My routine needs a check up

[biggest_kid]

Hey guys, im 16 years old and have currently being doing a body building routine for about 2 years now. Ive seen some pretty good results, though they seemed to have stop coming now. Im not seeing any decrease in muscle mass/tone, though im not seeing an increase either.

My routine consists of a few body weight exercises, and a few exercises using two 5kg dumbells. Ive tried to create it to tone rather than build muscle mass. Here it is:

1) 60 Push-ups (all the way up and all the way down)
2) 22 Chin-ups (underhand, eg. palms facing face)
3) 20 Dips
4) 8 Behind head Pull-ups (overhand, eg. palms facing away from body)
5) 15 Standard Bicep curls for each arm
6) 15 Alternate Bicep curls for each arm (hold dumbell so heavy ends are facing forward and backward, rather than left and right, bring heavy end up to touch shoulder/pectoral)
7) 20 Behind head Tricep raises (hold dumbells together, lower to neck, raise up as high as arms reach, repeat)

Sorry if i got the names of the exercises wrong lol. Also, numbers 5 and onward are the ones i use the dumbells for. That is the order i do my exercises in, and it has worked alright so far.Now what i need help with, is maximising this routine to give me optimal results with minimal injury.

Currently i have been doing some basic arm stretches before the pushups, and thats it. Id like to know when i should stretch in the above routine, as well as what stretches i should do. Id also like to know if i should change the order of the above exercises around to give a better workout?

I also read somewhere that high reps, low weight is better for toning, which is what im looking for. Is there anywhere in my routine i could implement this for better toning? For example, would it be better for toning if i did 90 half push-ups? Rather than the 60 full push-ups?

Sorry for the long read lol. Thanks for any and all help,
biggest_kid

 

[Ride_On]

I also read somewhere that high reps, low weight is better for toning, which is what im looking for. Is there anywhere in my routine i could implement this for better toning? For example, would it be better for toning if i did 90 half push-ups? Rather than the 60 full push-ups?

This is not true. For strength gains, high weight low reps are usually better. Hyptertrophy is different, where it's moderate to high reps. Depends what you're going for. Get "toning" out of your vocabulary . You gain muscle or you lose fat, you don't tone.

If you really want to make strength gains you're going to have to either move to weights or do lower reps with more difficult exercises. For example, do diver bombers, decline pushups, or pushups on dumbbells instead of regular ones. The routine needs work to. You've totally neglected legs and that's a huge mistake. Scrap the behind head pull ups. Add in squats (pistol squats if you can do them) and at least some type hamstring dom work like a SL Romanian DL or Supine Hip Extension.

Now, ALL THAT ASIDE, I can almost guarantee that you're not making any more gains because your diet is off. So tell me what your maintenance calories are and post up what you eat in a day, with caloric breakdown.

 

[biggest_kid]

If you really want to make strength gains you're going to have to either move to weights or do lower reps with more difficult exercises. For example, do diver bombers, decline pushups, or pushups on dumbbells instead of regular ones. The routine needs work to. You've totally neglected legs and that's a huge mistake. Scrap the behind head pull ups. Add in squats (pistol squats if you can do them) and at least some type hamstring dom work like a SL Romanian DL or Supine Hip Extension.

Now, ALL THAT ASIDE, I can almost guarantee that you're not making any more gains because your diet is off. So tell me what your maintenance calories are and post up what you eat in a day, with caloric breakdown.

Ok sorry for the bad vocabulary, but i really dont know any other word for "toning" lol. Im not really looking for an increase in mass/size of the muscle, rather the definition of each muscle, if you know what i mean.

By strength gain what do you mean? Do you mean the ability to lift heavier weights? If so, im not really looking for this, just well defined, "chiseled" (if you may) muscles.

Does diet really affect toning? Or only muscle increase? Because ive barely changed my diet since i started exercising about 2 years ago, so i thought i could probably rule diet out as a cause for the lack of improvements over the last couple of months.

Thanks for the reply by the way.

 

[evan]

Diet is just as important as exercise, maybe even more important.

When people say things like tone and not bulk but get chiseled, what your talking about is building some muscle and burning off the fat that covers it. Like Ride On said, you can do two things: build muscle and burn fat. Everyone has muscles, it's just a question of how much muscle they have and how much fat is covering it.

Also, adding to what Ride On said, get a backpack and fill it with rocks, that'll add some weight to your workouts. And definitely add squats and hamstring work to your workouts.

 

[biggest_kid]

Ok, so going by what ride on said, when he was referring to burning fat on the muscles, he was talking about what i call "toning?"

Ok ill look into starting some leg exercises, dont want to end up like a chicken lol. Though i participate in lots of futsal and soccer, so i dont think my legs should need too much work.

-- Ok so by increasing intensity, by, say adding a back pack of rocks to my workout, will give better muscles or burn more fat around the muscles?

 

[Ride_On]

Does diet really affect toning? Or only muscle increase? Because ive barely changed my diet since i started exercising about 2 years ago, so i thought i could probably rule diet out as a cause for the lack of improvements over the last couple of months.

Absolutely, much more so than training.

You have just answered your own question. You haven't changed your diet, which is why you made no improvements.

It would be much easier to help you if you answer my previous questions also.

Ok, so going by what ride on said, when he was referring to burning fat on the muscles, he was talking about what i call "toning?"

Yes.

Ok ill look into starting some leg exercises, dont want to end up like a chicken lol. Though i participate in lots of futsal and soccer, so i dont think my legs should need too much work.

Don't neglect them, even if you're playing sports. It's the biggest mistake a lot of people make.

-- Ok so by increasing intensity, by, say adding a back pack of rocks to my workout, will give better muscles or burn more fat around the muscles?

It's hard to quantify that exactly. Depends on your diet (yes, back to that again ). If you're eating above maintenance, it means muscle gain which helps you burn fat. If you're eating below maintenance, it means muscle retention and calorie, which helps slightly in losing fat.

 

[evan]

-- Ok so by increasing intensity, by, say adding a back pack of rocks to my workout, will give better muscles or burn more fat around the muscles?

Both. Well, to me more accurate, either one depending on your diet. Think of it this way, if you're going to build a house, you need materials, bricks and wood and whatnot. To build muscle, your body need protein and other stuff you get from food. Now, your body uses food as fuel everyday. So, you need to eat a bit more than usual to provide fuel muscle building on top of everyday things.

Now, when burning fat, you take in less calories than usual, forcing your body to eat away at stored fat for fuel. Now, if you're eating too little, your body will reclaiming muscle.

The higher your activity level, the more you need to eat to maintain your bodyweight. So, the maintenance level varies from person to person.

So, what you do is lift heavy, to convince your body that the muscle is necessary, and eat a little under maintenance so your body only burns fat.

Keep in mind that a balanced diet is essential.

So, to answer your question, if you're eating above maintenance, you body will have what it needs to build more muscle. If you're eating below maintenance, your body will try and maintain the muscle you have while burning fat.

Getting this right takes a bit of trial and error.

 

[biggest_kid]

Ok. So assuming my diet is the cause for the sudden stop in muscle gains, heres a rough daily diet for me.

- Breakfast in morning usually consists of bowl of Nutrigrain
- Lunch at school consists of 2 ham and cheese rolls, 1 piece of PizzaBread, 1 UncleToby Fruit Break, 1 packet Cottage Cookies Minis
- Something small when i get home from school, ranging from 250g frozen lasagne, a cup of Maggi 2 minute noodles, or a Milo Snack yoghurt + some Shapes biscuits
- Large dinner, varies from rice+vegetables+some sort of meat to pies to Sara Lea lasagne to pasta to roasts to stir fry's to meat loaf to marinated beef to chicken wraps to pizza to stroganoff+rice
- Something after dinner, ranging from a handfull of dried apricots to a Milo Snack yoghurt

Hope that helps you guys help me. Also, still having a bit of trouble understanding. So when i say im looking to "tone," am i referring to building more muscle or burning fat?

 

[evan]

So when i say im looking to "tone," am i referring to building more muscle or burning fat?

When people say tone, I take it to mean that they want to keep the same basic size, but be all muscle with very little body fat.

Generally speaking, in order to do that, you'll need to do both. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. Most say it's easier to spend a few weeks building muscle with minimal fat gain, then spend a few weeks burning fat while maintaining the muscle recently gained.

Your diet is lacking. You're not going to build much muscle with a diet like that. Do yourself a favor and take the time to read through the stickies in the nutrition thread. For example, for breakfast, eat oatmeal, not the flavored stuff, but the original stuff. Flavor with fruit or jam if needed. A good snack to have is a banana with natural peanut butter, the kind of peanut butter you need to stir.

 

[Ride_On]

Ok. So assuming my diet is the cause for the sudden stop in muscle gains, heres a rough daily diet for me.

- Breakfast in morning usually consists of bowl of Nutrigrain
- Lunch at school consists of 2 ham and cheese rolls, 1 piece of PizzaBread, 1 UncleToby Fruit Break, 1 packet Cottage Cookies Minis
- Something small when i get home from school, ranging from 250g frozen lasagne, a cup of Maggi 2 minute noodles, or a Milo Snack yoghurt + some Shapes biscuits
- Large dinner, varies from rice+vegetables+some sort of meat to pies to Sara Lea lasagne to pasta to roasts to stir fry's to meat loaf to marinated beef to chicken wraps to pizza to stroganoff+rice
- Something after dinner, ranging from a handfull of dried apricots to a Milo Snack yoghurt

Hope that helps you guys help me. Also, still having a bit of trouble understanding. So when i say im looking to "tone," am i referring to building more muscle or burning fat?

Well, you use mostly bodyweight, have dumbbells too light to do anything, never trained your legs, and ate like that ^^. This is not surprising. Frankly, your diet is terrible, and that's probably 90% of the reason why you haven't progressed. You should be happy it hasn't gone completely downhill.

Check out the nutrition stickies so you can learn to pick the right foods. When you're done with that, feel free to post up your NEW diet and people can help you out with it.

PS: Why no weights? You should really look into a weight training routine. Things will go much faster that way. You can only get so far with bodyweight.

 

[biggest_kid]

PS: Why no weights? You should really look into a weight training routine. Things will go much faster that way. You can only get so far with bodyweight.

Well i dont have the money or time for a real weight training routine, as im still at school. I currently complete my above routine as soon as i get home from school, and even then find my self pushed for time to try and complete homework or get to other commitments such as sporting events. Also, the doctor told me and my mum not to go to gym at this age, as i am still growing, and serious gym work can seriously damage the muscles at this stage.

Anyway, instead of arguing with you guys for pages on this forum, i decided to actually go and check out some of the stickies. And i actually found some of them quite useful. Starting to understand the linguo i think, finally.

Are these terms>> right? Muscle hypertrophy is the increase in size/mass of a muscle. Strength refers to the ability of a muscle to lift heavier objects or complete more intense exercise. The burning of fat around muscles is what i refer to as "toning."

Alright, i cant change my main diet any time soon, as mum and dad currently cook for me. I can only really change what i eat at school, and those little snacks, which i plan too. When i do this, ill get back to you on my new eating habits. So as for the routine:

1) I currently have quite large(3-5min) breaks between some of the exercises, such as the pushups and chinups. Should i be having breaks between any exercises? If so, how long should the breaks be and between what exercises should i have them?

2) Is there any area in my current routine that can be optimised? (such as use a weighted bag and do less pushups)

3) What stretches should i be doing? When should i do them?

Also, before you comment, i am planning to implement leg exercises, just want to get my current routine worked out. Ive also sorta gone off the "only tone" idea after what evan said. As a result i have started to see the advantages in building muscle as well as losing fat around those muscles. So now im kinda looking for i guess strength/body fat loss/hypertrophy.