Newbie questions on rest and intensity.

[andyagain]

Hi all,
This is my first post here. I have 3 questions, But a brief intro first. I am just starting out with serious weight training. I have been doing running, rock climbing and soccer for a long time. Recently, I moved into US and got hooked to weight training.
I am 5'11'' and 170lb.
till now I have been doing the following:
50lb each side on the bench 4sets of 15-20reps each.
bicep curls with 32.5lb dumbles, 4 sets 10-15reps each.
140lb Lat. Pulldown. 3 sets 10-15 reps each.
and lot of stretching and abs exercises on floor.
I do this everyday for 60-75mins. I have been doing for last 1.5 years.

Obviously I started doing this without much research. Actually I just wanted to see if I would like it and would wanna continue doing it.

Now I am totally addicted to the gym. I cant do without it even for 1 day. So I started reading about the correct techniques and practices. And needless to say I was wayy off.

Turns out I am not giving my muscles any rest to recover and I have been overtraining for a long time.

Right now I am taking a week off to work on a new routine. and it looks something like this:

Monday Chest/Triceps
Tuesday Legs
Wednesday off
Thursday Shoulders
Friday Back/Biceps
Saturday off
Sunday off


Chest____________________
Flat Bench Press 4 sets
Incline Hammer Strength Machine 2 sets
Dumbell Flyes 2 sets

Back_____________________
Deadlift 3 sets
Lat Pull down 3 sets
Seated Cable Row 2 sets

Biceps____________________
Standing Barbell Curls 3 sets
Preacher Curls (with dumbells) 1 set

Triceps___________________
Tricep Press down 2 sets
Dips (weighted) 2 sets

Legs_____________________
Squats 4 sets
Leg Extension 2 sets
Leg Curl 2 sets
Seated/Standing Calve Raises 5 sets total (2 or 3 sets each way)

Shoulders_________________
Seated Military Press (with dumbells) 4 sets
Lateral Raises 3 sets
Shrugs 3 sets

I got this from a website and I changed it a bit to fit things I like to do.

My questions are,
1) Is this routine ok to start out ?
2) According to this I will be repeating a body part only after 1 week, is this too long ?
3) Most websites suggest ever increasing intensity of workout. My question is how often should I increase the intensity ? should I increase it every week? eg. if i start with 50lb on bench on week 1. Should I increase to 55lb start in week2 ? what if I am not able to keep up with it ?

Apologies if these questions are asked before. As a beginner I just wanted to look for non confusing, simple answers which I didnt really find anywhere else. Please point me to the right link if they already exist somewhere in the forums.

Thanks
Andy.

 

[AJP]

Doesn't look too bad, I'm glad you figured out that you were overtraining though. I would take out the hammer strength machine, if you're comfortable enough, go with a regular incline press, or with dumbbells.

Don't move up in weight until you are comfortable at the weight you are already at, it could take weeks or months. Make sure your diet is in check too.

 

[andyagain]

Thanks AJP,
yes i prefer the regular incline press. its just that some times i am alone and incline press with dumbells can be tricky. but thanks for mentioning i will froce myself with the dumbells.
the other question is:
is doing a particular body part once a week ok. or is it too little ? also should I group Chest/Triceps/Shoulder to one day ?
right now the split looks like this:
Day1: Chest/Triceps
Day3: Shoulder/Legs
Day5: Back/Biceps

Thanks in advance.

 

[Detroit Muscle]

Nice job with the program.

As AJP mentioned take out the Hammer machine and include an incline press movement.

Switch the order of dips and press-downs.

Your split looks fine the way it is was with a 4-day split. I wouldn't recommend adding shoulders with chest and tri. Consider adding a couple more exercises to your shoulder day. (Delts have 3 parts - Anterior, middle and posterior - front, side and rear delt raises). Maybe some rotator-cuff work on this day as well.

Add weight only after you complete the prescribed reps. Start by adding about 2-5%...error on the side of adding too little at first until you get a feel for your personal limits.

Good luck and welcome to the community.

DM