New member, critique my routine [Forum Archive]

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New member, critique my routine

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Posted by: StanUk

Hey all, new member here, been lurking for the past few weeks. Been working out consistently for the past 3 years (had 3 months off while i went travelling but besides that ive been very consistent) I went from a very skinny 5ft 10 inch 140lbs to a slightly bigger 5ft 11 171lbs, im what you might call a hardgainer. My first year and a half of working out was not very efficient, i started making much better gains when i started doing a split routine and the past few months ive been playing with my routine to see what works best. At the moment it stands as:

Tue: Chest/triceps (bench press, skull crushers)
Wed: Legs, biceps (Squats, curls)
Thu: REST
Fri: Shoulders, back (incline bench, military press, rows)
Sat:Rest:
Sun: Legs, lats (deadlifts, lateral raises)
Mon: Rest

Ive tried to limit to no more than three excersizes per workout due to lack of time, so far this kind of routine has been working out quite well for me although I do wonder if I could make it more efficient. Any comments are appreciated.

Posted by: Gazhole

Read the stickies in the training section (at the top) about designing training routines.

What sets/reps are you using?

Posted by: StanUk

Gotcha. Doing 3 sets, usually in a pyramid style, starting with low weight and high reps (10 +), and then the finishing set is heavy weight with low reps(usually 5 or 6) I only do 2 sets for my incline bench to make sure ive got enough strength to get a good lift on my military press, although im thinking of doing military presses first followed by incline bench.

Posted by: Gazhole

Quote:

Originally Posted by StanUk

Gotcha. Doing 3 sets, usually in a pyramid style, starting with low weight and high reps (10 +), and then the finishing set is heavy weight with low reps(usually 5 or 6) I only do 2 sets for my incline bench to make sure ive got enough strength to get a good lift on my military press, although im thinking of doing military presses first followed by incline bench.

Its good to do the lifts you want to most improve on first. Pyramids are okay, though that can leave you too fatigued for your heavier weights. It can work, but most people would reccomend either a set intensity (x sets at x weight) or reverse pyramids (heavy lift first).

Your exercise selection isnt too bad, youve got a lot of the 'critical' lifts in there (deads, squat, bench, oh press, rows...), but a body part split isnt the best way to go.

Youre leaving a good few days as rest aswell, which is good.

The stickies pretty much explain everything though. Take a look and see if you can come up with something

Posted by: CowPimp

If you're going to limit the number of exercise you do to 3 per session, then I would probably be dropping out the isolation stuff. You need the most bang for your buck.

Have you tried supersetting exercises? If you are really short on time, that is a great way to get done in the gym quicker. I use supersets and circuits with virtually all of my clients because it's more efficient when working with a limited time frame. I do some in my own programs as well.

How much attention do you pay to your diet? Usually a "hardgainer" is just someone who needs to eat more food than your average gym goer. I was naturally a chunky kid with a marginal metabolism, but at this point I'm eating just as much food as someone who naturally has a high metabolism because of my high activity levels.

Have you read through the stickies at all? Your exercise selection is decent besides the fact that I would like to see a couple more back/pulling exercises in there.

Posted by: mike456

Day 1- bench, rows
day 2- off
day 3- squats, sldl
day 4- off
day 5- Military Press, Pull-ups
day 6 & 7- Off

Posted by: StanUk

Gazhole: cheers for the input, ive had a browse through the stickies already but ill have a proper read and see if i can tweak my routine a bit.

Cowpimp: thanx, i pay very close attention to my diet, ive always had a very small frame and its only recently that ive managed to start putting some half decent weight on. I eat 5 times a day, aim for around 3500 calories per day. Main types of food I eat are: Tuna, salmon, mackerel, eggs, milk, steak/beef/chicken (most meats) cottage cheese, lots of fruit, especially bananas, vegetables, nuts. Thats a general sum up of my diet. I shall look into supersetting, it is something I have not considered before, and I am in agreement with you in regards to my back, besides rows ive found it a hard body part to train, I do not have a pull up bar, if you could suggest some other good excersizes that work the back well.

Mike: Thanx, that looks good, although i do not have access to a pull up bar, and ive tried deadlifts and squats on the same day and found after doing the first one i wasnt in much fit state to properly do the other.

Posted by: mike456

Get a pull-up bar there like 10bucks.

Posted by: CowPimp

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike456

Get a pull-up bar there like 10bucks.

I agree. There are also a multitude of rowing variations you can use.

Posted by: StanUk

Thanx for the feedback, I did have a pullup bar some time ago, although it would not grip onto my door frame properly and i was very limited to the places i could use it without drilling holes in my door frames for the brackets.

Ive decided to add lying dumbell rows to my routine though as i feel i am neglecting my back a little bit.

Thanx again for the feedback.

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