Overview My Workout

Training Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Been doing this since Feb 06.MUCH MORE consistantly since July 06 after returning from Iraq.

Day 1: Chest/Triceps

Flat Bench
Incline Bench
Decline Bench

Tricep Pulldown
Skull Crushers
Random last one…

Day 2: Back/Biceps

Seated Lat Row
Lat PullDown
Bentover Row

Close/wide grip preachers
Twist Curls
Hammer curls
sometimes I add 21’s

Day 3: Shoulders/Legs

Military Press
Front Raises
Shrugs
Lateral Raises
“Bent over raises”

Squats
Leg Press
Lunges

Day 4 OFF

Cont…

I hit the gym about 6 days a week. I didn’t write in the reps beacuse it changes. EVERY 3-4 weeks I change from endurance to strength.

SO Endurance: I do 10,8,6 reps and use dumbells for most muscle groups, especially Chest/shoulder.

Then I change to 3 weeks for strength and do reps of 10,4-6,3-4 and use the barebell for chest/shoulders, not mention heavier weight.

I also run 5times a week, wether it be 25 min on treadmill or 3 nights a week at the track for 2 to 3 miles.

Also above mentioned excercises are not set in stone, I rotate 2 or 3 in/out per muscle group.

I’ve made solid gains and have no intentions of looking super ripped or ever benching 500lbs. Shit, I could barely lift 50lb dumbells x10, Now I do my last set for chest with 95’s for 6. BUT i’d like to know if this sounds like soemthing that will need to be drastically changed over time, or can I stick with it with out negative results in the long run. Missing anything good/bad. I ususaly get 7-8 hours sleep at night, drink my protein after work out, and spend no more than an 1 hour 45 min TOPS at the gym, but averege is about 1hour 15 min.

2

Id throw a DL on maybe back day you total volum for lower body compared to upper is WAAY off the DL will help hit the hams and glutes m,ore and low back

Other than that its working for you it doesnt look horrid. Keep doing like you are make small changes every few weeks, rep schems hand/foot placement etc and yes you sgold be able to stick to it a while.

Phill

3

[quote]CombatMedic1981 wrote:
Been doing this since Feb 06.MUCH MORE consistantly since July 06 after returning from Iraq.

Day 1: Chest/Triceps

Flat Bench
Incline Bench
Decline Bench

Tricep Pulldown
Skull Crushers
Random last one…

Day 2: Back/Biceps

Seated Lat Row
Lat PullDown
Bentover Row

Close/wide grip preachers
Twist Curls
Hammer curls
sometimes I add 21’s

Day 3: Shoulders/Legs

Military Press
Front Raises
Shrugs
Lateral Raises
“Bent over raises”

Squats
Leg Press
Lunges

Day 4 OFF

Cont…

I hit the gym about 6 days a week. I didn’t write in the reps beacuse it changes. EVERY 3-4 weeks I change from endurance to strength.

SO Endurance: I do 10,8,6 reps and use dumbells for most muscle groups, especially Chest/shoulder.

Then I change to 3 weeks for strength and do reps of 10,4-6,3-4 and use the barebell for chest/shoulders, not mention heavier weight.

I also run 5times a week, wether it be 25 min on treadmill or 3 nights a week at the track for 2 to 3 miles.

Also above mentioned excercises are not set in stone, I rotate 2 or 3 in/out per muscle group.

I’ve made solid gains and have no intentions of looking super ripped or ever benching 500lbs. Shit, I could barely lift 50lb dumbells x10, Now I do my last set for chest with 95’s for 6. BUT i’d like to know if this sounds like soemthing that will need to be drastically changed over time, or can I stick with it with out negative results in the long run. Missing anything good/bad. I ususaly get 7-8 hours sleep at night, drink my protein after work out, and spend no more than an 1 hour 45 min TOPS at the gym, but averege is about 1hour 15 min.

[/quote]

I would recommend a full body TBT-type routine. Body-part training for a beginner like you is just stupid. 6 days a week in the gym is overtraining for most lifters, and is a waste of time IMHO. You are doing way too many isolation movements as well. Your excessive aerobic routine is detrimental to muscle gains, so limit that to 1 or 2 times a wk. By the way forget about the leg press…and pulldowns. Keep reading and learning on this site. Good luck.

4

[quote]Phill wrote:
Id throw a DL on maybe back day you total volum for lower body compared to upper is WAAY off the DL will help hit the hams and glutes m,ore and low back

Other than that its working for you it doesnt look horrid. Keep doing like you are make small changes every few weeks, rep schems hand/foot placement etc and yes you sgold be able to stick to it a while.

Phill[/quote]
Thanks for your input. I was actually in the process with getting a “friend” from the gym to show me how to properly dead lift at some point this week. I spoke to him 2 days ago, so we will see how it goes. I may add DL to legs days though. I’ve heard taht done before.

5

I would suggest finding a program on here, TBT is a good example, maybe ABBH.

and thanks for going over there for us.

–WS4

6

Just a couple suggestions… Take 'em or leave 'em.

  1. instead of three benching movements, you might think of making one of those a dumb-bell press, and perhaps alternating between workouts. for example:

first chest day:
bench press
incline db press
decline bench press

second chest day
flat db press
incline bench
decline bench

etc. etc.

Also, if you are like most of the guys in the known universe, your upper chest is lagging. You might want to think of starting with inclines most of the time, to “prioritize” (i hate that word) that area.

Putting shoulders and legs on one day is probably fine for a beginner, but I would think as those area’s get stronger it will turn out to be a killer of a day. It might be difficult to get enough work for both bodyparts. If you are ready for a change, I would consider trying a new split for three or four months, something like this. (either the same 3 on 1 off, or maybe a 4 on 1 off)

day 1 - back, hams and bi’s

day 2 - chest, quads and tri’s

day 3 - shoulders and calves

day 4 - rest

(now chest day is almost too much. this split is great if your shoulders are lacking - maybe start on shoulder day) or maybe it’s time for a 5 day split.
I also but back first because you’ve been doing chest first for that long… In my experience, your back can never be too big. Give it some focus for a bit.

day 1 - back, lower back, abs - make chin-ups your main movement for a change.

day 2 - chest, biceps

day 3 - legs (this acts like a upper body rest day)

day 4 - shoulders, triceps

day 6 - rest

Anyway, I’m just firing idea’s at you. I’m about to post the same thing for my workout, maybe you’ve got some idea’s for me. Later.

7

[quote]CombatMedic1981 wrote:

I’ve made solid gains and have no intentions of looking super ripped or ever benching 500lbs.

[/quote]

But what exactly are your goals? Functional fitness? Beach body? Big bench press?

To give advice without this info is misleading.

-SK

8

[quote]sifuinkorea wrote:
CombatMedic1981 wrote:

I’ve made solid gains and have no intentions of looking super ripped or ever benching 500lbs.

But what exactly are your goals? Functional fitness? Beach body? Big bench press?

To give advice without this info is misleading.

-SK

[/quote]
Good point. I’d like to get stronger, lets say move up to 110 dumbells for a few reps, and just maintain that. I see no real reason with out making this my job, to have to lift EXTREMLY heavy weight. The ammount of cardio/running I do cannot be reduced much, I have PT standards for the military and my run is strong now, but gets weak QUICK unless I stay on top of things.

I’d alos like to lose some weight, but I need to watch my diet for that anyway. Basically I asked for your opinions on my work out to make sure I wasn’t OVER doing anything in paticular and make sure It was not a work out that NEED major improvement. Basically validation that is was
“normal”.

9

Given that, my advice would be to quit looking at your body in segments. When you train for strength, what you are trying to do is apply force to an object in order to get it to move with the hopes of moving heavier objects as you (hopefully) get stronger. To do this you must take the power from the ground and drive it through the object - or if you must, wedge yourself between an object and the ground so the object moves.

Start looking (and training) at your body as one piece of equipment to get that job done. All you can really do (to be efficient) is train your hips, pulls and presses. All this fancy talk comes down to this: when training for strength all you need to work on is deadlifts, squats, overhead presses, and various pulls. Bench presses and pull ups will round out your strength program.

The program you have listed IMO is not even close to the best way to attain your goals. If you’d like more info, feel free to PM me.

-SK

10

[quote]CombatMedic1981 wrote:
I see no real reason with out making this my job, to have to lift EXTREMLY heavy weight. [/quote]

My heart just sunk a little. I thought that was what it was all about.

I agree with Phill. Throw in some more leg work. Deads would be great. I think he was suggesting putting them on back day because you would get the benefit of training legs twice per week, plus you get a lot of back work out of them, and you already have eight exercises on leg/shoulder day.

11

Hey thanks a lot Phill, bruinsdmb, WS4adumbastard, mithious, sifuinkorea, Modi for your input. I’m glad I made this thread and DIDN’T get flamed. Every body up good points and I reminded me about some stuff I stopped thinking about long ago. Mainly WHAT do I want for the long term and how to seriously meet those goals, NOT just go through the motions and get “comfortable”/lazy. Alos the Dead Lift sugggestions make too much sense. Just pissed I never got serious about DL’s MONTHS ago.

I’m also looking into total body work out routines as suggested, especially the main article on this site about pro/cons of TBT/Split :

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1388191

Just can’t neglect my running routine too much.

Thanks again guys, and more opinions are welcome.

12

No prob gald to help and hope it leads to some great progress

Phill