My Poopy routine

[Subliminal]

Well I just started getting into weight training about a month ago and have been experimenting since then. I bought an ok weight set. It came with 160lbs if u included the bar. Well to get to the point I've been trying different things I've been reading and I am sort of confused on what to do. First I tried a routine of every other day, the same exercises each time. It got boring and It made me not look forward to lifting as much when I was alone. Well then I believe 2 weeks ago I made up a new routine and wanna see what you all think. Well first I guess you would wanna know the basics about me. Im only 5'4,17 years old and about 140lbs. I haven't really seen my max bench but I think the most I put up was all 160 about 5 times. Since I have no more weight I can't increase yet. Well my routine is I do 2 weeks of heavy+low reps, and then the next 2 weeks of light + high reps. I do sort of one muscle a day, except my leg stuff is mixed in. I try to do the reverse pyramid( I think thats what its called) but its like after my warm up I have to do a lighter weight before I can actually do well on a heavy one so im considering doing the regular pyramid.For example I'll do a warm up then move onto a weight I can do 10 times(for my light+high rep) be able to do it just barely 10 times and then after my short break I can do a higher weight the same amount of times and then it goes smooth from there. Is it because im not warming up good enough or what? My routine seperates every muscle, chest one day, shoulders,back, etc. My goal is mostly strength, but a little bit of show is good also. As far as progress goes everything has been going up fairly fast. Ummm well i keep all of my workouts on a log and if you all need to see them I can post em or show you on AIM. Thanks in advance.

 

[Sweep14]

Could you tell us your exact split? Like on what days you do back and chest and so forth?

 

[Yanick]

if you are primarily interested in strength, you should work with lower reps (1-3) on the lifts you are interested in increasing. Do something like 4-5 sets of singles, doubles, triples on like say squats, then go do hypertrophy work for the rest of your body (1-3 sets/exercise, 8-12 rep, 1 exercise a BP). Do that workout 3x/week, resting atleast 1 day between w/o's, and everyday switch the heavy lift (ie day 1-squat, day 2-bench, day 3-deadlift). I'm asuming you are interested in absolute strength, if you are looking for more power (for sports and junk), you have to incorporate fast movements, and oly-lifts etc.

Oh yeah, make sure you are working EVERYTHING in your body if you are looking for strength, like grip work, core work, calves, etc.

 

[P-funk]

Originally posted by Yanick
if you are primarily interested in strength, you should work with lower reps (1-3) on the lifts you are interested in increasing. Do something like 4-5 sets of singles, doubles, triples on like say squats, then go do hypertrophy work for the rest of your body (1-3 sets/exercise, 8-12 rep, 1 exercise a BP). Do that workout 3x/week, resting atleast 1 day between w/o's, and everyday switch the heavy lift (ie day 1-squat, day 2-bench, day 3-deadlift). I'm asuming you are interested in absolute strength, if you are looking for more power (for sports and junk), you have to incorporate fast movements, and oly-lifts etc.

Oh yeah, make sure you are working EVERYTHING in your body if you are looking for strength, like grip work, core work, calves, etc.

Good stuff. I would add to that, on the days where you are not doing your heavy lift. Lets say for day 1 you are doing you heavy squat day. I would do a speed (POWER) day for chest. Always start with your power exercises as the heavy (strength) exercises will compromise bar speed but the pwer exercises wont get inthe way of the strength to much since the weight is so submaximal. You would start with something like 8 sets of bench press with 70% of your 1RM and doing only doubles or triples with about 30 sec. rest inbetween. Bar speed is important here and if you aren't movin gfast enough then lower the weight. Then go to your yeay squats (3-5 min rest inbetween). I would then finish with some chinups and core work or maybe some light over head pressing and some bicep culrs to get the bicpes ready fo ryour next day were you bench heavy.

peace.

 

[Subliminal]

Confused

Thanks for the replys, but a couple questions. What are these "singles,doubles," etc. Im really new to all of this and have no idea what any of these terms mean. Especially hypertrophy? Currently I do Chest,Back,triceps,biceps,then shoulders in that exact order. I do 4 sets each and 3 different exercises for each muscle. Im trying to figure out how to fit in my leg exercises with the equipment I have. Thanks for the replies!

 

[P-funk]

singes= 1 rep
doubles= 2 reps

when I say do doubles I mean sets of 2's

hypertrophy= muscle growth

list your routine please. If you are doing total body it sounds like you are oding to much.

 

[Yanick]

Originally posted by P-funk
Good stuff. I would add to that, on the days where you are not doing your heavy lift. Lets say for day 1 you are doing you heavy squat day. I would do a speed (POWER) day for chest. Always start with your power exercises as the heavy (strength) exercises will compromise bar speed but the pwer exercises wont get inthe way of the strength to much since the weight is so submaximal. You would start with something like 8 sets of bench press with 70% of your 1RM and doing only doubles or triples with about 30 sec. rest inbetween. Bar speed is important here and if you aren't movin gfast enough then lower the weight. Then go to your yeay squats (3-5 min rest inbetween). I would then finish with some chinups and core work or maybe some light over head pressing and some bicep culrs to get the bicpes ready fo ryour next day were you bench heavy.

peace.

I knew you'd fill in the blanks

 

[Subliminal]

Practically everyday I do abs and cardio. 1st day is chest, 2nd is back third is triceps..etc as I posted before. I haven't really done anything for my legs yet which I know is very important but how do I split it up ? and should I just ditch this whole 5 day work out thing and just do a work out every other day? I usually work out for around 40 min and then do my cardio and abs. Do you want me to post specifics like what exercises and how many reps or w/e?

 

[Yanick]

Originally posted by Subliminal
and should I just ditch this whole 5 day work out thing and just do a work out every other day?

Our recommendations are above.

ab work is important but so is lower back, like hyperextensions and such (go take a look in P-funks journal for more core exercises).

 

[P-funk]

what ever split you use is fine, as long as it makes sense and you perodize your workouts in some fashion to allow for contiued progression.