WFH Advice

RickyBobby1

Hey guys,

I have a programme here done out for me from a mate who is a PT but i have a few issues with it so just looking for an outsiders opinion.

I am a big dude 6ft 4 and 18 stone and around 22% bf so be nice to bring that down but not too bothered during the winter months.

My setup at home is decent.. i have a bench press, 100kg barbell set, power tower and dumbells but still finding im missing out on a few machines from the gym.

Also suffer with a bad lower back so i normally leave out deadlifts and i find chin ups tough (can do probably 3 sets of 4 reps max) also any alterntive of glute bridges?

This is the programme below if anyone can advise what i could put in or leave out be much appreciated.

Full Body Workout

Day 1 Sets Reps Rest

Bench Press 3 10-12 90sec

Goblet Squat 3 10-12 90sec

Good Mornings 3 10 90sec

Bent Over Row (band or weight) 3 8 90sec

Lateral Raises 3 10 90sec

Bicep Curls 3 10-12 Superset

Tricep Dips 3 10-12 Superset

Day 2 Sets Reps Rest

Alt. Lunges 3 8 e/s 90 sec

Decline Push Ups 3 12 90 sec

RDL's 3 8 90 sec

Reverse Flys 3 10 90sec

Plank 3 30 sec 15 sec

Bicycle Crunches 3 30 sec 30 sec

Day 3 Sets Reps Rest

Deadlift 3 10 90 sec

Pull Ups/ Inverted Row 3 6-8 90 sec

Glute Bridges (bodyweight or weighted) 3 12 1min

Weighted Push Ups 3 12 90 sec

Shoulder Press 3 12 90 sec

Hammer Curls 3 10-12 Superset

Tricep Extensions (band or weight) 3 10-12 Superset

Alf Veedersane

The deadlift as an exercise isn't the issue if it affects your lower back. You could always take the opportunity to address the technique that is giving you an issue with your lower back.

What's the problem with glute bridges that you want to replace them?

Mellor

If lower back is an issue I’d leave out good mornings before deadlifts.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

What's the problem with glute bridges that you want to replace them?

Was going to as this also. Good exercise imo

RickyBobby1

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The deadlift as an exercise isn't the issue if it affects your lower back. You could always take the opportunity to address the technique that is giving you an issue with your lower back.

What's the problem with glute bridges that you want to replace them?

Yes like most excerises but it is one that can effect the lower back quite easily and I don't want to take a chance with my condition.

I'm looking for an alternative excerises to the glute bridge as it's not one I enjoy or am very good at

RickyBobby1

Mellor wrote: »

If lower back is an issue I’d leave out good mornings before deadlifts.


Yeah good mornings I find tough so looking at that as well

Alf Veedersane

Do you have a particular back issue that you're conscious of trying not to aggravate?

If deadlifts are going to be an issue, then so are good mornings and RDLs. It may just be the weight that's the issue so strip it back and do the exercise if the back issue allows.

You don't have to use a weight with hip bridge. Elevate your feet and do bodyweight. Progress to single legs. They're not difficult to do properly and they're an effective exercise so worth doing them imho.

RickyBobby1

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Do you have a particular back issue that you're conscious of trying not to aggravate?

If deadlifts are going to be an issue, then so are good mornings and RDLs. It may just be the weight that's the issue so strip it back and do the exercise if the back issue allows.

You don't have to use a weight with hip bridge. Elevate your feet and do bodyweight. Progress to single legs. They're not difficult to do properly and they're an effective exercise so worth doing them imho.

Yeah my spine is curved at the bottom i recently found out! I hurt it badly doing bent over row with a barbell about year and half ago, hasnt felt right since.
I am going to practice deadlifts with just barbell here today with no weights and see if any pain.
Looking at videos of the glute bridge...think your right might be a good one so will give that a go as well.
Yeah im doing the good mornings with a plate with not much issue besides a slight twinge but i take it easy then.
What do you think of the programme? Would you add anything else in?
Im not a beginner , heading to the gym for a good solid 3 or 4 years consisently. The WFH i find tough to come up with ideas.
The pullups are an issue as well as i can only do 3/4 reps with 4 sets

Alf Veedersane

RickyBobby1 wrote: »

Yeah my spine is curved at the bottom i recently found out! I hurt it badly doing bent over row with a barbell about year and half ago, hasnt felt right since.
I am going to practice deadlifts with just barbell here today with no weights and see if any pain.
Looking at videos of the glute bridge...think your right might be a good one so will give that a go as well.
Yeah im doing the good mornings with a plate with not much issue besides a slight twinge but i take it easy then.
What do you think of the programme? Would you add anything else in?
Im not a beginner , heading to the gym for a good solid 3 or 4 years consisently. The WFH i find tough to come up with ideas.
The pullups are an issue as well as i can only do 3/4 reps with 4 sets

I hurt myself once upon a time doing RDLs but the issue the day it happened was I had loaded it too much. Not a Hail Mary day as such but after a break of 10 days of no sleep and poor recovery, i continued the programme I was on and that was a bad idea. Spent a few months rehabbing that. Got muscle twinges every so often for a few years but primarily when I had done deadlifts or RDLs with loose technique.

It looks solid enough to me. There's always an argument for doing more pulling exercises but it's not unbalanced.

Black Sheep

It's not a bad program although I think the exercise selection is a bit idiosyncratic.

I wouldn't bother with goblet squats, for example, if you have access to a bar and could be doing something like a front squat, back squat etc. As you're quite a big guy I presume 100kg is not a significant weight for you to be working with on squats after 3-4 years training so you might have to consider doing paused squats or slowing the tempo, or doing high rep sets, but all are still better options for main exercises than goblet squats in your situation.

A guy your size would need a massive weight to do goblet squats to make them worthwhile. I have a 32kg kettlbell and to be honest I could be doing 5x20 with it and it's more an exercise in conditioning than strength, it's not very efficient.

If you don't have a rack or squat stands I would still rather power clean the bar up and do some barbell squat variation in lieu of the goblet squats.

Same with the decline push ups and weighted push ups... Why would you do these for the reps indicated, and load them up to increase difficulty if you have access to a bar and weights? Standing press, bench press, incline bench, z press, all better options that would allow you to progress incrementally much more easily.

As far as pull ups goes, if you want to improve your numbers then you could consider trying something like "grease the groove" to try to improve your numbers by performing them throughout the week.

In general I think if you have a low back issue you should still be squatting and deadlifting, and proceed on the basis of doing what you can while monitoring for worsening of your back situation. With a program like this that would have you doing low sets for high reps ... It's not a great fit, to be honest, I would probably rather see you doing 3x5 or 5x5 or a top set of 5-8 and then back-off sets or something like that, but whatever you think you can make work best.

In general the program is a kind of old school bodybuilding program like one you'd see from Dave Draper. It's quite low volume and if you're going to only be doing 3x10 on some of those movements then you better really be training quite intensively to be actually progressing. Did your mate give you any advice on how you're to progress in terms of adding weight to the bar on this program?

RickyBobby1

Black Sheep wrote: »

It's not a bad program although I think the exercise selection is a bit idiosyncratic.

I wouldn't bother with goblet squats, for example, if you have access to a bar and could be doing something like a front squat, back squat etc. As you're quite a big guy I presume 100kg is not a significant weight for you to be working with on squats after 3-4 years training so you might have to consider doing paused squats or slowing the tempo, or doing high rep sets, but all are still better options for main exercises than goblet squats in your situation.

A guy your size would need a massive weight to do goblet squats to make them worthwhile. I have a 32kg kettlbell and to be honest I could be doing 5x20 with it and it's more an exercise in conditioning than strength, it's not very efficient.

If you don't have a rack or squat stands I would still rather power clean the bar up and do some barbell squat variation in lieu of the goblet squats.

Same with the decline push ups and weighted push ups... Why would you do these for the reps indicated, and load them up to increase difficulty if you have access to a bar and weights? Standing press, bench press, incline bench, z press, all better options that would allow you to progress incrementally much more easily.

As far as pull ups goes, if you want to improve your numbers then you could consider trying something like "grease the groove" to try to improve your numbers by performing them throughout the week.

In general I think if you have a low back issue you should still be squatting and deadlifting, and proceed on the basis of doing what you can while monitoring for worsening of your back situation. With a program like this that would have you doing low sets for high reps ... It's not a great fit, to be honest, I would probably rather see you doing 3x5 or 5x5 or a top set of 5-8 and then back-off sets or something like that, but whatever you think you can make work best.

In general the program is a kind of old school bodybuilding program like one you'd see from Dave Draper. It's quite low volume and if you're going to only be doing 3x10 on some of those movements then you better really be training quite intensively to be actually progressing. Did your mate give you any advice on how you're to progress in terms of adding weight to the bar on this program?

Thanks Blacksheep, good advice there.

I stopped doing squats for the last year as well with my dodgy back but im thinking of going back with lighter weights now.

I have a flat bench but no rack unfortunately! Im not rigid with the programme..for example with alot i would do 4 sets..esp on the bench as i am very strong there.

Yeah i have being doing pullups most days and progressed from only barely doing 1 to 4 so good progress here.
He didnt say much about adding reps..just said work with it and see how you go

Esse85

What's your goal here?

Black Sheep

On the pull-ups, for a while not too long ago I could only do sets of 3-5 because of an elbow injury (long story). I know your issue isn't related to pain as a limiting factor but I get the impression you're wondering how to get more volume done and get numbers up in general.

The way I tended to approach it was to set a target of 25-30 pull-ups and just get it done in the workout. If it ended up being 10x3 then so be it.

Another option if you're at low reps would be to ladder your pull-ups. So do 1, rest for a few breaths, then do 2, rest again, then do 3, and then take a proper 1-2 minute rest period before repeating. Clustering your reps in this way usually means you get more volume in. You can also pyramid so you're going up as well as going down.

Then the other option is yeah, to do "grease the groove" / try to spread out increased pull-up practice and volume throughout the week.

I also hate to say it but pull-ups get dramatically easier when you're lighter. I have been lighter after heavy periods, and suddenly I was busting out high-rep pull-ups and dips as if I was a younger me. One way to improve any calisthenic is this way, if you're truly desperate.

RickyBobby1

Black Sheep wrote: »

On the pull-ups, for a while not too long ago I could only do sets of 3-5 because of an elbow injury (long story). I know your issue isn't related to pain as a limiting factor but I get the impression you're wondering how to get more volume done and get numbers up in general.

The way I tended to approach it was to set a target of 25-30 pull-ups and just get it done in the workout. If it ended up being 10x3 then so be it.

Another option if you're at low reps would be to ladder your pull-ups. So do 1, rest for a few breaths, then do 2, rest again, then do 3, and then take a proper 1-2 minute rest period before repeating. Clustering your reps in this way usually means you get more volume in. You can also pyramid so you're going up as well as going down.

Then the other option is yeah, to do "grease the groove" / try to spread out increased pull-up practice and volume throughout the week.

I also hate to say it but pull-ups get dramatically easier when you're lighter. I have been lighter after heavy periods, and suddenly I was busting out high-rep pull-ups and dips as if I was a younger me. One way to improve any calisthenic is this way, if you're truly desperate.

The way im doing it is similar...aim for 12 pullups but will try 15 next time and so on.
I am thinking of just doing pullups on my day off so im not wasting time on my sessions.

Yeah im 18stone..its a struggle haha!

RickyBobby1

Esse85 wrote: »

What's your goal here?

No real goal..more just to keep things ticking over while gyms are closed.

Could do with a small cut but in alll honesty my diets very good Monday to Friday and i have cut out all alchocol.
Will be looking at cutting carbs next year but right now im happy enough

Alf Veedersane

I've always liked this on pull up progression

RickyBobby1

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I've always liked this on pull up progression

Actually done these before!

Alf Veedersane

RickyBobby1 wrote: »

Actually done these before!

Did you find it helpful, out of interest?

RickyBobby1

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Did you find it helpful, out of interest?

Yeah the negatives def helped. I was barely able to do one chinup now i can do 2-3 wide ones and 4 close ones