First Attempt at Designing my own Routine...

Training Beginners
1

Alright, I’m transitioning off of Rippetoe’s and been reading a lot of different articles out there and thought I had a decent enough idea of what I could do for a routine. Before I put down what I thought of, let me start by saying that I’m going to be pretty open to any critiques because I have a sneaking suspicion that my first idea probably sucks…

Day 1 - Explosive
3x5 Sumo Squat
3x5 Incline Bench Press
3x5 Lat Pulldown
3x5 Chest Flies (to failure)
10 mins Incline HIIT

Day 2 - Volume
3x10 Sumo Squat
3x10 Good Morning
3x10 Standing Military Press
3x10 Seated Row
3x30 Triple Curl*
10 mins Incline HIIT

Day 3 - Strength
5x3 Barbell Squat
5x3 Bench Press
5x3 Standard Deadlift

    • I don’t know the real name for this, but I do 10 curls starting at my shoulder, going to 45 degrees, 10 curls going to parallel to ground, and 10 curls going all the way down for 1 set.

Goal: Drop to 200 lbs(I’ve been walking around at 240 for the last 3-4 weeks) while increasing muscle mass

As far as my schedule goes, I work out in the mornings, and the only morning engagement I have is class at 10am on monday/wednesday. I dropped 10-15 lbs doing Rippetoes, so I don’t think that my goal is all that unreachable given time and sheer willpower.

Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions you can give me for my routine.

2

Honestly, your fat loss will be dictated more by your diet than by your training. So post that up, specifically including the total daily kcal and protein.

Jump squats are a shitty exercise. So are explosive chest flies (with sets of 5, you’d have to go pretty heavy, and they always hurt my shoulders when I did that).

Day 3 probably has too much volume and intensity. An upper and two big lower body lifts? with 24 heavy total sets? seems like too much.

I recommend looking up the Waterbury Summer Project. It’s a very effective fat-loss program. It won’t help you put on muscle, and it probably won’t help your lifts very much, but I used it to drop 20lbs in 8 weeks last year (I had my kcal dropped pretty low too, and was using HOT-ROX, but still…)

3

My diet doesn’t have many specifics right now… Senior year in college, especially later in the semester, means I’m a slave to group projects and meeting times. I live by guidelines more than any solid counting, due to relative inability to get accurate calorie/nutrient information.

My guidelines:
~2000 cals per day, ~2500 on workout days
Where possible, chose a healthier option (without sauce, no bun, etc)
Maximize protein (I pretty much drink milk exclusively at the dining halls now, always try to grab chicken, chiles with beans, etc)
Minimize greasy things (pretty easy, after I started trying)
Grab a bowl of vegetables when possible (easier said than done in the dining hall…)
Try to drink 2-3 protein shakes per day (if I get 2 solid meals in a day, I’m lucky, but I try)
When eatting out or grabbing a snack, first consult “Eat This, Not This” (practically my bible at this point…)
Two cheat meals per week (Keeps me from going insane, and I’m a believer in Joel Marion’s research/theories after looking into it)

For an example of how I try to put this into practice, here’s what I grab for breakfast at the dining hall:

Western Omelet w/ American cheese
Meat - Ham or Vegan breakfast patties (Amazingly lean source of protein in the morning…)
Cottage cheese with small bit of flavored yogurt
16oz skim milk

For smaller snacks, I try to stick to protein bars or shakes. I just use the standard Metabolic Drive shakes, plus an extra scoop of whey protein and Superfood. Mostly though, I try to make small changes to drop calories like I mentioned above.

Not the best diet, but the best I can come up with, stick to, and not go insane.

I made a few changes to the workout in my first post… Changed jump squats to Sumo Squats for help changing my flabby inner thighs to my rock hard outter thighs, and changed my 8x3’s to 5x3’s… or would 5x5’s be more effective for building strength. Forgot to mention this before, but I’m a 3rd degree blackbelt (hopefully I’ll find out in 2 weeks I’m a 4th degree…) and want to be able to move/kick a little faster, which is what drew me to the Jump squats in the first place.

4

[quote]Otep wrote:
Honestly, your fat loss will be dictated more by your diet than by your training. So post that up, specifically including the total daily kcal and protein.

Jump squats are a shitty exercise. So are explosive chest flies (with sets of 5, you’d have to go pretty heavy, and they always hurt my shoulders when I did that).

Day 3 probably has too much volume and intensity. An upper and two big lower body lifts? with 24 heavy total sets? seems like too much.

I recommend looking up the Waterbury Summer Project. It’s a very effective fat-loss program. It won’t help you put on muscle, and it probably won’t help your lifts very much, but I used it to drop 20lbs in 8 weeks last year (I had my kcal dropped pretty low too, and was using HOT-ROX, but still…)[/quote]

hey dude, jump squats are dope.

Other than that this post is inappropriately touching the correct.

-chris

5

[quote]samdan wrote:
My diet doesn’t have many specifics right now… Senior year in college, especially later in the semester, means I’m a slave to group projects and meeting times. I live by guidelines more than any solid counting, due to relative inability to get accurate calorie/nutrient information.

[/quote]

fail.

you dont have to count cals but you do have to plan your nutrition. pack your damn lunches from the cafeteria food. dont be a table-puss. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

good start but if you have food packed you wont have to make these decisions.

fail.

milk? what the fuck? you likely cannot afford the sugar in milk. milk keeps fat people fat. chances are you have mild allergies to milk any how. quit that shit. the only calorie containing beverages you should drink are low carb protein shakes. IMVHO.

There has got to be a grocery store near your school. go and grab some precut veggie bags. get a cooler, store then in that.

If you pack your meals from the cafeteria in the morning you wont have this issue.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Are you fucking joking? sorry sir but 2 cheat meals per week and you will be soft as nike airs forever guy. you do know that joel marion recommends the cheat to lose theory only for people at bodyfats less than 10-12%? That is not you. You would likely be better served by cutting the cheats for 3 weeks and thereby killing your cravings for sugar.

you are driving yourself insane by maintaining your brains drive for sugar (being fat is evolutionarily positive). if you kill the carbs and stay as low as possible minus vege fiber your craving will go away and you will no longer feel the need for 2 (2? I only have 2 a week if im training double sessions on more than one day, or gaining weight after being sick) carb up/cheats.

you are fantasizing yourself into a gang-rape of underachievement here sir. eat things that are green and things that had parents for a year and you will be much happier.

Fuck off the milk and sugary yogurt and you have a good meal. the cottage cheese you might not need so much of but if you got 4 of these and packed 3 of them you would be laughing with gas all day long. Is this an issue? just eat 4 of these omlete thingys with some variety of meat (vegan pattie? WTF?) per day and you will be fine.

your sanity seems to come at a high price. If progressing in body composition is important to you you’re insane not to start taking control of your nutrition.

[quote]

I made a few changes to the workout in my first post… Changed jump squats to Sumo Squats for help changing my flabby inner thighs to my rock hard outter thighs, and changed my 8x3’s to 5x3’s… or would 5x5’s be more effective for building strength. Forgot to mention this before, but I’m a 3rd degree blackbelt (hopefully I’ll find out in 2 weeks I’m a 4th degree…) and want to be able to move/kick a little faster, which is what drew me to the Jump squats in the first place.[/quote]

Since you’re at a beginner level in lifting you can gain muscle by doing almost anything. I’d gear your training towards building up a strong work capacity and strength at the same time. you need metabolically challenging training sir.

I’d say look into EDT. One of THE most effective training systems for people who are over-fat and under worked. You will not only burn far more fat on an EDT routine but you will be way more conditioned and stronger. I think that conditioning is highly neglected by beginner athletes looking to lose fat and gain muscle.

Also, black belt in what?

-chris

6

I get this feeling… Don’t know where… Maybe I should drink less milk… :wink:

Alright, points taken for the most part… I’ll check out what kind of non-frozen precut rabbit food I can find. One thing I can’t do that you recommended is really pack from the cafeteria, the “to go” choices at the dining halls would probably make you slap me, but I guess I can lose the cheat meals without too much crying.

Your EDT thingy intrigues me… The only things I can find from the search bar don’t seem to apply to me, being that I know I can’t do more than 0 chinups and 1 dip… My shoulders aren’t in the best of shape, being that I started with relatively inflexible shoulders, but they’re improving pretty quickly so far… I can see what the sort of focus of EDT is, or so I believe, but I’m not sure how to best change it for me… bench/row instead of chin/dip? Any advice on that would be nice.

Also, my style is Tang Soo Do. Started in first grade, was my first job, never looked back.

7

[quote]samdan wrote:
I get this feeling… Don’t know where… Maybe I should drink less milk… :wink:

[/quote]

You must have secondary education.

Fuck the “to go” options. Go to the store, get some tupperware containers, take them to the cafeteria, order good food, insert in containers, go about your day armed with legitimate food.

[quote]

Your EDT thingy intrigues me… The only things I can find from the search bar don’t seem to apply to me, being that I know I can’t do more than 0 chinups and 1 dip… My shoulders aren’t in the best of shape, being that I started with relatively inflexible shoulders, but they’re improving pretty quickly so far… I can see what the sort of focus of EDT is, or so I believe, but I’m not sure how to best change it for me… bench/row instead of chin/dip? Any advice on that would be nice.

Also, my style is Tang Soo Do. Started in first grade, was my first job, never looked back.[/quote]

You dont need to do chins or dips. The idea is this:

Figure out how much time you have to train, lets say 1 hour.

you have 15 minutes for warm up, mobility, skipping/bike/treadmill/whatever
then you have 45 minutes to be GI Joe before you leave

for EDT you can pick any two (or ever 3) lifts and put them in a “PR period/interval/zone”

so for example you could take seated cable row and DB lunges. Spend the first week finding your 10 rep max weights with the lifts you plan on doing for about 4-6 weeks. Take those weights for the 2 lifts in the example and set a timer for 15 minutes. then start the timer and do sets of 5, alternating, until the time is up. take breaks as needed and record numbers of sets (and reps of partial sets). then take a longer break like 5 mins and repeat another 15 minute interval with two other lifts.

there you go. spend the last few minutes of the hour working on rotator cuffs and static stretching if you want.

The progression is to add more weight (5%) after you increase the recorded number of reps by 20%. so if on your first week doing a certain pairing you get 50 reps total then you get to up the weight once you can do 60 reps total. I like to change lifts when i would increase weight the second time.

You can pick any lifts you liek but i would stress that you pick ALL compound lifts. horizontal and vertical presses and pulls, squats lunges deadlifts and things like that. watch your form and use certain machines if you have to. if you are not solid as heck on deadlift and squat technique then do reverse hypers and leg presses or goblet squats or hamstring curl thingy. just get 12 liftsdivide them inot 3 days 2 pairs of lifts per day and start working hard. The key is to do it for a full 6 week cycle. It take mental toughness I think.

So it easy. spend 2 15 minute time periods trying to get as many reps of 2 lifts in as possible, one set at a time. This will greatly increase your metabolism and help create a foundation of joint strength and muscle structure to facilitate heavier lifting. Many lifters plateau early because their bodies were never conditioned to lift the weight they want to lift.

try it out.

-chris

8

But would it be better to do antagonistic exercises? Like the aforementioned straight bench/standing row combo? Or would you even go for like a bench/squat combo?

I’ll take some time during class and think about what kinda exercises I can do with this…

PS: I like to think I have pretty good squat/dead form from doing rippetoes, but if I’m going at a lighter weight to do higher amounts of reps I think it’ll be easier.

9

Doing antagonistic lifts is actually quite tough with EDT. I’d say its only for the experienced EDT lifter with good work capacity.

The thing is that the area that is worked gets massively pumped up with blood flow. so if you did DB press and cable row your arms and shoulders would be massively fatigued half-way through and your pace would slow dramatically.

Whereas if you did cable row and goblet step ups (goblet means holding a DB in front of your chest with both hand holding one side and the other side pointing down, relieves the grip a bit) you would be able to diversify the muscles that were working and therefore maintain a pace and get more overall work in. Also this way you can do an upper and lower body movement each pair. This is important becasue it will make sure that your main calorie buring and metabolism building muscles (the lower body ones) are getting lots of stimulation and growth.

It will always pay off to pair the hard lower lifts with the easier upper lifts. doing squat/bench would be ok but the bench might have to be machine press to make sure that you can keep the pace and dont risk getting stapled due to fatigue.

Something like squat and row or lunges and bench work good. be sure not to pair to lifts that involve you holding something based on your grip endurance. for example, deadlift and pull up would be bad because your grip would be fucked long before you were tired in the ass or back.

So yeah. give 'er dude and learn the power of conditioning. be sure to write it down as you do it to keep track.

The key is to make it through a 6 week cycle. you WILL notice huge results if you stick your dick in. big time fat-loss in every case that i have seen.

-chris

10

Alright… How do these combinations look?

Shoulder Press
Standard Deadlift

Bench Press
Hack Squat

Reverse Grip Bench Press
Stiff-leg Deadlift

Seated Row
Bulgarian Squats

Bent-over Row
Barbell Lunge

Lat Pulldown
Goblet Step Up

I got 3 pushes, 3 pulls, 2 squats, and 2 deads. I’d combo my workouts to do a press PR group with a pull PR group, and I also partially formatted my workouts with the layout of my gym (Seated row machine is near smith machine and benches, Barbells are with Power Rack and Squat Rack in same room, etc.) EDIT: Made a quick sub, bulgarian squats for box squats…

Don’t worry about getting my dick in… I partially started doing REAL training for my 4th degree test early in november. From the time I started to the day of the test, I only missed 1 gym day that I didn’t make up within 24 hours.

11

that workout blows dude, if you wanna make big gains fast and cut some fucking fat go and find a powerlifting workout, add in some cardio 3 to 5 times a week, and find yourself a diet that allows for muscle growth and fat loss. for the cardio i recomend anywhere from 1.5 to 3 miles in a session (2 to 3 days a week), and as for the rest i would do alternating 30 second jog 30 second sprint 30 second walk for 15 to 20 min. for fat loss also check out military.com then go to navy seal and diet/fat loss

12

http://www.elitefts.com/...tting_ready.htm

[quote]Do a search on the q/a ,
many options but here a suggestion;

monday - max bench
tueday - max lower
thurday - assistance upper
saturday - assistance lower
The rest are days off or low intensity cardio.

If 5x10 is too much volume just cut to 3x10 or 4x10.
You can also superset the arms, and the chest-back exercices on assistance upper!! [/quote]

13

Upper body assistance day*

  1. Bench/bench variation (barbell only),5X10
  2. Pullups, 50 total reps
  3. Military press/MP variation (barbell only), 5 X 10
  4. Bent rows, 5 X 10
  5. Barbell triceps extensions, 5 X 10
  6. Barbell curls, 5 X 10
    *Perform all of this in one hour.

Lower body assistance day*

  1. Squat, 5 X 10
  2. Deadlift, 5 X 10
  3. Lunges, 5 X 10 each leg
  4. Back raises, 5 X 10
  5. Sit-ups, 5 X 10
    *Perform all of this in one hour.

Max effort bench day

  1. ME bench (choose four full range of motion exercises and rotate each week)
  2. Rows, 5 X 5?10
  3. Upper back/rear delts, 5 X 10?15
  4. Biceps, 5 X 10
  5. Triceps, 5 X 10

Max effort squat/deadlift day

  1. Squat
  2. Deadlift (choose four deadlift variations and rotate each week)
  3. Weighted back raises 5 X 10
  4. Weighted abdominal work, 5 X 10

Have fun

14

[quote]sailortom wrote:
that workout blows dude, if you wanna make big gains fast and cut some fucking fat go and find a powerlifting workout, add in some cardio 3 to 5 times a week, and find yourself a diet that allows for muscle growth and fat loss. for the cardio i recomend anywhere from 1.5 to 3 miles in a session (2 to 3 days a week), and as for the rest i would do alternating 30 second jog 30 second sprint 30 second walk for 15 to 20 min. for fat loss also check out military.com then go to navy seal and diet/fat loss[/quote]

Nice.

You just recommend running. Dude you rock.

Better stick to rum, sodomy and the lash there pirate.

-chris

15

So anyway, I just did my first EDT routine… Bench/Hack Squat and Seated Row/Bulgarian Squat

Here’s how I did with my sets, as well as my other pairings of PR groups:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pm9EyVujt54MEYJwf0CcUFw

I know what you mean about fixing form… I learned REAL fast to keep my feet closer together in a hack squat, after a wicked, wicked rash on the back of my calves from the rough part of the bar…

I tasted a little vomit, got dizzy, and stared at a spot on the carpet because I thought I was having blurry vision before I realized that the carpet there was just a little fuzzy from use… And that was BEFORE my 2nd PR group… Also, I learned that I love the pain from bulgarian squats. I’ve had hip flexor pain in the past, and these squats had me looking like I didn’t even belong in the gym considering how long it took me to get my balance right…

Good show, gym… I’ll see you on Sunday…

16

[quote]samdan wrote:
Alright… How do these combinations look?

Shoulder Press
Standard Deadlift

Bench Press
Hack Squat

Reverse Grip Bench Press
Stiff-leg Deadlift

Seated Row
Bulgarian Squats

Bent-over Row
Barbell Lunge

Lat Pulldown
Goblet Step Up

I got 3 pushes, 3 pulls, 2 squats, and 2 deads. I’d combo my workouts to do a press PR group with a pull PR group, and I also partially formatted my workouts with the layout of my gym (Seated row machine is near smith machine and benches, Barbells are with Power Rack and Squat Rack in same room, etc.) EDIT: Made a quick sub, bulgarian squats for box squats…

Don’t worry about getting my dick in… I partially started doing REAL training for my 4th degree test early in november. From the time I started to the day of the test, I only missed 1 gym day that I didn’t make up within 24 hours.
So anyway, I just did my first EDT routine… Bench/Hack Squat and Seated Row/Bulgarian Squat

Here’s how I did with my sets, as well as my other pairings of PR groups:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pm9EyVujt54MEYJwf0CcUFw

I know what you mean about fixing form… I learned REAL fast to keep my feet closer together in a hack squat, after a wicked, wicked rash on the back of my calves from the rough part of the bar…

I tasted a little vomit, got dizzy, and stared at a spot on the carpet because I thought I was having blurry vision before I realized that the carpet there was just a little fuzzy from use… And that was BEFORE my 2nd PR group… Also, I learned that I love the pain from bulgarian squats. I’ve had hip flexor pain in the past, and these squats had me looking like I didn’t even belong in the gym considering how long it took me to get my balance right…

Good show, gym… I’ll see you on Sunday…[/quote]

yeah good job getting shit together for yourself. your pathology is good for most of the pairings but id make some alterations that might make things more ergonomic and reduce your risk of bar-dropping (the gym workers hate that) and help you get more work in over the long haul.

So the first 2 are your day 1 right?

Shoulder Press
Standard Deadlift

Bench Press
Hack Squat

Shoulder press and Dl are a good pair. just watch your lumbar curve on each DL rep. The weight should be light enough to make sure you dont have issues.

the second pairing might not be so grand on this day. you likely dont want 2 upper body presses on the same day. it will make it so that it’s hard as fuck to progress on the bench after doing all the shoulder press. I’d say swap for seated cable rows. the hack squat is also a bit awkward and not really worth including in your program at this point. If you want quad dominant leg work after the PC work on the DL I’d pick leg press or set-ups. step ups with DB’s and rows or press is a classic pair for EDT. lots of dudes on the older EDT thread use it.

these next 2 look like day 2

Reverse Grip Bench Press
Stiff-leg Deadlift

the reverse grip bench is another fun but slightly esoteric lift that you wont need to worry about quite yet. you will realize that you want lifts that are very simple and basic that have easy transitions. here would be a good place for something like face-pulls (gotta get those scaps strong so you can squat and DL better once you get to a more optimal body weight and into a heavier program) or DB bench press, neutral or regualar grip.

The stiff legs are a gret lift but will not work with this style very well. Your chance of losing your back arch is too high. Pick reverse hypers/back extensions. You’ll get the same area stimulated but not be limited by grip late in the game and having to worry about your back as much.

Seated Row
Bulgarian Squats

row is strong. but if you replaced it in day one then you can pop face pulls or DB bench here. which ever you didn’t do in the first pairing this day.

Bulg split squats are dope. that is all.

Day 3 i assume

Bent-over Row
Barbell Lunge

Bent row is hard because its hard to keep your back strong in the late game. use a adjustable bench to keep your self supported and use DB’s or since you have lat pulls next zone you can put something fun in here like incline press or something dutiful like ab work. lifts like standing cable pull downs (where you hold the cable by your shoulders and bend over at the hips, keep back straight) or walk outs/roll outs [use EZ bar](start from just the knees).

Lat Pulldown
Goblet Step Up

Good pairing. if you replaced with step ups above then you can rock the leg press on this one. or if it’s leg press above then stick with step ups.

To sum that all up I would and have (with myself and other athletes/clients/friends) paired for 3 days like this:

Day 1

Seated cable row
Deadlift

Shoulder press
leg press

Day 2

Pull up (any vert pull will do)
reverse hyper

DB bench press
Step up

Day 3

face pulls
walking lunges (or bulg split squats)

Standing ab pulldowns
dips

And so it goes. but with some minor changes yours is essentially fine. Be sure to measure your 10rm out well and use the right weights.

train hard sir,

-chris

17

[quote]echelon101 wrote:
Upper body assistance day*

  1. Bench/bench variation (barbell only),5X10
  2. Pullups, 50 total reps
  3. Military press/MP variation (barbell only), 5 X 10
  4. Bent rows, 5 X 10
  5. Barbell triceps extensions, 5 X 10
  6. Barbell curls, 5 X 10
    *Perform all of this in one hour.

Lower body assistance day*

  1. Squat, 5 X 10
  2. Deadlift, 5 X 10
  3. Lunges, 5 X 10 each leg
  4. Back raises, 5 X 10
  5. Sit-ups, 5 X 10
    *Perform all of this in one hour.

Max effort bench day

  1. ME bench (choose four full range of motion exercises and rotate each week)
  2. Rows, 5 X 5?10
  3. Upper back/rear delts, 5 X 10?15
  4. Biceps, 5 X 10
  5. Triceps, 5 X 10

Max effort squat/deadlift day

  1. Squat
  2. Deadlift (choose four deadlift variations and rotate each week)
  3. Weighted back raises 5 X 10
  4. Weighted abdominal work, 5 X 10

Have fun[/quote]

So the OP writes:

“Goal: Drop to 200 lbs(I’ve been walking around at 240 for the last 3-4 weeks) while increasing muscle mass”

And you randomly throw out this? You sir, are the only man I’d have sex with.

So, 25 sets or 250-300 reps in one hour? all 5 x 10? what kind of weight? why all 10’s? he can’t do a pull up, how will he get to 50 in under an hour?

I don’t know what weights you are using for lower assistance day but if you can do all that in one hour with even your 12 or 14 rep max weights, you must be GI Joe. that or you train with sailorsteve at military.com

My favorite is the 5 sets of possibly 15 on ME bench for upper back/delts. I think I’m doing that one tomorrow. nothing like 75 reps of pulling kungfu action in teh middle of a session you have to get done in 1 hour right after working up to a 100% single.

do you do ME on both squat and DL on your lower ME day? you guys at military.com are hard dudes. If i did that I might be constipated for a week. but at least i could take my time on that day.

the hardest part of this program is that i have to have fun while doing the whole thing. up to 300 reps per hour and having fun with it at the same time? can i fake the fun and still get results? can i move the fun to my off days or make it a session of its own?

Quit your job sir. America NEEDS you to train its athletes RIGHT NOW! without you China will always win.

-chris

18

The order in the first post was just the order I started coming up with them. My “working” order is the order in the spreadsheet I posted, organized by Group 1 and Group 2 for one day, then the next and so on (today’s workout, for example, was bench/hack and seated row/bulgarians).

If you still think some of the exercises need tweaking, here’s what I can definitely do…

Kick Reverse Bench, change to Neutral Incline DB Press – pair with Back Extension instead of stiff-leg deads (Back extension platform is with adjustable benches and DB’s at my gym)

Change Bent Rows with Face Pull, pair with Standing Ab Pulldown instead of the Barbell Lunge (The fixed high cable is conveniently located right on top of the fixed high cable!)

As far as Leg Presses are concerned, there’s 2 machines, one is the normal adjustable weight stack near the cardio stuff, the other is the weight plate type where you get on the ground practically. Neither of them are exactly quick to get into/out of. How does a vanilla DB Front Squat strike you?

If I do those and move a few things around, the proposed schedule would look like this:

Day X:
Bench/Goblet Step Up
Seated Row/Bulgarian Squat

Day Y:
Shoulder Press/Deadlift
Face Pull/Ab Pulldown

Day Z:
Incline DB Press/Back Extension
Lat Pulldown/DB Squat

Or in spreadsheet form:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pm9EyVujt54MEYJwf0CcUFw

To get a little more into it:

There are plenty of spare plates around near the benches for bench pressing and step ups (assuming that holding a 45 plate wont kill me), and again, the cable row is near the DB’s and the bench seat for the row worked out pretty well for bulgarians today.

Using only the cleverness in my left foot, I can rig up a power rack to have my Shoulder press and Deadlift bars at the same time in the same rack, and the most I’d have to do for the face pull/ab pulldown transition is change which weight slot the pin is in.

Adjustable benches are near DB’s, are near the back extension platform, and you can do DB squats damn near anywhere, cant ya?

BTW, quality sarcasm…

19

Deserved

20

[quote]samdan wrote:
The order in the first post was just the order I started coming up with them. My “working” order is the order in the spreadsheet I posted, organized by Group 1 and Group 2 for one day, then the next and so on (today’s workout, for example, was bench/hack and seated row/bulgarians).

If you still think some of the exercises need tweaking, here’s what I can definitely do…

Kick Reverse Bench, change to Neutral Incline DB Press – pair with Back Extension instead of stiff-leg deads (Back extension platform is with adjustable benches and DB’s at my gym)

Change Bent Rows with Face Pull, pair with Standing Ab Pulldown instead of the Barbell Lunge (The fixed high cable is conveniently located right on top of the fixed high cable!)

As far as Leg Presses are concerned, there’s 2 machines, one is the normal adjustable weight stack near the cardio stuff, the other is the weight plate type where you get on the ground practically. Neither of them are exactly quick to get into/out of. How does a vanilla DB Front Squat strike you?

If I do those and move a few things around, the proposed schedule would look like this:

Day X:
Bench/Goblet Step Up
Seated Row/Bulgarian Squat

Day Y:
Shoulder Press/Deadlift
Face Pull/Ab Pulldown

Day Z:
Incline DB Press/Back Extension
Lat Pulldown/DB Squat

Or in spreadsheet form:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pm9EyVujt54MEYJwf0CcUFw

To get a little more into it:

There are plenty of spare plates around near the benches for bench pressing and step ups (assuming that holding a 45 plate wont kill me), and again, the cable row is near the DB’s and the bench seat for the row worked out pretty well for bulgarians today.

Using only the cleverness in my left foot, I can rig up a power rack to have my Shoulder press and Deadlift bars at the same time in the same rack, and the most I’d have to do for the face pull/ab pulldown transition is change which weight slot the pin is in.

Adjustable benches are near DB’s, are near the back extension platform, and you can do DB squats damn near anywhere, cant ya?

BTW, quality sarcasm…[/quote]

For day 2 I may have missed something. I’ve been taking a bit of ephedrine recently (it like $4 per 1000mgs here [bali] in little 25mg tabs) for old times sake (read: to stay awake and catch busses at like 5am).

I think you might want to sub the ab pull downs out and replace with walking lunges, maybe. then take those ab pulldowns from day 2 and shove them into back extensions slot. If you have to do some 3rd world engineering to get back extensions in then screw them. your legs will need to cop a tiny break. and besides you will be squatting right after.

DB Squats might be awkward. Im sure you’ll be cool to rock straight back squats. just be very conscious of your back and your breathing. make sure you have a breath in your stomach to keep your core tension for each rep.

Other than that just be sure to keep good records and keep a good pace. dont shoot too early, its not as fun to do in the gym as it is in the sack.

-chris