Mold Me

[Colin Kennedy]

Ok, here's what I am:

20 year old Wing Chun student. Slightly pot bellied. Little upper body strength, little upper body endurance (25 - 30 pushups in my max set). Hips down I'm pretty strong and stable, I'm not terribly worried about my lower body, it stays pretty strong as a result of a hobby of mine.

Here's what I'd like:

Lower my bodyfat %. Bigger arms, shoulders, chest, back, ect. I don't want to look like Ironfist or anything, it's not my intention to go all out with this, just to make myself sensibly developed and defined. I said bigger, but I really don't care much about being big - I want to be stronger and sturdier. Also, my triceps seem to be ridiculasly weak, which doesn't bode well for a solid WC punch.

Here's what I have:

3 sets of dumbbells - one 2.5 lbs, one 5 lbs, one 15 lbs

Door mounted chinup bar (I can manage sets of 5 - 7 chinups, palms facing myself. Palms facing away are very difficult for me)

A floor


What I'm asking from you:

Advise me on what to do to acheave my meagre goals. I don't really want to have to make huge time commitments, that's why no Gym. If I could make significant improvements to my upper body with 15-30 mins of floor exercizes / dumbbell / chinning bar each day, that'd be great.

I've been considering starting on that pushup program that's been mentioned here. Anyone have any personal experience with it? Can anyone suggest a list of dumbbell arm and shoulder exercizes that will thicken me up?



Anyways. Thanks for reading, this turned out longer than I expected. Any reply will be appretiated.

[scotty1]

Do some cardio and sweat a little to get rid of your belly and use the floor to do some crunches.

Other people are better at the weight info but i personally would do pushups and pullups/chins, because they don't just isolate the muscle your working like some weight routines might.

Take the 2.5lbs dumbell (just under 1Kg? If you could make it a round kilo or 3lbs that'd be better) and practice rolling your chain punches with one in each hand. Don't jerk your joints though.

If you can work your punches on a heavy bag too, that'll help.

Good luck.

[yenhoi]

"100 PUSHUP PROGRAM" is great. Do a search on this forum.

:eek:

[yenhoi]

There is a links thread on this forum somewhere.

Checkout the Scrappers stuff.

My advice is to pay attention to how they are doing things and why, rather then the actual whats and how manys. That way you can have much more flexibility with designing your own stuff with the little amount of things you have available.

IF has way more time then the rest of us. :cool:

:eek:

[IronFist]

I don't want to look like Ironfist or anything

Haha, I'm not that big. :D

As for the pushups, I agree, try that 100 pushup program. There are two on here. One is like do pushups every hour for 2 weeks, and then there's the one that is do pushups every other day (on average) for 10 weeks. That's the one I recommend. It says you shouldn't start it unless you can do at least 30 in one set, which you can, so you're at a good starting point. Actually, here I'll just give a link:

This one (http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/4992/100push.html) is awesome. It will greatly improve your endurance, as well as give you a little size.

Also, my triceps seem to be ridiculasly weak, which doesn't bode well for a solid WC punch.

The program above will take care of that a bit. If you still need more, there's a triceps exercise you can do with your 15lb dumbell.

Lay on your back with your right elbow pointing up and your right hand by your ear. Your palm should be facing inward. Now, straighten your arm, leaving your upper arm vertical, so at the end your arm is straight up and down, palm still facing in. Then bring it back to your ear and repeat. Do that with a dumbell in your hand and it should help your triceps a bit. Don't forget to do the other side, too.

Door mounted chinup bar (I can manage sets of 5 - 7 chinups, palms facing myself. Palms facing away are very difficult for me)

With palms facing away from you you need a wider grip. Door mounted chinup bars don't usually let you get your hands wide enough to do them properly, so you might want to stick to regular chinups. You can hold a dumbell inbetween your feet to increase the weight.

Advise me on what to do to acheave my meagre goals. I don't really want to have to make huge time commitments, that's why no Gym. If I could make significant improvements to my upper body with 15-30 mins of floor exercizes / dumbbell / chinning bar each day, that'd be great.

I did. You said your legs were fine. The pushup program will take care of your chest, triceps, and front deltoids. Chinnups will do your lats and biceps. Pretty much all you have left is abs and lower back. I'm sure you could adopt a kettlebell exercise for your lowerback with your 15lb dumbell, but ask someone else here cuz I don't do kettlebells and I don't want to tell you something wrong.

I've been considering starting on that pushup program that's been mentioned here. Anyone have any personal experience with it?

Oops, I didn't read your whole post when I posted that above. I have personal experience with it. It's awesome. Since it uses diamond pushups it will get your triceps, too.

Can anyone suggest a list of dumbbell arm and shoulder exercizes that will thicken me up?

If you're doing the pushup program and pullups, you don't really need dumbell arm and shoulder exercises at this point.

IronFist

[Colin Kennedy]

Yenhoi said:

That way you can have much more flexibility with designing your own stuff


I'm unable to do that. My ignorance and more importantly my non-faith in my knowledge, are huge. I very much need to be told "go do this", and I'll do it. But I can't stick to any of my own decisions on what to do.


Scotty said:

Take the 2.5lbs dumbell (just under 1Kg? If you could make it a round kilo or 3lbs that'd be better) and practice rolling your chain punches with one in each hand. Don't jerk your joints though.
If you can work your punches on a heavy bag too, that'll help.


Yah, I'll give that a shot. I'm actually considering buying a heavybag. Nothing else gives me a cardio workout that I enjoy so much.


Iron (and Yen) said:

100 pushup program.


Ok, I'll get on that. Thing is, I'm not sure what exactly position 1 is. How are the hands positioned on the ground? IF calls them diamond pushups. If they're what I'm picturing (Index finger and thumbs spread far apart, touching the opposite index fingers and thumbs), then I'm afraid I can't do them!

My sets of 30 pushups are closer to position 3 than position 2 :/


I appretiate the tricep exercise too.



Many thanks to all.

[IronFist]

Ok, I'll get on that. Thing is, I'm not sure what exactly position 1 is. How are the hands positioned on the ground?

Your hands go on the ground like how it is in the picture i attached.

then I'm afraid I can't do them!

Can you even do one? You don't have to do many to start the program.

If you can't do even a few diamond pushups, then work on being able to do those first. Just do negatives. That's where you start at the top and then slowly lower yourself to the bottom of the position, but don't push yourself back up. You only do the down part.

Or, just work on doing pushups and gradually bring your hands together over the days.

IronFist

[Colin Kennedy]

Agh!

I can barely manage 1 of those.

Like I said, my triceps are disproportionally weak.


Thanks for all the help. I'll work on those negatives, and the other tricep exercise.