Making a more advanced workout program.

I'm looking to add more definition into my current workout program.

Currently-3 Days a week

Day 1-Chest
Flat Bench
Up-right Bench
Decline Bench

Abs-
Situps
Leg Raises
Crunches

Cardio 30 minutes

Day 2-Bi, Tri, Forearm
Wide Grip Curls
Close Grip Curls

Tricep Extension(3 different kinds)
-Holding free weight behind head
-Same basic thing as first but on machine
-sitting down and pushing on the machine

Dumbell Wrist Extension
Wrist Curl but with weight on rope-Palms up and down in different sets

Dips-
3x5 in my case

Abs-
Same as First just different amount of sets and different order

Day 3-back and Shoulders
Shrugs
Overhead Press
Upright Row

Seated Row
Lat Pulldown
Lat Pulldown with Palms facing Up.

Abs-
Same as usual but in different order

Cardio-30 minutes


Thats our current workout. I"m looking into incorperating the following excercises and others depending on what you guys think.

Squats
deadlifts

Something else for forearms, something else for abs-->possibly jackknifes, side crunches. Also for chest I'm thinking flies along with the benching workout taht we're doing.

Right now my diet is pretty strict but not totally strict.
-No Sugars
-No Soda
-No White Bread
-Cutting down on beef
-Eating mostly chicken and turkey


-0Ne
 
Skip the upright row or modify it to where you're doing it with dumbbells and only bringing it to the lower sternum. No reason to do lat. pulldowns if you can do chins/pull ups.

And make sure you're doing squats, deadlifts, and some form of unilateral leg work.

There's no reason to have an entire day for arms until you're at the very advanced stage.

No reason to have flat, decline, and incline bench in teh same workout.

Why don't you just go FBW 3X week?
 
FBW 3x week?

For chest-->
What would you suggest then?

For the Upright Row-Taken your advise, feels alot better and more natural.

-0Ne
 
FBW is "full body workout" its where you work your entire body 3 days a week, its very effective. Search for "full body workout" on this forum, and you should find tons of info.
 
FBW 3x week?

For chest-->
What would you suggest then?

For the Upright Row-Taken your advise, feels alot better and more natural.

-0Ne

As Karks said...fullbody workout
Basically, you pick a leg movement, a push, and a pull. Then throw in some prehab and a couple isolation movements if needed/wanted. Alternate squats with deadlifts with some single leg stuff (step ups, Bulgarian squats, lunges). Everyone is different on how they set up their fullbody work.

For chest, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing...just no reason to do all that in the same day. If going fullbody, just hit 1 pressig movement each day...throw in the occasional cable fly and you'll be good.
 
This is the FBW I got from another thread several threads down.
Workout A:
1. Squats-Quads/Back?
2. Bench Press-Chest/Triceps..sorta
3. Lying Row-Not sure
4. Barbell Curl-Biceps
5. Crunches-Abs

I'd hoped to add an excercise to this for Tri/forearms

Plus Jacknifes and leg lifts for abs

Workout B:
1. Deadlifts-Back
2. Chinups-Majority of Upper Body
3. Military Press-Shoulders
4. Calf Raises-Calfs...
5. Crunches-Yet again abs

I'd also hoped to add something to this one, just not sure what though? Any advise?

-0Ne
 
well, dont get too hung up in isolation work. Adding some ab isolation is ok, you dont need more than one exercise each day for abs though. If you really want to, do some arm isolation aswell. its ok, but you probobly dont need it as much as you think.
 
This is the FBW I got from another thread several threads down.
Workout A:
1. Squats-Quads/Back?
2. Bench Press-Chest/Triceps..sorta
3. Lying Row-Not sure
4. Barbell Curl-Biceps
5. Crunches-Abs

I'd hoped to add an excercise to this for Tri/forearms

Plus Jacknifes and leg lifts for abs

Workout B:
1. Deadlifts-Back
2. Chinups-Majority of Upper Body
3. Military Press-Shoulders
4. Calf Raises-Calfs...
5. Crunches-Yet again abs

I'd also hoped to add something to this one, just not sure what though? Any advise?

-0Ne

From reading your posts I'm not certain if you simply want to hit all your muscles in the most efficient manner and time-saving manner over the course of a week - in other words, develop a routine that works all of your muscles in the least amount of time. If this is the case, there is a lot to be said for a Full Body Workout ( FBW ) on 3 non-consecutive days a week. The 3 day a week FBW is a version of what is called a ' 3-day split ' training mode.

Or, I'm not certain if you are keen on dedicating more exercises and time to various muscle groups. If so, and if you are open to going to the gym more than 3 days a week, there are other options like a ' 4 day split ', ' 5 day split ' and ' 6 day split ' routines you may want to could consider.

On FBWs. Depending on which exerices you choose, you could easily to stick with a FBW ( back, chest, legs, arms, shoulders, arms etc. ) 3 days a week ( i.e Mon, Wed, Fri ) and get great results. You just want to make sure, that in a FBW that you work your large muscles ( legs, back, chest, butt ) before your small muscles ( i,e arms ), working from the center of your body, outward. Thing is, something like a bench press uses chest muscles ( big muscles ) as the primary mover, but triceps and shoulders ( small muscles ) also assist. For that reason, smaller muscles don't need as much individual attention in a FBW IMO. So, if you worked the smaller muscles first, they'd be to worn out to help the chest. For the same reason, you should do mulit-joint exercise first, before single-joint exercises. For a full body workout, the order could be something like ...

Thighs
Hamstrings / Lower back
Chest
Back
Shoulders
Calves ( Optional )
Triceps
Biceps
Abs


A good FBW can be done in 45 minutes to an hour IMO. If it were me, my focus would be on legs, butt, chest and back. And when training those, I would opt for 2 muti-joint / compound exercises per muscle group where a particular muscle is the prime mover for a given exercise - if possible , and if time permits. Also, I would only do 1 exercise for bicep and triceps ( more when being part of a FBW 3 day split ) as they are among the smallest muscles you have and they would have be recruited to some extent in earlier compound exercises anyway. And, I see no need at all to do any forearms exercises whatsoever....for the same reasons...ditto for calves. But that's just me. :)

Again, if you want to dedicate special attention and time toward only some or all of your muscle groups, then I would consider options like a ' 4 day split ' , ' 5 day split ' and ' 6 day split ' routines. However, I typically find, that these type of extended splits are optimal options for more intermediate and advanced lifters and are usually best introduced after a period of time doing a solid FBW - but doing a FBW first is not a hard and fast rule by any means, just more of my personal bias on proper training progression.:)
 
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4 day split would look something like-
M-lower, T-upper, Th-lower, Sat-upper
or
M-FB pull, T-upper push, Th-full body, Sat-full body
 
Lets say that i wanted to make a 4-day split FMW.

What would it look like on paper to be good?

-0Ne

Some simple options you could consider are...........


4 DAT Split: Version 1

[ Upper body - chest/back/delts/ biceps/triceps ( that order ) ]

[ Lower body - thighs/hamstrings ( that order ) ]​

MON...........lower body

TUES..........upper body

WED............rest

THURS.........lower body

FRI.............upper body

SAT............rest

SUN.............rest​


4 DAT Split: Version 2

Another 4 day split that combines upper and lower on one day...

MONDAY & THURSDAY:

Thighs

Hamstrings

Calves ( Optional )

Upper Chest

Lower Chest

Triceps

TUESDAY & FRIDAY:

Lats

Midback

Delts

Biceps

Abs


4 DAT Split: Version 3

MON...........Back & Biceps

TUES..........Chest & Triceps

WED............rest

THURS.........Legs ( excluding calves )

FRI.............Shoulders, Calves & Abs

SAT............rest

SUN.............rest​


4 DAT Split: Version 4


MONDAY

Upper Body Pull:

Back

Delts

Traps


TUESDAY

Upper Body Push:

Chest

Delts


THURSDAY

Lower Body & Arm Pull:

Hamstrings

Biceps

Forearams

FRIDAY

Lower Body & Arm Push:

Quads

Triceps
 
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