How's My Routine?

Hi I’m starting to get serious about lifting and would love some feedback on the following routine.

Basic split is horizontal/vertical/lower body movements.
Goals are general strength and size gain, while also improving posture.

Day1; Horizontal Push/Pull
Bench Press 5x5
Pendlay Row 5x5
Scapular Push Ups 3xfailure
Face Pulls 3xfailure

Day2; Vertical Push/Pull
Pull Ups 5x5
Power Clean and Push Press 5x5
Overhead Scapular Shrugs 3xfailure
Straight Arm Dips 3xfailure

Day3; Lower Body
Squats 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Leg Curls 3xfailure
Calf Raises 3xfailure

Day4; Rest

Apart from squats and deadlifts I usually superset two exercises at a time. With the reps to failure I aim to fail about 12 reps.

What do you think?

In general, I would make day2 lower body and day3 vertical push/pull

How old are you and where did you get this program?
Overall it looks fine but why the scapular exercises and the straight arm dips?

Bend your arms and feel your triceps.
Do regular push ups and do the scapular ones at the end.
Overhead scapular shrugs??? Don’t bother.

Instead do barbbell curls . Who the hell doesn’t want big biceps lol.
Yeah I know, you’ll get that from the pulling exercises. Yeah think again.

Oh and I agree with the Butcher, put leg day in between.

On second thoughts what does 3 x till failure actually look like?
Failure on leg curls better be different to failure on calves.
I’m always amazed why people don’t add details to their training when posting.

It makes no sense to go to failure on something like a face pull or a calf raise. I’m not sure how you would even do it.

It looks like it’s an ok program.

That said, why use an OK program when you could use a proven, professional one that’s provided to you for free? Feels like kind of a waste of time. If someone gives you a Porsche, why would you build your own go-cart?

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Agree leg day should come inbetween.

Lots of scapular exercises because posture has always been an issue for me (6’6" and lanky), which is also why is prefer horizontal/vertical split routines. Chest days leave me so hunched over.

I guess I’m not really going to failure on most of those exercises, just until my form breaks down and it burns too much, will update the program.

dagill2, are there any famous horizontal/vertical split programs? I had a good look around but could only find people posting their own on forums.

Updated routine below;

Day1; Horizontal Push/Pull
Bench Press 5x5
Pendlay Row 5x5
Inlince Close Grip Bench 5x5
Face Pulls 3x12

Day2; Lower Body
Squats 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Leg Curls 3x12
Calf Raises 3x12

Day3; Vertical Push/Pull
Power Clean and Push Press 5x5
Pull Ups 5x5
Dips 5x5
Bicep Curls 3x12

Day4; Rest

[quote]hoopbubble wrote:
dagill2, are there any famous horizontal/vertical split programs? I had a good look around but could only find people posting their own on forums.[/quote]

5/3/1 springs to mind. I’m sure when I’m more wide awake I can find a few more.

[quote]hoopbubble wrote:
Updated routine below;

Day1; Horizontal Push/Pull
Bench Press 5x5
Pendlay Row 5x5
Inlince Close Grip Bench 5x5
Face Pulls 3x12

Day2; Lower Body
Squats 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Leg Curls 3x12
Calf Raises 3x12

Day3; Vertical Push/Pull
Power Clean and Push Press 5x5
Pull Ups 5x5
Dips 5x5
Bicep Curls 3x12

Day4; Rest [/quote]
Ok with the added details you gave I can see what you’re after and this program looks pretty good for your goals. What i was refering to with failure on leg Curls and Calves needing to be different is you didn’t specify a rep range. Going to failure on isolation exercises is fine but my point is calves respond best to higher reps 12-20 and hamstrings on leg curls generally fall in the medium range 7-10.

A couple of other points:
On Incline Close Bench you don’t need to keep the reps at 5. You have already covered that with Flat bench so why not go 3 sets 8-10. Actually I would question close grip bench and go with low incline dumbbells to hit the pectorals better but those are changes you can add over time.

Also you have dips 5x5 . This is good in theory but in practice that can be very hard on elbows and shoulder joints. 8-10 would be safer.
Dips is on your vertical push day but dips is actually a tricep and chest exercise which is what close grip bench is. No real need to have both.

I’d remove the close grip bench and go with the low incline dumbbell press.

Anyway try it out and see how you respond.

5x5 Deadlift following 5x5 squat could prove problematic. Often working up to a set 1x5 is used for deadlift, if you’re deadlifting and squatting on the same day(such as with Starting Strength). You may also want to consider putting Power Cleans as your first exercise on lower day, maybe 3x3 though. I’ve been doing it a la 531, and I feel is serves well to warm me up for heavy lower body movements. I’m guessing you’ll be using double progression?

[quote]TX iron wrote:
You may also want to consider putting Power Cleans as your first exercise on lower day, I feel is serves well to warm me up for heavy lower body movements.[/quote]

I second that, I always start squat/deadlift sessions with O-lift variations or jumps now.