Need Generic Workout Advice

[thetouch11]

I'm new on this forum, but I feel like I have an okay understanding of many different aspects of training. Anyhow, I have some basic questions about my routine here. I will preface all of this by saying my goal isn't to become as big as possible, I just want to continue building strength and toning muscle.

My body type is that of an ecto/meso hybrid. 6'1 175 lbs. Pretty much just take whey protein and multivitamins for supplements because they are cheap.

I am currently separating my workout sessions out like this: chest, arms, shoulders/back. I give myself a day of rest between each session. Always do some cardio before each session, and once out of every two sessions I throw in legs.

I know many exercises entail compound workouts (like when I do deadlifts on the shoulders/back day or bench press on chest), so without going into the specific exercises I perform, does it make sense to break it down into targeted sessions like that? For instance, a given week might look closely like:

S: chest
M: rest
T: arms (w/ leg)
W: rest
Th: shoulders/back
Fri: Rest
Sat: either rest or begin next cycle with arms or chest (w/ leg) depending...

I have never consulted with a trainer, so I don't know what is optimal here... on the workout days I am concerned I might be doing too much of the same muscle groups, but I don't know how else I could break it up without not giving my muscles enough time for regen.

I don't know if some people have radically different methods, for instance, doing bench pressing two out of every __ days or deadlifts every ___ day. I am interested to hear. Thanks.

 

[yoked317]

as an ecto meso, you should recover from your workouts quickly, also saying that you aren't looking to get as big as possible tells me that you dont train to the intensity level that the big guys do, so you dont need as much rest, cut your rest days down to two days a week and always base your workouts around a good compound lift.
example.

Chest/tri's (just get a good pump in tri's, i only do one exercise for my tri's on this day)
Back/bi's. (again, you are just going for a pump in the bi's)
shoulders. (build your workout around a good moderately heavy compound lift. ie: db shoulder press, bb military press, arnold press.)
REST:
Legs: again build your workout around squats, leg press, or hack squats.
Arms: this is the day where you thrash your arms, supersets, drop sets, x reps, anything you can do to just torture them. build your workout around your heaviest lift ie: bi's- ez bar or straight bar curls, tri's skull crushers or dumbell raises.
REST
so now you have two days rest and a good workout regime. just adjust it accordingly, always switch up your cycle, never do the same workout twice, and eat lots of food. learn to workout off of how your body responds to the lift you're doing, and remember the number one rule of weightlifting, a strong muscle is a big muscle and your not trying to lift the weight, your trying to build the muscle, so dont throw on a ton of weight if you cant lift it with good form and hard contractions.

 

[thetouch11]

this seems like very sound advice, thank you for the reply.

you are spot on in saying that i probably recover quickly - a lot of times, in my current routine, on the rest days i feel like i could be doing something and i wonder why i am even resting in the first place. i wouldn't say i train with the intensity that the big dudes do, but id still say i push myself pretty hard. just to make sure i understand your advice, you are suggesting i try breaking it down like :

S: chest/tri
M: back/bi - (would you deadlift here or do that with legs?)
Tu: shoulders
W: rest
Th: leg
Fri: killer arm
Sat: rest

on first glance i really like how this looks... exactly the kind of suggestion i was looking for. i was having a problem with determining the best time for recovery for diff muscle groups. as i had it, everything pretty much was given same recovery time, but the way you proposed i would be doing arms with a greater frequency than chest, for instance.

if anyone has other suggestions too please let me know.

 

[yoked317]

this seems like very sound advice, thank you for the reply.

you are spot on in saying that i probably recover quickly - a lot of times, in my current routine, on the rest days i feel like i could be doing something and i wonder why i am even resting in the first place. i wouldn't say i train with the intensity that the big dudes do, but id still say i push myself pretty hard. just to make sure i understand your advice, you are suggesting i try breaking it down like :

S: chest/tri
M: back/bi - (would you deadlift here or do that with legs?)
Tu: shoulders
W: rest
Th: leg
Fri: killer arm
Sat: rest

on first glance i really like how this looks... exactly the kind of suggestion i was looking for. i was having a problem with determining the best time for recovery for diff muscle groups. as i had it, everything pretty much was given same recovery time, but the way you proposed i would be doing arms with a greater frequency than chest, for instance.

if anyone has other suggestions too please let me know.

yeah you got it, with deadlifts you will do the "classic" deadlift for back, because overall it is a back lift. on leg days try doing romanian deadlifts for hamstrings (legs slightly bent, back straight using only your hamstrings to lift the weight) as with the arms, yes you are hitting them more frequently, this is the workout routine i started doing myself, and i have put almost two inches on my arms in 6 months i am now nearing 21" arms. just remember on chest and back days, you are trying to "flush" blood into your arms, not kill them, flushing blood into them with help them to recover faster and grow by bring a surge of fresh new blood and nutrients into them, my advice is do just one exercise with very high intensity to "pump" the blood into them, so get a good solid pump and call it a day. always do these secondary lifts after you have completed your back or chest workout, you dont want to burn your arms out before you smoke that larger muscle group.