I have had almost the same routine for about 3 years now. I know it is a good routine, I have made great gains in strength and size on it. That is the main problem. I know what works, and I don’t like to try anything new for fear that I wont make the same kind of gains. However, I have gotten so tired of doing the damn routine that it is beginning to affect my progress.
I know that T-Nation isn’t here to design a program for everyone, but I wouldn’t say no to a little help.
MY three biggest goals are
Wide Shoulders
Strong Lower Back
Large Arms
I also would like to try to build my chest a little more, fix my shoulders (they are beginning to round a little).
My current routine is this, I work out every day, and just swap day one and day two out.
Day 1
Deadlift
Weighted shoulder width chin up
underhand shoulder width rows
wide grip pull up
wide grip overhand rows
bicep curls
Day 2
Bench Press
Behind the neck press
squat
incline bench
military press
All excercises are done with a barbell or chin up bar. I have dumbells, I jsut don’t use them.
Any help?
Actually make a change NOW and stick to it for a bit. Just do to you always doing the same thing for years you will reap rewards from a change in simple exercise seletion and most likely some will be HARD as Chit and show some majopr imbalances. Do some unilateral leg work, lunges, split squats, step ups, Bust out those DB’s for presses. Get away from your usual rep and load ranges. Try new stuff but really try it. give it 4-8 weeks and see what worked.
Now this is Not forever. Come back to that program after a nice break and it will be fresh and fun again and will also give the gains it did. I like doing minor changes every 4 weeks or so. Same basic program but just little load tweeks, or adjust for strenght gains. then every 8 weeks BIG change. I like roatating through a body part split, then full body 3 days a week, then upper lower. each for about 8 weeks. Keeps it interesting and Each works. I know how these programs treat me from well doing them. and make small changes each time one or two things to address weaknesses or try something different to see how it works or keep it fun.
Well… Since you want wide shoulders and a strong lower back, I can suggest deadlifts. Obviously, you do them anyway since you know what you’re doing.
Obviously, you know you’ll have to be bulking to put on some size.
Anyway…
Check out CT’s ‘the power look’ article. He points out that traps and lats are the main point to looking big and powerful.
This winter, I did a bulk and a back ‘specialization’ routine for the most part.
I more or less did no direct shoulder work (military presses, raises, etc) but I did a fuckload of rows, deads, and chins, and I got a few comments on my shoulder improvement since then. (you can check out my pics on the pic challenge thread).
Obviously, you might want to include some shoulder work since you want to improve them the most.