Obsidian

Hello everyone. I am new to these boards, but I have seen a lot of people get and give really good advice over the last few weeks. I have read often and tried to put into practice some of the great advice I have seen here and below is what I have come up with.

I am really approaching my fitness in a “whole” approach. I am trying to use diet, exercise and some supplements to maximize my efforts and reach my goal. My primary goal is to reach 160 lbs by my 30th birthday. (10-1). My current weight is 141 up from 135 4 weeks ago. I don’t mind gaining some fat mass, as I know (or think I know) that that is natural when gaining mass and will work that off once I am at my target weight. This post is directed at my workout routine. I will create a post in the supplements section and the diet section to get some feedback on those aspects as well.

I have now been working out for about 4 weeks on a less structured workout, and I thought it time that I put together a full workout. This is weeks one and two. Week three is more weight and 6-7 reps x 3 sets and week four is a lot of supersets and dropsets. I do core work on every workout day usually consisting of 160 – 200ish crunches and some lower back work without weights. This is what my usual weeks look like.

One note: I do occasionally work out on Tuesday and Thursday. If I workout on Tuesday I follow Friday’s workout. If I workout on Thursday, I follow Monday’s workout. Same for Saturday on Wednesday’s workout, but that is rare. All feedback is appreciated.

Week One/Two

Monday (Back/Biceps)
Lat Pull Down 3 x 10
Incline Row Machine 3 x 10
Cable Seated 3x 10
Bent Over Dumbbell Row 3 x 10
--
Cable Curl 3 x 10
Standing Dumbbell Curl 3 x 10
Seated Barbell Preacher Curl 3 x 10

Wednesday (Chest/Triceps)
Dumbbell Bench Press 3 x 10
Dumbbell Fly 3 x 10
Chest Pushdown (Dip Machine) 3 x 10
--
Skull Crusher 3 x 10
Close Grip Cable Pushdown 3 x 10
Lying Cable Tricep Extensions 3 x 10

Friday (Shoulders/Legs)
Standing Upright Dumbbell Row 3 x 10
Shrugs 3 x 15
Standing Dumbbell Lateral Lift 3 x 10
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press 3 x 10
--
Hamstring Press Machine 1 leg 3 x 10
Machine Extensions 1 leg 3 x 10
Machine Leg Curls 1 leg 3 x 10
Calf Press 3 x 15

StanUk

Personally I think there is too much isolation work in there and not enough compound work. On your back/biceps day you have three variations of curls... why would you do this? Scrap two of these and throw some pull ups in there instead and maybe some bent over barbell rows. I think the same kind of thing applies for your other days aswell. I personally wouldnt recomend shoulders together with legs and would give legs a day to themselves.

I think a lot of pepole on this board will critisize you for doing a bodypart split, on the other hand I know a lot of people who have done them with success, me included. But I would perhaps stick chest with shoulders and triceps, legs on there own, and back/biceps together. By doing this your practically creating a push/pull/legs routine anyway. Id stick some deadlifts in your back day, although they target legs mainly I dont think they take precedence over squats and i dont advise doing both in the same day

StanUk

One more thing, I think the 160-200 crunches every workout isnt a particularly effective way of working your core. I think you should start doing squats/deadlifts which will both target your core and once or twice a week add some planks/dragon flags in there.

CowPimp

Any chance you've read through all the stickies. You definitely should. There are a number of things I would change in that program. Most notably, the excessive time spent on isolation work and poor balance/selection of lower body exercises.

The only time it's bad to feel the burn is when you're peeing...

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fatmuscles

like stanuk said try having squats and deadlifts in ur routine,cause they do help ur core, but also from what ive read in a few places, (correct me if im wrong guys) there is some studies indicating that they help increase ur test levels which we all know helps increase muscle mass,
as far as the crunches go, try using lower reps, and use some wieght to try and increase the strength of the muscles, this would be benificial for other exercises including the squat and dead, but would make ur abs larger and therefore more likly to be defined lol,
good luck with the training dude

Leatherface

Way too much.

You sound like you're a bit of a newbie when it comes to lifting and that split you wrote has a bit of a 'bodybuilder theme' going for it. If you are not a newbie when it comes to lifting then I apologize.

If size is your goal, I suggest going to a basic, hardcore approach that emphasizes compound lifts and strength increase.

My suggestion:

Workout 1

Squats
Bench Press
Bentover Rows
Military Press (Barbell)
Barbell Curls

Workout 2

Deadlift
Dips
Reverse Grip Chins
Military Press (Dumbbell)
Standing Calf Raises

-Try and get about 3-4 days of rest between each workout. For example, Workout 1 would be Monday and workout 2 would be Friday. If you have a scheduling conflict, rest an extra day.

-Keep a journal and write down your weights being used and the reps you are getting. Focus on getting STRONGER in each lift from week to week. This may happen in the guise of an extra rep or two, or an obvious increase in weight lifted.

-Train HARD, but I suggest stopping a rep or 2 shy of failure. Going to complete failure can be effective at times but is not necessary for gaining.

-Eat, eat, eat! If you don't mind gaining a little fat then eat everything that isn't nailed down. Obviously you don't want to be living off cookies and ice cream, but cheeseburgers and pizza are no big deal IMO. I would also consider a good protein powder. That mixed with frozen berries, yougurt, milk, or whatever can be a nice meal replacer.

Good luck.

"Look what your brother did to the door!"

Leatherface

Whoops! I forgot to add sets and reps!

I suggest 2-3 HARD sets of each exercise, as heavy as you can go with good form. Try and keep your reps between 6-8 with each set.

"Look what your brother did to the door!"

Plateau_Max

Size requires change, which is why P/RR/S is so effective. Start with power because it is very good for bulking, like how rep range often beds well with a cut. You said you read the stickies so I won't bother explaining P/RR/S.

Don't mix everything up all scrambled doing all sorts of different body parts in one day. I do admire total body workouts when trying to lose weight or get the body back in the swing of things after a long break... but really if you're only doing one exercise that hits your arms then moving to a different area, you're not going to see much in your arms. I like your split because looking at what you have listed you do have a push/pull/legs thing going on, only thing is you need to seperate your curls so you're not doing all three types of curls in a row. What are seated cables? You're sitting down doing.. something with the cables...

Don't mix legs with anything, it requires a lot of energy and hard work to hit your legs right. There's push and pull aspects of a shoulder workout that you can mix into both your chest/tris day and your back/bis day. For instance the barbell military press is a push you can have on chest day, and the reverse flies is great for the posterior delts which can go on your back and bicep day.

There's nothing that should suggest someone new to weight lifting can't have a split relative to what a body builder is doing. Doing it right is doing it right, no matter what.

"Years of hard work for only a single moment of perfection is a worthy trade." - Myself

Obsidian

Sorry it took me so long to reply to everyone. I have been looking into my workout and your feedback, as well as the feedback many of you have provided in my diet and supp threads. I see some changes that need to be made and I am starting to address them below.

A few things that have tried to take into consideration.
1. More compound work / Less Isolation
2. Squats
3. Core work efficiency
4. Rest

Rest
I now only workout MWF. Even if I have time on T/TH, I don't. It seemed that I might be overtraining some of the muscle groups and not giving them enough time to heal.

Core
I have dropped the 100s of crunches to a weighted, decline situp. That was some great advice. It seems to work my abs harder in a much shorter period of time. I also do twists on this decline with a lighter weight. I think this is much more effective. I also have incorporated squats into my legs so that should also help. Thanks for the help.

The Workout V.2

(varies = alternates between dumbell/barbell/cable, incline/decline/flat depending upon what machine is open and mood. Free weights always have priority over machines)

Monday (Back/Biceps)
Chinups (Assisted) 3x 10
Lat Pull Down 3 x 10
Standing Dumbbell Curl 3 x 10
Cable Seated Row 3x 10
Bent Over Dumbbell Row 3 x 10
Seated Barbell Preacher Curl 3 x 10

Wednesday (Chest/Triceps)
Bench Press 3 x 10 (varies)
Dips (assisted) 3 x 10
Skull Crusher or Tricep Machine 3 x 10
Fly 3 x 10
Tricep Pushdown 3 x 10


Friday (Shoulders/Legs)
Standing Upright Barbell Row 3 x 10
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press 3 x 10
Squats 3x10
Shrugs 3 x 15
Standing Dumbbell Lateral Lift 3 x 10
Machine Leg Curls 1 leg 3 x 10
Calf Press 3 x 15


One thing to add. I know that shoulders + legs is usually not recommended, but I don't have enough left to do shoulders any other day and it really doesn't seem to be affecting my leg workout. That being said I do feel like my leg workout might be a little weak.

Please forgive if it appears that I have disregarded anyone's opinion. I am really trying to evaluate all of the feedback I am given and make the best decisions on what I am presented with. I do value the knowledge here greatly.

Thoughts.