Thread: Help me switch up my routine maybe?

Monday: Chest and Bi's:

-I don't count reps, I just do a warmup set for the first exercise in each muscle group, then do a decent weight for set 2, and then do a set of a weight in which I can do roughly 6-8 reps with (sometimes in a drop set).

Start with chest:
-Incline dumbell bench (4 sets)
-Vertical Chest Press (3 sets, last set drop set) (I do these on a machine)
-Dips (2 sets, 1 until failure, followed by a weighted set. When you cant do anymore, drop the weight and do dips until failure.)
-Incline Flyes (3-4 sets on preference) (I do these on a machine)
-Cable Crossovers (3 sets)
-Flyes (3 sets)

You should have a good pump in your chest now, you won't have to do a mega bicep workout by any means..I usually do the following

-Olympic Bar curls (3 sets)
-Cable Preacher curls (3 sets with 1 mega drop set to really feel the burn)
-Hammer curls
-sometimes I do a bicep exercise which is hard to explain, but I call it 'insane curls'

Tuesday: Legs:

-Leg Press (4 sets, and go heavy)
-Leg Extensions (I like these because they really isolate my quads, but not everyone likes these)
-Squats (3 sets)
-Lunges (3 long sets, I dont like to go heavy with this so I use either 15 or 20 lbs dumbells)
-Hamstring Curls (4 sets, 1 mega drop set)
-Deadlifts (3 sets)
-Seated Calf Raises (I do a warmup set with 1 plate, followed by a set with 2 plates, and on the last set I have a spot with 3 plates where I do about 8 reps until I cant go anymore, drop a plate, do another 10 reps or so until I cant go anymore, drop to 1 plate and just pound out reps).
-Toe Presses (I like these for calfs too)

Wednesday: Rest: my legs are usually a bit sore

Thursday: Back and Traps

-Warm up with straight arm, straight bar cable pushdowns (to warm up lats)
-3 sets of wide grip pullups to failure
-Close grip lat pulldowns, with palms facing towards you, and with a straight bar (4 sets, gradually increasing weight).
-Seated Rows (3-4 Sets)
-One arm dumbell rows (3-4 sets)
-Hyperextensions (2 sets, second set with weight, then drop the weight and keep goin).
-Sometimes I add a little wide grip lat pulldowns here depending on how my lats feel.
Traps:
-Smith Machine Shrugs (I usually only do these for traps, 4 sets, and my traps look really good).
-Optional dumbell shrugs (2 heavy sets)

Friday: Shoulders and Tri's

-Superset 1 arm tricep pushdown with tricep dips
-Tricep Pushdown (either bent bar or rope) (4 sets)
-Skull Crushers (4 sets)
-Dumbell military press (4 sets)
-Lateral Raises
-Cable front raises with small straight bar (I do 3 sets, and on the 3rd set I do 30 reps with 40 lbs of weight... by the 30th rep, your delts get a good pump)
-Rear Laterals (3 sets)

-I also work abs 2-3 times a week in the gym doing arnold crunches, which really bring the abs in well. I do forearm isolated exercises about 2-3 times a week in the gym as well, and do neck flexions about 1-2 times a week.

-Cardio is entirely dependant on whether im bulking or cutting

..thats sorta my routine in a nutshell, I really vary it up a lot with different exercises though.

-I also recommend NOT MISSING your Thursday and Friday workouts

Originally Posted by drew.haynes

Hey all, been using about the same routine for about half a year now with good progress. I'd like to change it up a bit now though and see what happens.

This is about what I have been doing on average...

Monday: BB Bench x 3, DB Incline Bench x 3,DB seated press x3, cable laterals x2,shrugs or upright rows x3, Skullcrushers x 2, Cable Pressdowns x 2

Tuesday: Pulldowns x 3, BB Rows x 3, Barbell Curls x 2, DB Curls x 1, Hammer Curls x 1-2, rear delts x2

Wednesday: OFF

Thursday: Squats x 3, Deadlifts x 3, Seated Calf Raises x 2-3, Standing Calf Raises x 1-3.

Friday: off


The problem right now is often that the latter part of the week is busier and I sometimes slack off and miss those Thursday and/or Friday workouts, though I NEVER miss the Monday and Tuesday. I know I need to make that stop and get consistent with my legs and shoulders (though traps are doing great still).

Anyone have recommendations for a new routine... 3-4 days a week.

Hope this helps some?

if you sometimes miss the days later in the week why not train on an upper and lower split. That way you get to hit everything just incase you slack off later in the week.

mon- lower
tues- upper
wed- rest
thurs- lower
fri- upper
sat- rest
sun- rest

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

Hope this helps some?

Actually that may be really helpful. I was willing to do 4 days, but knew it would be nice if I somehow got back to a 3 day schedule... as I thought my ideal situation once school starts again would be...

Sunday: Off
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Lift
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Lift
Friday: Off
Saturday: Lift

A 3-day rotation, so yeah Foreman, that does help.

Originally Posted by P-funk

if you sometimes miss the days later in the week why not train on an upper and lower split. That way you get to hit everything just incase you slack off later in the week.

mon- lower
tues- upper
wed- rest
thurs- lower
fri- upper
sat- rest
sun- rest

Would this not make me more likely to overtrain?

Originally Posted by drew.haynes

Would this not make me more likely to overtrain?

how so?

Originally Posted by P-funk

how so?

Well, for example, I would assume "lower" would always include my ENTIRE lower body... and "upper" would include all upper body muscles... so then I'd be doing everything 2x a week. Right?

Originally Posted by drew.haynes

Well, for example, I would assume "lower" would always include my ENTIRE lower body... and "upper" would include all upper body muscles... so then I'd be doing everything 2x a week. Right?

yes, you would do everythign on each day. You just have to account for volume and intensity between the two workouts to make it work (undulating periodization).

Originally Posted by P-funk

yes, you would do everythign on each day. You just have to account for volume and intensity between the two workouts to make it work (undulating periodization).

So you think that doing half as many sets per muscle PER DAY, but doing 2x as many days per muscle PER WEEK, will not make me any more "overtrained" and will still be as effective as having all those sets for a muscle in succession on a single day?