Assess me please!! Make or break?

B

benelson101

0
Hey all, good weekend?

i know this is tedious but id really appreciate someone criticising what i do, even if only to give me more confidence in what im doing.

Im well and truly away with training, 6 months and starting to get somewhere, but i need to tidy up what i do. i need to burn fat and build some muscle to tone, so am on 6 meals, 100g+ of protein, all the water i can manage, low carbs etc. etc.

this is my basic outline.....



MON biceps + shoulders, abs, HIIT , swimming

TUES triceps + chest, 25 min run

WED biceps + shoulders, abs, HIIT, swimming

THURS hour and a half football training

FRI triceps + chest, HIIT

SAT occasional football match

SUN off


i try to vary the workouts from session to session, so on Mondays biceps i'll do different to Wednesdays biceps. i try to spend 2 hours in the gym, plus a little extra for swimming. i also am going to do more morning runs to try to burn fat, so fingers crossed.

big problems i have included having to workout late (keeps me up late and eating late) and getting enough protein.



HOWEVER, i need to put in leg workouts + a side abs routine

ive been doing both but more 'when i feel like it' and usually at the expense of another muscle group.

i want to tone up, define muscle and lose fat. i want to look more athletic, not bulky but still muscular. id also like to increase my speed, but i guess im best doing that in morning runs. i did consider 2/3 full body workouts but im not sure id b able to do enough muscle work for it to have an effect other than making me ache, plus i cant see how the cardio would fit in as i would do half what i am doing currently.
 
Horrible routine as you have it. You need back and legs duh no brainers. They are huge muscle groups. List your movements.

Low carbs your doing? You'll be dragging your ass backward unless you get absolutly huge amounts of protein, which will give your body a hell of time processing.
 
I am still a little unclear of your goals but I am sure you will want a day for your legs to lift weight and definately your back. Also you need to give a bodypart four days rest before you isolate it again.

here is another split that might look better

shoulders + bis -cardio
leg day (no cardio)
chest +tris- cardio
football
back +bis (no cardio)
running and cardio (aerobic leg day) + tris
football and/or rest

bis and tris tend to heal quickly because they are small mucle groups. I don't understand why you do biceps with shoulders but I suppose it doesn't hurt anything. Also what is cardio to you. Is it something that you actually expect to make you sore or is it just something you plod through because you have to?


I don't know how much of a priority your football game is or what you are trying to look like. It may also help to know your stats, your diet and your goal appearance.
 
Champr23 said:
Horrible routine as you have it. You need back and legs duh no brainers. They are huge muscle groups. List your movements.

Low carbs your doing? You'll be dragging your ass backward unless you get absolutly huge amounts of protein, which will give your body a hell of time processing.
Click to expand...


i do do legs and i said that - i do them twice a week but i wanted someone to suggest the best way to do these and when. I do my back with abs.

And i didnt mean low carbs as such, just be careful what and when, all wholegrain at breakfast and post WO.
 
football is quite a big priority and not flexible. also, is there intentionally no ab workout in that routine?

so basically i need longer than 48 hours rest for each muscle? thatd be great as it mean less time in the gym and much more focused. ive always been worried that id be undertraining, especially as i cant always workout fridays.
 
I like to train abs after any workout in which they do not feel sore. I have also had times when I trained immediately before bed. ab training is important. When you do it is entirely up to you.
 
when you do ab workouts does the sore feeling last very long? i always work them hard and have that pain that lasts around 30 seconds, but i never have the soreness the morning after?
 
Again, it is a very individual thing but my abs are usually 90% fresh by the time I work out again.
The abs are very small muscles so they tend to heal the fastest
 
Mr.Ninjaface said:
Again, it is a very individual thing but my abs are usually 90% fresh by the time I work out again.
The abs are very small muscles so they tend to heal the fastest
Click to expand...
Why would you think your abs are any different than the rest of your muscles? Have you ever seen the people pouring intot he abs classes every day to do 45 minutes of abs exercises? One thing they all have in common is they have NO ab definition. Train them just like any other body part. If you want them to "pop", you need to do heavy resistance. Incidentally, that doesn't necessarily mean you need to do ab tartgetted exercises either. Heavy exercises that activate your core are just as effective for building great abs. I can't tell you, for example, the last time I did a "crunch". My clients rarely do them either, and its not because I don't want them to have great abs.

MrNinja, not to harp on you, but I'm not real crazy about your suggested split either. First of all, some of your statements about smaller muscles healing faster indicates a lack of understanding about basic physiology. Perhaps before doling out advice as a fitness expert you should do some background reading. I suggest the NSCA book, Exercise Physiology Basics for starters.
 
It is not just a personal theory. Lots of bodybuilders feel the need to train abs every day where others feel they need to rest. I do not train abs every day because I don't feel they are rested enough. As for the people who attend exercise classes a more astute obsevation would be that they do not know how to work out.
Tom Platz worked abs every single day and turned ot fine. Then I know that a bunch of pros with the super cut abs do not train abs at all. I have heard both arguments about how much rest the abs or any bodypart need and my personal theory is that they are both true for different people. I do believe that most people need at least 36 hours between ab sessions but there are far too many people who get astounding results doing otherwise for me to write it in stone.

I am still interested in what you have to say though because I admit that I don't know everything. I have done a tremendous amount of backround reading and I fully expect people to disaggree with me. Health experts disaggree all the time. It does not mean that I do not know what I am talking about. I am certainly willing to debate this further if you wish. The worst thing that could happen is that you improve my routine. But first think of this. Out of all the dozens or hundreds of books you have read on health, diet and fitness how many authors do aggree with %100. Everything that they say. It can't possibly be all of them. You can probably count them on one hand if there is even a single one. I also think that the best thing a person can do is hear an argument from several angles and choose for him or herself what is right.
By all means add color to this discussion but please- there is a dark difference between "I greatly disaggree" and "you are completely wrong".
Thanks ahead of time
 
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benelson101 said:
HOWEVER, i need to put in leg workouts + a side abs routine
ive been doing both but more 'when i feel like it' and usually at the expense of another muscle group.
Click to expand...

When you dont do them, its at a greater expense.
 
jpfitness said:
I can't tell you, for example, the last time I did a "crunch".
Click to expand...
What's a 'crunch'? :D

Pull Upper/Legs/Push Upper is a good/common split

Upper/Lower is a good split

Push Upper & Lower/Pull Upper and Lower, makes it hard to incorporate large muscle groups, espcially lower.

I'd go PL/L/Pl.. Works for most everyone I know (most).
 
Tom Platz worked abs every single day and turned ot fine. Then I know that a bunch of pros with the super cut abs do not train abs at all. I have heard both arguments about how much rest the abs or any bodypart need and my personal theory is that they are both true for different people.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a legit comparison... A major juicehead to supposedly natural lifters with non-elite genes to boot. If you believe everything you read in Muscle and Fiction then follow the Platz Plan and more power to you. Not only are those guys on tons of gear, those aren't even the routines that they actually do, so your argument lost all of its gas right there. Plus, even the greatest meatheads out there know how they got that way. They often succeed completely in spite of themselves. As I say, follow a horse home and you will find horse parents.

As for your personal theory, I like Alwyn Cosgrove's famous quote about weight training... "Everything works, nothing works forever!"

Hey, if it works for you then don't bother listening to some dumb ol' trainer you met on the internet.
 
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