What do YOU think of my workout Routine?

Jtrain84

Jtrain84

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I have played football and soccer all through school but during college slacked way off on workouts and staying active and instead studied and more often drank beer and ate fast food (whataburgers my weakness). During my time at school I would go on "workout binges" for 6 weeks or so, lose some weight and get in reasonable shape then lose interest. Since a little before graduation (about 5 months now) I have been getting progessively more serious about excercise and more recently (past 2 months) have begun dieting at a 40/40/20 protein/carb/fat ratio and stepped up my workouts. I have lost 20 pounds of fat while gaining muscle so far. My goal is to achieve good "athletic" shape and gain lean muscle. I currently workout 6 days a week doing cardio 5 of those days following weights. Typical week includes
Monday - Chest and Triceps followed by 30 min. cardio (treadmill or rowing)
Tuesday - Back and Biceps 20 min cardio.
Wednesday Chest, Triceps, and Shoulders no cardio,
Thursday Back and Biceps 45 min cardio running bleachers and sprints.
Friday - Chest and Triceps again with 20 min cardio
Saturday - 1 hour total body conditioning weights and cardio
Sunday- Mow the lawn have a beer and rest!
(My Cheat day is usually friday night and includes 4-6 beers and cheeseburger and fries, milkshake if im feelin frisky lol

So what do you guys think, I guess im looking for any tips, suggestions, constructive criticism ect., I'm no expert but am very serious about getting in great shape and staying that way, open to suggestions. thanks in advance for any responses
 
suncloud

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no legs? its proven that squats release the most testosterone out of any workout you can do, and they add about 20% to your upper body mass. in addition 3 days a week of chest and triceps seem a bit much. you should only be able to do two days of any body part if you're working them out hard. what's your routine broken down - exercises, sets, and reps?
 
Jtrain84

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Ya i guess the legs thing is kind of obvious, I need to add it in, just been focusing on so much cardio that legs have kind of been overlooked. once i get my bf% to a reasonable level i will cut out some cardio and a day of legs. My TBC on saturday mornings includes hill runs, bleachers and lunges so I am getting some leg workout but admittedly no weight training. As far as the excessive chest/tri's/bacj/bi's... i dunno my muscles eem to recover and i continue to gain strength, do you think I am hurting my progress my doing too much???
I typically do 3 sets 12/10/8 reps on 4-5 different machines per muscle group. I start out with dumbells/free-weights/ and end with cables/stabalizer targeting machines

What do you think?
 
suncloud

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if you're gaining, its obviously working - not gonna mess with progress. though if you stop gaining its from overtraining, and you need to cut back (when it happens). when you do decide to do a leg day - squats, weighted lunges, hack squats, stiff legged deadlifts are probably the most important.
 
Jtrain84

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ok cool, thanks for the advice, i will def. be adding in a day of legs next week
 

cable626

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worst workout routine i've seen. you will wear your body out. remember that REST is a key component of training.

if you are going to neglect your legs you will not grow. the body grows to be proportional. also running does not hit the fast twitch muscle fibers that have the ability to grow and get strong.

workout routines to look into: http://anabolicminds.com/forum/training-forum/95102-looking-best-5x5.html
5x5's are awesome to do for a few months a year, then there's German volume training, hst... bunch more.


like suncloud said, 3 days a week of chest/tri's is serious overkill. bi's/tri's don't need much direct work. same for delts. have your workouts revolve around the squat, bench, and deadlift, and your body will thank you with new muscle.

do some hardcore cardio on your non-workout days (sounds like you're going hardcore with this already), just don't forget to drink water and feed yourself.

good luck bro!
 
suncloud

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he's still young, don't think he'll wear himself out soon. i think he's a mesomorph/endomorph. DC style does body parts twice a week though - it was the 3rd day of chest i was like "wow, thats a lot". but if he's progressing, gaining size or going up in strength, who am i to argue with progress? if i looked at that routine and had to switch one thing it would be that with a leg day. its not what i would do, but i'm an extreme ecto, so i'm sure nobody would do what i consider a good workout. before i started going to the gym i was 5'9" 126 lbs with a 27" waist. but the routine i have to do would be overkill for him i think. so long as he's gaining though, isn't that how anyone measures progress? i agree with you that adding a leg day will help him grow much faster, but thats about all i'm going to say since gains are gains, no matter if that workout works for you or me.
 
Jtrain84

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Thanks guys for the responses, I will definately substitute my third chest and tri's day for a full day of legs immediately and will consider adding in squats and dead lifts on another day.... not sure what endomorph/ectomorph means but I will read up on it, if it means you put on muscle easily and hold it then that kind of describes my body weight, I naturaly hold muscle especially in the chest back area, anyways thanks for the input
 

cable626

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he's still young, don't think he'll wear himself out soon. i think he's a mesomorph/endomorph. DC style does body parts twice a week though - it was the 3rd day of chest i was like "wow, thats a lot". but if he's progressing, gaining size or going up in strength, who am i to argue with progress? if i looked at that routine and had to switch one thing it would be that with a leg day. its not what i would do, but i'm an extreme ecto, so i'm sure nobody would do what i consider a good workout. before i started going to the gym i was 5'9" 126 lbs with a 27" waist. but the routine i have to do would be overkill for him i think. so long as he's gaining though, isn't that how anyone measures progress? i agree with you that adding a leg day will help him grow much faster, but thats about all i'm going to say since gains are gains, no matter if that workout works for you or me.
i agree with you, progress is progress. and it sounds like he has made some great gains so far.
my only issue is i dont want to see him progress for a few weeks then end up overtraining or hurting himself when the gains stop. with his current routine + intense cardio i feel he will wear himself out fast and lose motivation.

for a beginner routine i dont think there is one better than 5x5 with lots of food and lots of rest. people have used it countless times with incredible results so why mess with it?? he can do cardio on the off days from the routine.

i would say to the OP if you are happy with your gains from this routine then continue with it.
but he came on a training forum and asked for advice so i gave a straight answer. from his current routine chest/delts/tris are being worked monday, wed, fri, and maybe even saturday during his "total body conditioning".

all this without a leg day and some really intense cardio seems like a recipe for disaster. i just really don't want the OP to set himself up for a downfall and end up gaining back all the fat he worked so hard to lose.

i know because i've done it. less is more sometimes.
 
Trapark666

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i agree with you, progress is progress. and it sounds like he has made some great gains so far.
my only issue is i dont want to see him progress for a few weeks then end up overtraining or hurting himself when the gains stop. with his current routine + intense cardio i feel he will wear himself out fast and lose motivation.
This is a good point, the gains will stop. Unfortunately with inexperienced lifters, when the gains stop 99% of them think it is because they aren't training hard enough and they do even more. It is a natural feeling to increase workouts rather than decrease and let your body recover. I guarantee all of us have done that at one time or another. I like DC's Rest/Pause for beginners especially because you actually see progress in your journal and that keeps you motivated. I have done that workout with a four day a week split and it worked great but I was also cycling at the time. Off cycle, I would stick to three days a week. I also agree with Cable and Suncloud, you definately need to have at least one leg day a week. If you do GVT or DC's Rest/Pause you won't need to do that much cardio. Good luck and stay with it.
 
suncloud

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cableguy - not trying to start an arguement here, just thought it was a little harsh to say it was the worst workout you've ever seen. granted, i've seen quite a few better, but he's doing more than those dorks (yes, i was one once) who kept working out with a crappy routine, and never saw gains - i was just happy to go to the gym. 5x5 is a good system, and i'm not going to argue the point - just don't think that kind of criticism is going to get to someone's head without paragraphs of boring science behind it, that probably won't get read.
 
Jtrain84

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Update

Just a quick update, I'm switching my friday chest and tri's to a full day of legs and have added in dead lifts and power clings, considering taking off Saturday to get 2 full days of rest in. Doing alot of research on the 5x5's and will probably begin one of the routines (most likely the Texas routine) in a month or so but right now am focused on lowering body fat and gaining lean mucscle(though im sure once I achieve this goal I will want to begin bulking) anyways I really appreciate all the input and encouragement, fairly new to this site and getting addicted to it, my girlfriend hates it LOL, but it helps me to stay motivated in my diet and work outs and has a wealth of information !
 
suncloud

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rock on brotha - my g/f gives me grief about this too. keep motivated, stay strong, and above all be safe.
 
Condition1

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if you're gaining, its obviously working - not gonna mess with progress. though if you stop gaining its from overtraining, and you need to cut back (when it happens). when you do decide to do a leg day - squats, weighted lunges, hack squats, stiff legged deadlifts are probably the most important.
I've grown to love deadlifts on back days. Do you think I could get away with tossing in stiff leg deadlifts on leg day and my usual deadlifts on back day without over doing it?

M: chest
T: Back
W: Shoulders
Th: Bis/Tris
Fr: Legs: Squats, leg presses, 3 calf exc, leg curls (and the opposite of them for thighs)
 
suncloud

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lol... i'm pretty sure. i got so frustrated with that question that i started doing legs and back on the same day as supersets.
 
Trapark666

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Just a quick update, I'm switching my friday chest and tri's to a full day of legs and have added in dead lifts and power clings, considering taking off Saturday to get 2 full days of rest in. Doing alot of research on the 5x5's and will probably begin one of the routines (most likely the Texas routine) in a month or so but right now am focused on lowering body fat and gaining lean mucscle(though im sure once I achieve this goal I will want to begin bulking) anyways I really appreciate all the input and encouragement, fairly new to this site and getting addicted to it, my girlfriend hates it LOL, but it helps me to stay motivated in my diet and work outs and has a wealth of information !
One problem I have had with clients is they believe certain routines are made to either bulk, cut or tone. In all honesty, the type of program has little to do with it. You can gain mass doing a high volume routine such as GVT or low volume such as a 5x5 or rest/pause. The deciding factor is your diet. How you eat is going to decide if you are bulking or cutting, not your routine. Remember that most all programs work,,, for awhile. Just don't be afraid to change and keep your body guessing what's coming next. I was one of those people who would get everything they could out of a program before I switched, now I change things up about every 8-10 weeks.
 

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