Questions regarding weight training routine

Z

ztncoAZ

0
Prepare for a long post...

I have been lurking on this site for the last 6 months, and the wealth of information here has been invaluable. With that said, over the past 2 months with the help of Hoss's sticky in the nutrition forum, i feel that i have gotten my diet where i want it to be to start producing some gains with weight training.

First the all important info:
I'm a 29yr old male
5ft9in 143lbs

My goal is overall increase in strength, and a continued improvement of my fitness level. I am not looking for a huge gain in size, just what would be expected from the proper exercising of my muscles. I have been doing mostly cardio for the last few years, and weight training was something i always planned to get into, and this is my first step.

As i said, i feel my diet is on track. With all food being healthy and homemade. I am currently eating between 2400-2800 calories a day which includes 150-165 grams of protein depending on that days menu. My protein goals are met with the help of ON's gold standard Whey. I have a scoop in the morning with my oatmeal and almonds, and a shake post workout with soymilk and frozen strawberries.

Based off of the equipment i have at home: Set of Powerblock 5.0, incline/decline adjustable bench, medicine ball, balance ball, treadmill. And
Using the weight training 101 sticky and exrx.net i put together the following 2 day, full body split: (all exercises are completed with dumbbells only)

This would be done on M, Tue and Th, Fri rest days would then Wed, Sat, Sun.

Workout A
Bench Press - Chest
Pullover - Lats
Incline Press - chest upper
Bent over Row - Back
Shoulder press - Deltoid (front)
Lateral Raise - Deltoid (side)
Lying Rear Row - Deltoid (rear)
Dumbbell Shrug - Trapezius

Workout B
Dumbbell Step up - Quads
Straight leg dead lift - Hamstrings
Calf raise - calves
Tricep extension - tricep
Incline Bicep curl - bicep
Ab work (crunch's etc..) - abs, etc...

After reading the article on Tmuscle.com I believe my goals would best be met with 3 sets of 8 reps for each exercise. Although here is where the questions begin:

1. if 3 sets of 8 reps is correct. Should i do one set of each exercise then go back through. or would it be more beneficial to complete all 3 sets of one exercise before moving on to the other?

2. Am I doing too much shoulder work?

3. Am i working any muscles groups too much?


Thanks for taking the time to get through this, i hope i have provided enough info for anyone to help make an informed decision/recommendation. You all have a helluva site here. Thanks again.
 
My goal is the same as yours and I don't really care for your workout. No offense but you have too much going on or two many exercises. And you are doing bi's and tri's the next day after chest and back. It might be fine for endurance but not for gain.

I've done full body workouts and found that I get my best gains with split work outs but I do believe that throwing a full body in every 3 or 4 weeks is a good idea.

Let me ask you this... are there any muscles that need to be worked twice a week? That you would like to see the most gain? I'll be happy to offer some suggestions.
 
I used the beginner page on exrx.net to help create the workout, although while going through the creation it did seem like alot of different types of lifts and exercises, although having never created a workout before i wasn't sure.

At this time i am not looking for gain specifically on one muscle group, as i would like to gain overall strength. Of course there is a small part of me that would like to increase the "vanity" muscles, but i assumed those would come along with the rest as my time working out progressed.

You mention that i am working on bi's and tri's the day following my chest and back. Should they be worked the same day as chest and back, or have a rest day between chest/back and bi's/tri's?

Also, what is the difference between a split workout and a fully body workout done over 2 days?

Thanks!
 
ztncoAZ said:
I used the beginner page on exrx.net to help create the workout, although while going through the creation it did seem like alot of different types of lifts and exercises, although having never created a workout before i wasn't sure.

At this time i am not looking for gain specifically on one muscle group, as i would like to gain overall strength. Of course there is a small part of me that would like to increase the "vanity" muscles, but i assumed those would come along with the rest as my time working out progressed.

You mention that i am working on bi's and tri's the day following my chest and back. Should they be worked the same day as chest and back, or have a rest day between chest/back and bi's/tri's?

Also, what is the difference between a split workout and a fully body workout done over 2 days?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

To answer your q's first..

When you do BACK you are also working bi's as a secondary muscle. CHEST your working tri's. So yeah, either do on the same day or give a day of recovery.

I worded it wrong about one particular muscle group to get more of a gain. For example- I'm doing legs twice a week because that's my problem area (that's where I'm really trying to increase muscle while decreasing fat)

Here's an example of a Full Body workout-

Monday
Squats
Chin ups
DB bench press
Military press

Wednesday
Deadlift
DB one arm row
DB one arm shoulder press
Pushups

Friday
(4 different exercises that consist of a push, pull, press above your head and lift)

Example of a split workout:

Monday
Chest/Back

Tues
Cardio

Wedn
Shoulders/Arms

Thur
Cardio

Friday
Legs

Which type do you like and we can go from there.
 
BTW, I just wanted to commend you for doing all of that research and putting it into action. Wish everyone was like you.
 
Thank you.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing right" and this seems especially pertinent with weight training.

Thanks for the clarification on the split and FBW, i definitely like the looks of the split with cardio days on tues and thurs.

I am definitely going to go back to the drawing board on this one, it seems that the split workout would better fit my needs. So any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

In the mock-up split you have above, is ab/core work included on cardio days?
 
Absolutely, cardio and abs.

You can do 3 or 4 exercises per body part (2 for secondary).

For example on Monday- 4 chest exercises 3-4 sets of 8-12. I like to superset with back exercises.

On shoulder/arms day you could do 3 shoulder exercises and 2 bi's and 2 tri's.

Just be sure to switch your excercises up once it becomes easy. It means that your muscles have adapted to the stress.
 
All right, after some revision, i think i now have this where i want it.
Currently i am doing 3 sets of 8 reps, looking to vary this along with weight changes in the future as my muscles become used to the routine.
All opinions and criticism welcome

Monday
Bench Press - Chest
Incline Press - chest upper
Bent over Row - Back
Pullover - Lats
Lying row - back

Tues
Cardio - run two miles
Weighted sit up
Crunches
Plank

Wed
Shoulder press - Deltoid (front)
Lateral Raise - Deltoid (side)
Lying Rear Row - Deltoid (rear)
Dumbbell Shrug - Trapezius
Tricep extension - seated - tricep
Tricep extension - lying - tricep
Incline Bicep curl - bicep
Concentration Curl - bicep

Thurs
Same as tues

Fri
Dumbbell Step up - Quads
Straight leg dead lift - Hamstrings
Calf raise - calves
 
That looks really good. The only thing that I would add is pushups on chest day (3 sets of how many you can do) and I'd also do one week of deadlifts and the next week do squats. Other than that it's looking really good.

Do that routine for 3-4 weeks and then do a full body program.
 
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