My Routine and diet, Please Critique.

[SeanDublin]

Before I get started, I Have been training hard and heavy for the last 3 months, Im 20,
when i was younger 17-18 i worked out for 6 months with little to no avail, un-educated and bad nutrition,
this year i decided i had enough of been skinny, regardless of what or how much i ate i never put on weight,
until i accepted the fact that there is no such thing as a hard-gainer you just need more of the right foods, and i completely overhauled my diet, and aspects of my life, i joined the gym, bought all necessary supplements and foods and wrote down my starting weight etc. and set goals. my first month i ate way more than i ever did but it was all clean, Chicken breast's, Brown rice, pasta, sweet potato, oat meal, nuts, eggs, etc. and took whey, casien and weight gainer and worked out 3-4 days a week, split day's, in my first month i put on most of the weight fat,water etc, second month was less and this is my third month and i have been the same for the last 4 weeks, i'm lean and growing and my strength goes up on everything every week but weight hasn't in the last month i have changed my routine but not sure if its the right approach thats were i need help so here it is

• monday - Chest and triceps.
• Tuesday - Legs and Abs
• wednesday - Back and shoulders
• thursday - chest and triceps
• friday - off or legs depending on how my body feels
• saturday back and shoulders.
• sunday off.

i make sure not to do any muscle two days straight, and my old routine was

• monday chest
• tuesday legs
• wednesday off
• thurdsay back and shoulders
• friday off
• saturday tri and biceps.

i changed my routine cause i feel i rest my muscles enough, i'm never sore, sleep 8 hours, eat alot and drink alot of water.

i also focus mainly on compounds, deadlift ,squat, bench, rows, overhead press, dips, chin ups and pull ups.

my starting weight was 137 pound, im 153 now. mix of fat and muscle, even though my bf is the same, theres no way i could of put on anymore than 5-6 pounds in 3 months of muscle.

my max lifts at the moment with 5-8 reps, 2-3 sets and increasing every week. my body weight is 69kg,

bench 88 kg, .
deadlift, 150kg
squat 120kg
overhead press 60kg

if know this is low weight but i started on half this and worked up to this i increase weight or reps every week.

my diet is varied, some mornings i dont eat until 12 because of college, my average diet consists of

eggs
pancakes
oatmeal 2 large bowls.
couple peanut and jelly bagels through the day
nuts.
1,protein,casian and weight gainer shake throughout the day,
post workout meal.
sweet potato, rice/cus cus, salmon/chicken breast/turkey,

dinner, pasta/rice and more chicken/red meat. veg

i cheat some mornings with cafe lunch's, subway etc, which i plan on eliminating and replacing with more chicken breast or so.

before bed more Nuts ( cashew,walnuts,almonds etc), p&j and a casian shake.

i am aware that 0.5-2 pounds of muscle is an absolute max that can be gained each month naturally, not sure how i put on so much weight in my first two months cause i didnt gain any fat on my stomach, i just filled out. nicely. started gym at the start of may.

Supplements

• O.N whey protein 100%
• O.N Casien 100%
• Craze
• AF Creatine and dymatise 100% creatine, mix it up,
• animal pack

weight gainers i have tried and use,

• serious mass
• mutant mass
• usn anabolic

Thanks alot for your time.

 

[Sean1332]

I actually liked your last routine better. You had more days off (which is most likely why your recovery is good) and your shoulders weren't taking a beating. Now there hit indirectly and directly several times a week.

 

[SeanDublin]

My shoulders are my biggest improvement, funny enough. I understand during bench etc my delts get hit, to be honest I prefere my old one more when it comes to recovery but I can hit the muscles twice a week without recovery that's why I increased it, what if I took Saturday off ? But did 5 days a week.

 

[Sean1332]

It's hard to say. You haven't listed what you do each day. You've just listed us body parts. You can train every single day, depending on the volume though

 

[SeanDublin]

Chest day is usually 3 sets of these
1. Bench, 5-8 reps
2.Incline db press 5-8
3. Decline bench or db bench
4. Chest db flys
5. 2 sets dips to near failure
6. 2 sets cable cropsover

Each chest day I mix it up, with barbells and dumbells. And add push ups etc,

Shoulders and back day

3 sets of each of these for shoulders
Overhead press 5-8 reps
Dumbell press 5-12 reps
Smith machine seated military press 5-8 reps
Dumbell lateral raise front and side 2 sets each. I mix it up each workout.

For back, 3 sets
deadlifts 4-8 reps
Pull ups to near failure
Lat pull down 8 reps
Chin ups 12 reps
Rows bent over 8 reps

Other sessions ill drop one or two things and add machines or lying dumbell rows etc

Legs 4 sets
Squats 8 reps
Seated plate loaded squat 8 reps
Stiff legged deadlift 8 reps
Calf raises
Leg press
Leg extensions. I drop leg press if I do stiff legged vice versa

 

[SeanDublin]

Also for biceps and tri's

Bi
Chin up 4 sets
Dumbell curls
Preacher curls

That's it really cause they get hit during everything else.

Tri's
Close grip bench
Dips on dip machine
Tricep push downs and pulls
Diamond push ups

Some weeks I do kickbacks and skull crushers ..

Most of my sets are compound I usually finish up with isolation.

My workouts are between 40-55 minutes.

As for abs

10 minutes of leg raises,crunchs, knee raise, weighted sit ups, that's it as they get hit during everything else besides I'm not bothered about abs yet just gaining as much size as I can this year. I eat to a surplus.

 

[AdonisBelt]

Chest day is usually 3 sets of these
1. Bench, 5-8 reps
2.Incline db press 5-8
3. Decline bench or db bench
4. Chest db flys
5. 2 sets dips to near failure
6. 2 sets cable cropsover

Each chest day I mix it up, with barbells and dumbells. And add push ups etc,

Shoulders and back day

3 sets of each of these for shoulders
Overhead press 5-8 reps
Dumbell press 5-12 reps
Smith machine seated military press 5-8 reps
Dumbell lateral raise front and side 2 sets each. I mix it up each workout.

For back, 3 sets
deadlifts 4-8 reps
Pull ups to near failure
Lat pull down 8 reps
Chin ups 12 reps
Rows bent over 8 reps

Other sessions ill drop one or two things and add machines or lying dumbell rows etc

Legs 4 sets
Squats 8 reps
Seated plate loaded squat 8 reps
Stiff legged deadlift 8 reps
Calf raises
Leg press
Leg extensions. I drop leg press if I do stiff legged vice versa

3 sets of 5-8 reps per exercise... You should seriously consider asking yourself the point in so many different exercises per muscle- especially if designing a routine that sacrifices optimal rep/set range schemes to do so. What I mean by this, is that I can see where plausibly it would be necessary for the triceps to have 3 exercises due to wanting to balance each head (although you probably only need two at most) pull-ups to failure followed by lat pull down wont hit the fibers of your lats in any different way- vertical and horizontal pulling (2 exercises or just diagonal pulling) is sufficient.

See what I'm saying mate? Approach design of a routine based a kinesiological standpoint. It's the functions of the muscles you should be emulating. What's the varying functionality of the 4 different heads of the quads? Maybe find a movement or a few that puts resistant in that movement.

You want to work smart, not hard.

Cheers

 

[SeanDublin]

So what sort of routine do you think would suit me better. ?

 

[PaulBlack]

So if I read correctly, 16 sets with 5-8 reps for chest for one days W/O!?
2 cents:
Personally, I feel that the chest can be trained (with less volume for one W/O day and more frequency thru week perhaps and less extra exercises) ie: 5-8 total work/heavy sets and you would be able to add shoulders and arms into that same W/O. Then the 2nd day add in dips and or the other presses.
A split like 2 upper and 2 lower per week, would seem to me, to be more beneficial and thus the greatest focus on the big compound exercises (mostly standing work perhaps, to load the spine/system and then some end work on isos and the smallest groups ie: arms/abs/calves/grip work.

 

[Bigcountry08]

So what are your overall goals? Just gaining overall size and strength?

Do you want to have a bodybuilder sort of mentality, or power lifting?

In my opinion cut out all the protein shakes, and just switch to whole foods. If you want Casein protein before bed just eat cottage cheese you get all the same benefits plus natural enzymes that help your body digest food, vitamins and minerals. Skip the whey shakes and just drink milk and eat whole eggs both are cheaper and provide nutrients along with the added benefits of the protein. Also whole foods are way cheaper then shakes and gainers some gainers only contain like 4 to 6 servings for like 20 bucks. Where as I can buy a flat of eggs for 2 bucks that has 1680 cals, 108 fat (good fats to), 144 protein.

For your workout I would switch back to your old routine, a lot of guys get caught up in the more the better. All your doing by training twice a week is setting your self up for a injury or overtraining. Also your doing to many exercises and your routines aren't balanced ( saying all of this to help not trying to dog on you)

 

[Bigcountry08]

For example your shoulder routine.

Shoulders and back day

3 sets of each of these for shoulders
Overhead press 5-8 reps
Dumbell press 5-12 reps
Smith machine seated military press 5-8 reps
Dumbell lateral raise front and side 2 sets each. I mix it up each workout.

Your doing 5 different exercises between 13-15 sets 9 of which are all pressing movements. All of these pressing movements focus on front and side delt then you do front and side lat raises, so you are completely neglecting your rear delts. This is going to set you up for some major muscle imbalances and is going to reek havoc on your posture the longer you train like this.

A decent shoulder routine for a beginner should look something like this.

2-3 sets, 12 reps rear pecdec flys
3-4 sets, 12,10,8,6 overhead press
3 sets, 14,12,10 db side lat raises
3 sets, 12,10,8 high rope pulls or rear db flies

Your going to work the whole head of the delt with a routine line this, plus your going to strengthen your core by doing your pressing movements while standing. One thing you will notice is that about 90% of lifters all do seated presses. Now ask any one of them to do a standing press, I guarantee most of them wont be able to press half as much as they can standing as seated because there core is not strong enough. This will not only make you functionally stronger but also decrease your risk of injury.

So basically my advice for you right now, simplify your routines and create balance with them, don't buy into the supplement hype, use proper form and stay consistent.

 

[SeanDublin]

My overall goal is to be strong and bigger, I have always been skinny, started at 137 I'm 154 now. The reason I went up to 6 days a week as opposed to 4, was because on my off days I was full of energy and felt two days rest for a giving muscle group was enough. So I upped it to 5 and eventually 6 days, normally I'm not one that believes in 6 days unless your on something. I believe in 3-4 days being enough. And think ill revert back to 4 days now. But I just want to make sure I'm maximizing my efforts in the gym. Thanks for all the replys.

 

[SeanDublin]

That's for that shoulder routine. I'll do that from now on didn't realise I was neglecting my rear's. I do most of my presses standing. Over head press, clean and press etc. Could you recommend a chest and back workout suitable for me. Thanks a lot