Critique my workout program...

SnitchenBubs

Hey all, just looking for some opinions on a workout that I was thinking of starting, Im a beginner by the way with no real strength base yet.

It's called arnold's golden six, link here:

https://www.gym-talk.com/arnold-schwarzeneggers-golden-six-routine/

It's full body 3x a week but I was going to run it like this:

Squat 4 x 10
Bench Press 3 x10
Bent Over Row 3 x 10
Behind the neck press 4 x 10
chin ups Max
Bent knee sit ups 3-4 Max

Any opinions or advice?

Alf Veedersane

There's 20+ sets there and only 4 involving lower body...

SnitchenBubs

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

There's 20+ sets there and only 4 involving lower body...

I figured 4 x 10 on squats 3x a week was enough volume and frequency.

Brian?

Behind the neck presses are dangerous for the shoulders. Military press.

What Alf said+ You need to do a hip dominant lower body lift. Romanian deadlift or such.

Alf Veedersane

SnitchenBubs wrote: »

I figured 4 x 10 on squats 3x a week was enough volume and frequency.

But all of the other upper body stuff 3 x 10 and three times a week?

I don't think it's balanced is all I'm saying. Less than 20% is lower body.

And I'd also be wary of BTN presses. It can just put too much pressure on shoulders when a standard OHP would be sufficient.

SnitchenBubs

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

But all of the other upper body stuff 3 x 10 and three times a week?

I don't think it's balanced is all I'm saying. Less than 20% is lower body.

And I'd also be wary of BTN presses. It can just put too much pressure on shoulders when a standard OHP would be sufficient.

Yeah I see what you're saying, was also thinking of some sort of upper/lower that way legs could get a bit more work?

Alf Veedersane

SnitchenBubs wrote: »

Yeah I see what you're saying, was also thinking of some sort of upper/lower that way legs could get a bit more work?

If you think of it as a total of X sets across the three sessions in your week, pick exercises that give a balance to your week and lay it out accordingly.

So you could do 4 sets of squats in 2 sessions, 4 sets of bench in 2 sessions and 4 sets of bench in 2 sessions. That's 8 sets of each across three sessions. If you had a total of 60 sets across the week, that gives you 36 sets for accessory work - 12 sets as accessoris for each lift.

3 sets of four accessory exercises to complement the big 3.

That's just a back of the envelope suggestion

SSr0

Brian? wrote: »

Behind the neck presses are dangerous for the shoulders.

Ha.

Them lads in the Olympics must be doing it all wrong so.

Alf Veedersane

SSr0 wrote: »

Ha.

Them lads in the Olympics must be doing it all wrong so.

Yeah. Because they're the average gym goer with average gym goer shoulders.

The point is its a movement that can put shoulders in a compromised position and there are sager alternatives that don't have the same potential risk to shoulder health.

DylanJM

Tbh you could do much worse than to follow that program three times a week. The only thing really missing is a lower body pulling exercise i.e. deadlift. Personally I would drop the squat on day 2 and sub in deadlifts instead. So instead of squatting three days it would be squat-deadlift-squat. I also don't see much problem in doing a couple more upper body exercises than lower body. Upper body needs some more exercises as there's different planes of movement for each pull and push (i.e. horizontal and vertical) so if want to cover all the bases there will be some more upper body exercises just through that. If you want to add more lower body focus then just increase the number of sets or reps for the squats/deads. This program seems to just be about having a few basics exercise to hammer away at, adding in a bunch of assistance stuff is just over complicating it imo.

Also there's nothing inherently wrong with behind the neck presses.

Alf Veedersane

DylanJM wrote: »

Also there's nothing inherently wrong with behind the neck presses.

There's nothing wrong with them and they don't create shoulder issues, per se.

Bit I just think that they are something I'd rather have done a good bit of work on shoulder strength and stability before doing them. Not something I'd have recommended to a 'beginner'. That's all.

Mellor

SnitchenBubs wrote: »

It's called arnold's golden six, link here:

https://www.gym-talk.com/arnold-schwarzeneggers-golden-six-routine/

It's full body 3x a week but I was going to run it like this:

Squat 4 x 10
Bench Press 3 x10
Bent Over Row 3 x 10
Behind the neck press 4 x 10
chin ups Max
Bent knee sit ups 3-4 Max

Any opinions or advice?

The link you posted didn't have rows, but it's a good addition imo.
It also suggested military press behind the neck presses.

The glaring omission is a hip dominant lower body exercise.
My golden 6 would be;
Hip Dominant
Quad Dominant
Vertical Push
Vertical Pull
Horizontal Push
Horizontal Pull

By switching in rows, you are cover all that except hips. That's the last one I'd cut out tbh.

TRS30

Personally would switch sit ups for planks. I find them much better in giving me core strength then sit up ever did.

SnitchenBubs

Here is another program I was looking at:

http://bestgymprograms.com/jason-blahas-linear-hypertrophy-program/

Workout A has the Squat and choice of deadlift, this one look more balanced?

Mr. CooL ICE

SnitchenBubs wrote: »

Here is another program I was looking at:

http://bestgymprograms.com/jason-blahas-linear-hypertrophy-program/

Workout A has the Squat and choice of deadlift, this one look more balanced?

It is better.

Jason Blaha gets a lot of stick, but this and his ICF 5x5 are fine for beginners.

Transform

much better

Alf Veedersane

Nicolas Cage wrote: »

Jason Blaha gets a lot of stick, but this and his ICF 5x5 are fine for beginners.

If he could just STFU.

Mr. CooL ICE

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

If he could just STFU.

SnitchenBubs

Thanks for the replies I'll stick to the blaha one, seems more balanced alright.

Also I was wanting to do cardio with this routine, if I did say 30-40 minutes of liss cardio in the morning would it interfere with this program? id like to do cardio Monday-Friday while doing this workout 3 times a week, would that be too much and interfere with recovery? They'd be spaced well apart but id have to do the cardio first as I can only get to the gym in the evenings.

Brian?

SSr0 wrote: »

Ha.

Them lads in the Olympics must be doing it all wrong so.

Oly lifters have exceptional shoulder mobility. Far better than your average person.

I should have said they increase the risk of shoulder injury, which is more accurate than saying they are terrible for the shoulders.

For the purposes of advising the OP: do military presses as they’re less risky.

Brian?

SnitchenBubs wrote: »

Here is another program I was looking at:

http://bestgymprograms.com/jason-blahas-linear-hypertrophy-program/

Workout A has the Squat and choice of deadlift, this one look more balanced?

That’s a most sensible program.

My only concern is the lack of unilateral leg work.

Mellor

SSr0 wrote: »

Ha.

Them lads in the Olympics must be doing it all wrong so.

If you are doing heavy snatches and snatch balances/drops with heavy weight and have the strength/mobility for a double bodyweight front rack the nby all means.


But some goon in the gym doing BTN press because Arnie did, or elite oly lifters did it. LOL :pac:

Transform

Mellor wrote: »

If you are doing heavy snatches and snatch balances/drops with heavy weight and have the strength/mobility for a double bodyweight front rack the nby all means.


But some goon in the gym doing BTN press because Arnie did, or elite oly lifters did it. LOL :pac:

agree, its not the starting point for 99.9% of people

plus i might add that a program is useless without direction on correct form

fishy_fishy

Hi guys,

Rather than start my own thread about the same thing I thought I might just put this here?

I'm female, 53kg and not massively strong. I've started back in the gym after a long hiatus. I've done two sessions of:

Bench press with dumbbells 14kg 10 x 3
Goblet squat 12kg 10 x 3
Shoulder press 10kg 10 x 3
Deadlift (kettle bell) 16kg 10 x 3
Plank 3 times for 60 seconds each time (increasing time every session)

I plan to do this 3 more times this week, go up 2-4kg on each exercise, do that for a week and then go up a good bit and drop the reps to 6 per set.

My aim is to get strong. Toned and fit would be bonuses, but strong is my aim. I'm starting with high reps just to get used to doing the exercises.

I'd welcome critiques and suggestions.

Transform

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Hi guys,

Rather than start my own thread about the same thing I thought I might just put this here?

I'm female, 53kg and not massively strong. I've started back in the gym after a long hiatus. I've done two sessions of:

Bench press with dumbbells 14kg 10 x 3
Goblet squat 12kg 10 x 3
Shoulder press 10kg 10 x 3
Deadlift (kettle bell) 16kg 10 x 3
Plank 3 times for 60 seconds each time (increasing time every session)

I plan to do this 3 more times this week, go up 2-4kg on each exercise, do that for a week and then go up a good bit and drop the reps to 6 per set.

My aim is to get strong. Toned and fit would be bonuses, but strong is my aim. I'm starting with high reps just to get used to doing the exercises.

I'd welcome critiques and suggestions.

you're pressing twice yet no pull ups or rows - do those and wheres the core and mobility work?

Id add that doing the exact same program 3 times per week will be useful for 2 weeks only and then you'll need to build a proper 3-4 day per week program

LincolnHawk

If strength is your goal then a beginners strength training program is what you want. A linear progression built around the major compound movements. Something like:
Greyskull LP
Starting Strength
Stronglifts 5x5
Etc...

DareGod

I figured I should post in this thread rather than starting a new one. (?)

Could you please take a look at my current workout routine, and let me know if there's anything that jumps out at you as being something I should change / improve? I don't want to waste time doing unnecessary exercises, and I also don't want to neglect important ones due to ignorance.

For the past two years I've been doing three full-body workouts per week, as that's all my schedule would reasonably allow. Recently, however, I've switched to a push/pull split. I'm in my early 30's, at about 18% bodyfat, and at the moment I'm trying to lose bodyfat without losing muscle.

Monday:

DEADLIFT (regular) - 3 sets 8 reps
LAT PULLDOWN - 2 sets 8 reps
BARBELL ROW - 2 sets 8 reps

plus:

• ROMANIAN DEADLIFT - 2 sets 8 reps
• SIDE RAISES - 2 sets 8 reps
• REVERSE FLYES - 2 sets 8 reps
• BICEP CURL - 2 sets 8 reps

Tuesday:

FRONT SQUAT - 3 sets 8 reps
FLAT BENCH (barbell) - 2 sets 8 reps
INCLINE BENCH (barbell) - 2 sets 8 reps

plus:

• SHOULDER PRESS (dumbbells) - 3 sets 8 reps
• PEC FLYES (machine) - 2 sets 8 reps
• TRICEPS EXTENSION (standing, w/dumbbell) - 2 sets 8 reps
• CALVES - 2 sets 20 reps

Wednesday: REST

Thursday: Repeat of Monday
Friday: Repeat of Tuesday

Saturday: REST
Sunday: REST

This workout takes me about an hour and a quarter (after which I do a small amount of cardio) so I don't know how I could increase the quantity of sets without making the workout ridiculously long. I rest 3 minutes in between each compound set, and 2 minutes in between set for the accessory movement. I choose these longer rest periods so that I can lift heavier.

In order to drop bodyfat, I've reduced calories and increased movement.

Since my aim with weight training program is to maintain my current level of muscle and try to make sure I'm hitting all the main areas, is there anything that jumps out at you in my routine that I should be changing?

Any advice appreciated please! Cheers!