Thread: My New Routine; Critique as you see fit

anyone?

IMO,

-Too many pressing movements. i would actually just do 1 horizontal press for 3-4 sets and 1 vertical perss for 3-4 sets then move on to isolation junk afterward that way you can switch up the core exercises more often (couple of weeks of flat bench and military press, then switch to decline and dumbell presses etc)

-posterior delt is more of a pull muscle.

-too many exercises for your rowing (both vertical and horizontal). i would pick one or two core movemetns for my rows, ie bent over rows and chin ups and do 3-5 sets of those, then some sort of shoulder extension in the sagittal plane like pullovers or cable pullovers after which i would work the posterior delt and move on to shrugs and maybe 1 or 2 exercises 2 sets each for bi's.

-the leg day IMO is horrible but you said you like it and its working so go with it

I'd change the order/reps/sets of all of the days so that you do the big pressing movements first with lower reps/sets and have the supplementary lifts with more reps/sets after these - more along the lines of a westside format - but that's just me.

I'm pretty much with Yan on this one.

i agree with Yan also.

Originally Posted by Yanick

IMO,

-Too many pressing movements. i would actually just do 1 horizontal press for 3-4 sets and 1 vertical perss for 3-4 sets then move on to isolation junk afterward that way you can switch up the core exercises more often (couple of weeks of flat bench and military press, then switch to decline and dumbell presses etc)

-posterior delt is more of a pull muscle.

-too many exercises for your rowing (both vertical and horizontal). i would pick one or two core movemetns for my rows, ie bent over rows and chin ups and do 3-5 sets of those, then some sort of shoulder extension in the sagittal plane like pullovers or cable pullovers after which i would work the posterior delt and move on to shrugs and maybe 1 or 2 exercises 2 sets each for bi's.

-the leg day IMO is horrible but you said you like it and its working so go with it

My triceps were cooked yesterday before I got to the direct tricep work. For thursday I will ditch the dumbell presses and do lateral raises instead. Good observation. However, I've been doing High Intensity Training for so long that I want to add some volume, so I will be keeping both the flat bench and decline and will switch up between incline and decline from workout to workout.

I've always had trouble with the posterior delts. If I place them on a day that isn't my shoulder slash push day, then my shoulder slash push muscles are sore the following day. I agree with you wholeheartedly, although I think thats one of those excercises that for me belongs in the push day.

Again, the volume thing. I'm not doing any sets to failure in this routine, based pretty much solely from that study that patrick posted in regards to training to failure and not training to failure. I've always trained to failure and besides at the very beginning of done lower volume. I think I am able to 'up' the volume here because I am not going to failure and taking the necessary 60-90 seconds inbetween sets. I was doing pullovers in my HIT routine for the last two-plus months and I never really enjoyed them, whatsoever. You definitly have a point about too many rowing movements. What I'll do is switch up between one arm db rows and cable rows from workout to workout, and switch those two sets into pullovers. Perhaps when im not going to failure with these pullovers i'll appreciate them more.

The leg day is just the same regimen I had during my High Intensity routine. Straight out of Mike Mentzer's heavy duty book with a few minor tweaks. I have never had better leg days than the leg days I've had with an HIT approach. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Thanks Yan!

Originally Posted by Adamjs

I'd change the order/reps/sets of all of the days so that you do the big pressing movements first with lower reps/sets and have the supplementary lifts with more reps/sets after these - more along the lines of a westside format - but that's just me.

Good point. I am doing that. Yesterday the order went flat bench press, decline bench press, military press and so on...

the way they are posted is most likely not the order they will be performed in.

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

The leg day is just the same regimen I had during my High Intensity routine. Straight out of Mike Mentzer's heavy duty book with a few minor tweaks. I have never had better leg days than the leg days I've had with an HIT approach. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If it ain't broke don't fix it is a great thing. but, from your post in another thread:

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

my left knee on and off, is mighty sore. i've been sleeping with some pillows under my knees at night, to keep them high. i'm going to start icing them and heating them daily aswell.

hopefully by thursday i'll be ready to hit my legs hard.

It would seem to me like something is either broke or something is about to break. If you are that sore that you are sleeping with pillows under your knees at night that tells me that you need to adress some flaws in your training program. Just my opinion.

Good point, P, but my knee didn't start acting up because of my weight training.

It would be ignorant to say that weight training didn't contribute whatsoever to my on/off knee problems i've been having, but at the same time, every time it starts acting up its because i play football or basketball and I land on it wrong.

Do you think I should change something with my leg routine if I'm able to complete it to perfection without irritation, or because its a basketball game away from being hurt once again, I should do something with my training.

Also, is there anyway to strengthen the knee? Barry Bonds for instance has no cartilage there, and I feel as if i'm heading down that path. Is there a way to strengthen the knees?

I'm a big proponent of unilateral movements, particularly in the lower body. Improve lateral knee stability and the ability to function while fighting resistance on one limb is extremely important in sports. Doing some lower body work on the frontal plane might also be a good idea (Lateral lunges, lateral stepups, etc.)

I'll do some bodyweight lunges and step-ups tommorow following my workout tommorow. I can't imagine doing much more than just my bodyweight considering a week ago it hurt to even do just that.

Thanks CP, Patrick.

Originally Posted by Yanick

IMO,

-Too many pressing movements. i would actually just do 1 horizontal press for 3-4 sets and 1 vertical perss for 3-4 sets then move on to isolation junk afterward that way you can switch up the core exercises more often (couple of weeks of flat bench and military press, then switch to decline and dumbell presses etc)

Yan,

Two weeks into the routine and you are entirely correct with this statement. My triceps are burned out before I even get to my tricep isolated excercises.

What isolation excercises could I replace them with?

I'm thinking something more like this:

Push:
Flat Bench - 4x8
Insert Iso Movement Here - 2x__
Cable Flies - 2x16

Military Press - 4x8
Reverse Pec Deck - 2x16
Lateral Raise - 2x8

Dips - 2x10
Tricep Extension - 2x12

Although I'm debating whether to change altogether, not because the workouts have been bad, just because i feel like doing so much on one day is more than somebody should be doing.

It looks like it could be back to muscle routines instead of movement routines.

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Yan,

Two weeks into the routine and you are entirely correct with this statement. My triceps are burned out before I even get to my tricep isolated excercises.

What isolation excercises could I replace them with?

I'm thinking something more like this:

Push:
Flat Bench - 4x8
Insert Iso Movement Here - 2x__
Cable Flies - 2x16

Military Press - 4x8
Reverse Pec Deck - 2x16
Lateral Raise - 2x8

Dips - 2x10
Tricep Extension - 2x12

Although I'm debating whether to change altogether, not because the workouts have been bad, just because i feel like doing so much on one day is more than somebody should be doing.

It looks like it could be back to muscle routines instead of movement routines.

so do less and do it more frequently.

Originally Posted by P-funk

so do less and do it more frequently.

so workout five days per week instead of four and do less volume? would something like that work?

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

so workout five days per week instead of four and do less volume? would something like that work?

Why is 20 sets too much? Assuming you keep the rest intervals reasonable, you could be in and out in an hour or so no problem. You could also consider cutting the bullshit and making your push day look like this, or something:

4x4 Bench
4x4 Military
3x10 Incline DB Bench
3x10 Dips
2x12 Tricep Extensions

That reduces the total number of sets by 20%. Use 1 minute rest intervals and you could be done with the lifting portion of your routine in like 45 minutes.

Very interesting alternative. Would you tweak my pull day?