Am I Doing Too Much Work?

Training Bodybuilding
1

Current Goal: Lean out to 8% bf. I’ve never been that lean before and I feel its time. The pics in my profile and avatar are older, but give a good representation of my physique. I am currently a little bigger and leaner than those pictures.

I think my diet is pretty dialed in, what I’m worried about is if I’m doing to much work in the gym. I have trouble walking to my car after sessions.(really) and today I had to cut my gym time short because my shoulders were so fried it was starting to become very painful.

Obviously I am calorie restricted, I follow JB’s nutrient timing system so I have carbs in my diet. I have been on the program for almost 2 weeks. My weights in the lifts have dropped which i was expecting with the drop in calories, but my weights have decreased since last week.

This is my program. Total body, Mon, Wed, Fri. 10x3 on all lifts except where noted. Lifts done in order shown.

mon: Clean and Jerk, Front Squat, Dumbell Bench Press, Romanian Deadlift, Chin ups**4 sets x failure

Wed: Back Squat, Dumbell Incline Bench Press, Standing Barbell Military Press, Seated Cable Rows, Dips** 4 sets x failure w/ 25lbs

Friday: Hang Clean(much heavier than c&j), Conventional Deadlift, Barbell Bench Press, Chin ups**4 sets x failure w/ 35lbs, Dumbell Military Press

I don’t know the percentage of maxes I use, but the weights are damn heavy. Am I doing more harm than good kicking my ass as hard as I am?

2

well, if i understand you correct, you do 44 sets each workout. Yes, that is too much - in my opinion, and that is all this is, 30 is a maximum volume of sets per workout.

3 days a week is low, but wouldnt make up for the volume IMO.

I would say a full body split, 5 -6 exercises of 4 sets each, maybe 5 done 4 - 5 times a week, heavy, hard etc… maybe full body 3x plus cardio 3x. depends on how much you wanna be there…

What ya reckon? could keep your same exercises pretty much too!

3

I usually gauge an effective leg day by the fact that I can barely walk to my truck or even get in the sum bitch. Yes, appearanly, 44 sets per training session is nuttier than squirrel turds.

4

I also forgot to mention I do very light steady state cardio before lifting and on tues and thurs. sat and sund are off days. This probably adds even more reason to cut the volume down.

To be honest, as long as I’m not doing damage to my body or stalling results, I’d like to keep the sets still in the 5-7 range. This ofcourse all matters on if my weights continue to drop. Maybe I just havent adjusted to the dropped calorie intake.

I am actually planning on switching to a split routine soon. The truth is I’ve never done one before, coming from a football backround. Split training is far out of my comfort zone, which I’m going to have to leave soon.I am still learning about building split programs. Therefore I’m waiting till after this fat loss phase to start that.

5

Steady state cardio…PRE-workout? Save the energy for when you need it, the weight room.

You’re definitely losing muscle tissue if you’re losing strength. There’s no better way to gauge it.

I would take one variety of dead lift out of the routine (whichever makes you happy), stick to either front or back squats once a week, alternate if you like, but only squat once per week. I would also trim the standing barbell military presses out.

You need to remember that one a restricted diet there is literally less food to use for repairs, so you will generally need more rest time. Let the clean and jerk be the primary leg builder, you’ll be fresh for a real squatting session on Wednesday. As for the standing barbell presses, your shoulders are getting brutalized 3 days a weak, given them a break on Wednesday to recover. You’re a classic overtraining case waiting to happen.

6

As far as a split routine, if you can swing 4 days a week I would recommend:

Mon - Chest/Tri’s/Abs/Calves
Tue - Back/Bi’s/Shoulders
Wed - Upper legs/Calves/Abs
Thurs - Off
Fri - Upper girdle work (upright rows/shrugs) and deadlifts (At around 70% 1RM in a 4x5, you should really get the hips/hams to respond)

And then you have until Monday to recoupe…I generally don’t recommend much isolation work, maybe 3 sets for tri’s/bi’s on their respect day, let the compounds do the work.

7

If your shoulders are hurting you enough to stop early, somethings got to change. Especially is your lifts are dropping.

cueball

8

[quote]cueball wrote:
If your shoulders are hurting you enough to stop early, somethings got to change. Especially is your lifts are dropping.

cueball[/quote]

Pain stopping training and lifts dropping - uh? Overtraining anyone?

Joe