Shoulders and core?

[Lazy Procrastinator]

I currently weigh 64 KG which is 141.1 pounds, and I'm approximately 170-180 cm tall which is approx 5.74 feet tall (dunno how u Americans say that in your measurement). I started working out about a month ago three times a week (aged 15 by the way, nearly 16); and so far I basically doa route around the gym which gives my whole body a workout.

I'm just wondering what the best exercises are for isolation in the areas of the abdominals, pectorials (chest), general back, biceps, forearm, and shoulders (sounds like a lot but can be done in a few exercises I think). I'm no genius when it comes to human biology so I don't know much about muscles and how they work and how they strengthen with which exercises, so all i'm going to say is I want a bit of beef haha; and that those areas mentioned before are the primary areas where I want that beef to be XD.

Please help me with a routine and outline the reps and so forth for each excercise, just drop the name down and I will research it for myself. Also, if somebody could give me a quick tutorial on how muscles strengthen and grow that would be awesome, i'm quite interested in the area of muscular development, and could be a promising future profession for me, thank you very much for your time; all posts will be well read and appreciated.

[Mattasaur94]

... Also, if somebody could give me a quick tutorial on how muscles strengthen and grow that would be awesome, i'm quite interested in the area of muscular development, and could be a promising future profession for me...


Well, :) I can help you there.
Muscles grow by microtears, weird, right?
Well, what happens when you work out or train (weight training, specifically) your muscle fibres get things called microtears, or microtraumas, this is the soreness that you feel after you train or work out. When your resting your body (which is necassairy) the microtraumas stimulate your muscle fibres to help them form stronger and, well, larger.

Eating/drinking, or, well, consuming protein in general will help your muscles contract, your probably thinking, "why the hell do I want them to contract?" Well, whilst contraction usually means to shorten, when it comes to muscular developement, it pretty much refers to your muscle fibres generating tension. This will cause your body to "switch on" and go to its full extent, it will help your muscle fibres work out as strong/hard as possible, as far as your willing to push it.

Working out can be risky, don't work out all your muscles in one day, specify a specific part of your body/muscle group, thrash it out at the gym, work out as hard as you can, this will cause stress to the muscles your working, then, give them a good rest with all the food and time they need, this is how they grow. Recovery time will vary on your metabolism. :)

If your in a rest period, it doesn't mean you still can't work out though, as I said before, target one part of your body each day or each time you work out, so, upperbody - Triceps, Biceps, etc... one day, and then do your abs and such the next, then your legs another time.

You need to work out your body evenly, so, set up a schedule, talk to someone more experienced in that feild, figure out your goals, a time plan, work it around your life.
Just make sure it's something you want to do, there's nothing worse than rolling out of bed and thinking, "Ah crap. This sucks!", unless its just from being sore. :P

Slowly step up your work outs, build it up, don't try and be tough and start high, you'll wreak your body that way.
Anything else, just ask.

Most of this is from memory, my families a pretty heavy-sporting family, our pantry is full of protein shake powders. >_>
So yea, correct me if I'm wrong on anything, but thats how, to my understanding, muscle grow. :)

[Lazy Procrastinator]

Thanks for the info man, very interesting :P.
I've heard about protein shakes and stuff called L-Glutamine and such but have not tried them yet, I heard they enhance your body in the nutrients that are needed to recover and resupply your body for the next workout to maximize efficiency when working out, would you recommend these?

Also, how do I figure out what my metabolism is; and what does this effect?

Also, diet is a fundamental role in supplying your body with enough vitamin and nutrients for your body, which foods do you recommend to eat throughout say a week? I heard pasta, fruit, lean meat, and veggies are the way to go, but in what moderation?

[Mattasaur94]

It's really hard to say with dietry, because everyones different, seeing as your only a teenager still (so am I :P) your metabolism will vary, I'm not sure exactly how to measure it or what can impact it, I'll try and find out for you today.

With protein shakes and, well, body enhancers and things like added vitamins and stuff, you just need to make sure that you don't throw things out of a balance in your body, talk to one of the people at the gym, their always willing to sit down usually and talk to you about setting up a diet and work out plan.

I'm not an expert, so I can only really give you my opinion and the things I know for cirtain. (:

EDIT: Your metabolism is incredibly hard to measure, you can go get tests and such, but, one change in your lifestyle, an adjusted food plan, changed reps, weights, and so on, this will change the rate of your metabolism, just try and eat enough so your body is getting what it needs, but not so much its storing the fat that it intakes.

Remember, your body will store only the fat that it thinks it needs, so, If you want to bulk up in muscle, just make sure your training/working out hard enough that your body doesn't need the fat, just the nutrients. (:

[tyciol]

I'm just wondering what the best exercises are for isolation in the areas of the abdominals, pectorials (chest), general back, biceps, forearm, and shoulders (sounds like a lot but can be done in a few exercises I think).I don't like terms like 'best' because it sometimes varies based upon your body type and current fitness needs but....

Abs:weighted crunch (or pulley crunch)

Pecs: bell fly (dumb, kettle, or club) or pec deck

There really isn't any 'general back' but I suppose the closest thing I can think of would be a weighted row...you have to keep in mind there's a lot of stuff to focus on the various parts like erector spinae, lats, rhomboids, upper/medial/lower traps, etc.

Biceps: barbell curl (but chinups are very good, you can handle much more weight)

Forearms: pronated and supinated barbell curls in front and behind. That's 4 variations. Doing some levering stuff with an offset bar is also good, and grip training is very important (heavy pulls liks chins/deadlifts/rows).

Shoulders: overhead press for ant, lateral raise for medial, reverse flies for posterior.