Greeting sportsmen and sportswomen,

I believe picture speaks a thousand words and I'll start off with showing picture of me.

No face though, still a bit shy, maybe later on



Orait. Some infos: I am roughly 178-180cm tall, 68-70kg.

Currently, I, as most of men, hope to gain bigger chest and biceps to look good and feel strong and healthy.

My current routine when i go gym is:

1. Bench Press
2. Incline Bench Press
3. Dumbbell Fly
4. Pectoral Fly
5. Triceps Pull Down
6. Barbell lift
7. Arm Curl
8. Chin Up
9. Crunches

Basically there are just 3 doubts for now, do help and comment

1. Any improvement for my routine? I copy some of it from other members. Feel free to give comment

2. When I do triceps pull down. My back hurts. What should I do? Lighter weight is too easy for me (below 25kg). When heavy (30kg) then my back pain. So how? I need to do back muscle exercises? I am a beginner and not quite sure what to do

3. Do comment on my body for where to improve. Personally, I feel like my abdomen part bulges and my chest slants inwards. Is it normal?

Last of all, thanks for reading and helping

Public Service Announcement: Squatz and Deadlifts !

No leg exercises?

what mean? Sorry novice here..

Oh yea, i forgot to say that I am marathon runner too. Basically 1 day I jog around 5-10kms sometimes 20km then another day I go gym. Do I need to do extra leg exercises?

IMO, jogging is not a very good leg builder, especially long distance. BTW, marathon and bodybuilding does have a very low chemistry.

oh no... Nvm.. If i have to choose between these two, Ill go with bodybuilding.

I add in 1 leg press is it sufficient?

Well, if you really want to devote yourself into BB, you need to find yourself a good and proper routine.

I will add in leg press as the second last in my routine in first post. Is it good and proper?

not close to proper. try to read a pinned thread "Pinned: BODYBUILDING AND STRENGTH PROGRAMS". There you can find a proper routine.

thanks! any comment bout my first 3 doubts?

I can't really tell from your pics, but maybe you've got a very slight case of Pectus Excavatum?

I've got this. My chest kinda goes inwards, the bottom part of my rib kind of sticks out, bringing my stomach a bit more out.

1) How many times to you workout in a week ? and No. 1-9 are the workouts you do in a day ? If so you're missing a few things there .

2) If your back hurts when doing tricep / lat pulldown, it will most probably be due to wrong back position or simple your back is not strong enough. You need to add back exercises into your routine, deadlift being the most important.

3) I believe you do not have to worry too much on your body, instead pay close attention to your food and workout first as a start.

Thanks alot Janson! Any good suggestion for arms and backs exercises to fit in my list please? Deadlift is noted as suggested by dennis.

OMG. I googled Pectus Excavatum. Yea. Something like that. Below my ribcage, there is a slight "hollow". Damn This is unchangeable trait?

Thanks dennis!

Basically I tried to go alternating days as much as possible whenever I am not occupied. Pattern is like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday then start over with Monday again.

But sometimes I might be busy and skip one to two days.

Yea I tend to skip one to two days myself sometimes but it is still very important to have a routine for example :

Monday - Chest

Wednesday - Back

Friday - Shoulder

Sunday - Legs

When you get a hold of this routine, you can make adjustments by adding say, Upper Body day or Arms day where you only focus on certain exercises that target the specific muscle group instead of doing all exercises in 1 day.

" OMG. I googled Pectus Excavatum. Yea. Something like that. Below my ribcage, there is a slight "hollow". Damn sad.gif This is unchangeable trait? "

Unless you have reached your full potential (as in less than 8% body fat and the best mass/height index, that is not a trait you ought to worry about now

If you really have pectus excavatum, then it's the bone structure. You got any other pictures to show? Looks quite different from mine though.. But your description of your tummy more front than your slanting chest sounds like it :/

Just train your chest hard. Just google pectus excavatum bodybuilding.com and you can see people who lift with them.

Dont think you need surgery or some sort because yours seems very mild.

seems familiar this photo.

will take more photo. but not so soon. busy week. cheers swks!

who you?

>>>> To everyone, do comment as adviced by dennis.

Monday - Chest
1. Bench Press x 5 sets
2. Incline Bench Press x 5 sets
3. Dumbbell fly x 5 sets
4. ????

Wednesday - Back + Triceps ?
1. Tricep Pulldown x 5 sets
2. Dead lifts x ???? sets
3. ????

Friday - Shoulder + Biceps
1. Arm curl x 5 sets
2. Barbell lift x 3 sets (normally i do 60kg)
3. Chin up x 3 sets
4. ???

Sunday - Legs + ????
1. Leg press x ???? sets
2. ????

I will end everyday with 1 set 100 crunches then next set around 50 crunches.

1 question: Ideally 1 workout session for me is around 1 hour?

Thanks for all the response so far

That routine is not good IMHO.

Half a day for back?? Back is a major muscle group and it needs a full day.

Deadlift is a very poor muscle builder - especially if it is your ONLY back exercise. In fact, if you are only doing ONE back exercise please stay away from deadlift. It's useless on its own for hypertrophy.

Monday - Back

Wednesday - Chest/Tri.

For Back routine try:

Chin Ups 10 reps x 3 (You can either keep adding sets or move to weighted)
One arm DB rows - heavy x 5 sets
Cable low rows - high rep lighter weight x 5 sets
Deadlift/back extension x 3-5 sets.