Critique my Routine (Pattern Split)

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Little backgroun info: I am currently 5’8", 185lbs. I have been weightlifting for 7 months (started at 225lbs). I started with a high volume 5 day bodypart split and then did the Velocity diet and followed the recommended TBT exercises. Now I am ready to move onto another split now that I am lean enough.

Goal: Size

Monday: Lower (Heavy Hip)
A1. Sumo Deadlift, 6 x 3-5, 45s rest
A2. Small step Lunge, 4 x 6-8, 45s rest
B1. Good mornings, 4 x 6-8, 45s rest
B2. Back Squat (close stance), 4 x 8-10, 45s rest
C1. Leg press (feet high on pad), 3 x 8-10, 45s rest
C2. Singe Leg Extension, 3 x 10-12, 45s rest

Calf/Abs Supersets
A1. Calf Raise in leg press, medium spacing, 2 x 8-10, no rest
A2. Seated Calf Raise, 2 x f, 90s rest
B1. Side plank, 2 x 30s, no rest
B2. Decline crunch, 2 x 8-10, 90s rest

Tuesday: Horizontal Push/Pull
A1. Bench Press, 6 x 6-8, 45s rest
A2. Bent over bb row, 6 x 6-8, 45s rest
B1. Incline Bench press, 4 x 8-10, 45s rest
B2. Seated row, 4 x 8-10, 45s rest
C1. Cable cross over/flies/pec deck, 3 x 12-20, 45s rest
C2. Bent over rear delt raise/machine rear delt, 3 x 12-20, 45s rest

Biceps/Triceps Supersets
A1. EZ-bar steep preacher curls with narrow grip, 10-12, no rest
A2. EZ-bar steep preacher curls with normal grip, 10-12, no rest
A3. EZ-bar steep preacher curls with wide grip, to failure
B1. Triceps pushdown with underhand grip, 10-12, no rest
B2. Triceps pushdown with overhand grip, 10-12, no rest
B3. Overhead triceps extension with rope, to failure

Wednesday: Off
Active Recovery

Thursday: Lower (Heavy Quad)
A1. Front Squat, 6 x 3-5, 45s rest
A2. Db Romanian deadlift, 6 x 6-8, 45s rest
B1. Leg press, 4 x 6-8, 45s rest
B2. Glute Ham Raise, 4 x 8-10, 45s rest
C1. Machine Hack squat, 3 x 8-10, 45s rest
C2. Standing single leg curl, 3 x 10-12, 45s rest

Calf/Abs Supersets
A1. Seated Calf Raise, 2 x 8-10, no rest
A2. Calf raise in leg press (narrow spacing), 2 x f, 90s rest
B1. Plank, 2 x 45s, no rest
B2. Hanging leg raise, 2 x 8-10, 90s rest

Friday: Vertical Push/Pull
A1. Military Press/BB Overhead Shrugs, 8 x 6-8, 45s rest
A2. Upright Row/Power Shrug/High Pull, 8 x 6-8, 45s rest
B1. Gironda dips, 8 x 3-5, 45s rest
B2. Pull ups, 8 x 3-5, 45s rest
C1. Lateral raises, 3 x 12-15, no rest
C2. Front raises, 3 x 12-15, no rest
C3. DB press, 3 x 12-15, rest 90s

Bicep/Triceps Supersets
A1. DB hammer curl, 10-12, no rest
A2. DB Zottman curl, 10-12, no rest
A3. Slow negative chin up (60 sec)
B1. Close-grip bench press, 10-12, no rest
B2. Skull Crushers, 10-12, no rest
B3. DB standing triceps extension, to failure

Read a bunch of articles and grabbed things from various places. Not sure what exercises to choose where there are multiple listed. The direct arm work is for my friend who insists on it. Thanks for the help.

2

Odds are good that if you try all that stuff, you’ll wind up half-assing it halfway through each workout, if not sooner.

Split that program in half, add a little volume to each lift, and you got yourself two months worth of programming. Do one half the first month and the second half the next month.

3

[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
Odds are good that if you try all that stuff, you’ll wind up half-assing it halfway through each workout, if not sooner.

Split that program in half, add a little volume to each lift, and you got yourself two months worth of programming. Do one half the first month and the second half the next month.[/quote]

Any suggestions on what to remove?

4

I agree, that’s way too much.

Why are you doing 6-8 sets of each exercise? Are you counting warm-up sets in there, too? That just seems like overkill. If you are trying to put on size, you need 2-3 worksets and that’s all. If you do enough on those, you’re wasting time doing the others.

And I’d rest longer between sets, too. If you’re trying to continue burning fat, the rest periods are when the fat gets mobilized to replace the glycogen you just used. With 45s rest periods, you’re going to let lack of energy stop you from doing the amount of work you need to put on size.

5

[quote]futurepharm wrote:
I agree, that’s way too much.

Why are you doing 6-8 sets of each exercise? Are you counting warm-up sets in there, too? That just seems like overkill. If you are trying to put on size, you need 2-3 worksets and that’s all. If you do enough on those, you’re wasting time doing the others.

And I’d rest longer between sets, too. If you’re trying to continue burning fat, the rest periods are when the fat gets mobilized to replace the glycogen you just used. With 45s rest periods, you’re going to let lack of energy stop you from doing the amount of work you need to put on size.[/quote]

So should I lower the amount of sets and keep the number of exercises?

6

no, you should reduce the number of exercises, decrease the number of sets of the exercises you keep, then increase the amount of time between the sets that you rest.

[quote]Monday: Lower (Heavy Hip)
A1. Sumo Deadlift, 6 x 3-5, 45s rest
A2. Small step Lunge, 4 x 6-8, 45s rest
B1. Good mornings, 4 x 6-8, 45s rest
B2. Back Squat (close stance), 4 x 8-10, 45s rest
C1. Leg press (feet high on pad), 3 x 8-10, 45s rest
C2. Singe Leg Extension, 3 x 10-12, 45s rest

Calf/Abs Supersets
A1. Calf Raise in leg press, medium spacing, 2 x 8-10, no rest
A2. Seated Calf Raise, 2 x f, 90s rest
B1. Side plank, 2 x 30s, no rest
B2. Decline crunch, 2 x 8-10, 90s rest[/quote]

For example, on Monday, do only A1,B1,C1 and your calf/ab superset, which looks okay. Do 3 sets of each. Next Monday, do A2,B2,C2 and the calf/ab superset, for 3 sets of each.

Do the same thing for every other day you lift.

Does that help?

7

[quote]futurepharm wrote:
no, you should reduce the number of exercises, decrease the number of sets of the exercises you keep, then increase the amount of time between the sets that you rest.

Monday: Lower (Heavy Hip)
A1. Sumo Deadlift, 6 x 3-5, 45s rest
A2. Small step Lunge, 4 x 6-8, 45s rest
B1. Good mornings, 4 x 6-8, 45s rest
B2. Back Squat (close stance), 4 x 8-10, 45s rest
C1. Leg press (feet high on pad), 3 x 8-10, 45s rest
C2. Singe Leg Extension, 3 x 10-12, 45s rest

Calf/Abs Supersets
A1. Calf Raise in leg press, medium spacing, 2 x 8-10, no rest
A2. Seated Calf Raise, 2 x f, 90s rest
B1. Side plank, 2 x 30s, no rest
B2. Decline crunch, 2 x 8-10, 90s rest

For example, on Monday, do only A1,B1,C1 and your calf/ab superset, which looks okay. Do 3 sets of each. Next Monday, do A2,B2,C2 and the calf/ab superset, for 3 sets of each.

Do the same thing for every other day you lift.

Does that help?
[/quote]

Seems like a good idea. But then leg days become hip or quad days and push/pull days are not balanced. Any suggestions to help improve that?

8

Assuming I lower the volume, which exercises would be the best combination for the following:

C1. Cable cross over/flies/pec deck
C2. Bent over rear delt raise/machine rear delt

A1. Military Press/BB Overhead Shrugs
A2. Upright Row/Power Shrug/High Pull

9

Well, it looks like you have two “arm” days with way too much going on there.

You need to find a decent split, find exercises that fit, maybe 2-3 per body part, and do maybe 3 sets of those exercises.

10

Look at balance throughout the training week, not just the training day itself. As long as you get enough total pushes, pulls, and quad/post. chain throughout the week, you’re already ahead of what most people are doing. Don’t be concerned about shoehorning every possible movement into a training week. If you did that, then where would you go once the program got stale?

Here:
Heavy Hip
A. Back Squat, 6 x 3
B. Rack Pulls, 4 x 6
C. Med. Step reverse lunge, 4 x 7/side,
D1. Calf Raise (pick ONE): 3x10
D2. Side Planks: 3x30sec/side

Upper Body
A. Bench: 6x3
B1. Incline Bench: 4x7
B2. Cable Row: 4x8
C1. Preacher Curls: 3x12
C2. Face Pulls: 3x10

Heavy Quad:
A. Front Squat: 4x6
B. Trap Bar Deadlifts: 4x5
C. DB Step Ups: 3x6
D1. Calf Raises(pick the other one): 3x12
D2. Hanging Leg Raises: 3x8

Upper Body#2
A1. DB Standing Military Presses: 4x7
A2. Weighted (or not) Pullups: 4x5
B1. Pushups w/ feet elevated: 3x10(or whatever you can get
B2. Chest Supported Row: 3x8
C1. Zottman Curls: 3x8
C2. Pushdowns: 3x10

Load as heavy as you can while using good form, and rest 1-2 minutes between sets. End with light cardio.

11

[quote]futurepharm wrote:
Well, it looks like you have two “arm” days with way too much going on there.

You need to find a decent split, find exercises that fit, maybe 2-3 per body part, and do maybe 3 sets of those exercises.[/quote]

On those two upper body days, the first day I am working chest and back for the majority with 3 exercises each. On the second upper body day, hitting both back/chest with one exercise and shoulders with 3.

The “arm” exercises are only supersets done once at the end of the workout as an add-on. It shouldn’t add more than 10 minutes to the whole routine. I’m not doing multiple sets for arms.

12

Okay, but what is the point of doing that?

Did you get it from that Ellington Darden article and think that it might work? I’m not clowning you for that, I’m just trying to figure out if that’s where it came from.

I think you’re maybe over-complicating things.

You can do, for example, a fairly common split like this:

Monday- Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

do maybe 2 chest exercises, 2 shoulder exercises, and 1-2 triceps exercises for 3-4 sets of each.

Tuesday- Legs

Do 2 Quad exercises, 2 hamstring exercises, trying to avoid doing heavy squats and deadlifts in the same session.

Wednesday- Back/Biceps

2-3 back exercises, 1-2 biceps exercises.

Thursday- Rest (you can rest wednesday and do back/biceps Thursday if you like)

Friday- start over.

I don’t know if you’re inclined to work out on the weekends or not, I don’t most weekends. And this is just one way to do it, Push/Legs/Pull, you can do Push/Pull/Legs, Pull/Push/Legs, Push/Pull/legs/arms if you feel like your arms need extra work (I’m pretty sure they don’t, but you can do it and it’d be okay).

How about that?

13

Oh yeah, I meant to mention this-

you can throw in calves and abs wherever you see fit, both recover fairly quickly and allow for frequent work if you want to.

14

[quote]futurepharm wrote:
Okay, but what is the point of doing that?

Did you get it from that Ellington Darden article and think that it might work? I’m not clowning you for that, I’m just trying to figure out if that’s where it came from.

[/quote]

Yea. That is where the idea came from. I figures it wouldn’t impede recovery and wouldn’t add sufficient time onto my routine. But with hitting arms duringthe compound exercises, one superset for arms would be sufficient. Is it a bad idea?

Also, the idea of doing the split the way I did was to hit each muscle twice weekly and also have two leg days. Would one leg day a week be enough?

15

I’d be surprised if you were able to walk for two days after the first leg day you had planned…

I think you’d be okay with one leg day a week, unless they are really lagging, but most people don’t have any trouble getting their legs to grow. I really don’t think you need to try to hit each body part two times a week, if you’re lifting heavy enough weights to be challenging yourself every workout. Like I said, if you just have to do an arm workout separate, you can do push/pull/legs/arms, and on push days do only chest and shoulders, and on pull days only to back. That way you could maybe do an extra exercise for chest, shoulders, and back, and still be okay for arms later.

I would keep it as simple as possible, stick with each exercise 6 weeks or so, and change them up then so you don’t get too bored or start plateauing in your progression.

Have fun and get big…

16

[quote]futurepharm wrote:
I’d be surprised if you were able to walk for two days after the first leg day you had planned…

I think you’d be okay with one leg day a week, unless they are really lagging, but most people don’t have any trouble getting their legs to grow. I really don’t think you need to try to hit each body part two times a week, if you’re lifting heavy enough weights to be challenging yourself every workout. Like I said, if you just have to do an arm workout separate, you can do push/pull/legs/arms, and on push days do only chest and shoulders, and on pull days only to back. That way you could maybe do an extra exercise for chest, shoulders, and back, and still be okay for arms later.

I would keep it as simple as possible, stick with each exercise 6 weeks or so, and change them up then so you don’t get too bored or start plateauing in your progression.

Have fun and get big…[/quote]

Thanks for all your help, futurepharm. I’m going to rework the split and exercise selection. Probably do something like you suggested. Maybe push,pull,off,legs,repeat or chest/back,legs,off,shoulders/arms,repeat with weekends off. Only one leg day and it allows me to hit one of the same muscle groups twice each week. First week I would hit push twice, second week pull, etc.

Also, I was looking at routines that CT has created and most of them seem to have A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 with multiple sets for each. He created a routine like that for Gus in the physique clinic. Would doing something like that still be to much? Below is an example routine he created:

A1. Decline bench press
6 sets 6 to 8 reps
A2. Decline DB flies
6 sets 10 to 12 reps

B1. T-bar rowing
6 sets 6 to 8 reps
B2. Bent over lateral raise
6 sets 10 to 12 reps

C1. Low incline (30 degrees) DB press
4 sets 6 to 8 reps
C2. Lat pulldown - torso bent 45 degrees back
4 sets 6 to 8 reps

D1. Cable-cross over
3 sets 12 to 15 reps
D2. Dumbbell shrugs
3 sets 12 to 15 reps

17

Yeah, but remember what gustavopacho’s goals were in the physique clinic- to lose a lot of weight.

you said you want to add size, and that’s what I’m telling you how to do.

you need to lift heavy weights and recover between sets so that you can lift more heavy weights. you need to be doing heavy compound exercises, not specialty things like cable crossovers, face pulls, and overhead shrugs.

Bench Press, Squats, Deadlifts, Rows, Military Press, things like that. I’m not going to talk you out of curls, so I won’t try. But do things like that, and if you eat the right food and get the right rest, you’ll grow.