Thread: I want to change up my routine

Hey guys, I am looking for some suggestions to change up my routine a bit. I feel I have hit a plateau and can't seem to make more gains in terms of size and strength.

In my current routine, I work out 3-4 days a week. I have been doing a pyramid type thing where I increase the weight and lower the reps. A rough example for bench would look something like this:

Day 1- Chest (135x16 (warmup),205x12, 225x8, 245x6, 275x4)
Day 2- Squats/Quads
Day 3- Shoulders and back
Day 4- Deadlifts/Hams

I usually do 3-4 different lifts for each day following this sort of pattern. I can write a more detailed routine, but I just used this as an example for time sake.

I have been reading about dividing push/pull, and upper/lower body workouts in the same day. Can anyone recommend a good way to divide this up that was effective for you? I am curious how effective this would be. Also, I am thinking that I should quit the pyramid routine and just calculate weight/reps based on a % of my 1RP Max.

Kind of off topic, but does anyone throw cardio in the mixture?

Originally Posted by rgprestige15

seems like the routine would take you 45 min in the gym tops.

I train alone and in an empty gym and it takes me a bit over an hour. The 5x15 sets take a bit of time to recover from. The 5x10s aren't a cake walk either.

The rest of your question is covered extensively in the book.