ok well have been considering joining a gym...have scoped a few out...the one closest to me is the best but the most expensive....
Anyway, im doing most of my stuff outside and at home obviously so its easier if I tell you what I do rather than give a silly answer....I dont have a long bar just a set of york dumbells 7.5kg on each, an excercise mat...an iron gym (thats basically an excercise frame that you can hang from a doorframe to do pull ups and it can be used for press-ups) some training gloves for my dumbells and thats about it....
as mentioned in an earlier post for about six weeks been following an sas personal trainer guide...beginner and have been doing the following...
as warm up - 1.5m run
stretches...
then strength training without weights: 15 press ups, 15 crunches, 15 lunges, 3m break, 15 leg raises, 15 dips (have to balance between kitchen units) 15 bent knee sit ups, 3m break, 15 calf raises(standing one foot on bottom stair, one on floor stretching up) 15 thigh hand slide, 15 chins...pull ups. (pretty weak at this can manage 4 overarm pull ups and 4 underarm pull ups...meant to do 15 suprisingly) 3m break then 15 leg raises again, 15 rear scissors and 15 sit ups....
that finishes the work without weights then I move onto dumbells..
dumb bell laterals 5kg - 10-12
seated dumb bell presses 7.5kg 15-18
dumb bell flyes 7.5kg 16-20
squats...hoding both dumbells 7.5kg back straight knees bent to the floor and back up...squats I take it? 20
pullovers 7.5 kg 20
then I do standing and sitting just raising the dumbells normally 7.5kg for as long as I can...when I cant lift one arm I use my over arm to lift but let the weight fall for negatives.
finish off with 15 press ups on the iron gym and then drink the nasty shake once i am done.
In terms of your questions I cant answer them because I dont have a long bar(which is obviously hampering me or a proper bench) so I honestly dont know what I can Bench, squat & dead lift but bear in mind im not the biggest build nor do I have 24 inch pythons like hulk hogan
my routine is getting me results...im definitly bigger and stronger in a short time ....but obviously my routine is getting a little bit boring now so Im either going to have to buy a longbar & a bench or join a gym I guess.
5'10 tall and weigh 10-11 stone.
Your routine is getting you results because you are a novice, and absolutely anything will get you results. Your results are not optimal and they will slow up/stop within the next 5-6 weeks (in terms of muscle growth, weight loss may continue depending on your diet).
I'll leave it to you on whether you want to follow my advice or not, but I was once in your situation doing 50 different exercises with high repetitions using low weight, waking up the next day sore thinking that was a great workout, looking in the mirror thinking my routine was fantastic because I put a few ounces of muscle on in the first few weeks.
So here it is. Get yourself strong. The fastest way for a novice to gain muscle mass is to get strong. By get strong I'm talking a bodyweight bench press, x 1.5 time bodyweight Squat and a 2x Bodyweight deadlift (minimum).
Either buy a barbell a squat rack and a bench, or join a gym that has these things. Forget all the press-ups, flys, calf raises, laterals etc etc etc and concentrate on the big compound movements (Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press and Chins). Why? Because these movements use the most muscle, and movements which use the most muscle allow you to lift the most weight, and lifting big weights gets you strong.
Learn how to do the lifts properly. Squat below parallel, knees out, back in extension, toes turned out about 30 degrees with your knees tracking over them as they go down
Train 3 times a week (non-consecutive days Mon-Wed-Fri for example). Squat and Deadlift everyday for the first few weeks and start light, alternate bench press and overhead press (note this is with a barbell) each workout.
Every single workout add 5kg to your deadlift and 5kg to your squat. Depending on your genetics, you will eventually not be able to recover from this, at that point, start to alternate Deadlift with powercleans or another back exercise (eg Rows) if you don't want to learn how to powerclean.
With your bench and press add 2.5kg each workout. Do Chins every single workout.
In terms of sets and reps, all you need is 3 sets of 5 reps on the bench, OH press and Squat and one set of 5 on the deadlift (harder to recover from). If you learn how to powerclean do five sets of 3.
Diet wise - You seem pretty keen to not gain too much fat. You don't need to over think this, but to get strong you need to eat big.
At minimum get 1.2g protein per lb bodyweight per day Protein shakes help immensly with this, as do chicken, steak, pork and eggs. Carb wise fruit, potatos, pasta and rice are your best friends. Eat as much green vegetables as you want.
My suggestion would be 3 meals a day containing a plam sized protein portion, two fistfuls of carbs and green veg plus 3 protein shakes with milk spread out throughout the day. Don't just jump straight into it though (fat gain city if you do) work up to it in terms of quantities.
If you want to do 'cardio' HIIT on a Saturday. Nothing else. Does not burn muscle like jogging or other lower intensity stuff. Sprints etc etc.
Continue to add 5kg to your squat and deadlift per workout and 2.5kg to bench and OH press per workout until you stall (i.e can't complete the 5 reps on any of the sets). Once you do that reset 10% until you get back to where you were then start going up in smaller increments.
Once you can't get any heavier on any of the lifts, you can concentrate fully on what you want (6 pack, sport, bodybuilding).
If you do the above, learn the lifts, be consistent with your diet and continually add weights to your lifts for the next 12 weeks, you will come out the other side a beast.
