Workout Advice for 30 Year Old?

Training
1

Hey everyone, I am a 30 year old male looking for advice on his workout routine.

Stats-
Age: 30
Sex: Male
Height: 5’11"
Weight: 203 lb
Bfp: 18%
Skill: Been working out since I was in the Army at 18, however; my workouts have changed so much over that time. On the below plan, I have been working out for about 24 months. I am definitely not an expert or even intermediate level really.

Diet: I do not smoke or drink. As far as eating goes, again I am no expert or intermediate level. I just try to make better choices, avoid sweets, and moderate my carb intake.

Supplements: I drink a pre workout before my workouts. A protein shake after. And I take a men’s multi vitamin once a day. Full disclosure, I hit a plateu 2 months ago and did a 500mg per week test e cycle to which I am on (about) the last 2 weeks of. PCT of Nolvadex is planned 40/40/20/20. I gain 10 lb during this time.

Current routine:
Day 1 - Upper Body focus - Heavy weight lower reps (1.5 hours of free weights)
Day 2 - Lower body focus - heavy weight lower reps
(1.5 hours of free weights)

Day 3 - Rest day (usually will do some ab workouts. No weights)

Day 4 - Upper Body focus - lighter weight higher reps (1 hour of free weights and resistance bands)
Day 5 - Lower body focus - lighter weight higher reps (1 hour of free weights and resistance bands)

Day 6 - Rest (will usually do a light cardio of either a jog or jump rope)
Day 7 - Rest.

Goals - Really, I just want to push myself to see how big I can get while keeping around a 18% bfp. After reading around, I am somewhat disappointed in myself for using the Test E without trying to push myself further and harder just a little longer. I know I have made gains using the Test E, there is no denying that, but i want to make sure I do no lose those gains while also trying to make sure I have a good routine in place for moving forward

Should I scrap the workout above and try something new? Is a workout, like the one above conducive with my goal or do I need to makes some tweaks? Maybe even large tweaks?

Thank you all in advance for any and all advice.

2

Give us a quick sample of what a couple of your workouts might look like. Lifts/sets/reps to see if anything looks weird.

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Standard Workout for Day 1 - Upper Body Focus - Lower Rep higher weight.

Bench Press - 10, 8, Max
Incline Curls - 10, 8, Max
Triceps kickbacks - 10, 8, max
Military Press - 10, 8, Max
Incline bench press - 10, 8, Max
Bent over row barbell - 10, 8, max
Dips - 10, 8, max
Standing curl dumbbell - 10, 8, max
Dumbbell Flys- 10,8, max

1 minute rest between sets. 3-5 minute between lifts. Max is usually around 6 reps.

Day 4 - Upper body focus - higher rep lower weight

Bench press - 12, 10, Max - doing each rep much slower
Standing curl dumbbell - 12, 10, Max - slower reps
Bentover rows barbell - 12, 10, max - slower reps
Crossover fly with resistance bands - 12, 10, max - slower reps
Tricep extension dumbbell - 12, 10, max - slower reps
Front raises with resistance bands - 12, 10, max - slower reps
Hammer curls - 12, 10, max - slower reps

1 minute rest between sets. 2-3 minute rest between lifts. Max is usually 8-10 reps.

Lower body focus days have the same rep set up and rest times, with fairly standard lifts (ergo squads, straight legs, leg extensions, etc…)

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Wow - low rep?
You work to 5 exercise that use the triceps to failure. And not in any logical order.

The split you use above (upper / lower - heavy / light) is a good one. But I’d pick one written by a pro.

This one is frame work for you.

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Alright! First the easy part.

The thing that jumps right out is that there is Not Enough Work For Your Back! If you want to get bigger and stronger consider removing a pressing exercise and adding another pulling lift.

The second part is a little tougher.

You mentioned wanting to Get Bigger as your goal. If your priority is gaining muscle mass, you might think about mixing up your split. Something like Push/Pull/Legs or Chest/Legs/Shoulders/Back, where you can break your body into smaller “pieces” and really focus on hitting the muscles.

Upper/Lower is definitely a good approach, but in my opinion it’s more for “Performance,” or improving specific lifts. It’s hard cramming work for all your parts when you’re really focusing tons of time and effort on driving your lifts up.

If you want to keep the upper/lower plan and keep driving strength up I would figure out a way to do Fewer lifts on your heavy upper body day. Do less, a little better and give yourself a a chance to recover and gain. Then work out som kind of rotation so you’re still doing dips, incline, military and bench, just not each one every week.

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Ah, so my low rep days are seemingly higher rep days in other plans. So, just out of curiosity, have you tried a similar split plan to the one in the article? I ask because there does not seem to be that many workouts in the plan. It says things can be substituted, but can things be added or would that over work and in fact hurt me?

I also will for sure look into the ordering of my workouts based off what you said. It would make sense as to why I feel so burnt out half way into my workouts.

Also, I am not dead set on keeping a split routine so my final question would be, do you agree with the split or recommend a different routine all together?

P.S. sorry for the 21 questions, I have read a lot, but never really got to talk to people about working out. There are just so many opinions and articles out there that make it hard to believe what you are doing is actually what is best for you. And due to my beginner status, I really do not know what exactly best should feel like.

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More back. Sounds easy enough, though I should have added my workouts are done at home. I wish I had a machine to do more pull exercises, but I believe I could definitely work in pull-ups for sure.

Again, I am not dead set on the split so I would be all for changing the routine. I have seen a chest/legs/shoulders/back but have never tried it. Is this essential hitting every muscle group once a week but more intensely? And if so, does that mean your are doing lower reps at higher weights each focus day?

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Bent over rows with a barbell

Chest supported Dumbell rows, use incline bench to support chest

Seal dB/bb rows, use your flat bench and elevate it enough to accomplish them

Face pulls with bands

Meadows rows

Shrugs

Probably many more you can do at home

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It’s cool. To help - what’s your current max press; pull up reps; squat and deadlift. No need to be super accurate. But advice will differ depending on if your bench is 250lb or your squat is 250lb.

However I would suggest 531 for now. It’s a staple of the site. And for good reason.
Once you learn it - you can adapt it to do things like upper low.

Push pull legs is pretty good. The strength training college edition is the best starting place there. It says strength training but it will get you bigger. No one built an impressive body pressing 95lb ovet head…

Either way I think you’re confusing working hard with working productivity. There is no way you need 4 compound pushing movement taken to failure. And then more triceps work.
The rule of thumb is the stronger / bigger you are them more stimulus you need.
I’m almost strong ish. And I only use 2. Some times 3 exercise. Sometimes.
Less done harder. I done the below and went from a 70kg press to an 80kg press and 50kgx10 one arm row to 55kg x 15.
Press 1 set to failure. Aim for 6-10 reps.
Incline bench 1 set to failure.
Press ups 2 sets. The 1st stops a few reps short of failure. The 2nd to failure
Pull ups 3 sets to failure
One arm row - 1 set to failure.
Curls - any variation 2x10-15.

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Yeah, you’re hitting things once a week, more intensely. Instead of doing chest stuff, shoulder stuff, back and arms, all in the same day you divide it up a little. There’s always a little overlap, like your shoulders get a little work on bench day. And tris get hit both days too.

The weights and reps are up to you. You can do fewer sets of higher reps with bigger weights, like a “heavy day.” Or you can do more sets of more reps, like a “lighter day.” Or alternate them week to week.

Or you could bench heavy(sets of 6), then do dips medium (sets of 10-12) and finish with high rep flies and band Pushdowns. For example.

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But remember you are “only” 30.
You can add a lot of size even though you aren’t 16.
Us old f**ks are still trying at 55.

Just remembered when I was 25 or 26 I asked an old bodybuilder about my struggle to get bigger. He said why don’t you just try to gain 10 lbs a year for the next 10 years?

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BP:215 lb
Squat: 250 lb
Deadlift: 230 lb

Sorry for the delayed response. However, I took some of your advice. I cut down my reps to 3 sets of 5-6 and really focused on form and taking my time. I also reordered my workouts to avoid burn outs and added some shrugs, chest supported dumbbell rows, and pull ups.

Results: It was a huge difference maker! Today I feel a little sore, nothing crazy, but I feel amazing overall. But during the workouts I did not feel burnt out and on every set I was able to hit 5-6 reps which mentally feels better than just hitting failure.

“Either way I think you’re confusing working hard with working productivity.” You were 100% right there, and though I may still have to work on fine tuning to reach my goals, you have definitely helped me break my “more reps” mindset. Thank you.

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You are not the first and I’d be surprised if you were the last guy to fall for that.
It’s an easy mistake to make. I’m pretty sure 99% of people have just upped volume too much at one point.

3 sets at 5-6 is very CNS intensive. Try 1 exercise at 5-6 and then 2 at 8-15.
This works wonders for me.

This is key.

Even after my hardest training sessions I want still feel “invigorating” not run over. I mean after a hard set you feel run over but you should recover after every set before the next.

Read about 531 online. Even if you dont run it the lessons in there are worth their weight in gold. The author Jim Wendler is pretty straightforward. Theres info in there that transcend his programme.