I dont have alot of free time, but I have recently started doing basic upper body lifting at home. I am already seeing some results, but I am not sure I am getting the most out of it.

my current routine is

M: barbell curls, and lightweight dumbell curls (biceps)
T: skull crushers, and bench press (triceps, and chest)
W: rest
T: barbell, dumbell curls
F: skull crushers, and bench press
S: rest
S: wrist curls, shoulder shrugs. (forearms, and shoulders)

I am honestly not that concerned with lower body stuff. I use enough weight that I can only do 10 reps per set. I do 5 sets per excersize. with about 5 mins between sets. I only have about and hour per day to devote to excersize.

do I need to do more than 5 sets of each excersize?

should I do them quicker than 5 mins between sets?

any other excersizes that are good for upper body (chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps)?

any other suggestions?

Good for you for picking up the weight and sticking with it.

5 sets of each exercise is a good number.  5 minutes between sets, however, is a bit much.  You should rest about 1 minute between each set of 5.  If you want to take 5 minutes between completing one exercise and moving to the next, however, that is fine.

My recommendation for getting the most out of the exercises you're doing is to start focusing more on your chest and back.  Your biceps and triceps will get plenty of work moving weight away, and pulling weight towards, your body.  Decline/flat/incline bench presses (if your equipment allows for this) and dips are excellent chest exercises.  Barbelll and dumbbell rows and pullups/downs are excellent back exercises.

If you made a routine that reflected this, you would get:

Chest day (chest, triceps, front delts [shoulders]
- Flat bench
- Decline bench
- Incline bench
- Dumbbell flies (something to do if you can't adjust your bench)
- Dips (if you can do them, it can take some time)

Back day (traps, lats, rhomboids, lower back, rear delts)
- Bent over barbell row
- Pullups/cable pulldowns
- Bent over dumbbell rows (different stabilizers worked than barbell, feels different)

At home, I would do a chest and back day, rest for two days, and repeat.  Eat well and grow!

ok I have kinda started a new routine:

M rest
T back- barbell and/or dumbell rows (depending on time)
W chest- dumbell flyes and/or wide grip bench press (depending on time, guess I will incline the bench occasionally too)
Th rest
F arms- skull crushers AND barbell curls
S rest
Su arms- close grip bench press AND dumbell curls


got a couple of other questions too:

any pointers on good dumbell fly form? I cant seem to keep good form.

how much protein do I need to take? I am a skinny guy trying to add mass, not loose it. people say to take 1 gram of protein for every pound, but do I need to do that only on work out days, or every day? that stuff tastes like shit....

Quoted: any pointers on good dumbell fly form? I cant seem to keep good form.

Elbows pointed comfortabely toward the ground, arms wider than 90 degrees at the elbow.  Flies are good, but they're not the best mass building exercise.  It sounds like they fit your routine and equipment though.

Quoted: how much protein do I need to take? I am a skinny guy trying to add mass, not loose it. people say to take 1 gram of protein for every pound, but do I need to do that only on work out days, or every day? that stuff tastes like shit....

Look at in terms of %.  Protein should be 30-40% of your diet.  Carbs should equal to or slightly greater than protein, and fat should come in dead last.

The best sources of protein are from dairy, meat and poultry, and seafood.  Adding more of those into your diet will keep you from having to constantly supplement.

Quoted: when you say I need 110 grams of protein, did you mean drink 110 grams of protein shake stuff in addition to what I normally eat, or total intake for the day.

That's total, but I'd generally only count complete proteins from the rest of your diet (i.e.  only count the protein coming from meat/dairy, don't count the ones coming from grains/beans).

wal mart brand protein is just the same as the other brand of protein right? I just get the el-cheapo stuff from walmart, and drink 1 scoop in a shake on workout days.

All protein is NOT created equal.  You want whey isolate.  Walmart brand could be whey isolate, in which case it would be fine, but you don't just want random "protein powder".

Quoted: I am a skinny guy trying to add mass

You say you don't want to work legs, but the squat is the king of mass builders, especially for the skinny.  

Here's a quick recipe for no longer being skinny:

1.  Place bar in squat rack.
2.  Perform 20 squats.
3.  Go eat a lot of food.
4.  Sleep a lot.
5.  One week later, return to squat rack.
6.  Put a mere 5 pounds more onto the bar than was there the week before.
7.  Repeat steps 2-6 for 3 years.
8.  Reap the benefits of weighing 240 pounds and having a 750 pound squat.

It really is that simple.  

Quoted: The U.S. RDA is .8 gram of protein per kilogram of lean body weight.

I'm not familiar with the RDA.  FDA perhaps?  .8-1g of protein per POUND is more like it.

Quoted: Your body can't synthesize much more than that per day, so too much protein simply becomes a kidney killer.

This is a common, but all-too-often repeated, myth.  The only people that ever have problems due to high protein diets are people with preexisting renal conditons.  On a clean diet of ~2800 recommended calories (avg), someone is only supposed to eat 110 grams of protein a day?  Where do the rest of the clories come from?  Fat would have to make up a greater percentage of the diet to compensate.... bad juju.

Quoted:  The U.S. RDA is .8 gram of protein per kilogram of lean body weight           Quoted:          I'm not familiar with the RDA.  FDA perhaps?  .8-1g of protein per POUND is more like it.

I think he is referring to Recommended Daily Amount. From what I have read, the USDA "food pyramid" correctly followed ends up at about .4 grams/lb bodyweight.

Brother-in-law is a physical therapist and sports trainer for a local highschool. According to him, medical literature recognizes .8 gram/lb as optimum for athletes. I would think that would be higher for weight-gaining lifters.