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Can someone help me with my routine?

thewolf49

Member
I put this together. My goals are size/looks, etc. Not too concerned about strength at the moment. Does this look ok? Should I be doing a full body 3 day thing instead, etc. I just need critiques. Thanks!

Monday: Chest


Bench Press 4x6

Incline DB Press 3x8

Flat DB Press 3x8

Decline BB Press 3x8

Pec Deck 3x8


Tues: Back


Deadlifts 3x6

Lat Pulldowns 4x8

One arm rows 3x8

Close pull downs 3x8

Straight arm pushdown 3x8


Thurs: Shoulders/Arms


Military Press 4x6

Lat Raises 3x8

Upright rows 3x8

Face pulls 3x8

BB Curls 3x8

Hammer Curls 3x8

Close Grip Bench 3x8

Tricep Extensions 3x8

Friday: Legs/Abs


Leg Press 4x8

Leg Extension 3x8

Leg Curls 4x8

Calves 4x8

Abs...
 
How long have you been training?

In that training period, how much have you gained/lost?

Tell us your 1RM on all the big lifts i.e. bench, squat, deads etc.
 
I've been lifting since high school, but I've been out of the game for a couple years. Trying to get back into it. Because of this, I'm not really sure what my max's are, etc.
 
in that case,

I think you should keep it simple and religious for the next 6-8 weeks. You'll see gains doing anything consistently in this case.

Some pointers about adding muscle mass.

1) Intensity is key, but in your case, the act of lifting itself will bring growth and strength.

2) Try not to think of building muscle as "X" amount of reps, "Y" amount of rest in between sets. But look at it from a bigger picture of "challenging the muscles". You want to challenge the muscle to do something about its lack of ability in a certain area. This is why after several weeks, we adjust our routine to "get out of routine"

3) Generally speaking, fore muscle growth, you want loads of blood pumping to the muscles which generally means to keep the rest on the short to middle ground in length and keep the average of your reps to around 6-10. I've personally found that covering the entire spectrum works best. For example:

Chest exercises - start at 12 reps and work down to 4 or 6 reps, then blast with a burnout set incorporating supersets, giant sets and dropsets at various times.

Legs - Legs love the FULL RANGE OF MOTION, and they also love heavy weight for high reps. 15-25 reps w/ extreme intensity and difficulty will cause excellent growth in the trunks. Mix it up though. Try all sorts of stances to target different areas of the thighs.

Good luck.
 
Personally, I think your split is not very good. There are much better written routines that will have you hitting the entire body 2x-3x per week and getting much more bang for your buck.

Maybe look up guys like Brad Steiner, John McCallum, Bill Starr, Mark Rippetoe, Anthony Ditillo, Brooks Kubik, Stuart McRobert, Pavel, et al.

Like a standard 5x5 or 3x8-10 concentrating on the 5-7 compound movements and adding in arm work and abs at ends. Start quite light 3 sets of 8-10 reps and after you get those easy, add weight, #5 or so pounds. Start within your means and keep your form. Eat well and good food, maybe cheating some on the weekends. Pizza!!!
Make working out a good habit that way and it will pay off and stick with you for life.

Monday:
Squat
OHP's
Rows
Arms

Wednesday:
BP's
Leg Press or maybe deads here
Chins or pull dwns
Abs

Friday:
OHP's or DB presses
Bent leg Deads or maybe Leg presses here
Incline Press
Rows
Arms

Remember to work the largest muscle groups first and foremost ie: shoulders, back, hips/glutes, legs, chest, then the smaller stuff arms etc. to make the biggest changes in your body and fitness.
 
fueledpassion said:
in that case, I think you should keep it simple and religious for the next 6-8 weeks. You'll see gains doing anything consistently in this case. Some pointers about adding muscle mass.1) Intensity is key, but in your case, the act of lifting itself will bring growth and strength. 2) Try not to think of building muscle as "X" amount of reps, "Y" amount of rest in between sets. But look at it from a bigger picture of "challenging the muscles". You want to challenge the muscle to do something about its lack of ability in a certain area. This is why after several weeks, we adjust our routine to "get out of routine" 3) Generally speaking, fore muscle growth, you want loads of blood pumping to the muscles which generally means to keep the rest on the short to middle ground in length and keep the average of your reps to around 6-10. I've personally found that covering the entire spectrum works best. For example:Chest exercises - start at 12 reps and work down to 4 or 6 reps, then blast with a burnout set incorporating supersets, giant sets and dropsets at various times. Legs - Legs love the FULL RANGE OF MOTION, and they also love heavy weight for high reps. 15-25 reps w/ extreme intensity and difficulty will cause excellent growth in the trunks. Mix it up though. Try all sorts of stances to target different areas of the thighs. Good luck.
Click to expand...
I completely agree with this. Like he mentioned, consistency for 6-8 weeks will do wonders for you
 
fueledpassion said:
in that case,

I think you should keep it simple and religious for the next 6-8 weeks. You'll see gains doing anything consistently in this case.

Some pointers about adding muscle mass.

1) Intensity is key, but in your case, the act of lifting itself will bring growth and strength.

2) Try not to think of building muscle as "X" amount of reps, "Y" amount of rest in between sets. But look at it from a bigger picture of "challenging the muscles". You want to challenge the muscle to do something about its lack of ability in a certain area. This is why after several weeks, we adjust our routine to "get out of routine"

3) Generally speaking, fore muscle growth, you want loads of blood pumping to the muscles which generally means to keep the rest on the short to middle ground in length and keep the average of your reps to around 6-10. I've personally found that covering the entire spectrum works best. For example:

Chest exercises - start at 12 reps and work down to 4 or 6 reps, then blast with a burnout set incorporating supersets, giant sets and dropsets at various times.

Legs - Legs love the FULL RANGE OF MOTION, and they also love heavy weight for high reps. 15-25 reps w/ extreme intensity and difficulty will cause excellent growth in the trunks. Mix it up though. Try all sorts of stances to target different areas of the thighs.

Good luck.
Click to expand...


I agree. Mixing it up and ensuring intensity is high and forcing as much blood into the muscle is key.

With a dedicated routine and always striving to improve will do wonders.
 
I would definitely concentrate on main compound movements which will elicit the most growth. Don't worry about doing ten different chest exercises. Pick two or three and destroy it on that. I mainly do bench and dumbbell flies then to db press when I can't do flies. I warmup and then work my weight up on bench through 4 -5 sets to heavy 1 -3 reps then back down and do a dropset failing at each drop. Then 4 sets to failure with the db fly/press or bands, etc. I used to do a ****load of diff exercises for the same groups 15-20 years ago, but I've since learned quality always over quantity. I can take my time it seems and blast through even my longest leg workouts in a hour. Plus I hit everything once every 8 days and run 15-20 miles a week. The running actually helped my strength because it stimulates my metabolism and makes me more efficient.
 
And I agree on the full range. Don't be the guy people laugh at doing quarter squats with heavy weight. Ass to the ground. Go deep and stay light until you can comfortably move up without sacrificing form or depth. You will be much happier with the results.
 
You can try mixing in some drop sets or super sets or higher rep sets towards the end to create more glycogen stores in the muscle thus growing it that way too. I mix in medium and high reps to hit the different types of fibers. Although this was probably covered by someone else. Just my two cents.
 
So there you have it.

1) Consistency
2) Compound movements more important
3) 6-12 rep range
4) Full range of motion
5) Cardio (this actually does wonders at enhancing metabolic activity, getting and staying lean & increase your muscle's ability to burn fat efficiently.)
6) Incorporate giant sets, drop sets & super sets to exhaust muscles and increase blood flow.

One last thing that I personally do that will give you an edge in muscle growth if done consistently is to stretch vigorously in between sets. This stretches the fascia of the muscle being worked. I would especially recommend this right before you perform a drop-set, super-set or giant set. The increased blood flow will expand the muscle greater than normal since your fascia has been stretch and is "loose". It works. It also greatly reduces DOMS from my experience.
 
How's this?

Three workouts a week, alternate A/B

Workout A:
Leg Press 3x5 (no squats - docs orders because of my scoliosis)
Bench Press 3x5
Barbell Row 3x5
Leg Curl 2x10
Incline DB Press 2x10
Lat Pull-down/Pullup 2x10

Workout B:

Leg Press 3x5
Military Press 3x5
Deadlift 3x5
Leg Curls 2x10
Upright Rows 2x10
Cable Rows 2x10

I'm trying to modify the Starting Strenth method a bit to make sure I hit all muscle groups enough. Unless I should just stick to the regular:?

A:
Leg Press 5x5
Bench 5x5
Row 5x5

B:
Leg Press 5x5
Military Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5

....but where is the hamstring/trap/calves/upper back and outter lat work?? Is this enough?
 
Hamstrings can be hit in the deadlift if you choose to do romanian or stiff-legs. Other ways to hit them are deep squats (which you should be doing already) and lunges. You can also incorporate the leg-press in your leg routine. In order to hit the hams hard, you can take a high stance on the platform, use very heavy weight and stop the weight 2/3 of the way down, not letting your body "spring" the weight back up. Your hams are designed to "stop" or "deaccelerate" the leg when it is in motion. Doing so under heavy tension means you have to stop the weight, which will remove all elasticity from the movement, and then go back up. This is extremely hard. If you aren't feeling it is the hams and glutes then you aren't going down far enough. Too far down and you begin to "bounce" the weight using the built up elasticity from the movement, which doesn't serve your hams well.

Upper back will get hit in the row movements, the press movements and the pull-down/pull-up movements. If you perform snatch grip deads and rows you will surely receive lots of upper back development even in 3-4 weeks.

It's all about learning how to isolate certain muscles. This takes time. In my case it has taken years to learn how to do this correctly and I am still learning how to target muscles even after 7 years of relatively successful training habits ( I haven't missed longer than a single week from the gym since then).

Traps are hit on upright rows and deadlifts. Don't worry about them so much. Calves...be intentional. Hit them with heavy and light weights.
 
fueledpassion said:
Hamstrings can be hit in the deadlift if you choose to do romanian or stiff-legs. Other ways to hit them are deep squats (which you should be doing already) and lunges. You can also incorporate the leg-press in your leg routine. In order to hit the hams hard, you can take a high stance on the platform, use very heavy weight and stop the weight 2/3 of the way down, not letting your body "spring" the weight back up. Your hams are designed to "stop" or "deaccelerate" the leg when it is in motion. Doing so under heavy tension means you have to stop the weight, which will remove all elasticity from the movement, and then go back up. This is extremely hard. If you aren't feeling it is the hams and glutes then you aren't going down far enough. Too far down and you begin to "bounce" the weight using the built up elasticity from the movement, which doesn't serve your hams well.

Upper back will get hit in the row movements, the press movements and the pull-down/pull-up movements. If you perform snatch grip deads and rows you will surely receive lots of upper back development even in 3-4 weeks.

It's all about learning how to isolate certain muscles. This takes time. In my case it has taken years to learn how to do this correctly and I am still learning how to target muscles even after 7 years of relatively successful training habits ( I haven't missed longer than a single week from the gym since then).

Traps are hit on upright rows and deadlifts. Don't worry about them so much. Calves...be intentional. Hit them with heavy and light weights.
Click to expand...

Thanks man...so does the routine I came up with look ok?
 
For 3-4 weeks, yes.

Afterwards I would start incorporating a different type of high-intensity, particularly the traditional bodybuilding style lifts with a faster-paced routine.

Remember, on those low rep sets, make your weight HEAVY. You should be doing 85-95% of your 1RM.
 
Think I'm going with this:

Workout A

3x5 Squat (barbell)
3x5 Bench Press (barbell or dumbbell)
1x5 Deadlift (barbell)
2x5-8 dips (only add weight if you are doing >10 bodyweight dips)

You can also substitute barbell or dumbbell decline bench press for dips.

Workout B

3x5 Squat (barbell)
3x5 Standing military press (barbell) or dumbbell overhead press
3x5 Bent-over rows (barbell or dumbbell)
2x5-8 Lat Pulldowns (only add weight if you are doing >10 bodyweight pull-ups)

Accessory work (done every workout, can also do 3x/week on non-lifting days):

-Incline weighted sit-ups 3x5

Do standard weighted sit-ups if you don’t have a decline bench available, or unweighted sit-ups if you can’t do them weighted at first.

-Hyperextensions - 3x8

4-8 weeks into the workout, you can add the following supplemental exercises at the END of the last workout of the week:

Lying tricep extensions (barbell or dumbbell) 2x8-12
Barbell or dumbbell curls 2x8-12
 
thewolf49 said:
How's this?

Three workouts a week, alternate A/B

Workout A:
Leg Press 3x5 (no squats - docs orders because of my scoliosis)
Bench Press 3x5
Barbell Row 3x5
Leg Curl 2x10
Incline DB Press 2x10
Lat Pull-down/Pullup 2x10

Workout B:

Leg Press 3x5
Military Press 3x5
Deadlift 3x5
Leg Curls 2x10
Upright Rows 2x10
Cable Rows 2x10

I'm trying to modify the Starting Strenth method a bit to make sure I hit all muscle groups enough. Unless I should just stick to the regular:?

A:
Leg Press 5x5
Bench 5x5
Row 5x5

B:
Leg Press 5x5
Military Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5

....but where is the hamstring/trap/calves/upper back and outter lat work?? Is this enough?
Click to expand...

stick to the original. that looks more like madcows btw, not starting strength.

hamstring = hammered by deadlifting correctly
trap/lat = pendlay rows and deadlift. youre suposed to do pendlays. not yates, not some rinky dink half bnt barbell row or dumbell row
calves = useless lol. but they will grow from the deads and the squats youre suposed to be doing. u can always add calf presses though right after your leg press

can you squat or not? cuz u said no, then changed to yes

if youre gonna strength train (because thats the type of routineyoure tweaking), u need to learn how to squat, deadlift, bench, and pendlay row correctly. 95% people do all those way wrong
 
thewolf49 said:
Think I'm going with this:

Workout A

3x5 Squat (barbell)
3x5 Bench Press (barbell or dumbbell)
1x5 Deadlift (barbell)
2x5-8 dips (only add weight if you are doing >10 bodyweight dips)

You can also substitute barbell or dumbbell decline bench press for dips.

Workout B

3x5 Squat (barbell)
3x5 Standing military press (barbell) or dumbbell overhead press
3x5 Bent-over rows (barbell or dumbbell)
2x5-8 Lat Pulldowns (only add weight if you are doing >10 bodyweight pull-ups)
2
Click to expand...

Or you could do the "deadlift" and the "leg press" (after deads) in "B", especially after your squat in "A", gets up into areas where it might be hard to give them (squat and dead) both good attention in the same workout. If you want ham work in "A", you could do some lighter RDL's or maybe even a GHR or something.
Then 3 days a week would alternate each week ie:
Monday A
Wed B
Fri A
Mon B
Wed A...
 
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