how to work out? ?

[j-himself]

I was wondering if u all could help me out here, cuz i got somewhat of a dilemma. well i've been trying to work out 2 times a week for about a month or two (maybe more..), and i'm not sure if i'm doing my exercises right or not.
first of, to brief u on what kind of work out i do. well cuz i dont go to the gym cuz of financial reasons, i simply work out at home. however, i dont have a barbell cuz i can't afford one at the moment. the exercises i do, however, are: pushups, chin ups, dunno what u call this one, but its like a triceps excercise i do, facing the opposite direction of an elevated thing, i use a really low table, and dip. then i do the bench press on one of those home gym i got, then i work my legs doing leg curls, or whatever they're called, n then i've recently started to do hindu squats. then i finish it all off with sit ups.

now to my question. i'm not sure how fast i should go when i do these exercies. well on the chin ups, pushups, and the triceps dip thingy i think i should go pretty fast. on the bench press though, n for the leg curl, i also do them pretty fast, but i think maybe i should do them slower. do u get more buffed if u do them slower, opposed to developing explosive strengh if u do them fast??

and for the situps, i've heard something about doing them slow as well, and also adding a supplementary weight to increase the resistance. now what would be the benefits of doing this?

if someone could help me out, i'd really appreciate it. n if u got any suggestions on any other exercices i could do, plz let me know.

[Serpent]

Basic rule - do everything slowly and properly to develop good strength; do it exposively to develop power; lots of reps = muscular endurance; fewer reps with higher resistance (i.e. extra weight) = strength and size.

These are very broad guidelines, but unless we know what you're trying to achieve then it's hard to advise you.

By the way, those dipping things you're doing - they're called dips. ;)

[fa_jing]

Try to do the hindu squats explosively, but don't strain your knees. Also do Bench press before pushups. Do you have any dumbells? If so, how much weight?

[red5angel]

I would recommend you do your exercises at a fairly smooth pace. don't do them too fast. If you want to develope explosive power, drill your hands and feet outside of what you are doing otherwise, hit the bags, shadow box, that sort of thing.

[j-himself]

thanks for all the replies so far.

theres the thing, i'm not sure what i want to achieve by working out. I guess i want to get bigger and more buffed, though, i don't wanna get too big and bulky. I also want to develop my explosive further. so if u got any suggestion how i can attain this, plz let me know.

one more q. concerning the abs. right now, i do them pretty fast, about 50 of them, then 40 to respective side. then i use one of those ab slide thingys; about 20 reps straight ones, then 20 to the sides. anyhow,, i've heard about doing situps with an additional weight on ur chest to increase the resistance-its done slowly. this is any good? i mean, according to serpents little explanation that i was aware of before, u'll develop strengh this way. do u want strengh over explosivness/endurence if u train for martial arts. i wanna be able to take more blows to my stomach n of course look ripped. any suggestions? Just to let u all know, my current physique aint bad. i weight about 160, got somewhat big arms, somewhat ripped abs-u can see i work out. i'm just looking into ways to improve this. just wanted to let u all know, what ur dealing with :).

thanks

[fa_jing]

Use a rolled up towel or something else under your lower back for fuller range of motion in your crunches and situps, you will get the results you are looking for in less reps. Your abs are designed to work the whole range starting from having arch in your back, like when you are standing. Flattening out your lower back against the floor reduces the range of motion.

[ewallace]

i've heard about doing situps with an additional weight on ur chest to increase the resistance-its done slowly. this is any good?
Yes. The abs are a muscle. They should be worked like any other muscle. I would definitely not do 50-100 squats, deads, or benches in one set, nor should the abs be any different.

Try this (http://www.t-mag.com) site. There are many different articles here depending on your goals (body building, powerlifting...etc). There's something for everybody here, and different schools of thought.

It's quite difficult to design a workout plan/schedule if you don't have goals, but you probably know that. Good luck.

[j-himself]

I do have goals. the gist of it is to develop a physique that well give me more (explosive) speed, ability to take blows better, get more buffed/bigger, etc. basically everything that backs up ur technique.
i'm not quite sure how to go about this though. i've heard that a good way to develop explosive strengh is to do all exercises at about 3/4 of what u can lift and do it explosively.
though,, when i'm i suppose to get all buffed up if i work up my explosive strengh?? would it be a good idea to get buffed first, and then work on the explosive strengh? i'm just a little flustered here, so if anyone could help me out, i'd appreciate it. if u could help me out with the performance part on the exercises i already do, it would be a big help. just little pointers, etc.

thanks again

[Serpent]

Originally posted by fa_jing
Use a rolled up towel or something else under your lower back for fuller range of motion in your crunches and situps, you will get the results you are looking for in less reps. Your abs are designed to work the whole range starting from having arch in your back, like when you are standing. Flattening out your lower back against the floor reduces the range of motion.

WTF!?