Need help adjusting my FBW

K

Kutusov

0
Hi everyone,

I've been doing a FBW for a year now, 3x a week. My goal is just to bulk. I did managed to gain 13 kgs over this year but I seam to have stopped my gains for some months now.

I was looking for the origin of my routine here on the forum but I can't seam to find it. Basically, it's a dumbbell workout, all compounds and no isolalations:

DB Military press
DB Squat
DB pullover
DB flys

3 sets with 12 reps each.

Now, I want to change this routine because I feel I'm not getting "there". I'm least happy with the squats (a pain to do with DB) and the skull crushes. I used to do one arm DB row for my back but changed to the skull crushes because you don't have to keep switching side.

I also just added a bench and a barbell to my "home gym", so this would give me a wider range of exercises. My problem is that I don't know much about barbell exercises, what they do and what not. I had a lot of bookmarks from this forum about theses things but most don't seam to work anymore. Maybe they were removed or moved in some maintenance?

I also bought a chin-up bar, but it's one of those things you set in your door and they give me a very narrow grip (less them 1 meter wide).

Another reason to change my routine is that it's getting very boring and that's probably also part of the reason why it's not working very well anymore (less commitment...)

So can you please help me once again with my routine?

Thanks a lot!!!
 
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Read the following stickies :-

Weight training 101
Technique Sticky
Choose a Workout

BTW DB Skullcrushers or DB Flys are not compounds. You should really and truly get access to a gym so you can do Squats, Deadlifts and Bench Press. There are also other people likely to be your size so you can train and share experiences. If access to a gym is not possible then you can go via the route you have gone.
 
Thanks tribal. I got it wrong when I said skull crushes, I meant pullovers. I'll edit above. And also thanks for pointing out that flys are an iso exercise, I thought they were compounds.

Regarding going to a gym, I really can't. The gyms arround here are all VIP-Rubish gyms, the fees for 2 or 3 months cost as much as all the gear I bought for home.
 
You can add shrugs, db bench presses, rows (raise your bench on a step) now that you have a bench, db upright rows and instead of squats you can do step ups and single leg split squats. I happen to like db work because your stronger side cant compensate for the weaker one.
 
Thanks tooltime.

I settled for this:

Seated barbell military press
Bent-over barbell rows
BB Deadlifts
Bench press

Changing from 12 reps to 8, keeping the 3 sets. 3 days/week.
I think they are all compounds but aiming for shoulders, back, legs and chest. I still need to experiment on this but I might put deadlifts up front or next to the military presses. Don't like to see the bench presses as the last one also... I'm thinking more of security here then anything else.

I might need some DB work for my left arm, it's clearly underdeveloped comparing to my right one. I really like kickbacks, so I might go for that. Will save this for the end of the training and I'll see if I have any energy left for it.
 
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Kutusov said:
Thanks tooltime.

I settled for this:

Seated barbell military press
Bent-over barbell rows
BB Deadlifts
Bench press

Changing from 12 reps to 8, keeping the 3 sets. 3 days/week.
I think they are all compounds but aiming for shoulders, back, legs and chest. I still need to experiment on this but I might put deadlifts up front or next to the military presses. Don't like to see the bench presses as the last one also... I'm thinking more of security here then anything else.

I might need some DB work for my left arm, it's clearly underdeveloped comparing to my right one. I really like kickbacks, so I might go for that. Will save this for the end of the training and I'll see if I have any energy left for it.
Click to expand...

Did you mean to switch entirely from DB to barbell or did it just turn out that way? And instead of switching your routine completely you might alternate this with the routine you had before
 
How would you rotate the routines? Every other week? Monthly?

The 2 things I don't like about the DB routine are the db squats and the pullovers. So I might blend the 2 and I would need to change the chest exercise since I have been doing an isolation exercise (flys).
 
Kutusov said:
How would you rotate the routines? Every other week? Monthly?

The 2 things I don't like about the DB routine are the db squats and the pullovers. So I might blend the 2 and I would need to change the chest exercise since I have been doing an isolation exercise (flys).
Click to expand...

Yeah, flys are an isolation exercise... but I still incorporate them since the chest is a large muscle.

You don't have to be strict about when you do DB or BB or anything. You don't need to alternate every day or every week. Just mix them both in
 
I ended up doing that. I kept almost all my db routine and just switched the flys for the bench press. The main reason for this is my underdeveloped left arm, so I'm hoping that sticking to db compounds might prevent me from having to do arm isos. At least until I secure a weight over 80kg. I'm almost there, so...

I also need to change the pullovers for something else, it's too much pecs as it is. The bent-over bb rows is a massive exercise, the problem is that I only have one bb and it's a pain having to take the weights off so I can move it to the floor in every training section. Easily fixed by buying a 1.2 meters bar and some more weights. But man... this is getting expensive...
 
Kutusov said:
Thanks tooltime.

I settled for this:

Seated barbell military press
Bent-over barbell rows
BB Deadlifts
Bench press

Changing from 12 reps to 8, keeping the 3 sets. 3 days/week.
I think they are all compounds but aiming for shoulders, back, legs and chest. I still need to experiment on this but I might put deadlifts up front or next to the military presses. Don't like to see the bench presses as the last one also... I'm thinking more of security here then anything else.

I might need some DB work for my left arm, it's clearly underdeveloped comparing to my right one. I really like kickbacks, so I might go for that. Will save this for the end of the training and I'll see if I have any energy left for it.
Click to expand...

That is why I suggested you look at the workout sticky and choose something like 5X5 or Defranco's (or any of the others). You are missing Squats in your "new workout".
 
Well, I have the deadlifts... You think I should have both? The reason I changed from squats to dead lifts is purely material, I don't own a power rack or a squat rack.
 
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