Three Days in a Row Routine?

Hey,

I haven’t worked out in a while and signed up with a gym today. Problem is I work 12 hours a day four days a week, so I really only have Friday-Sunday to work out. I can do some basic stuff at home Mon-Thursday (pushups, etc.), but I don’t really want to go to the gym those days…

I’m currently 180 / 5’11. My goal is to stay around my current weight, but add about 20 lbs of muscle. My lower back is weak, and I’ve thrown it out twice in the gym before, so I want to spend a few months strengthening it up before doing deadlifts/squats.

Here’s what I have:

Friday:
Chins
Cable Rows (close grip?)
Zottman Curls (??)
Knee-Ups

Saturday:
DB Bench Presses
Inline Presses
Dips
EZ-Bar Upright Rows (with EZ-Bar UPs have never bothered me)

Sunday:
Lunges
Calf Raises
Back Extensions
Crunches

I’d also like to spend at least one of days (probably Friday) swimming laps.

Any recommendations?

Can’t you sneak away on Tuesday?
If you could I would do a heavy workout Tuesday, light on friday, medium on sunday.
Have you been training?

Fri., Upper
Sat., Lower
Sun., Easy/light mix

Fri., Lower
Sat., Upper
Sun., Easy/light mix

[quote]jp_dubya wrote:
Can’t you sneak away on Tuesday?
If you could I would do a heavy workout Tuesday, light on friday, medium on sunday.
Have you been training? [/quote]

No, I can’t–I commute 45 minutes to work, and the gym is another 5 minutes from my house.

I haven’t done much of anything this year, and between work, school, and my drive I spend 80% of my weekdays sitting on my ass.

Last year I played racquetball or tennis 4 days a week, jogged on the weekends, and did bodyweight exercises (pushups, dive-bombers, situps, etc. Nothing for upper or lower back though). No weights though: it’s been about two years since I was lifting weights at the gym.

Would I be better off at this point lifting weights Friday and Sunday, and swimming or something on Saturday? I know I wouldn’t see much gain doing that, but doing two days at 100% is probably better than doing one at 100%, one at 80%, and one at 60% due to fatigue. It would be similar to what Derek posted, but keeps the leg routine at the end (which, for me, is the most fatiguing, normally taking about three days to recover from).

I don’t see why you couldn’t do (which I think is what you have there already) the old CHEST/SHOULDER/TRIS, BACK/BIS/ABS, QUADS/HAMS/CALVES split.

Nothing will ever be perfect but I don’t see any long-term problems with that.

I would buy a barbell with weights and do a quick routine on tues or wed, pairing two exercises. Something like;

BB rows/floor press
RDL’s/front squat
mil press/chins (get a chin bar for the doorway)

the list goes on…

upper pull, upper push, lower.

[quote]akdms wrote:
Hey,

I haven’t worked out in a while and signed up with a gym today. Problem is I work 12 hours a day four days a week, so I really only have Friday-Sunday to work out. I can do some basic stuff at home Mon-Thursday (pushups, etc.), but I don’t really want to go to the gym those days…

I’m currently 180 / 5’11. My goal is to stay around my current weight, but add about 20 lbs of muscle. My lower back is weak, and I’ve thrown it out twice in the gym before, so I want to spend a few months strengthening it up before doing deadlifts/squats.

Here’s what I have:

Friday:
Chins
Cable Rows (close grip?)
Zottman Curls (??)
Knee-Ups

Saturday:
DB Bench Presses
Inline Presses
Dips
EZ-Bar Upright Rows (with EZ-Bar UPs have never bothered me)

Sunday:
Lunges
Calf Raises
Back Extensions
Crunches

I’d also like to spend at least one of days (probably Friday) swimming laps.

Any recommendations?[/quote]

I’d do it almost the same way you’ve listed it, but with a few more exercises and some smarter exercise choices.

Friday (Chest, Triceps)
Flat/Incline Press
Dumbell Press of the one you didnt do first (Flat/Incline)
Flys/Crossovers
Overhead Extensions
Pushdowns

Saturday (Back, Biceps)
Barbell/Dumbell Rows
Chins (Weighted or Regular)
Pulldown Variation
Barbell Curls
Dumbell Curl Move of your choice (Concentration Curls etc.)

Sunday (Legs, Shoulders)
Leg Press
Hack Squat
Lunges
Military Press
Rear Delt Flys

I’d do four set of 6-10 reps each exercise after a warmup.