Revise my current workout

I need to adjust my program slightly. Would anyboby be able to fit this into 3 days instead of 4.

Workout 1
flat bench - 3 sets of 12
bent row - 3 sets of 12
incline dumbbell press - 3 sets of 12
1 arm row - 3 sets of 12
incline chest fly - 3 sets of 12

Workout 2
squat - 4 sets of 10
single leg curl - 3 sets of 10
deadlift - 5 sets of 8,6,4,3,2
leg extension - 3 sets of 15

Workout 3
chin up - 3 sets of 6
shoulder press - 3 sets of 12
wide grip lat pull down - 4 sets of 10
lat raises - 3 sets of 10
shoulder shrugs - 4 sets of 10

Workout 4
ez bar curls-3 sets of 12
1 arm preacher curls-3 sets of 12
signle arm pull downs -3 sets of 12
close grip bench - 3 sets of 12

That's my current programme.

Can I make it a 3 day split instead of 4 days and bring clean and press into it and drop the irrelevant ones. It's exceptionally difficult to go to the gym to for workout 4 which is primarily bicep curls.

I want an all round strength programme as opposed to a bodydbuilding one.

I'm new to the compounds as I came back from travelling in September, and went on to isolation exercises up to December to get my base strength back and am now ready to go into compounds mainly. I did do compound lifts before I went away travelling and was "OK" at them meaning I could lift my bodyweight however I wouldn't be at that level at the moment. (broken finger not helping :rolleyes:)

EDIT: And I want to start bring a crossfit workout into my training once a week also. I feel like I'm missing out by not doing one !!!!!!!!! Any ideas for a newcomer to crossfit?

I also do thai boxing twice a week which is quite intense and it definitely beats running on a treadmill. (I'm a terrible runner, I get bored quickly!!)

celestial

Deleted User wrote: »

I need to adjust my program slightly. Would anyboby be able to fit this into 3 days instead of 4.

Workout 1
flat bench - 3 sets of 12
bent row - 3 sets of 12
incline dumbbell press - 3 sets of 12
1 arm row - 3 sets of 12
incline chest fly - 3 sets of 12

Workout 2
squat - 4 sets of 10
single leg curl - 3 sets of 10
deadlift - 5 sets of 8,6,4,3,2
leg extension - 3 sets of 15

Workout 3
chin up - 3 sets of 6
shoulder press - 3 sets of 12
wide grip lat pull down - 4 sets of 10
lat raises - 3 sets of 10
shoulder shrugs - 4 sets of 10

Workout 4
ez bar curls-3 sets of 12
1 arm preacher curls-3 sets of 12
signle arm pull downs -3 sets of 12
close grip bench - 3 sets of 12

That's my current programme.

Can I make it a 3 day split instead of 4 days and bring clean and press into it and drop the irrelevant ones. It's exceptionally difficult to go to the gym to for workout 4 which is primarily bicep curls.

I want an all round strength programme as opposed to a bodydbuilding one.

I'm new to the compounds as I came back from travelling in September, and went on to isolation exercises up to December to get my base strength back and am now ready to go into compounds mainly. I did do compound lifts before I went away travelling and was "OK" at them meaning I could lift my bodyweight however I wouldn't be at that level at the moment. (broken finger not helping :rolleyes:)

My question the first is why do you have a workout that primarily involves bicep curls, question the second is how can you call that a workout, and question the third why not throw the curls into one of the other workouts?

I wouldn't squat and dead on the same day either - try bench + dead or better still squat + dead within the one workout.

corkcomp

Deleted User wrote: »

I need to adjust my program slightly. Would anyboby be able to fit this into 3 days instead of 4.

Workout 1
flat bench - 3 sets of 12
bent row - 3 sets of 12
incline dumbbell press - 3 sets of 12
1 arm row - 3 sets of 12
incline chest fly - 3 sets of 12

Workout 2
squat - 4 sets of 10
single leg curl - 3 sets of 10
deadlift - 5 sets of 8,6,4,3,2
leg extension - 3 sets of 15

Workout 3
chin up - 3 sets of 6
shoulder press - 3 sets of 12
wide grip lat pull down - 4 sets of 10
lat raises - 3 sets of 10
shoulder shrugs - 4 sets of 10

Workout 4
ez bar curls-3 sets of 12
1 arm preacher curls-3 sets of 12
signle arm pull downs -3 sets of 12
close grip bench - 3 sets of 12

That's my current programme.

Can I make it a 3 day split instead of 4 days and bring clean and press into it and drop the irrelevant ones. It's exceptionally difficult to go to the gym to for workout 4 which is primarily bicep curls.

I want an all round strength programme as opposed to a bodydbuilding one.

I'm new to the compounds as I came back from travelling in September, and went on to isolation exercises up to December to get my base strength back and am now ready to go into compounds mainly. I did do compound lifts before I went away travelling and was "OK" at them meaning I could lift my bodyweight however I wouldn't be at that level at the moment. (broken finger not helping :rolleyes:)

I would put the bar curls and arm pull downs from day 4 into day 2, and drop the others from day 4 . are you looking for strength only and no hypertrophy? if so, your doing a lot of reps, i would drop the reps to 5 and up the weight so you are pushed to complete 5 reps, other folks may have more constructive feedback thou!

It was a programme given to me but I'd like to focus more on compound lifting, inverted rows and ditch ALL bicep curls if possible.

InKonspikuou2

I cut out a lot of exercises as you seemed to have a bit too high volume and some of the exercises wouldn't have been too beneficial to you anyways. You also deadlifted after squats and some other exercise.

You should deadlift first and better off doing it on a day separate from squatting. No need to decline bench if you are straight benching. Go work on putting weight over your head.

You hit your quads hard when squatting so no need to do leg extensions after it. I think that leg curl is a hamstring exercise. So continue to do that if you don't want to do straight leg deadlifts or good mornings.

I got rid of the machine lat pull down work too. If you are doing bent over barbell rows you will be doing enough work for the lats. And no need for so much direct arm work. They get hit as secondary muscles in a lot of other movements.

The below would be a good 3 day program. If you want to build strength continue with the higher reps or try drop sets. Or you could just try 5x5 or 4x6 which has done a lot for me in both strength and size.

If you want to factor a clean and press into your routine you could drop the shoulder press. You are still doing the movement and using a lot of other stabilizing muscles too. Or you could probably do it on the third day.

Deleted User wrote: »

I need to adjust my program slightly. Would anyboby be able to fit this into 3 days instead of 4.

Workout 1
flat bench - 3 sets of 12
shoulder press - 3 sets of 12
close grip bench - 3 sets of 12


Workout 2
deadlift - 5 sets of 8,6,4,3,2
bent row - 3 sets of 12
ez bar curls-3 sets of 12 or any sort of curls.

Workout 3
squat - 4 sets of 10
Straight legged deadlifts or some kind of hamstring work.
Ab work


That's my current programme.

Can I make it a 3 day split instead of 4 days and bring clean and press into it and drop the irrelevant ones. It's exceptionally difficult to go to the gym to for workout 4 which is primarily bicep curls.

I want an all round strength programme as opposed to a bodydbuilding one.

I'm new to the compounds as I came back from travelling in September, and went on to isolation exercises up to December to get my base strength back and am now ready to go into compounds mainly. I did do compound lifts before I went away travelling and was "OK" at them meaning I could lift my bodyweight however I wouldn't be at that level at the moment. (broken finger not helping :rolleyes:)

d'Oracle

celestial wrote: »

I wouldn't squat and dead on the same day either - try bench + dead or better still squat + dead within the one workout.

Erm.....

corkcomp

d'Oracle wrote: »

Erm.....

LOL, its late, i was going to let that one off! i presume celestial meant squat + bench

Chris89

If you want to focus on the compounds you could just do puh and pull days,

all your deads, chins and rows on one day.

And your squats, bench and oh press on another.

Should I ideally have some isolation work ? I just assume compounds would be the best way to get stronger and would allow me to incorporate crossfit workouts once a week also.

Chris89

if youre just looking to get strong then you dont need isolations.

at the same time though if your training your bench, squat and deadlift then you could do isolations as accesories to those movements.

But no, theres no need for them.

InKonspikuou2

You can do the compound lifts and the only isolation you really need is bicep, shoulder, tricep and ab work. The one i posted above is split into push, pull and legs + abs.

Hanley

Chris89 wrote: »

if youre just looking to get strong then you dont need isolations.

at the same time though if your training your bench, squat and deadlift then you could do isolations as accesories to those movements.

But no, theres no need for them.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Try spending a year at an intermediate level not doing any isolation work. Let me know how your joints feel after that. Hell, spend 6 months doing it.

Chris89

Ive pretty much never done any isolation work except for when i first started out and hadnt a clue.

My joints feel fine?

Brian?

Deleted User wrote: »

Should I ideally have some isolation work ? I just assume compounds would be the best way to get stronger and would allow me to incorporate crossfit workouts once a week also.

I think you should always have some isolation work, the problem with your current program is that it has a day that is all isolation work.

I love a push, pull,off, push, pull, off program lately. Its the best way I can find to lift 4 days a week.

Hanley

Chris89 wrote: »

Ive pretty much never done any isolation work except for when i first started out and hadnt a clue.

My joints feel fine?

How long are you training?
How old are you?
What do you bench, squat and deadlift?
What do you weigh?
What do you consider to be isolation work?

Chris89

Hanley wrote: »

How long are you training?
How old are you?
What do you bench, squat and deadlift?
What do you weigh?
What do you consider to be isolation work?

-around 5 years
-Im 20
-I train for jiu jitsu now so pretty much all my weight training is as an accesory to that, kbells and bodyweight etc. but when i was just lifting for the sake of lifting i was benching 115, i never really maxed a squat but the heaviest i went was 145, and i could deadlift 200kg.
-I weigh 78kg now, i was around 82-83 back then.
-I consider isolation work to be any sort of movement with added resistance which isolates a single muscle.

I know youre a bit of a beast and all and ive seen your videos and i seriously repect your numbers and opinions, but ive never heard of joint problems coming from an absence of isolation work.

Hanley

Chris89 wrote: »

I know youre a bit of a beast and all and ive seen your videos and i seriously repect your numbers and opinions, but ive never heard of joint problems coming from an absence of isolation work.

You've never heard of muscular imbalances causing joint problems?

Chris89

Hanley wrote: »

How long are you training?
How old are you?
What do you bench, squat and deadlift?
What do you weigh?
What do you consider to be isolation work?

Hanley wrote: »

You've never heard of muscular imbalances causing joint problems?

I have of course.

Hanley

Chris89 wrote: »

I have of course.

And say you're having elbow trouble because you do tons of pressing and tricep work, what do you do to fix it?

Or if you're having knee trouble because your quads aren't firing correctly, or your hamstrings are too weak?

Anyway, this is wildly OT so I won't be responding anymore. But my basic point is this; everything has a place somewhere. You can't just say isolation work is useless for strength. If you're not able to train because you're carrying injuries cos you're neglecting simple things, then you're not getting stronger. Hell I could argue that bigger muscles = greater potential for strength once your CNS efficiency catches up.

Chris89

When i was lifting o followed a push pull plan.

Push exercises were flat bench, oh press, squat

Pull exercises were Deadlift, Pull/Chinup, Row or facepull.

I never did experience any imbalances.

Transform

Deleted User wrote: »

Should I ideally have some isolation work ? I just assume compounds would be the best way to get stronger and would allow me to incorporate crossfit workouts once a week also.

point number 1 - stop training like a bodybuilder if you want to be an athlete.

number 2 - go to crossfit in sandyford

number 3 - if you want to be better at MMA what do you need to do to become better at MMA i.e. overall conditioning, power exercises, stretching, mobility, improved strength etc

celestial

corkcomp wrote: »

LOL, its late, i was going to let that one off! i presume celestial meant squat + bench

Yep. You wouldn't believe how knackered I was last night!

OP, no need to split workouts up so much. Think of structuring them in terms of one or two big movements and three or four smaller ones (roughly) within the one workout. So, a big one like deadlift along with the likes of shoulder pressing, push-ups, etc. Then on another day go and squat or another big leg exercise and combine with benching, dips, one-arm rows etc. Then on day 3 you could look to mix it up a bit more with a real full-body workout with lots of push-ups, squats, burpees etc etc.

A combo of strength work with conditioning works great imo - maybe you did mention already but what are your goals?? That's obviously what you need to identify first to get some structure in place.

Also - isolation work has its place along with the bigger moves folks. Am always amazed at people leaving it out just cos it seems like the done thing to do based on what you read on here. Like a set of curls etc will take you maybe what, 8 minutes? You don't have 8 minutes?

TommyKnocker

Hi OP

Can't believe this has not been recommended already, but you stated in you first post that

• You want an all round strength program, not a body building focused one
• You wnat to get (back) into the compund movements
• You want a three day training week

Well then maybe you should look at

• Starting Strength (see http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki:Templates )
• Strong Lifts 5x5 (see http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/ )

Both of these programs are designed for strength gains, are done 3 days a week on alternate days (1 day on the 1 day rest) and focus on the compound lifts.

These are tried and tested programs and lots of folks have done these programs and made good strength gains.

You start with light weight and work up, increasing by 2.5kg or 5kg every workout. Starting with the lighter weight allows you to perfect your form before attempting heavy lifts.

Just my 2 cents worth.


Best Regards,

M

Chris89

No isolations in starting stength??

TommyKnocker

Chris89 wrote: »

No isolations in starting stength??

Hi Chris

Not strictly true. See http://www.startingstrength.net/workouts/ (bottom of page)

Additions to the Workouts

I’m quite confident to say that these additions will never come handy on this program, but should the need arise, you can add the following exercises to your weekly routine on Fridays only (or the last training day of the week). If you are just starting out new on this program, do not do these until 3 weeks into the routine. Trust me, these are really unnecessary and only here for the few people with exceptions.

• Parallel Bar Dips or Inline Skullcrushers (2 x 8-12)
• Barbell / Dumbell / EZ-Curls: (2 x 8-12)

There are no isolation exercises listed for Strong Lifts 5x5 either. However I am doing a modified version of strong lifts (I know, it's not strong lifts 5x5 if I modified it).

I took out the core exercises from each workout as I do a core routine on my off days, after my cardio workout and I added in Power Cleans to Workout A and I also do two work sets for Dead Lifts (I like Dead Lifting )

After workout A, I do some bicep exercises and after Workout B I do some tricep exercises, as my upper arms were one of the body parts I was most unhappy with.

I feel that this workout has helped me greatly and I am stronger, a little leaner and also a little bigger (muscle wise) then when I started this program at the end of July 2009.


Best Regards,

M

Chris89

Hi,

I was only messing.

I did starting strength too when i first started in the gym and pretty much kept with it in some shape or form until now.

Its great

I forgot to mention I was doing Starting Strength before I went travelling and found it brilliant, got me up to bodyweight levels of strength in the compounds.

So would that be cool to go back to that then ??? One thing is clear, don't have any interest in bodybuilding, I'm happy with my physique (size) I just want to get stronger and leaner.

My goals are to 1) get stronger (bodyweight strength in the main lifts squat, deads, bench) and 2) lose a few % of bodyfat, accumeasure says I'm 12%, electric yolk says I'm 15% - either way, it's too high for my liking and will be coming down.

On the off days I will be doing thai boxing twice a week and a bit of mountain biking here and there.

Ok how about this ?

Week A

Day 1
Squat 3x5
Bench press 3x5
Chin-ups: 3 sets, weight added so failure occurs at 5 to 7 reps

Day 2
Front Squat 3x5 OR Light Squat 2x5 (80% 5RM)
Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Day 3
Squat 3x5
Bench press 3x5
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure, unweighted

Week B

Day 1
Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure, unweighted

Day 2
Front Squat 3x5 OR Light Squat 2x5 (80% 5RM)
Bench press 3x5
Power clean 5x3 - Can I incorporate the full power clean and press here as opposed to just a power clean ?

Day 3
Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
Pull-ups: 3 sets, weight added so failure occurs at 5 to 7 reps

It's basically the "After Starting Strength Programme" taken from here: After Starting Strength - The Advanced Novice Programme

Edwardius

Deleted User wrote: »

Power clean 5x3 - Can I incorporate the full power clean and press here as opposed to just a power clean ?

You're pressing in the previous workout though! Dunno about this failure lark on pullups either, others may have a different experience but I make precisely zero progress training to failure on multiple sets.

Ok ok, i can just make clean and press in week one instead ???

Seriously no interest in this bodybuilding ****, I just want to get the compounds under my belt and work on my thai boxing. That's it. Simple.

Is that a solid prog then ???

Edwardius

Deleted User wrote: »

Ok ok, i can just make clean and press in week one instead ???

Seriously no interest in this bodybuilding ****, I just want to get the compounds under my belt and work on my thai boxing. That's it. Simple.

Is that a solid prog then ???

You just want to C&P don't ya ?! Will you not be short changing yourself though as your press will be a good bit lower than the clean (unless you're a pressing monster)? The program is most likely fine given who it comes from, as long as you fit into who it's aimed at i.e. advanced beginner. Just stick with it.

Hanley

Agreee w/ Ed. I don't see the point in clean and pressing tbh.

I know, I just love that exercise being honest

Plus I've read how it's an explosive all round exercise that is great for core etc. Seems to tie in with my hobbies.

What happens after this program ? Will i stick at it for 6 weeks and then progress along furhter ? What's after this ?

Edwardius

The explosive part is in the clean and you're gonna be doing power cleans and presses separately anyway so you'll get the benefits of both.

Re. time: Stick with for as long as you see progress. Start with low enough weights so that you don't stall out early. When you can't do the reps (could be 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 5 months, whatever) use the same weights for the following workout, if you can't hit the reps then, reduce the weights by 10-15% and work back up. When that stops working, I dunno (I haven't got to this point). I'm guessing if you want to keep the power cleans, this guy has some varaitions of the 5-3-1 scheme which includes power cleans before the 5-3-1 lifts, which might be to your liking. I'd have to defer to someone who's actually done the 5-3-1 stuff before though. Pick something and stick with it for as long as it works. Training ADD will kill your progress (that's something I do know).