Problem with routine, help?

[Sarzis]

Yello.

I was doing some "research" on a workout program, and seeing as my gym does not have the material needed to do squats and most 5x5, Stronglifts and most of the things that people seem to recommend on the net, I have been following this fullbody routine.

Squats - Don't have the equipment, so I just do leg presses.
Lunges
Deadlifts (bent legs) - no equipment again, I haven't found a substitute.
Deadlifts (straight legs) - I do seated pulley rows instead
Pull and Chin ups - I can't do more than 2, and it's not improving.
Standing Rows
Shoulder/Overhead Presses
Press Movements (Chest) - I basically bench press.

First of all, I don't want to bulk up, the goal is to get more endurance and a bit more of strength, so I'm doing 3x15 three days a week. I train Bjj 3 days a week too.

I have been on this for a month, and I have leaned out and improved some strength, but I still can't manage to do more than two pull/chin ups, and I feel that I am not developing core muscles when I should have included them, but since I do sit-ups and crunches on my bjj class... I'm in doubt.

Should I do core exercises? If so, which ones?
Are these valid exercises for strength endurance? Should I change something? Which exercises instead? (The gym doesn't have squat racks, or a deadlift zone).

Thanks for reading.

[TheRuss]

Yello.

I was doing some "research" on a workout program, and seeing as my gym does not have the material needed to do squats and most 5x5, Stronglifts and most of the things that people seem to recommend on the net

Find a better gym.

I have been following this fullbody routine.

Squats - Don't have the equipment, so I just do leg presses.
Lunges
Deadlifts (bent legs) - no equipment again, I haven't found a substitute.
Deadlifts (straight legs) - I do seated pulley rows instead
Pull and Chin ups - I can't do more than 2, and it's not improving.
Standing Rows
Shoulder/Overhead Presses
Press Movements (Chest) - I basically bench press.

The bar for a "better gym" is pretty low in your case. In your case, I suspect "a big staircase to run up and down" would be a marked improvement.

First of all, I don't want to bulk up,

You won't.

the goal is to get more endurance and a bit more of strength, so I'm doing 3x15 three days a week. I train Bjj 3 days a week too.

I have been on this for a month, and I have leaned out and improved some strength, but I still can't manage to do more than two pull/chin ups, and I feel that I am not developing core muscles when I should have included them, but since I do sit-ups and crunches on my bjj class... I'm in doubt.

Should I do core exercises? If so, which ones?
Are these valid exercises for strength endurance? Should I change something? Which exercises instead? (The gym doesn't have squat racks, or a deadlift zone).

Thanks for reading.

[battlefields]

Yello.

I was doing some "research" on a workout program, and seeing as my gym does not have the material needed to do squats and most 5x5, Stronglifts and most of the things that people seem to recommend on the net, I have been following this fullbody routine.

Squats - Don't have the equipment, so I just do leg presses.
Lunges
Deadlifts (bent legs) - no equipment again, I haven't found a substitute.
Deadlifts (straight legs) - I do seated pulley rows instead
Pull and Chin ups - I can't do more than 2, and it's not improving.
Standing Rows
Shoulder/Overhead Presses
Press Movements (Chest) - I basically bench press.

First of all, I don't want to bulk up, the goal is to get more endurance and a bit more of strength, so I'm doing 3x15 three days a week. I train Bjj 3 days a week too.

I have been on this for a month, and I have leaned out and improved some strength, but I still can't manage to do more than two pull/chin ups, and I feel that I am not developing core muscles when I should have included them, but since I do sit-ups and crunches on my bjj class... I'm in doubt.

Should I do core exercises? If so, which ones?
Are these valid exercises for strength endurance? Should I change something? Which exercises instead? (The gym doesn't have squat racks, or a deadlift zone).

Thanks for reading.

For one, the program doesn't say "leg presses are okay if you can't do squats" and other exercises are good substitutes for deadlifts, etc, does it? No, it doesn't, believe me, I know. In fact it says the absolute opposite, it says that if you positively cannot do any of the other exercises, you should just do squats. Free weight squats. There is no playing with this part of the program. You either do free weight squats, or you don't do 5x5.

So, as TheRuss mentioned so sagely, your gym sucks. You can do a couple of things. You can find a gym with free weights and ACTUALLY do 5x5, or you can do bodyweight exercises.

I did 5x5 properly and it was awesome, by the way. But I am now training 6 days a week in BJJ and Muay Thai, so finding time to shove 100kg on my back for a session (well, work up to 100kg, lol) AND recover is a bit of a tall order at the moment. So I am doing bodyweight exercises.

I have the same problem as you, I could not do more than 2 chin ups. If you have an iphone, get the 20 chin ups app, the 100 sit ups app and the 50 (?) push ups app. Although I can't speak for the sit ups app, I can speak for the push ups app being effective in increasing the amount you can do. I can also speak for the chin ups app, which has resulted in an increase in maximum already, but I have also done in 4 days total about 25 chin ups. To suck at something means you are already on your way to not sucking at that something.

I reckon you could even leave the sit ups app, sit ups during training are okay but they put a lot of strain on the back. Push ups actually work your core. Do prone bridges. Do yoga, pilates, for core work. But BJJ should be giving you a good core anyway.

I'm rambling. If you want to do 5x5, do it properly somewhere where it can be done properly. If that isn't an option, do bodyweight exercises.

And keep training.

[elipson]

New Gym.

If i doesn't have at least one squat rack, keep looking.

[Sarzis]

Funny thing is I'm stuck with this gym until I return to the capital. And by stuck I mean "at least this one has a decent amount of dumbells". The others are even worse (lots of machines, no freeweights, no squat rack)...

Okay, so consensus is stopping that routine since I'm not doing it correctly and start a bodyweight one. Lurking a bit I found a couple in Trainforstrength, basically this:

REGULAR PUSH-UPS : Pyramid up to 12 and back to 1
TRICEPS/DIAMOND PUSH-UPS : until failure.
PULL-UPS
-REGULAR GRIP : Pyramid to 2 and back to 1
-NARROW GRIP : Pyramid to 2 and back to 1
-WIDE GRIP : Pyramid to 2 and back to 1
DIPS: 4 sets of 8-10
HINDU SQUATS: 4 sets of 25
BOOT-STRAPPERS*: 4 sets of 25
LUNGES: 4 sets of 20
CRUNCHES: 20
SIDE CRUNCHES: 20
SIT AND TUCKS: 10
SIT AND TUCKS EACH CHEEK: 10
V-UPS: 10
FLUTTER KICKS: 25
6-INCH CRUNCHES: 10

Further suggestions are welcome.

[elipson]

You can do squats with dumbbells. Using dumbbells, it would be the same hand positions as trap squats in the following video. How big do your dumbbells go? If they don't have any heavy dumbbells you can use barbells in each hand. This is actually more of a deadlift, but whatever, its still much better than just legpresses.


Seated row is NOT equivalent for straight leg deadlifts (hahaha!)!

Do these instead:


I do these with a 20lbs dumbbell instead of a light medicine ball. I also liftmore vertically and don't pivot on my feet, to each his own. Work your way up in weight. This is suprisingly hard on the hamstrings and is great for the lower back and glutes. Keep the seated rows, but focus on the muscles in your upper back doing the work.

You can also do split squats with dumbbells, or weighted Lunges. Just don't be a ***** with these; go hard.

Single hip thrusts are great for hitting glutes, and can be done with weight once you get good at them. Many people neglect the glutes, i did for years, so this has become a staple in my leg day, to help correct lower back/hip/hamstring issues.
I usually do mine with my foot on the ground and not another bench, but whatever works.



Keep doing chin ups. Even if you can only do 2 at a time. Aim for 10 in total, even if you have to do 10 sets of 1 rep. This will improve, just stay with it and push yourself! do it at the beginning of your routine and be aggressive, but use your legs as little as possible.

[Sarzis]

Thanks a lot epsilon. So far I'm doing the lunges with two 27 lbs dumbells ( like I was doing before), and the kind-of-trapbar-squat-with-dumbells I did 3x10 with 35lbs at each side's hand. I think I could have pulled more, but my grip was killing me and I didn't want to suddenly drop the dumbells or fall becasuse of a lack of balance. I guess the grip will improve with time. BTW, the heaviest dumbell is at 88lbs, and is freaking huge

On the push-up/chin-up... I managed to do 10 of each! yay! In sets of 2 but anyway... The problem was (is) the bar is quite high, so you have to fully extend your arm to grip it, and I don't have enough strength to lift my body from that position. For some stupid monkey reason I decided to give it a lil jump, and it was much easier. I didn't extend my arms completely on my way down because I didn't think I would be able to go back up, but with time I believe I will be able tu pull it off. And I did it as the last exercise, so... have to change that.

Thanks agains, guys!

PS: Now I get funny looks from the people at the gym. Lol.

[elipson]

Getting to the very bottom of a chin up can be challenging. Let it serve as a goal for you accomplish.

You're grip strength will improve over time, especially if you stick with chin ups. Learn to love them.