Need help to revamp my routine

conor2469

hey guys,
I have been using this workout for 2 months now and seem to have plateaued, i haven't been making any progress. Could you have a look at it and perhaps suggest some alternative exercises to swap to get the ball rolling again?


Note: for each exercise I do 4 sets of 12,10 8 etc reps, i pause 1 minute between each set.


Monday: Back, shoulders and abs:


5 minute warm-up on cross trainer


wide grip pulldowns:

one arm dumb-bell rows:

seated cable rows:


seated dumb-bell press:

lateral raise:


10 mins of various abs/oblique exercises


5 minute cooldown on crosstrainer.



Wednesday: arms, chest and abs


Same five min warm-up


Dumb-bell curls:

Barbell curls:

cable rope pushdown:

tricep kickbacks:


bench press:

incline bench press:

dumb-bell flyes:


same abs routine.


same cooldown routine.

Any tips or variations would be much appreciated.
Regards.

EileenG

When do you do legs and back?

Those are essential, even if you are only interested in t-shirt muscles.

Add in legs and back, and concentrate on squats and deadlifts.

On Monday, build your routine round pull-ups, bentover barbell rows and military press. Do the heavy lifts first, then move to dumbbell press and lateral raise.

On Wednesday, start with heavy benching first, then dips, and finish with DB curls etc.

Friday - SQUATS.

Try doing some HIIT as well, maybe on non-lifting days. Go flat out for 30 seconds (I mean, balls-to-the-wall, everyone stares at your because you sound like you're about to explode) flat out, then do 60 seconds slow to recover, and repeat. Try different cardio machines, like the bike or rower as well as the cross trainer.

Tonto86

EileenG wrote: »

Try doing some HIIT as well, maybe on non-lifting days. Go flat out for 30 seconds (I mean, balls-to-the-wall, everyone stares at your because you sound like you're about to explode) flat out, then do 60 seconds slow to recover, and repeat. Try different cardio machines, like the bike or rower as well as the cross trainer.

+1 on this.

When i used to do HIIT people in the gym looked at me as if i was "special"


Google stronglifts, I'm 3 weeks into the routine and my progress has shot up

Also, make sure your eating right and enough. Without fuel to build muscle ya aint gonna get any muscle

Mellor

start with the biggest and hardest lifts, you want to be 100% for these.
So;

Bench first on chest day.

Military or overhead press first on shoulder day.
Pull-ups

Include a leg day.

conor2469

Sorry for the confusion guys, friday is legs day but I never bothered including it because I am still making good gains in that area, Its the upper body area I have ceased to progress. I also do kickboxing which keeps my legs well exercised.

I felt that my exercises on Monday were enough to target my back muscles, the pulldowns and rows. Would another exercise be more efficient?

Ok i will adapt it and go for the biggest, most strenuous lifts first and then move on to smaller, focused exercises.
I will look up military press, squats and stronglifts and swap these into my routine.

I am happy with my current diet, It allowed me to make gains over the previous months so I assume it is still ok?

Transform

you will NOT get into the best shape possible with out some leg work - at the very minimum a deadlift or squat.

You do not need alternative exercises as you asked for as its like moving deck chairs on the titanic.

You need to work hard on the basics more, of which you have very very little. You are not even doing pull ups/chin ups man yet you have room for 2 biceps exercises.

No need some serious schooling on the basics

this might help -

http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/maximum-muscle-%e2%80%93-the-new-rules-for-gaining-lean-rock-hard-muscle/

conor2469

Hi,
thanks for the link, I will give it a look. I have taken the squats and deadlifts onboard and will be encorporating into my routine. Upon reading your advice I have swapped 1 bicep exercise for chin-ups and have added pull-ups to my Monday routine. I might start a fitness log on here to chart my progress. Up until now all I have done is scribble my previous workouts lifts on a piece of paper.