advice on my routine

here to be trained

Hi,

6ft
16.5stone
30
male

Aim is to get to 14 stone, be stronger, lean, muscular with low BF%. Am in good enough shape as have been good and active for the last good while but have fallen down on the food side of things (am generally fine during the week - but once the weekend hits its a free for all). I end up undoing the good work done during the week which is annoying as I have plateu'd from a weight point of view for the last while. I have decided to make a concerted effort to cut out the junk at the weekends (no more beer/crisps/chocolate/biscuits) for the next while - this should help me loose some of the weight.

Currently doing the following:

Monday: Cardio (Burn 1200 cals approx)
Tuesday: Resistance Workout (Burn 800 cals approx)
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Cardio (Burn 1200 cals approx)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cardio (Burn 1200 cals approx)
Sunday: Resistance workout (Burn 800 cals approx)

- Cardio workout typically includes cross trainer followed by spin class (both HIIT) and I burn alot of calories

- Resistance workout is as follows:

3 sets by 15 reps with 10kg dumbbells of the following (the order would vary) - wouldnt do lunges after squats for example and all are done with dumbbells. Would have very little rest between each exercise as I want to keep the intensity high.
Front press
Standing shoulder press
Upright Row
Bicep Curls
Half Curls
Press Ups
Tricep Dips
Front Raises
Side Lat Raises
Front Lat Raises
One arm tricep extensions
Squats (with dumbbells by my side)
bench press with dumbbells (can do 15kg for this one)
Lunges (15 each leg)
For both cardio and resistance I warm up 5 mins before hand and warm down afterwards for 5 mins together with stretches. I would try to do 100 situps after each workout (cardio & resistance). I wear a heart rate monitor which is handy for the calorie count.
I would like constructive advice on this - is it a good routine? could it be better? I feel I am getting to the point where I could up the resistance to 12.5kgs for the above resistance workout - is this the way I should go, then move it up another 2.5kgs and so on?
Lots of info there people so hopefully I will get lots of replies.

Thanks :-)

Mellor

Lots of info there which is good, and you are also aware that you need to brush up on your diet, which is almost always the first point of call.

so a few quesions, observations;

1. What is your current typical days diet, include everything, inc liquids.
2. how long are you spending on cardio and how are you calculating the 1200 cals, you may be over estimating here, even with the HRM
3. For resistance training, bigger compound lifts with bigger weights will burn more cals than endless curling and isolation excercises

the weekend is a big hinderance, its the same for me, I spent a lot of time on the beer which is my biggest downfall. The odd weekend off is a big help, 12 days of being strict and a weekend to 'relax' will have a much better return than 5 days on 2 days off twice

here to be trained

Typical day’s diet as follows:

Breakfast: 2 weetabix with low fat milk, 2 slices of brown bread toast, flora and marmalade, cup of tea, 500ml of OJ

Break: Banana

Lunch: Brown bread sandwich/roll with chicken, bacon, lettuce, onion, cheese (would vary day to day

Dinner: a normal dinner, always home made. Normal meaning korma, spag bol, chicken with salad and spuds, fish meals.

Generally no evening snack

I drink loads of water through the day (at least 2 litres).

I would have desserts on Fri/Sat/Sun.

For the 1200 cals I would spend approx 25 mins on the cross trainer followed by a 45 min spin class.

I have been building up my strength and would hope to move up to 12.5kgs in the next couple of weeks – how does this sound, what about the routine I am doing – how does that look? Should I vary it a bit more?

Thanks.

Giggipaws

Hi there,
Here is my quick analysis: I first had a look on your strength workout, which muscle groups you train, weights you use and sets/reps:

---

Front press – barbell military press?? - shoulders (delts)
Standing shoulder press – shoulders (delts)
Upright Row (shoulder, trap, biceps)
Bicep Curls (biceps)
Half Curls – that's the name of abdos exercise, but something tells me that you meant something else
Press Ups – (shoulders, triceps, chest)
Tricep Dips (triceps, shoulders)
Front Raises (shoulders, traps)
Side Lat Raises - (shoulders (deltoid))
Front Lat Raises - (shoulders (deltoid))
One arm tricep extensions - (triceps)
Squats (with dumbbells by my side) – quads, gluts, lower back muscles (secondary)
bench press with dumbbells (can do 15kg for this one) – chest, triceps
Lunges (15 each leg)- quads, gluts

---

From this you can see that you have total of 8 exercises for shoulder muscles, mainly deltoids! Then you have quite few for triceps and biceps.... very little for traps. You have two exercises for your quads and gluts.

---

I'd say this routine is out of balance. Why?

1. You have too much exercises for shoulder group which just makes these muscles tired, sore, prone to injury...
2. You have absolutely no exercise for your back muscles... that's gonna cause problems in the future (back pain) and rounded shoulders (stronger pectorals than your back muscles (rhomboids) will pull your shoulders forward and together, very ugly..out of proportions)
3. No exercise for lower legs - you should add e.g. calf raises...
4. No exercise for back of your thigh muscles (hamstrings) - again this will cause disproportion in your muscle mass and will cause problems in the future, e.g. back pain, knee pain, etc.

---

This is just very quick overview of the routine you do at the moment.
Last - but not the least - thing is that if your aim is to gain strength, then stop doing 3 set per 15 reps with 15kg, but do 5 sets per 8,6,4,2,1 rep with much higher weight!
What you are doing at the moment is somehow an endurance training - 3 times 15 kg, moderate weight.

---

Try to have 1-2 good exercises for each muscle group, do it well, good technique, the last rep with maximum effort, higher weights - that's my recommendation

Be well and good luck
Giggipaws

here to be trained

does anyone else have anything to add to this???