Critique my workout…
Ok, well for the past few months ive been back on the grind big time. I go to the gym and lift 4-5 days a week, i dont have weight goals but id like to gain lean muscle and strength while dropping body fat. I used to lift back and bis, chest and tris, etc… but I recently switched. I’m used to lifting for football so I usually lift to failure. My last set will usually take around 4-6 reps, with the exception of arms which i finish 8-10 reps on all sets
Here is my weekly routine, (anything in parenthesis are alternate exercises that i switch to every other week):
Day 1: Back and Chest
1. lat pulldowns (pullups) 4 sets
2. flat bench 4 sets
3. cable rows (row machine) 3 sets
4. incline bench (DB incline) 3-4 sets
5. straight bar rows (DB rows) 3 sets
6. dips (decline bench) 3 sets
7. dead lifts 3 sets
8. Cable crossovers Upper and lower 3 sets each
10-15 minutes of cardio (treadmill, exercise bike, or stepper)
Day 2: Bis and Tris
1. pulley pushdowns 3 sets
2. DB curls 3 sets
3. close grip bench 3 sets
4. straight bar curls (close grip straight bar/curling bar curls)3 sets
5. standing cable tricep extensions 3 sets
6. curling machine (wide grip straight bar/curling bar curls) 3 sets
7. cable kickbacks 3 sets
8. cable curls with the rope 3 sets
9. dips between benches (tricep extensions) 3 sets
10. superman curls 3 sets
10-15 minutes of cardio (treadmill, exercise bike, or stepper)
Day 3: Legs
1. Leg Press (squats) 4 sets
2. Leg Extensions 3 sets
3. Leg curls 3 sets
4. Calf raise machine (raises on squat rack) 3 sets
10-15 minutes of cardio (treadmill, exercise bike, or stepper)
Day 4: Shoulders
1. DB shoulder press 4 sets
2. Upright rows 3 sets
3. Shrugs 3 sets
4. Military press machine 3 sets
5. DB shrugs 3 sets
6. DB Front raises (cable front raises) 3 sets
7. DB side raises (cable side raises) 3 sets
10-15 minutes of cardio (treadmill, exercise bike, or stepper)
If I go on a 5th day…
Day 5: Cardio
30-60 minutes of cardio, maybe some abs
July 12, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I weigh about 260 and I try to stay around 2500 calories a day… I forgot to throw that in there.
July 26, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Overall a great workout… but…..
Biomechanically a pull up is far more effective than a "lat pull down". Leg presses and squats aren’t switchable. Every week squats, squats, squats. Leg presses are secondary exercises. Squats, Lunges, Deadlifts (barbell, dumbell, barbell)… these are CORE leg exercises and Squats and Deadlifts are core period… of course you already do deadlifts…. Unless your using steroids your doing a ton of shoulder work…. Maybe your body responds to such a high volume but probably not.
At 265 your BMR is probably close to 2500 calories! Are you trying to lose weight?
You’ve got a pretty good routine the real question is "What is your goal?"
July 26, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I’m trying to lose fat, I’m not so concerned with a number just how i look. I’ve recently cut my shoulder workout down to 4 exercises… I just feel that I’m not hitting my entire muscle group if I dont do a bunch of exercises.
July 26, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Ok, thank goodness you have a good profile. Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is about 2440 calories per day. Without working out, or doing anything for that matter, you need to eat 2440 calories per day to maintain your weight. You’re working out which means you need more. Assuming you work out as much as you say you do you need approx 3904 calories per day to maintain body weight (back to BMR for the off days). So, here’s the deal, eat about 500-750 calories MORE per day and you will see MORE fat loss. If you want to run the numbers yourself do a google search for "t-nation carb cycling codex"… you might even follow the diet…
July 26, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Personally I would ditch the chest/back day. It’s tough working 2 large muscle groups effectively in one day. By the time you’re done with either back or chest (which usually consists of a couple of compound lifts in there) you’re already pretty worn down and it’s tough to put full effort into another large bodypart. I would suggest hitting a larger muscle and a smaller muscle on the same day if you wanted to hit more than one. Ex. Chest/tris, Back/bis, etc. etc. Also, in my opinion, you’re doing way too much work for bis and tris. When doing larger muscle groups and using compound lifts (bench presses, military presses, deadlifts, bent over rows, pullups and such) you’re already using your bis and tris in each of those movements as secondary muscles and they get a lot of work already out of it. So to follow up a back and chest day with that much arm work can lead to serious overtraining.