Pls critique my low volume routine

[Markio]

Hello all,

I have spent literally hours looking through everybodys ideas, and now I am so confused it's un-true! Basically I believe that maybe my current routine is too much, esp arms so I'm looking to go lower in volume, and to keep it very simple.

heres what I have finaly come up with;

Mon: Back/Traps/Shoulders
Tue: Chest/Bi/Tri
Wed: off
Thr: Back/Traps/Shoulders
Fri: Chest/Bi/Tri
Sat; Legs/Forearms/Abs
Sunff

Back/Traps/Shulders same both days:
3x8 Deadlifts
3x8 Rows
3x8 Shrugs
3x8 Arnolds

Tues: Chest/Bi/Tri

3x8 Flat Bench
3x8 Flat Flys
3x8 Hammers > superset with
3x8 push downs

Fri;

3x8 Neutral DB Press
3x8 Incline flys
3x8 barbell curl > superset with
3x8 french press

Legs: I train from home so i don't really have the equipment to do legs properly, so I do 5 set of as many leg extensions as I can.

In short the idea is to go from doing between 17-20 sets everyother day on a three day split; to doing around 12 sets - I have been doing that style of training for over a year. Going to eat just above maintenance, as I hate gaining fat and would rather gain slowly.

Any suggestions and constructive criticism greatly appreciated!

Cheers all

m

[Rodja]

I would not say that this is a low volume routine. What exactly are your short-term goals?

[Mulletsoldier]

Yeah, this more like a mid volume routine, if there is such a thing..Low volume routines usually workout to only 3-4 sets per bodypart in a workout...For example on your back/trap/shoulder day you would pick let's say: 1 exercise for back width, one for thickness, one exercise for shoulders and do three sets of each..Personally I don't hit traps individually because if you are doing heavy enough deadlifts you should be hitting them anyway...Another example would be on your chest/arms day, same thing pick one exercise for each and do a few warmup sets, and then three workings

Possibly change it to something like this:

Mon-Chest/Back/Shoulders/Tris
Flat or Incline or Weighted Dips (alternate) 2 WU's 3 WS (WU's-warm ups WS-working sets)
Deads/Rack Deads/Bent Rows same sets
Military Press-DB/Barbell-same
Overhead Extensions/Skull Crushers/Heavy kickbacks-same

Wed-Bis/Legs
Squats-2 WU's 2 Workings
Ham Curls-same sets as Mon
Straight Bar Curl/Preacher EZ/Standing DB-Same sets as mon

Fri/Sat
Repeat Monday...

Then the next week you would switch, and Mon/Fri would be your Bi/Leg day...Some people can't train arms seperately and that's cool, if that's you then you could rearrange the split and put the arm-day in the middle..

[Markio]

cheers lads,

My short term goals are just to add a few pounds without gaining any fat weight. My chest needs a bit of filling out as that seems to be lagging slightly - my current routine has 11 sets just for chest thats why i was thinking that maybe less would be better, hence my suggestion of 6 sets total for chest. Just looking for asthetics and health benefits to be honest, no real need or interest in getting insanely strong!

Thanks for the routine and suggestions mulletsoldier, I will change things around.

In principal though would it be theoreticaly right to drop some sets from my chest routine that has 11 ws and biceps which has 6?

Again thanks for your time!

[Rodja]

If you are interested in trying a low volume routine, then you should try Max OT training. The principles are very simple: 4-8 reps, 6-9 sets per bodypart, and use compound movements

[Markio]

If you are interested in trying a low volume routine, then you should try Max OT training. The principles are very simple: 4-8 reps, 6-9 sets per bodypart, and use compound movements

Cheers for the heads up Rodja, I'll go do some reading

[Rodja]

Cheers for the heads up Rodja, I'll go do some reading

I tried this routine about two years and I really liked the change. I still train Max OT for about 3-4 months of the year. The main thing that I would suggest is to learn how to contract all of your muscles and emphasize TUT to get enough blood to the muscle.

[Mulletsoldier]

The main thing that I would suggest is to learn how to contract all of your muscles and emphasize TUT to get enough blood to the muscle.

This is the same for the routine I suggested to you earlier, a modification of a DC routine I took off the site...When you are doing a low volume routine just remember the principles change..If you took your reps to positive failure, most low volumes advocate every working set be taken to negative failure..And like Rodja said since the volume is lower you must ensure your using TUT and perfect form with high intensity. Personally I use 5 second negatives with explosive positives, I don't lock out to keep continued tension on the muscle...If you are interested in something like this google DC training, however true DC you only employ 1 working set on average, that was a little too low volume for me so I do 3..

[exnihilo]

I do something along the lines of:

day 1: bench exercise 5 rep sets, row exercise 5 rep sets, shoulder exercise 10 rep sets
day 3: squat 5 rep sets, hamstring exercise 10 rep sets, ab exercise 10 rep sets
day 5: bench exercise#2 5 rep sets, row exercise#2 5 rep sets, shoulder exercise#2 10 rep sets
day 7: deadlift 5 rep sets, ab exercise#2 10 rep sets
day 9: bench exercise#3 5 rep sets, row exercise#3 5 rep sets, shoulder exercise #3 10 rep sets
day 11: good morning 5 rep sets, leg press 10 rep sets, ab exercise#3 10 rep sets

I warm up with little weight with a set of ~20 reps, then I go to about 50% of my 1 rep max, and slowly add weight until I get to a weight where I can just BARELY complete a set, then I stop. This can take up to 8 sets some times, but there are only maybe 2 real work sets.