorten the rest periods I think.

burrenguy

todays workout..,
Back extensions: 15, 15, 15
Inverted rows: 12, 12, 12
Push ups: 12, 12, 12
Making decent progress... breathing was okay today.

burrenguy

todays workout..
split squats: 10, 10, 10, 10
Chin ups: 10, 7, 3
Dips: 10, 5, 6.

Shoulder didn't feel great today. I have a history of my right scapula winging. I need to watch my form more carefully I think.

burrenguy

todays workout..,
Back extensions: 15, 15, 15
Push ups: 12, 12, 12
Inverted rows: 12, 12, 12

Grand workout today. think its time to add a fourth set on each exercise.

RidleyRider

Regarding breathing, breath in on the concentric part of the rep and exhale on the eccentric part of the movement I.e breath in on the way down and out on the way up.

burrenguy

todays workout..
split squats: 10, 10, 10, 10
Chin ups: 10, 5, 5
Dips: 10, 6, 5
Tried to avoid form breakdown today, reps suffered a little as a result.

burrenguy

Back extensions: 15, 15, 15, 15
Push ups: 12, 12, 12, 12
Inverted rows: 12, 12, 12, 9.

added a fourth set to each exercise. Inverted rows still cause me some trouble. I'm going to consider upping the reps on the sets of push ups.

burrenguy

workout today..
Split squats: 10, 10, 10, 10
Chin ups: 10, 6, 4
Dips: 10, 5, 6

I've been doing dips off a window sill and a little table I pull over... the table is a bit lower than the window sill. I fixed this today by putting a book on the table. Dips feel better now. Chin ups are done fast (and a bit of a swing) but with good extension at the bottom.

fat and slow

try do less chinups or dips in the first set. try for 8, 8, 8 = 24, instead of 10, 6 and 5 = 21. ten seems like a near maximum effort that takes a while to recover from. When you get 8,8,8 go for 9,9,9, you might get 9,9,4 but wait till you get to 9,9,9 before going for 10s

burrenguy

fat and slow wrote: »

try do less chinups or dips in the first set. try for 8, 8, 8 = 24, instead of 10, 6 and 5 = 21. ten seems like a near maximum effort that takes a while to recover from. When you get 8,8,8 go for 9,9,9, you might get 9,9,4 but wait till you get to 9,9,9 before going for 10s

Good idea, thanks!

burrenguy

Back extensions: 15, 15, 15, 15
Push ups: 12, 12, 12, 12
Inverted rows: 12, 12, 12, 12.

Inverted rows the hardest thing here. Overall feeling good though.

burrenguy

workout today..
Split squats: 10, 10, 10, 10
Chin ups: 7, 7, 7
Dips: 7, 2

Cut the workout short today because I felt bad during. I think eating lunch too soon beforehand is to blame.
Unfortunate, but at least I'll know for the future.

burrenguy

todays workout..,
Back extensions: 15, 15, 15, 15
Inverted rows: 12, 12, 12, 12
Push ups: 12, 12, 12, 12

Grand workout. May have accidentally done one set too many of the push ups.