Help with my routine please

Gaz

Hi guys,

Ive been slowly but surely refining and tweaking my routine, can you please take a look at it and tell me what you think/offer advice ?

Monday: Back/biceps/shoulders
Tuesday: Legs/core
Wednesday : Rest
Thursday : Chest/Triceps
Friday: Rest
Saturday: back/biceps/shoulders
Sunday: Legs/core

Im currently doing the following, with 3 sets of 8 (failing on or near 8th)

Back: Bent over rows, barbell rows, seated rows
Biceps: Barbell curls, Preacher Curls, Concentration curls, hammer curls
Chest: Bench press, incline dumbbell bench bress, flys, dips
Triceps: Dumbbell extentions, close grip bench press, skull crushers
Shoulders: Barbell shoulder press, Front raise, upright row

Legs and core are a mix of leg press , squats and machines for quads/hamstrings

Thanks guys !

Transform

Whats your weight, height, goals, and what weights are you currently lifting i.e. on barbell curls, dumbbell bench etc

Laslo

I'm assuming that you're trying to get humongous then if you're only doing sets of 8 reps? Personally I get much more gain if I bring my reps UP to 12 or 15! Unless your muscle endurance is already in peak condition.

Esse85

3 exercises is more than enough for biceps

Why are you not doing deadlifts for your back?

AlphaMale 3OO

3x8 is fine. your obviously exerting yourself to the max by lifting as heavy as you can go. think of it this way: you need to lift heavy to get big. you will never lift your heaviest doing 15 reps in a set. 15 can work but you need to strike a balance between weight and reps hence 3x8. ive got my legs huge by doing 3x6 on deadlifts at around 200kg. why? because i was taxing the muscle and recruiting fast twitch fibres. thats all thats required. there is a place for high reps. but i would stick to what works for you. 3x8 at my heaviest each time certainly works for me.

Laslo

Well yeah, I suppose it's whether you want to get big or look good. If you're going to do sets of 8 reps be absolutely sure that you've got your diet and lifestyle to a tee.

Gaz

Im 6ft and 80kg , im looking to build muscle and lower my body fat. I also do cardio 3 times a week after a weights session. Im getting there slowly but surely and im definitely seeing gains on my arms.

Im only at this about 3 months and still trying to come up with a workout plan ... im fairly happy with what ive got but just want to make sure its ok.

Im currently lifting 25kg on barbell curls (started at 12.5 ! ), bench press is 90kg , leg press is 160kg

I havnt been doing deadlifts because ... well i wasnt quite sure where to put them in the routine as ive never done them before.

My diet is clean, to feckin clean ... im getting terrible cravings for junk !

Transform

Laslo wrote:

Well yeah, I suppose it's whether you want to get big or look good. If you're going to do sets of 8 reps be absolutely sure that you've got your diet and lifestyle to a tee.

That is the most rediculous statement i have heard in ages!!!

So what you are saying is that if you are doing sets of 8reps or below then you diet should be better than if you were doing 15reps?

Please explain?

Finally, darth homer - never put up a leg press current lift as significant, squat, deadlift yes leg press noooooooooooooo!

Whats your current body fat%

Laslo

Transform wrote:

That is the most rediculous statement i have heard in ages!!!

So what you are saying is that if you are doing sets of 8reps or below then you diet should be better than if you were doing 15reps?

No, I'm saying that if you're going for heavy lifts and low reps then in order to maintain any kind of aesthetic, you need to watch your diet more. Do you disagree? As opposed to being ridiculous, it's something I've learnt from extensive experience TBH.

AlphaMale 3OO

Laslo wrote:

No, I'm saying that if you're going for heavy lifts and low reps then in order to maintain any kind of aesthetic, you need to watch your diet more. Do you disagree? As opposed to being ridiculous, it's something I've learnt from extensive experience TBH.

With the greatest of respect, I myself would have to disagree. 8 reps has been my stable all my training life and has never failed me. physically im looking good. i believe there are various methods to training and i dont think your explicitly wrong but I dont believe that my diet should be any better than yours because i do less reps in a set. im taxing the muscles for 50 mins, 4 times a week. thats sufficient.

Esse85

Darth Homer wrote:

I havnt been doing deadlifts because ... well i wasnt quite sure where to put them in the routine as ive never done them before.

!

Drop the bent over rows and do deadlifts here. You cant afford not to do these. This is the best exercise you can do for the back.

Laslo

forbesii wrote:

With the greatest of respect, I myself would have to disagree. 8 reps has been my stable all my training life and has never failed me. physically im looking good. i believe there are various methods to training and i dont think your explicitly wrong but I dont believe that my diet should be any better than yours because i do less reps in a set. im taxing the muscles for 50 mins, 4 times a week. thats sufficient.

I'm sure it is sufficient but you *may* not have the same muscle density/ability to burn fat so your diet would probably need to be more considered.

juanveron45

laslo that has to be one of the biggest myths about bodybuilding and fitness in general, that low reps are for getting big and high reps are for losing fat.How a person looks is almost 90-100% down to how clean ones diet is, in fact lifting heavy is better than high reps what ever your goal is because it helps you maintain what muscle you have when your on a calorie deficet to lose fat.

Most people think that high reps are for tone and low reps are for muscle the fact of the matter is being toned means being lean and the lower your bf% is the more toned you will be

Gaz

Tranform: My body fat is at 15.5%, from 17.5 when i started in the gym .... was 26% !!! 2 years ago.

Transform

Program needs basic movements and aim for 4 days weights and either do cardio at the end or on other days even for just 30mins (intervals).

Use more compound lifts for your main muscles and no more than 2 exercises for triceps, rear delts or biceps.

E.g. Chins are better than bent over rows
Squats better than leg press etc

I would change that program after about 6 weeks any way. Please suggest what you think your current program should now look like based on advice so far.

honeymonster

I found doing 10 - 14 reps to be more beneficial. Also you might try doing arms on one day and chest on a separate day. A gym instructor pointed out that because when u do chest exercises such as dumbell press its uses triceps so you might be a bit wrecked when you go to exercise that part of your arm.

Also make sure your eating a lot if you wanat to build up, this was my biggest problem. And i thought its just ****ing weights around the place

newby.204

Just my two cents, while in recruit training, i ate like a horse average daily diet

breaky; fry cereal toast(x3) o.j. tea
lunch; spag bol bread(x4) fruit
dinner; lasagne more bread(the dreaded white stuff) desert fruit
supper; soup and sambos
latenight snack; pizza(take away)

on top of all this the bar machines ate about €5 off every member of my platoon everyday!!!

now before im verbally assasinated by every member of the board , one morning i had managed to get myself 295 push ups before 11am. If any one wishes to question this as BS ask anyone you know in the army if anyone can bring this on themselves in training!!

Its about intake and usage, i could eat all that and lose weight and then gain it back in muscle because if i ate it i used it end of

just my two cents!!!

PeakOutput

anything you get in the mess will be carefully prepared to fullfill the average soldiers daily energy requirement. the food from army chefs tends to be quite decent i found and you get exactly what you need at the right times

edit; if it matters i was not in the pdf only the rdf so my experience is from a few camps with the rdf

Gaz

Thanks for the advice so far guys ... how about his ?

Monday: Back/biceps/shoulders
Tuesday: Legs/core (mainly compound lifting)
Wednesday : Rest
Thursday : Chest/Triceps
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Legs/Core (mainly compound lifting)
Sunday: Cardio

And maybe the occasional bit of cardio after a weights session ?

Laslo

juanveron45 wrote:

laslo that has to be one of the biggest myths about bodybuilding and fitness in general, that low reps are for getting big and high reps are for losing fat.How a person looks is almost 90-100% down to how clean ones diet is, in fact lifting heavy is better than high reps what ever your goal is because it helps you maintain what muscle you have when your on a calorie deficet to lose fat.

Most people think that high reps are for tone and low reps are for muscle the fact of the matter is being toned means being lean and the lower your bf% is the more toned you will be

I agree, diet is the most important part of keeping your bodyfat down but personally I find tearing the muscle down with higher reps gives me better definition and aesthetic. My point being that only ever going up to 8 reps per set won't give you the kind of cuts that, say, Fitness 4x4 lifters achieve. To say that aesthetic is 100% down to diet is nonsense TBH.

davyjose

newby.204 wrote:

Its about intake and usage, i could eat all that and lose weight and then gain it back in muscle because if i ate it i used it end of

just my two cents!!!

I definitely agree with you to a huge extent - I remember watching TV show about some guys rowing the atlantic, and their diets would have been - at first glance - even more unhealthy than the one you described, but this was purely for fuel. In terms of physique (or muscle vs bodyfat) I'm not sure it would be an ideal diet.

AlphaMale 3OO

Laslo wrote:

I agree, diet is the most important part of keeping your bodyfat down but personally I find tearing the muscle down with higher reps gives me better definition and aesthetic. My point being that only ever going up to 8 reps per set won't give you the kind of cuts that, say, Fitness 4x4 lifters achieve. To say that aesthetic is 100% down to diet is nonsense TBH.

This is not 100% true. As I said earlier its got to do with the weight being lifted. On bench press I could probably do 70kg for 15 reps. But I can do 110kg for 8 reps. That heavier weight is damaging the muscle every bit as much as those 15 reps. Ask any advanced lifter and he'll say heavy lifting is the way to do it. Your method works for you, thats why I'm not outwardly critisising it, but it is no more effective than mid range reps with a higher weight. Lets be honest about it, at 15 reps your not lifting anywhere near your max are you?

Transform

Apples and oranges guys apples and oranges.

Darth vader if thats the best change you can come up with in regards to new program then keep reading more.

What about reps, sets, exercises etc

Finally, giving arms (biceps/triceps) its own day is the realm of those already in great shape or those well versed in designing programs i.e. doing arm days for a month period then changing again