Help With My Workout

Training Beginners
1

Hey

Ok so here goes my first post :slight_smile:

So iā€™ve been working out for about 2 years now, i set up a routine about a year ago and have been sticking to it (and bulking and cutting), then i read a few articles on this site and its like a big iron boot to the nuts as iā€™ve been lifting the same weights for a year and not doing much diffrent to my routine. Based on my normal routine and the articles i read i came up with this workout.

Constructive criticism welcomed but go easy on me after all im new :smiley:

rep time 3 secs/5 secs/7 secs/3secs

Week 1/Week 2/Week 3/Week 4

Monday

Chest:

BENCH PRESS: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
DECLINE DUMBELL (db: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
DUMBBELL FLY: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6

Triceps:

WEIGHTED BENCH DIP: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
SKULL CRUSHERS (v-bar): 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
V-BAR OVERHEAD: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6

Wednesday

Biceps:

BARBELL CURL: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
DUMBBELL CURL (sit): 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
V-BAR CURL: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6

Back:

DUMBBELL SHRUG: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
DEADLIFT: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
BENT OVER ROW: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6

Forearms:

HAMMER CURL: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
REVERSE BARBELL CURL: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
REVERSE PREACHER CURLS: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6

Friday

Shoulders:

BEHIND NECK PRESS (bb): 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
SHOULDER PRESS (db): 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
V-BAR UPRIGHT ROW: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6

Legs:

FULL SQUAT: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
STANDING leg CALF RAISE: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6
STRAIGHT LEG DEADLIFT: 3 sets of 8/4 sets of 8/5 sets of 8/2 sets of 6

Okaaaaaay so thats it now im ready for the criticism.

2

Looks completely backwards to me. Squats on Friday are a terrible idea. If you have had a tough week of work or school the last thing you want to do is squat heavy.

Iā€™m also wondering about the set/rep choice. Thatā€™s a LOT of sets of 8. Week 3 would have 120 reps for every body part that seems like excessive volume on a body part split like this.

A little math tells me you will be hitting triceps with 280 reps during the week, (bench, decline, dip, skull crusher, v-bar oh, bn press, press) thatā€™s just excessive.

I think you would be best served to chuck this program and do ABBH (Anti-Bodybuilding Hypertrophy Program)

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459341&cr=

3

Well id rather stick to my 3 day a week setup tbh m8, i got the set/rep info from articles :confused: so do you have exercises to do instead of the ones i use that wont over work certain muscles?

what oder do you work each muscle group in throughout the week? because ive used this one for about a year now.

cheers.

4

if your lift 3 days/week stick to either TBW or some sort of upper/lower. Advancing the split even further is unproductive

Lower the overall volume, because the intensity has to be shit to perform that many reps

5

yea i was thinking of lifting lighter than i normaly do for the ā€œAccumulation Blockā€ but apart from that, could someone help on my exercises so i aint over working certain muscles or is this workout resigm ok aslong as i lift lighter?

6

[quote]PuMpIt_2007 wrote:
yea i was thinking of lifting lighter than i normaly do for the ā€œAccumulation Blockā€ but apart from that, could someone help on my exercises so i aint over working certain muscles or is this workout resigm ok aslong as i lift lighter?[/quote]

do not lift lighter

you already lift way too light

do LESS volume per muscle group with MORE weight and do it more frequently

take and those LESS exercises with MORE weight and divide them in 2 groups : #1 upper body dominant, #2 lower body lower body dominant (e.g. DL would be lower)

then you do week 1: #1/#2/#1 week 2: #2/#1/#2 week 3 :repeat week 1

et voilƃĀ”, you got yourself a non-BS-program

If you still think your gaining too slow, take a heavy compound movement for each major muscle group, do around 25-50 reps with it (e.g. 10x3, or 4x8, or 5x5), do all heavy compounds for each muscle group everytime you work out, switch the order of your the exercises for each of your 3 workout days, maybe finish with ~3 sets of some isolation work of your really think something specific is holding you back (e.g. if the triceps is limiting your bench)

7

Ok cheers that sounds gd i like that (1: #1/#2/#1 week 2: #2/#1/#2 week 3 :repeat week 1) bit. (Whats this type of workout called so i can look it up?)

But you said do less volume and more weight?
this sounds like ā€œIntensification Blockā€ when i was going to do ā€œAccumulation Blockā€ for a month and then do Intensification Block and switch each month. ?

8

[quote]Petrichor wrote:
PuMpIt_2007 wrote:
yea i was thinking of lifting lighter than i normaly do for the ā€œAccumulation Blockā€ but apart from that, could someone help on my exercises so i aint over working certain muscles or is this workout resigm ok aslong as i lift lighter?

do not lift lighter

you already lift way too light

do LESS volume per muscle group with MORE weight and do it more frequently

take and those LESS exercises with MORE weight and divide them in 2 groups : #1 upper body dominant, #2 lower body lower body dominant (e.g. DL would be lower)

then you do week 1: #1/#2/#1 week 2: #2/#1/#2 week 3 :repeat week 1

et voilƃĀ”, you got yourself a non-BS-program

If you still think your gaining too slow, take a heavy compound movement for each major muscle group, do around 25-50 reps with it (e.g. 10x3, or 4x8, or 5x5), do all heavy compounds for each muscle group everytime you work out, switch the order of your the exercises for each of your 3 workout days, maybe finish with ~3 sets of some isolation work of your really think something specific is holding you back (e.g. if the triceps is limiting your bench)[/quote]

An accumulation block should be high volume, moderate intensity, moderate frequency. Intensification block should be high frequency, low volume, high intensity. Do a search for accumulation/intensification phases and do some more reading. I dont think you quite get the idea.

9

What dont i have right? i aint going to lift light, just ligher than i normaly do (normaly lift heavy). as for the volume and frequency im ok with that.

Can you help with my workout setup i wrkout 3 time a week so ill go for the (1: #1/#2/#1 week 2: #2/#1/#2 week 3 :repeat week 1) resigm.

Will look something like this but need wrk.

rep time 3 secs 5 secs 7 secs 3secs

   Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4:

			
       3 sets of 8,4 sets of 8,5 sets of 8,2 sets of 6

Monday

Chest:

BENCH PRESS
DECLINE DUMBELL (db)
DUMBBELL FLY

Triceps:

WEIGHTED BENCH DIP
SKULL CRUSHERS (v-bar)
V-BAR OVERHEAD

Biceps:

BARBELL CURL
DUMBBELL CURL (sit)
V-BAR CURL

Wednesday

Legs:

FULL SQUAT
STANDING leg CALF RAISE
STRAIGHT LEG DEADLIFT

abs: ab king pro

Friday

Back:

DUMBBELL SHRUG
DEADLIFT
BENT OVER ROW

Forearms:

HAMMER CURL
REVERSE BARBELL CURL
REVERSE PREACHER CURLS

Shoulders:

BEHIND NECK PRESS (bb)
SHOULDER PRESS (db)
V-BAR UPRIGHT ROW

In week 1 ill work all my upperbody muscles once, but in week 2 ill work my lowerbody muscles twice and have to do all my uperbody muscles on wed :confused: ?

is it best to avoid this 2/1 split and just workout 3 times a week normal ? Im in need of help :frowning:

10

do a search for ā€œhow to design a damn good programā€ 1 and 2 by CT. You will likely need to train more often than 3x a week to use the accumulation/intensification blocks.

11

Oh i dont like the sound of that id rather stick to mon/wed/fri, the accumulation + intensification articles were the first i came across and sound very gd, can you suggest any other type of training resigm i can do with as good results as ā€œaccumulation + intensificationā€ or better ?

12

Pumpit, check your PMā€™s.

13

I recommend you follow an Upper/Lower split as Petrichor recommended. You will progress much faster on it.

Look into these two articles for example:

http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=311west2

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459211

These are to programs that have been proven to work.

Or, you can do something more basic, such as

Upper Day 1
Bench Press 4 x 6
Barbell Row 4 x 6
Barbell Curl 3 x 8
Pushdown 3 x 8

Lower Day 1
Back Squat 4 x 6
Straight-legged Deadlift 4 x 6
Lunge 3 x 8
Standing Cable Crunches 3 x 8

Upper Day 2
Military Press 4 x 6
Pullups 4 x 6
Dumbbell Hammer Curl 3 x 8
Dips 3 x 8

Lower Day 2
Deadlift 4 x 6
Split Squat 4 x 6
Leg Curl 3 x 8
Decline Crunch 3 x 8

This is just a BASIC example. There are many options.

What Iā€™m trying to say is, cut the shit. Stick to a few basic lifts following an easy to understand template and focus on progressing with heavier weight.

I personally think that if you are not ready to write up a split of your own, you arenā€™t ready for something as advanced as that (nor do you need that kind of low frequency/high volume).

14

ok cheers for the help guys, so ā€œder candyā€ is this ok i took the basic one and changed it a bit as i workout at home and dont have equipment to do some exercises.

Upper Day 1:
Bench Press 4 x 6
Barbell Row 4 x 6
Barbell Curl 3 x 8
skull crushers 3 x 8

Lower Day 1:
Back Squat 4 x 6
Straight-legged Deadlift 4 x 6
Lunge 3 x 8
ABS 3 x 8

Upper Day 2:
Military Press 4 x 6
Pullups 4 x 6
Dumbbell Hammer Curl 3 x 8
Dips 3 x 8

Lower Day 2:
Deadlift 4 x 6
Split Squat 4 x 6
Straight-legged Deadlift 3 x 8
ABS 3 x 8

*Are my biceps getting enough loving form this?

So is it ok to do this for 3 weeks adding a set more each week as the ā€œAccumulation Blockā€ and then change it according to the ā€œIntensification Blockā€ ?