Revamped Routine, Advise/Comment

Training Bodybuilding
1

Hi all. After my shoulder surgery a couple of years ago, I went in and out of following a proper training routine. I want to get back into a formal workout structure, and have taken the past few days to read through a number of articles. Initially I wanted to follow a 3-day routine, but ultimately decided on a 4-day routine, based on upper body legs/delt work, each done twice a week.

My primary goal is hypertrophy; strength being a distant second. As you will see below, there are A and B workouts for upper/lower work respectively, with one focused on heavy weight and the other on higher volume - each workout consists of 6 exercises. I’d appreciate any comments and suggestions.

Workout A1: Upper Heavy (5x5) - Monday
BB row
BB bench
Rack pulls
Hammer chest press
DB or BB curls
Skull crusher

Workout B1: Legs/Delts Volume (4x8) - Tuesday
Squat (shoulder width stance)
Hamstring curls
Lunges
Calf raises
Side laterals
Abs

Workout A2: Upper Volume (4x8) - Thursday
DB bench
Low row
Cable flyes
Chins
Cambered bar curls
Reverse grip or rope pushdowns

Workout B2: Legs/Delts Heavy (5x5) - Friday
Squat (wide stance)
Romanian DL
Hack squat or Leg press
Donkey calf raises
Military press
Abs

Additional detail:

  • Wednesday and Saturday is off; some prehab for shoulders and posture will be done. Some ab/core work will be done at home on Sundays.
  • The set/rep scheme for the volume workouts will be changed each subsequent week such that the first week is 4x8, the second 4x10, the third 4x12. The fourth week will go back to 4x8.
  • Factored into exercise selection is omitting those which cause problems for my shoulders (especially after having gone through the surgery). As an example, there are no dips.

Cheers,
X

2

Hi again. I just wanted to add - as mentioned, initially I thought of a 3-day routine. It was based on “The Waterbury Method”. Basic principles followed were:

  • 1 lower body, upper push, and upper pull per workout (hit 3x a week)
  • calves, hams, bis, tris, abs, and shoulders each hit directly 2x a week
  • for week 1/3/5/etc., the first exercise each workout is performed for 6x4, all other exercises are performed 4x6
  • for week 2/4/6/etc., the first exercise each workout is performed for 5x5, all other exercises are performed 4x8-10
  • the workout itself is as follows

A (Monday)
BB Bench
Low Row
Deads/Rackpull
BB/Preacher Curl
Donkey calves
Ham Curls
Abs

B (Wednesday)
BB Row
DB Bench
Leg Press
Skullcrusher
Seated Calves
Military Press
Abs

C (Friday)
Squat
Chins
Hammer Bench Press
Romanian DL
DB Curls
Tricep pushdown
Side Laterals

3

Finally, here is the second option of a 3-day workout I devised. This uses the three set/rep schemes within the same week.

A: Monday - All exercises 4x5
BB Bench
Low Row
Deads/Rackpull
BB/Preacher Curl
Donkey calves
Skullcrusher
Romanian DL

B: Wednesday - All exercises 4x8
BB Row
DB Bench
Squat
Tricep pushdown
Seated Calves
Military Press
Abs

C: Friday - All exercises 4x10
Chins
Hammer BP
Leg Press
Ham Curls
DB Curls
Side Laterals
Abs

Sorry for the multiple/separate posts, was just busy transfering the workouts from paper to PC and posting as I went along.

Cheers,
X

4

BUMP. Any suggestions as to which may serve the purpose of hypertrophy better?

Kind regards,
X