Originally Posted by thanhie

as i been told to gain mass u gotta lift heavy and low reps, so u wanna keep them around 5 - 8 reps max.

Originally Posted by xfile384

Monday - Chest and Back

Exercise Sets Reps

Dumbbell flat press 4 10
Bench press 4 10 - Replace one of these bench variations with dips.
Dumbbell Flys 3 10

Back

Exercise Sets Reps

Bent Over Barbell Row 4 10
One Arm Dumbbell Row 4 10
Pull ups 3 10 - Dont see the need for shrugs tbh, never liked that movement.
Push ups until fail... - Cut this. Not needed, and failure training isnt great.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday - Legs (including calves)

Exercise Sets Reps

Squats 4 12,10,10,8
Dumbbell Lunges 3 6 on each leg
Deadlifts 3 10
Single Legged Hyperextensions - whatever rep range. Needed another pulling movement in here.
Standing Calf Raise 5 12,12,10,8,8

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday - Shoulders and Arms

Exercise Sets Reps

Military Press 4 8-10
Dumbbell Lateral Raise 4 12
Bent Over Reverse Fly 4 12

Arms

Exercise Sets Reps

Barbell Bicep Curl 5 10
French Press 5 10
Forearm curl 3 10

How is this routine?

Originally Posted by Gazhole

Im guessing the 4 10 is sets x reps?

Comments about exercise selection in bold...



Personally i wouldnt have a dedicated day for shoulders/arms as they get worked a lot on the upper body day you have there, but its not a big thing. If your shoulders start to seem like they're being overworked, cut some of the shoulder work out.

I cut pushups because you already have plenty of horizontal plane pushing going on, and failure training will probably exascerbate any shoulder overtraining problems.

Dips would be a good replacement for the un-needed benching variation (you dont need two!), and i dont really like shrugs as that can lead to problems when the upper portion of the traps are training more than the lower portion. I know from experience that can cause weird issues with the upper back/neck area.

They're not too critical anyways tbh. Just another isolation movement.

Are you implementing any sort of periodization in with this program?

Originally Posted by Gazhole

To be honest, it might be expedient to cut this down to a two day split:

DAY 1:

Pull ups
Dumbbell flat press
Bent Over Barbell Row
Dips
Dumbbell Flys
Curls

DAY 2:

Squats
Deadlifts
Dumbbell Lunges
Good Mornings
Single Legged Hyperextensions
Standing Calf Raise

***

Which leads me into periodization, which is the best thing to ever happen in training. All periodization is, is a planned variation over the course of the program.

Basically, you factor in changes in certain variables (sets, reps, rest intervals, intensity, volume, etc etc) in order to keep a fresh stimulus on your muscles to avoid overtraining.

Theres a lot of info in the stickies on designing training programs by Cowpimp, but there are a few ways you can do this. I highly reccomend reading those threads here.

For example, a simple way you could periodize this program would be to alternate both your workouts throughout a 3 day training week:

Week 1

Mon - DAY 1 workout
Tue - Rest
Wed - DAY 2 workout
Thu - Rest
Fri - Day 1 workout


Week 2

Mon - DAY 2 workout
Tue - Rest
Wed - DAY 1 workout
Thu - Rest
Fri - Day 2 workout


And assign a different rep range to each day of the week:

Mon - 2x20
Wed - 3x12
Fri - 4x8

This is some sort of alternating periodization - you've planned a pretty varied training pattern where every workout in a 2 week cycle is different.

See?

Originally Posted by xfile384

Alright, cool. I'll replace the flat press with a bench press on Day 1. Also, i'm not really too familiar with good mornings and one legged hyper extensions...Anything else i could do? Or, should i try to learn these movements? I'm comfortable with all the other exercises and can perform them well and smooth.

Originally Posted by xfile384

Another quick question. For squats and deadlifts i lift until the last reps are hard to achieve. For instance, sometimes at the end of my sets, i'll only be able to do 7 or so...Is this ok, or should i use less weight? This really goes for all my workouts. If i can do 15 reps, generally i will add more weight, so i'm finding it difficult on the last set. For curls, should i use a little bit of a lighter weight since it's an isolation movement? For instance, maybe do 15 reps and on the last set be at 10 or so, rather than struggling on 7?

Originally Posted by xfile384

Just so you know, my goal is to gain about 15lbs, maybe more. I'm 5'7 and weigh 146 now and i want to be 160-165. I started at 140 and i've gained 6, so at least I'm making progress...

Originally Posted by Gazhole

Yeah, those rep ranges are for the whole session (though not necessarily for isolation exercises/those exercises you havent done before).

The point of varying them like that is to keep a unique stimulus on your muscles, and since you're repeating a session in the same week, you cant expect to work as intensely both times you do that session.

Besides, there arent really any cut and dry ranges for building mass.

The reccomended rep ranges for endurance/size/strength are a guide, but the most important thing is proper diet management and training VARIATION.

Its stopping your body from completely adapting to your training program that will keep the gains coming, so long as you have the excess dietary energy to fuel them.

I've gained mass doing 8 sets of 3 reps, 2 sets of 4, 3 sets of 12, 2 sets of 25, and also sessions where i did 200 reps each on two exercises. The rep range doesnt really matter.

Originally Posted by P-funk

you can also play with rep tempo and rest intervals besides rep ranges. lots of variables can be changed around.

Originally Posted by P-funk

30-45sec betwen reps? Do you mean 30-45sec between sets?


What I mean by rep tempo is that each repetition can be broken down into 4 phases:

a lower or eccentric phase
an isometric phase preceding the concentric phase
an overcoming or concentric phase
an isometric preceding the eccentric phase (ie, before the next rep)

These are written in a group of 4 numbers each corresponding to their different phase. For example:

3311

If we applied that to the bench press, it would mean:

3 counts lower
3 counts isometric hold on the chest
1 count press
1 count pause before starting the next repetition

You can play with tempo, depending on what your goals are, as a way to increase muscular tension.

patrick

Originally Posted by Gazhole

All Patrick is saying is that there are loads of other ways you can periodize a program.

If variation is the key to reaching your goals, varying the parameter you are actually changing is gonna be invaluable.

If you dont want to change the rep ranges, you can change the rest intervals to make the same set x rep scheme harder due to having less rest.

With the tempo thing, you can use the same rep range again, but make the reps last longer, keeping the muscle under more tension, which makes it also makes it harder.

They are just different ways to keep that stimulus changing, and thats what makes training so interesting. Its always fun designing a new program!

Originally Posted by xfile384

Ah, i gotcha. Personally, i just like to wait about 30 secs before my next set. I feel like i get a good workout with this amount of time.

Also, i thought when you worked out it was better to lift the weight up quick until contraction, then gradually down. Isn't it supposed to be an explosive movement, rather than fatiguing your muscles going slow?

Thanks for the advice again, I'm really learning a lot from this site. I'm happy i decided to join this forum rather than getting advice from friends, etc...