Beginner looking for tips :D

[votum]

Hey guys how is everyone?

Changed my title to get some hits hopefully =x

About me:
I'm 22, have been in Iraq for 4 months now, and have decided to use the rest of my time to work out as much as I can. Only problem is I work 13 hours a day and 7 days a week, 110 days now without a day off =x I was at 160 pounds when I got here, and have been hitting the gym with a 2 days WO 1 day rest schedule for about 3 weeks now. Been doing mostly dumbells since I do not have a good partner due to the scheduling conflict, sucks kind of because I can't really do bench without a spotter. I'm at 172 now with quite a bit more definition, and am 5'9"

Day 1 has looked like this:

Excercise Weight Reps
DB press 30 3x8-10
Hammer Curl 25 3x8-10
DB curl 25 3x8-10
machine fly 30 3x8-10
seated row 70 3x8-10
cable fly 20 3x8-10
tri extension 20 3x8-10
lat pulls 50 3x15
a few other randoms
10min HIIT - either 2000m row or 30/60s(4mph jog 9mph run)
I've upped all my weight this week by 10-15 pounds

Day 2

upright seated leg press 180 3x10
leg extension 50 3x10
reverse leg extension 50 3x10
calf raises 180 3x10
Ab workout consisting or roman seat, leg raises, tons of situps and some crunches.

Our selection of supps is bad here, mostly muscletech stuff, but I've been using BSN protein powder, Creakic pills, and anabolic halo (i know, sad =x)

Just found nutraplanet though and ordered some Formadrol extreme, Anadraulic state PWO, HGHPro, and nutrapro. I think they should be ok together, anyone have advice there?

Diet: not great, chow hall with certain hours= not alot of flexibility. I eat two helpings of the cleanest meat they have that meal (fish or chicken normally) with lots of veggies. Breakfast is 2 bowls oatmeal, 3 hardboiled eggs with yolks removed, fruits, a fried potatoe patty or 2. I drink 2x v8 with every meal and a little milk box.

Goals: maybe 200ish, ripped, 6pack, etc.

Main thing I am wondering about is when you guys do your workouts, do you do one excercise to completion (all sets and reps) and then move to the next or do you rotate? I haven't really built a solid workout yet, but this past week I have thrown in a lot of random exercises, and upped all my weights. I think I'm doing ok, because I've gained 12 pounds and toned out a bit, but then again I may be doing completely wrong and was just out of shape Welcome pointers on everything here, thanks guys! Looking forward to being here!

 

[killamac27]

Why can't you bench without a spotter?

 

[deadlift18]

just ask someone in the gym to spot you, it takes like a minute. your screwing yourself out of some growth/strength not using barbells. For workouts i do all my sets to failure except for the warm up ones. I still say ill do 10 reps but if i can do more than that i will. It will make a BIG difference going to failure especially in the beginning i wish someone would have told me that when i started.
Also I train Back and calves, Chest and hamstrings, Legs, Arms, Shoulders. Not in that order though. On back days i do a little bit of bicep work and the same with triceps on chest day, usually like one excerise 4-5 sets. i usually take a rest day every 3 or 4 days. I try to go in the gym knowing what im going to do. Also i would assess your weak points and make them priority. But at the same time don't forget about anyother body parts. Also since your just beginning the foundation of your workouts should be multijoint compound movement. for example squats,pullups,bench press, shoulder press, and my favorites deadlifts. If you stick with them and do them correctly with proper form you should start seeing steady results. I did and still do. good luck

 

[votum]

Well I can bench w/o a spotter but not very effectively. I could just ask someone I am sure I can start squats too, I had the flyweight record in HS at 400 =x I'm moving to a 3 day on 1 off schedule this next week, doing a couple days rest now. One thing I was wondering is cardio, I know its not great to try and bulk and do cardio at the same time, but I need to maintain a run time. I've been doing the row, which feels great, but is it bad if I do a couple mile run every few days?

When you guys to your workouts do you do all your sets at once, like db press 3x10 then move on or do you do one set and rotate through all excercises with one set until your done?

 

[deadlift18]

All sets at once with like 1min break or so. And if you need to keep your run time up and want to bulk just up you calories. I had the same prob. Cause I'm in the usmc and would get pissed when they made us run and I was on a bulk but it all worked out with more food intake.