Exercise routine

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okay, i dont know the first thing about making a good routine for myself. i do 3 sets of the following currently:seated bicep curlstricep exercises ( dunno the name of but you hold the weight between your hands, seated, behind your head and dip it up and down behind you )forearm curlsshrugs ( still cant do em right )i dont get results. i have 3 weeks to do as much as i want because im on vacation for that much longer. after that i guess i could have like 2 hours a day on a school day if i stayed up late. i dont even know how muscles get bigger. i think i need to be told. thanks.-ak

PS my punching is a lot weaker since i started exercising. why is this?

if im wrong someone correct me but i think your muscles tear when u work out then while u sleep your muscles reapair themeselves and get biger and stronger, i think

It's a little more complex than that, the muscles shouldn't be tearing or you'll need to take it easy for recovery. The general idea is right though. I think he's looking for a full routine though that incorporates concepts like that from Helms and other experienced members.

I've been learning a lot from my swim coach over the past year about training. You want to get stronger for multiple reasons, one of which is to be able to punch harder, right? The most important thing to do is to train your muscles in those same kind of movements if that's your goal. Also, if you want explosive power, you're not going to get it from heavy weights. My swim coach has never used weights except for forearms and wrist exercises. He's been taking various disciplines of martial arts since he was young, teaches tai chi and also competitive swimming of course and he's been the best coach in any sport I've had.I asked him about dryland training I could do, and I believe I mentioned weight training. His suggestion a while back was don't do it. Recently, we had a long discussion about why on the way back from a swim meet. I believe it applies very much to your goals. Being able to lift heavy weights for a few reps isn't that useful for power and endurance. It's certainly an asset if you need to move furniture around, and it's satisfying to be able to progressively lift very heavy weights, but if you want to be more powerful, for example to improve your ability to fight, then bulk and strength aren't going to help nearly as much as training for power (hence why boxers, swimmers, sprinters, etc. don't weigh 300 pounds).It's amazing how much just a little mental focus on balance and coordination have helped my swimming and I've begun to apply it to other things. In addition, a great workout for on land agility and speed is skipping. Don't believe me? then check out the numerous olympic athletes from various disciplines that skip as a regular part of their exercise routines. Next, an exercise ball is probably the best piece of workout equipment you can have. You can do so many exercises on it to improve balance and core strength.I'll put something together for you if you're interested and you tell me what kind of facilities/home equipment are available to you. If you want to stick to doing a full body weight workout then that's cool too, although I'm probably not the best person to design a weight workout for you in that case.

thanks very much for the response, robbob. i was definetly misunderstood about weights improving punching skill, but for aesthetic value i think ill still work out a little. so long as that doesnt make me punch lighter. actually, i havent worked out in days and my punches dont go straight, or make much impact at all.

as for home facilities, i basically have my two dumbbells, plenty of space, and well, thats about it really. i dont have the opportunity or time to go to any martials arts classes. is there anything you might suggest?

I used to work out at home allot too, I found it really hard to keep motivated when doing it. If you have a local gym I would recomend trying it, if you insist on doing it at home youre going to find it very hard. When I used to do weights alone I didnt have anyone to apply a bit of preasure under the weights if I couldnt lift the last rep to help me do it etc, another problem with just training with some dumbells is that youre going to find it hard to target ALL your muscle groups. I asume when you talk about "punching hard" you are talking about fighting in which you are going to need all your muscles involved as its not just your punch you need to be strong. Also there are certain techinques for punching that basicaly will help you optimise the strength you have and could increase your puching power but 2 or 3 times. The main thing is not to tense your fist while swinging, keep it loose then clench your fist a split second before impact. There are many more techniques you cant probrably find them online pretty easy.

Buy a skipping rope. If you have the space at home, it is one of the most awesome pieces of equipment you can have. Many boxers skip to improve their agility and endurance since they're moving on their feet for an entire match. The same went with fencing. My coach, she was an olympic gold medalist, Jujie Luan, made us skip regularily for fitness (which I might add I hated and was terrible at, and I'm getting back into it again recently).

If you really want to learn how to fight, you need someone to teach you. If that's not an option, then conditioning for speed and power is the next best thing. Strength training is fine too, especially for muscles like abs, but having big beefy shoulders won't help you to take a fast swing at someone or react quickly in a fight. Of course, I doubt you have massive shoulders so some strength training in your case would probably be helpful (and I don't just mean your shoulders). Strength alone doesn't equal power though - power is a combination of speed and strength.

Now I haven't questioned why you want to learn to fight, but I've seen many posts making such requests. Be sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Self-defence, confidence, and boosting self-esteem are all great, but I hope you're doing it for yourself and not because you want to get even with someone or whatever the case may be.

An exercise ball would be a great asset too. With your dumbells there's many exercises you can do too. This site: http://www.exrx.net/ is great. I first started using the exercise and muscle directory, linked to on this site by someone (might have been Helms?), but they have a lot more information as well. Basically, you can find information that relates to any sort of general training program you're interested in.

I'd really suggest going to some sort of boxing class or club or some other place that will teach you to punch. Even if it's only a private lesson for a short period of time, try checking around and see if that's an option. If there's anyone you know who could teach you then that would be good too. In order to train yourself to punch hard you need to learn how to punch. When you have the technique a little better, you can condition using the proper motions and muscle groups for that specific movement. Now, obviously fighting is about a lot more than punching in the same motion, but that's what you seem to have expressed interest in. That will help with the conditioning aspect. And from there, you can learn better technique. The most important thing for improving is experience. Taking certain martial arts, such as kickboxing, is great, but you said that's not an option. Avoid such martial arts as karate and tae kwon doe as they are really just simplifed sports of the original martial arts that will teach you bad habits (point systems and safe tournaments and all that).

I'm looking into taking yoga over the fall to improve my swimming. How you may ask? To improve flexibility mostly, plus it's supposed be very stress relieving and allow you to focus, something which I sometimes have difficulty with. Now obviously the best possible way to get better at swimming would be to train in the pool, although there's many reasons why someone may want to cross train such as relieving regularily stressed joints or not having access to required facilities.