vschon07

could you guys critique my workout program? im comfortable with the exercises that im doing but im worried im risking injury bc of the volume.

im doing a split program of tris/back,bis/chest,legs/shoulders, each 2 a week
on the days i do tris/back and bis/chest i do a total of 8 exercises with 4 sets of each exercise. i keep my reps between 8-12 reps
on legs/sh day i do 12 exercises with 3 sets each.. reps also 8-12

im also doing 3 sessions of HIIT cardio, and 2 sessions of steady cardio (1 hr swimming) after weight training

my goals are pretty simple, im a female im 18 years old, 115 lbs. i like the weight that im at but id like to gain about 4 pounds of lean muscle. athletically i want to be as fit as i can (strong, in shape) and just overall as healthy as i can be.

i could post my routine w the exercises and weights that I do them at if it would be helpful

thanks

Built

Post up the whole routine please, yes.

And you're doing too much cardio! A little is a good thing, but please, down to a dull roar during a bulk!

vader

werd on that Built,I was gonna say tone down the cardio and maybe hit the lower body more if possble

vschon07

so 3 sessions of 20 min HIIT sound ok? i want to try and minimize gaining fat bc when i gain weight i store it easily around my midsection :S

Built

The presence or absence of cardio during a bulk will have no impact on fat gain - if you run a surplus, you gain and if you run a deficit, you lose. It's as simple as that. If you gain too fast, you're going to put on too much fat. For most unassisted males, 2 lbs of lean mass per month would represent VERY good gains, and will generally require about the same amount of fat-gain or it won't happen. Adjust your intake accordingly.

No disrespect intended toward you personally - you're asking good questions because you want this to work and for this you are to be commended. That being said, your routine sucks.

I'll go through the exercise choices first:

EXERCISE--------------------WEIGHT/SETS--------------REPS/SETS

TRIS/BACK
T: Dumbbell Kickbacks**avoid, embarrassing
T: Cable Pushdowns (bar)**harmless
T: Cable Pushdowns Y**also harmless
T: Lying Cable Pushdowns-** oh, enough already. Harmless.

B: Seated High Cable Row** is this an upright row? If so, dangerous, avoid
B: Close-Grip Lat Pulldown-** these are fine. Try them one arm at a time.
B: Dumbbell Pullover-** a good stretch.
B: Cable Pulldown (Machine)-** how is this different from lat pulldown?
LEGS/SHOULD
Q: Squat w/ med ball ** Squats are awesome. Not sure why you'd use a medicine ball...?
Q: Leg Extension ** avoid, possibly dangerous, more probably sub-optimal
F: Lying Leg Curl (Machine)** avoid, useless
F: Leg Abduction** avoid - embarrassing, and useless
F: Leg Adduction (pulley)** avoid - embarrassing, and useless
G: Walking Lunges w/ DB** These are EXCELLENT. I suggest using a barbell so you can use heavier weight. I do these with a 95-lb barbell.
G: Kickback (pulley)** avoid - embarrassing, and useless
G: Kickback (Machine)** avoid - embarrassing, and useless
C: Calf Raises (Machine)** these are fine. Pause for at least 3 seconds at the bottom of each rep.

(circuit)
S: Upright Row** avoid. Notorious for rotator cuff problems. Cleans are better.
S: Seated DB Military Press** these are fine, but do 'em standing.
S: Military Press (Mach)** avoid machines when possible.
BIC/CHEST
B: Alt. Dumbbell Curl (sitting)** these are fine, but do 'em standing
B: Hammer Curl** these are fine, but do 'em standing
B: Lying Cable Curl** why bother?
B: Single Arm Cable Curl** again, how much bicep work do you want, anyway?
C: Dumbbell Flyes**good for a stretch. Do 'em at the end of your pec workout
C: Bench Press-** these are good
C: High Cable Crossovers** these are fun if you like to look at yourself. If you're hot, kindly take your shirt and pull it up behind your head so you look all sexy and shit. And yes, I actually saw a guy do this at my gym once. And yes, he was totally freaking hot. I laughed anyway.
C: Low Cable Crossover-** do one or the other. Both just seems silly.

vanessa5691

thanks for the comments built!
just one more question, as far as volume goes.. how does this look?
would it be better if i cut down to 3 sets for each excercise? it usually takes me about an hour and a half to go through each workout, and I heard that lifting over an hour is detrimental?

just want to clear that up.. thanks

Built

I try to keep my rep-ranges in the 5-12 range, and my total sets under about 25 for a workout.

If you do that, you'll see that you'll have room for something like two heavy 5X5 compounds (say bench and deads), two accessory 3X8s (incline db bench, split squats), and possibly one or two 2-3X12s (flyes, walking lunges), plus some add-ons (bit of core work, bit of direct arm or calf work).

Whole thing shouldn't take you an hour.

What is your diet like? You know the gains are made in the kitchen, right?

danzik17

One thing I didn't see Built mention is you need to drop all of this isolation work. Seriously, all of it. You are going to grow more from heavy compound (multiple joint) exercises than you ever will from doing isolation. You should also seek to drop all of your machine work and replace it with free weights - machines promote unnatural movement patterns and don't work stabilizer muscles as free weights will.

For example, barbell rows and chinups will stimulate more bicep growth than curls ever will. Ever. They also have the nice effect of working out many muscles at once

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Built

^ Agree completely. What I posted implied that, since by following that protocol you'll do little to no isolation work, but it probably wasn't stated strongly enough.

Protheus

If I only needed 4 pound of muscle I would do the following routine twice weekly.

1. Full Squat or Leg Press (pref. squat if u can)
2. Stiff Leg Dead Lift
3. Dips
4. Chins

A warm-up set and 1 or 2 hard working sets (to failure or near to failure) in good form in a 6-10 rep range should pack your required mass on in no time.

You are doing way, way too much and, as noted above, ditch the isolation exercises.

From a recent study I came across (a review of the literature) it would seem training a muscle 3 times per week offers little or no advantage over twice a week.

http://www.hh.se/download/18.3322f6e...-Frequency.pdf

CowPimp

Indeed. Some isolation is okay, but get in the basic compound work you need, and add a little bit of isolation work for weak points as needed. Maximize your time in the gym, don't waste a bunch of it by doing fufu work.

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biggfly

So Built when you recommend standing instead of seated, as in military DB presses or DB curls, are you just trying to get the core involved as well. Wanting to maximize the exercise's benefits by standing and making one's core work to stabilize as well as the intended primary focus of the movement?? I assume that is the emphasis on standing right??

Built

Pretty much.

The reason I started doing them that way wasn't "to activate core" in particular though - I have a lower spine abnormality, a grade 1 anterolisthesis of L-5 over S-1 to be precise. It acted up very badly on me a few years ago and I had to change a few things in my training, one being seated pressing. I noticed it hit my lower back in a rather unpleasant way when I did any vertical pressing movements while seated - but standing I was fine. It has since occurred to me that my core gets more work this way anyway, so I tend to promote it as an easy way to work core without having to do much direct ab work.