Please review my 5 day split!

[JackShephard]

YES I DID READ THE STICKY UP THERE.
BUT - I really want to hear your opinion anyway! :cheeky:

First, some background info about it. I'm 31yo. Before May 19th 2008 I never had stepped foot into a gym, was drinking heavily, smoked 2 packs a day, and was basically overweight at 'only' 83kg (because it was 83kg of bodyfat lol).

Since then I quit the booze, I eat super-healthy (i followed the nutrition sticky to the letter), and I'm extremely consistent (read: people think I've gone nuts, as I simply only ever eat my own prepared food).

Now, I'm trying to bulk, I've raised my calorie intake and am gaining 2kg/month. I'm at 73kg, 17% BF now.

My split is currenly a five day split. I lift 5x a week at lunch, cardio 4x in the pm, but the weekends are completely off. I don't cardio to lose fat, I cardio to improve my cardio ability (I need to, the cigarettes have really took their toll).

I used the exrx site to build the split. I chose the 'best possible' exercise for each muscle group (ie, the one that works the least in isolation) and tried to work all muscle groups.

I perform all exercises with the weight set to I can only perform up to 8 reps per set at the very most. I can usually do only 5 reps on the 3rd set.

Note that I also train my waist 3x a week on M/W/Fs, by performing situps at an incline and both standard and lateral planks exercises.

Finally, and this is maybe the only 'complicated' part, note that the number near the exercise name indicates the number of times I perform the exercise. Fore example, '3' would mean I do 3 times 3 sets of 8 reps for example (total of 9 sets).

I put a minute of rest between sets, and I try to alternate exercises. So for example on Mondays, I'd do db shoulder press (3 sets of 8), then dumbell upright rows (3 sets of 8), then I'd go back to db shoulder press (3 sets of 8), etc until I finish all the reps in all the sets for all the exercises. Doing all the exercises listed for the day take me between 45 and 60 minutes.



Mondays: Shoulders

Anterior Deltoid
• Dumbbell - Shoulder Press 3

Lateral Deltoid
• Dumbbell - Upright Row 2
• Dumbbell - Lateral Raise 1

Rear Deltoid
• Lever - Rear Delt Row 1

Supraspinatus
• Dumbbell - Front Lateral Raise 1




Tuesday: Legs
Quadriceps
• Barbell - Squats 3

Hamstrings
• Lever - Seated Leg Curls 2

Calves
• Sled Seated Single Calf Press 2




Wednesday: Chest
Pectoralis Major, Sternal
• Dumbbell - Bench Press 2
• Dumbbell - Fly 1
• Lever - Chest Press 1
• Lever - Seated Fly 1

Pectoralis Major, Clavicular
• Dumbbell - Incline Bench Press 2



Thursday: Back

General Back
• Dumbbell - Bent-over Row 1
• Lever - Seated Row 2

Latissimus Dorsi & Teres Major
• Cable - Underhand Pulldown 1
• Assisted - Chin up 2

Trapezius, Upper Fibers & Levator Scapulae
• Barbell - Shrug 2

Erector Spinae
• Ball Hyperextension 1




Friday: Arms
Triceps
• Dumbbell - Triceps extensions 1
• Barbell – Lying Triceps Extension Overhand 1
• Cable – Str. Bar Pushdown 1
• Assisted Triceps Dips 1

Biceps
• Dumbbell - Curls 3

Brachioradialis
• Cable - Reverse Curls 1

Wrist Flexors
• Dumbbell - Wrist Curl 1

Wrist Extensors
• Dumbbell - Reverse Wrist Curl 1





I guess I'm looking for constructive feedback: what am I doing right? What I am doing wrong? What could be done better? What should I do more of? Less of?

Thanks a trillion times in advance!!!

 

[Excder]

I have never really been a fan of this kind of split. Its not the lifts but when you are doing them.

The way you have it is you do each muscle group once a week. The way I(me personaly) would like you to do is to do each group twice a week more or less.

When I was bulking with a split I would do some thing like:

Chest/tri-mon
Legs/lowerback-tues
Back/bi-wed
Chest/tri-thu
Legs/lower back- fri
Bacl/bi-sat(some times)

I just saw really really good results doing this but u may have just been mÝ body

 

[JackShephard]

Thank you Excder. I'm thinking of trying different but I'm afraid of change :-D

I can't help but notice there is only one reply to my post - are people just being nice and not saying anything because they don't think it's good at all?

 

[Karky]

legs have one real exercise.. squats.. you need more compounds than that. It's OK with some isolation, but compounds should make up the bulk of every workout.

I can't really say much about how many exercises, sets, etc, as I don't have much experience about 5 day splits, I'm more of a FBW, push/pull or upper/lower guy myself.
I'd hit the erector spinae with my legs, and make the back day into an upper back day. The erectors get a lot of work with the big leg exercises like squats , deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, etc.

 

[~LV~]

I'd throw in at least 1-2 rest days in there during the week.

5 days in a row with no rest could be counter productive.