Hey everybody, I was wondering if I this routine looked good:
MONDAY
Squat
Bench
Row
biceps
triceps
abs
calves
WEDNESDAY
front squat
overhead press
pullups
shrugs
lateral raises
glute-ham raise
abs
FRIDAY
deadlift
incline press
lunges
biceps
triceps
abs
I am currently 5’10" 185-90 lbs. and about 14% bf. My goals are to simply to get bigger and stronger, and if I had to choose one it would be to get stronger. I think the main lifts are good, but I wasn’t really sure what to do for assistance work.
The rep scheme for the main lifts is 4x8 right now. I’ll stick with that for at least 6 weeks then move to 5x5. then 10x3.
Look good?
I will give you the same answer as I give nearly every person putting a program on here, without knowing intensity, and a lot of other info, no one knows if it is a good program or not. If you have never done any lifting, then this program is better at building strength than a program of sitting on the couch watching TV. If you are trying to increase your 1 RM, then it might work, slowly, over time.
[quote]RedFive wrote:
My goals are to simply to get bigger and stronger, and if I had to choose one it would be to get stronger. I think the main lifts are good, but I wasn’t really sure what to do for assistance work.[/quote]
Not a lot of detail to work with. You could easily screw up the “best” program with funky volume on assistance stuff. So, don’t be dumb with those especially when hitting stuff two or three times a week.
Also, I’d switch the lunges and glute-ham raises. Make more sense to lunge after front squats and GHR after deads. And reconsider hitting shrugs two days prior to deadlifts.
I’m not crazy about deadlifts 4x8. It’s not a move that lends itself to moderate-to-higher reps without a major trade-off in strength gains and needed recovery.
Other than that, it could be fine (depending on those other details), although six weeks is a relatively-short time to see significant size gains. If you’re going to go that route, think about allowing more time to squeeze progress from the plan.
I echo the other gents’ comments: not enough detail to really critique.
If you are really just beginning, you can get a lot of mileage out of an actual full body routine that you hit several times a week. Your approach works well, but is more of a standard bodybuilding split routine (pretty much the same as the old faithful chest/tris, back, bis and legs, but with a bit of variation on days).
Here’s a single routine, repeated three times a week, which focuses on compound movements. The slashes indicate supersets. Whenever possible, exercises are done standing to increase functional core strength.
The higher weekly volume also pays off well for relative beginners (ie lifting less than two years). Some of the programs on T-Nation, while totally top-notch, can be focused on more of an advanced lifter who is fighting a bit of a different battle.
** 1 Routine - 3 days a week ***
// Superset 1 //
DB Bench - 3x8 (or standard push-ups, 3 sets max)
Wide Front Pull-ups - 3 sets, each to 1 or 2 reps short of max (or lat pull-downs at 3X8 if you can’t hit three sets of 5 pull-ups)
// Superset 2 //
Standing Arnie DB Shoulder Press - 3x8
DB Row - 3x10
// Superset 3 //
BB Back Squat - 3x8 (substitute DBs in hands if necessary)
BB Deadlift - 3x8 (substitute DBs in hands if necessary)
// Superset 4 //
Incline Bench - 3x8
Lying Side Laterals (or other rear delt exercise) - 3x10
// Superset 5 //
Core (basic crunches work well) - 3 sets
EZ Bar Bicep Curl - 3*8
After about 6 to 8 weeks, start playing with rep ranges and sets. A good strategy is to power down to a 5 by 5 approach for a cycle of about 6 weeks, then alternate back to this more hypertrophy-based approach.
This may help. May not meet your goals. You can drop the bicep curls if you want…they’re just there because everyone loves curls and will do them anyways. Still, I think this a good compound beginners routine, that helps with neuromuscular training as well as taking advantage of high-volume benefits.
Thanks everyone for responding, I really appreciate it. I’ll try to give a bit more information.
Bench 195x10
Squat 275x5
Deadlift, I’m not really sure but I can hit 315 pretty easily
The numbers aren’t exact because I recently got off a broken leg and haven’t tested them yet. I’ve been lifting seriously for about a year.
Ecchastang: As far as intensity goes, I don’t know my maxes right now and have just been trying to beat last workouts numbers on the main 3 lifts. On the assistance exercises I just do them as extra, not too heavy.
Chris Colucci: I know I don’t have a set goal at the moment an I’m working on that. I just want to get stronger overall. On the assistance exercises I’m not going to heavy, just getting extra work in. I will switch the exercises around like you suggested. I heard 6 weeks was the minimum to stay with something (within reason). How long would you suggest? Also on the deads, what rep scheme would you suggest? I don’t want to drop them because I believe that they are important and I really enjoy them.
InfoMaverick: thanks for the advice, but I’m going to stay around my original layout. I would be pretty beat up if I did that three times a week.