Just got gym membership :)

[ah7]

Well today I just signed up for a gym membership and will be going regularly with another one of my football team-mates. Im 16 years old and weigh just under 60kg. Im not a noob to the gym as over the past couple years i have been casually at times at my school gym but nothing serious starting until now.

My goals are to improve my strength on the ball so I dont get pushed off as easy and my overall power and speed.

I currently lack an actual routine, i think at this stage i will be going to the gym 3 times a week. My legs are my strongest part of my body at the moment and my upper body is average which needs work. My cousin who played professional football a few years back in Europe told me that at the gym they would never lift heavy weights for legs as it can make you slower. Instead they would do exercises such as plyos.

If anyone can assist me in creating a routine for 3 days a week it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[desire10]

Lifting weights CAN make you slower, but ONLY If you train nothing but muscular endurance (low weight, high reps). This would essentially work your slow twitch muscle fibers. I'm not sure if it would actually make you slower, but you certainly wouldn't get any faster training this way, as you need to work those fast twitch fibers to improve strength and explosiveness. As you mentioned, plyo's will greatly assist in this.

I would start by training for hypertrophy first (muscle mass - do 6-10 reps with heavy weights) to put on some bulk, and this can then be a base for maximum strength. Maximum strength training will improved your power via very low reps (2 - 5) with HEAVY weights.

Work out all your major muscle groups.

[scottS4]

I had the same goals as you. I talked to a strength and conditioning coach and this is the 3x/week routine he gave me:

*you probably won't know some of these but theres usually a good video of how to do all of them on youtube.


plyos: (3x12 for everything)
*twice a week only.

squat jumps
barrier hops
jump rope (200 contacts with floor)
tuck jumps


strength: (pick 1 or 2 from each group)

side squats (DB) 3x10
sumo squats (back up against a swiss ball against wall) 3x20
wall sits 3x60 seconds

single arm alternating chest press on stability ball (DB) 3x10
stabilization pushups 3x18
regular pushups 3x40

walking lunges (DB) 3x10
walking lunges body weight 3x20

shoulder press (DB) 3x10
wide push up - one leg off ground 3x10 each leg

swiss ball hamstring curls 3x18
low shuffles 3x30

skull crushers 3x10
bench dips 3x18

abductor leg raises 3x30 each leg (bridgett fonda exercise you see on tv)
one leg calf raises (body weight) 3x25 each leg


finish with 200 abs. (20 reps of 10 exercises with little rest)

(DB) means with dumb bells

[ah7]

Thanks Scott, so if you were doing plyos twice a week does that mean you were only doing weights once a week?

[nick117]

i imagine that's how he does it. it really depends on your schedule and which part of your body your lifting for. you could probably lift 2x a week if you had 0 games.

[scottS4]

no i'd do strength 3 times a week, abs 3 times a week and plyos 2 times a week.

day 1: plyos, strength, abs

day 2: strength, abs

day 3: plyos, strength, abs

day 4: 20-30 minute jog or swim.


Usually on day 2 I'd focus more on upper body. Also, if upper body strength is a priority for you, I'd reccomend doing pushups, chin ups and bench dips very often. (away from your lifting routine)