Oh, i never saw you were doing HSC this year! Thought you were a uni student.
The basketball schedule is fine, what was going to suggest was something like...
GOOGLE or YOUTUBE anything you don't know. And better yet, ask the big dude in your gym, or any trainers for advice.
MON :
Squats. 4-6 reps, 4-6 sets. if it gets easy, add 2.5 kgs. Or start medium weight on first set, and move up each set. Simply, progress is progress, you know when you are getting better. Full squats are best, but don't 'bounce', or pause on the bottom. Steady wins the race.
Hamstrings; now, my favourite exercise is 'Good Mornings', but you have to be very careful with these if your new (or even experienced!). SO WAIT a good 3-4 months after you have built some comfort in squats first. Try 'glute-ham raises', you complete these by hooking your feet under something and 'falling' to the ground with your body straight, catching yourself, and coming up straight again. You'll know when you get this right, the back of your legs will feel like footballs.
Biceps: Yep, feel free to hit your guns at this time. I'm sure you know all the variations. Limit yourself to two exercises though. You don't need a million; don't think about pump, think about a intense contraction. (mind-muscle connection).
TUE:
Bench: 4-8 reps, 4-6 sets. Do these properly, touch your body with the bar, and press to lockout. Get a spotter.
Heavy Triceps: bench lockouts are the money ticket here. Bench lockouts are done in a squat rack or cage, and you set the pins higher than your body, and bench from there. Basically a 'short-range bench press'. You will be able to you a lot more weight. This is an exercise where i actually encourage singles reps. But you can do them as sets. For example, you may 'do 5 reps', but you press the weight, hold, lower, let go of bar, shake for a second, and re-grip and go again.
You won't need a spotter. Really experiment with this, you'll press A LOT more than your typical bench (i've played with 160-180kg on a few inch lockout, and i am a
sucky bencher).
Another option is 'close-grip bench press'. You hands are close in on the bar (about 1 cm from inside knurling), and you'll press less, but more emphasis on triceps.
Pick 1 or 2 and work it!
Chest: Incline bench with dumbbells. Try and get a good (but be careful!) stretch at bottom of press, elbows wide to concentrate on chest. Dumbbell will also force you to use less weight than your bench (and your triceps are gone anyways). This is a GOOD thing. 6-8 reps are good. Squeeze your pecs at the top.
Push ups. Very simple, but they work. These are your finisher. Do an All out set of push ups. Rest for 1-2 minutes, and another all out set.
DONE.
WED: rest.
THUR:
Deadlifts: 4-6 reps, 4-6 sets. Read up on these, and know your form. Ask the best dude in the gym to check your form. Now, a little tip for deads, treat every rep as a single. E.g: If doing a set of 4, deadlift once, put down the bar,
let go, stand up, and come down for your second rep. You'll keep good form this way.
Hang from a bar for a little bit when done. Good for your back (you just compressed it with deadlifts).
Back:
Dumbbell rows: I prefer these to barbell, as they don't fatigue the lower-back as much. Dumbbell in hand, another on a bench (with matching knee), and row, row, row to the bottom of your rib cage. 8+ reps, sets, your call.
One good scheme for this is to grab a dumbbell, and work with that until you can get 15 reps in a single set. Once you can get 15, time to move up a dumbbell, and work with that for a while until you can get 15, etc. Do not use straps, you'll build great grip with this high rep range.
Your biceps also get a small second pump, which will aid recovery.
FRI:
Over head press: 6-8 reps, start a little light on this until you get a solid lower back. Take it from a rack, do not 'clean' it from the floor. Form tip: Keep knees and butt tight. Its a safety issue, but will also make you stronger.
Light triceps:
Cable press-down thingies: 8+ reps. Go to town. This is light and pumpy. Move up when you want.
'Skull crushers': 8+ reps. If your elbows don't scream. If they do, find something else.
shoulders:
Now... My genes give me decent shoulders, so i don't know this to much. But the best builder i know is volume clean and press with a dumbbell. Put a Dbell on the floor, in a swift motion take it to your shoulder, get tight, press, then put Dbell back on floor - Repeat! 6-8 reps.
SAT/SUN: rest!
Special everyday thing:
Pull ups.
Get your max (lets say, 10) and take 2/3's of it (6). Do 4-5 sets of 6 over the course of your workout. Anytime you want to do a set. Maybe 1 in between an exercise. One or two near the beginning and a couple at the end, whatever. Pull ups are good, and make a man of you. You probably wont get tired with this approach of spreading them out - But this is a GOOD THING. You'll get good at them.
... Now... I just have a mental collapse and realized your Basketball days match the leg days. You could give it a shot, but switch the days around so it is bench, squat, rest, overhead, dead, rest, rest. - Should work!
I'm going to use a program similar to this when i get back to Uni.
What do you think? It is brutal minimalism, but if you work each exercise well, you;ll make good progress.
