Thread: please critique my routine

That's actually pretty decent. Are you gaining weight? How's your diet?

[QUOTE=Built;2017432]That's actually pretty decent. Are you gaining weight? How's your diet?[/QUOT

hope so.....

eating 6 times a day (not a strict diet )

chicken,fish ,meat ,rice ,potato eggs,milk etc...

no supplements .....use real meal as a source of macronutrients

thanks

Are you gaining weight though - how long have you been trying to gain and how much have you gained in this time?

Here is what I would recommend.

Monday:

Chest
bench press 5x5
incline dumbbell press 3x8
db flies 3x10

Biceps
barbell curl 5x5
preacher curl 3x10
concentration curl 5x5

Wednesday:
Back
dumbell pullovers 5 x 8
dead lift 5x5
Reverse Grip barbell row 3x8
chin-ups, wide grip pullups, or wide grip pulldowns (pick one) 5x5
good morning 3x8 (only if you feel your lower back can handle it)
dumbbell shrugs

Calves
seated calf raises 3x10
standing calf raises 3 x 15

Friday:
Shoulders
military press 5x5
lateral raises 3x8
front raises 3x8
reverse pec dec 3 x 8 (sit on the pec deck facing pads, reverse fly basically)

Triceps
skull crusher 5x5
rope high pully pressdown 5x8
dips

Saturday:
warmup leg extensions 2-3 sets light
full squat 6x5-8
heavy leg extensions 3x8-12
walking lunges
Stiff Legged Deadlifts 6x5-8
Leg Curls (lay or standing single or double leg depends on what machine you prefer)

Just my $.02, I noticed that you had very little in terms of all 3 heads of the shoulder and hamstrings as well.

Good luck.

Omerta, why? He has chest and back together, which is a great combination.

Also, you've got pullovers BEFORE deadlifts, you recommend wide grip pulldowns (bad idea), and also heavy leg extensions (ALSO a bad idea, fo most folks anyway). Furthermore, his read delts will get hit plenty with the rows, and he's doing deadlifts twice a week, in addition to good mornings so there was plenty of hamstring work. You've ditched the good mornings (a GREAT hamstring choice btw) with leg curls (which basically suck).

What gives?

Originally Posted by Built

Omerta, why? He has chest and back together, which is a great combination.

With a 3 day split with it being obvious he wanted to do legs on Saturday as the 4th. His goal is to for growth, and to be able to exert maximal power in the large muscle groups I recommend splitting them up. I'm recommending this based on personal experience.

Originally Posted by Built

Also, you've got pullovers BEFORE deadlifts

I recommend this to stretch out the lats and as a basic warm up not a building exercise.

Originally Posted by Built

you recommend wide grip pulldowns (bad idea)

i said: "chin-ups, wide grip pull ups, or wide grip pull downs" I don't know what equipment he has and noticed that on all chins it looked like everything was narrow grip and something for the lats in the workout is a good thing. And notice this was at the end so he wouldn't be using max weights, and of course he has to use very strict form.

Originally Posted by Built

also heavy leg extensions (ALSO a bad idea, fo most folks anyway).

Should have been more specific, I meant heavier than the warm up weights to get that final burn in there. I actually prefer hack squats but a lot of gyms don't have hack squat machines anymore.

Originally Posted by Built

Furthermore, his read delts will get hit plenty with the rows, and he's doing deadlifts twice a week, in addition to good mornings so there was plenty of hamstring work. You've ditched the good mornings (a GREAT hamstring choice btw) with leg curls (which basically suck).

I actually replaced the good mornings with the stiff legged deadlifts(SLDL). The leg curls were to get that last bit of burn and work out of the hamstring.

Maybe it's how I was taught to do them but good mornings always worked the lower back considerably more than the hamstrings, (but that could have all been form), while SLDL's are much more direct.

In regard to shoulders, direct work to each head will help with stabilization and avoiding the chance of injury or aches and pains in the future. I learned this the hard way. Treating them as a secondary in time can be dangerous.

Not saying anybody is right or wrong, but also wanted to address why I made my recommendations.

If your goal is growth, first and foremost, ya' gotta eat.

Working chest and back are great together - they're antagonist to each other and the combination is awesome for size. Chest and biceps are great together too though - and I much prefer this combo to the traditional chest and tris. Tris get enough with chest. Bis at least get in some antagonist work.

If you stretch a muscle before you train it, it'll be weaker.

Narrow grip works the lats just fine. Wide grip works the rotator cuff - badly.

Why replace a good movement (good mornings) with inferior movements like straight leg deads (stiffs are good, straights aren't) and hamstring curls - who cares if he gets a burn?

Good mornings are predominately hamstring. You'll trash your back doing straight leg deads, but if your good mornings work your lower back too hard, your form is wrong. The movement should be identical to a Romanian deadlift, but with the barbell on your shoulders instead of being pulled.

As an aside, for any heavy compound - squats, deads, good mornings, bench, heavy rows, or for throws like power cleans and snatch, do 'em early in your workout, before you're trashed. A movement like good mornings should NOT be tucked in at the end of a workout. You'll either lift so little it's almost pointless, or you'll fatigue and lose your form - and risk injury.

All pulling movements ARE direct work to the rear delt. All pushing movements are direct work to the front delts. (If you're worried about shoulder stabilization btw please believe me about the wide grip lat pulldowns). Front raises are a bit of a mess, really. But if you want to see a great shoulder movement, read my shoulder module and try Olympic bar corner presses - you'll LOVE 'em, and they're great for the stabilizers. I don't even do millies anymore - these work better.

One movement you mentioned that I rather like is the pec dec done backward - I sometimes do that one first just as a warmup. Face pulls work well as a sub if your gym lacks a pec dec.

The check/back same day is all good and I have done that before. I just found that I could never fully commit to go all out on both on the same day.

I alway felt I held back a bit on chest if I knew in 10 minutes I'd be doing heavy deads, I think it's more of a mental thing but I never saw real growth until I split them up and truely went 100% on each. That's why I typically mix a major body part with an opposing auxiliary aka chest and bi's and usually back and tri's but if I beat the back into enough submission then I hit the tri's on shoulder day.

Not a whole lot of leg work there,but different ppl respond to different thing's

omerta, I see what your're saying there. Perhaps if deads were moved to a different day - I like doing T-bars and bent over rows with chest work. Deads I do twice a week, on my predominately leg-workouts.

hes only been training 3 months. mon-wed-fri- off weekends or mon-tues off wed thursday- fri off weekend. and wheres the close grip bench for tris power. imo

Originally Posted by unclem

hes only been training 3 months. mon-wed-fri- off weekends or mon-tues off wed thursday- fri off weekend. and wheres the close grip bench for tris power. imo

(1.) Bench Press
(2.) Incline DB Chest Press
(3.) Military Press
(4.) Skullcrushers

That's plenty of tricep stimulation.