Am I training correctly with the size I currently am?

Hi people, this is my first post so sorry if I'm doing it wrong.
I am currently a weight of 156lb, and just a bit over 6". I've always hated how skinny I was as I have a fast metabolism. I have been mildly working out for about half a year now, only this past month I've tried to increase my workout intensity and actually stick at it.
As a result I think I can definately see improvements, and I've put on half a stone to the weight I am now. (I can upload pics if you want.)
However I don't know if I'm doing it right and at the right intensity. My diet I believe is perfect, I'm consuming enough protein after and around my workout, whether that be through the meals I eat or with protein shakes.
If you don't mind, could you help me out with a good workout that will get me muscular in no time? If you want me to I can post here my current workout so that you can tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing.
Thanks people

Hi mate and welcome.
 
I'd suggest you put up your full routine so people can see what you are doing and where you can improve.
Also, where do you train? what kit have you access to? How many times a week can you train?
 
I'm guessing you want to increase strength and bulk up from your post, if that's the case I would suggest a simple workout based on compound lifts is the best way to make quick progress for a beginner.
 
Personally I like Stronglifts, Starting Strength or a good push/pull/legs routine. All focus on compounds and all will build strength and size pretty quickly for a newcomer like yourself.
 
I'd also recommend visiting the diet forum on here, whilst you think your diet is spot on I'd suspect that there's room for improvement.
 
 
 

From your starting point, posting your diet up is as important as the workout info. You need to be eating quite a lot to bulk - I would say 3000-3500 clean calories a day over 6 meals.
 
Poached Eggs is right though, compounds will be the way forward.
 
I'll ignore the fact that your post says you're a bit over six inches tall!!!

Bollard


From your starting point, posting your diet up is as important as the workout info. You need to be eating quite a lot to bulk - I would say 3000-3500 clean calories a day over 6 meals.

Poached Eggs is right though, compounds will be the way forward.

I'll ignore the fact that your post says you're a bit over six inches tall!!!

 
He actually says "just a bit over 6", doesn't mention how tall he is. If he goes down the steroids route that will be 4" in no time

Hahah, just realised what I said there xD This wasn't me proving my male status xD What I meant was that I'm a bit over 6 foot in height, as I hope you worked out.
Since I am a beginner I'm only training at home. I have pretty good weights here, with a bench and barbells and dumbells. I can get a maximum weight of 90KG on the bar (a family member handed it all over to me for free after giving it all up). Once I start doing higher weights I plan on joining a gym of course, but I'm pretty sure I have good enough kit here to get me started for a few months.
My routine currently goes like this:
Monday / Weds / Fri
3 sets of 8 barbell bicep curls straight into 3 sets of 8 crossed (?) bicep curls
4 sets of millitary shoulder press, each set going straight into 10 pressups
4 sets of 8 deadlifts
I then go into my abdominal workout which I have taken from this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkKCVCZe474
Tues / Thurs / Sat
4 sets of bench press (usually doing 8 reps)
4 sets of flies (8 reps again)
3 sets of squats (8 reps)
3 sets of tricep dips (20 reps each set)
 
Also I cycle everywhere lately to get the most from my legs. After reading similar posts I think I'm doing too much at the stage that I'm at. Maybe I'm burning the muscle that I currently have, resulting in no progress. However that's for you too judge.
In terms of my diet, I'm probably only getting about 2000 calories a day because I'm eating healthily. Something else I know I'm doing wrong. Do you suggest that I increase my calorie intake? I'm for sure getting enough protein, I always have a protein shake after I workout and a protein bar as a snack in the day.
 
So yeah. No one has requested for pics so I'll leave them out for the moment.

Actually I'll put 2 up of me now so that I can see progression and update
I dunno why but Photobucket is being gay, so the images are small. You can see them anyway.

Eat eat eat

Definitely consumed around 3000 calories yesterday, it's quite easy to do so actually. I'll keep this up!

Keep it up and keep the calories clean.
 
Your choice of exercises is ok but your volume is a bit high - I suspect you could split that down to three good sessions. For now, it'll be ok - you'll see the initial benefits of training and diet - but over time you'll need to look at moving that to a four day full body or a simple three day split.

I'd say training 6 days a week is far too much.
 
I would agree with Bollard that your routine isn't perfect but will serve you well enough for now, I'd also agree that 3 or 4 days a week is plenty.
 
However I would re-order your exercises slighty to get the most from your current routine, I'd suggest that it's best to do the compounds first as these give you the most bang for your buck so to speak.
 
For your first workout below - let's call it workout A, I'd re-order as follows:
4 sets of 8 deadlifts
4 sets of millitary shoulder press, each set going straight into 10 pressups
3 sets of 8 barbell bicep curls straight into 3 sets of 8 crossed (?) bicep curls

For your second workout below - let's call it workout B, I'd re-order as follows:
3 sets of squats (8 reps)
4 sets of bench press (usually doing 8 reps)
4 sets of flies (8 reps again)
3 sets of tricep dips (20 reps each set)
I'd also suggest you do this 3 times a week as follows;
Week 1
Mon  - workout A
Weds - workout B
Fri - workout A
Week 2
Mon  - workout B
Weds - workout A
Fri - workout B
 
If you want to do 4 sessions a week then do;
Mon  - workout A
Tues - workout B
Thur - workout A
Fri - workout B
 
Lift as heavy as you can without compromising technique and put more on the bar for each exercise the next session if you complete your target sets/reps for that particular exercise.
 
Do something like this, eat enough good food and get enough rest and you will grow, it takes time though, be patient.

Thanks very much for the help people.
I guess I'm working out for so many days because I just want fast results. However I think I'll start doing 3 days a week working out, consuming the amount of calories I currently am. I think the main thing I have to remember is I'm doing less reps but more intensity in terms of weight.
As a question about that possible structure you re-ordered, did you leave ab workout for a reason?

There's plenty of ab work there: squat, Deadlift, military press, chin ups, etc

You need to structure the cals into macro nutrients. If after a lean bulk 30 p 50 c 20 f . And keep changing what you are dong, for example I'm currently working out bi's on chest day and tri's on back day which is back to front , got to keep changing things and mixing things up, change every 8-12 weeks.

If it were me,i would drop the curls to once per week,or not at all.do chins instead.
I would drop the pushups supersetted after military press.just gonna burn more cals.
bench press will be plenty.
i would add weight to dips,20 reps will burn more cals.added weight so you can only get 6/12 reps would be better for size.
do less reps on deadlift,more weight.or pyramid up to a single heavy 5rep set.like 10/8/5.
Flies i would also cut to once per week.
basicly i think you would be better off with a basic program like stronglifts.
and you could sprinkle in another excercise here and there.
just my 2p.good luck,and good job,youve def muscled up.

brit iron


If it were me,i would drop the curls to once per week,or not at all.do chins instead.
I would drop the pushups supersetted after military press.just gonna burn more cals.
bench press will be plenty.
i would add weight to dips,20 reps will burn more cals.added weight so you can only get 6/12 reps would be better for size.
do less reps on deadlift,more weight.or pyramid up to a single heavy 5rep set.like 10/8/5.
Flies i would also cut to once per week.
basicly i think you would be better off with a basic program like stronglifts.
and you could sprinkle in another excercise here and there.
just my 2p.good luck,and good job,youve def muscled up.

Can't argue with any of the above and I can definately endorse Stronglifts as I've been on it for 6 weeks and it's really working for me.

Cheers guys. I've changed my workout, lifting heavier and fewer reps, and I'm currently only working out for 3 times a week.  Maybe other weeks I might work out for 4 days. Hopefully I should start seeing good results which I'll no doubt post up here in 3 weeks or so. I'm feeling a lot more confident about how it's going now that I've had good advice about both the workout and diet so lets just keep at it.

Hi people,
About 2 months in now and I can see a big difference. I've gone up 8lbs from starting and I'm feeling a lot bigger. There have been days where I've decided against working out but generally speaking I've been sticking at it, slowly increasing my weight as appose to reps. The eating more part was hard, you've gotta eat a lot to be getting 3000 calories a day, I had no idea I had to pig out so much. But it's definitely put more mass on me so I'll continue bulking. At this rate I'll be massive come summer :P
 
Just a question, I now have a pull-up bar, how should I slide this into my routine? I've sort of been doing them when I can, no structure really. I think I would benefit more if it was part of my weekly routine so any suggestions would be much appreciated. Oh and if anyone wants progression photos I can upload.
 
Thanks guys!!!