Unorthodox routine. Benefits?

[_YNWA_]

This is my first post! Looked around the site and it seemed extremely resourceful and helpful so I decided to sign up!

Im an athletic sort of build but want to take it to the next level by getting cut, whilst getting a little bigger and stronger. These are my fitness goals.

Im also trying to keep up my fitness.

In terms of time, I have a funny regime.

I study at night and work 8 hours straight (no food break) on Thurs + Fri. I took some tips from some celeb and athlete workouts and decided to mould a routine around that.

I wouldn't workout on Thurs + Fri. I would workout the other 5 days on 1 specific muscle group and 'kill it' per se (similar to the much acclaimed Brad Pitt Fight Club workout)

Ive decided to increase the weight, lower the reps and increase intensity into circuit training.

So an example day would be,

CHEST:

Circuit 1

8 reps Bench )
15 push ups } Repeat 3 sets (20 secs between each set)
8 reps flys )

3 min break


Circuit 2

8 Reps Incline )
8 Reps Decline } Repeat 3 sets
15 push ups )

Just looking for some expert advice. Would this be beneficial weight training to help achieve my goals?

 

[CrazyOldMan]

Getting cut whilst gaining mass requires very careful training and usually a reasonable amount of excess body fat to start with. If you are already fairly athletic, you will likely need to do one then the other, bulk then cut.

Training would be the same regardless as you want the muscles for show predominantly so will be attacking mainly the bulky fast twitch fibres most. When it comes to building muscle the system is hit it hard, hit it fast leave it alone, on a 5 day run you will likely not be doing this, the example below illistrates.
Day 1 Fully recovered after 2 days off.
Chest workout incorporating bench press at different angles using triceps as prime mover and shoulders as major assist as well as chest and other areas.
Day 2 Shoulders, chest and especially triceps in early stages of recovery, no growth potential until completely recovered.
Back workout incorporating lat pulls and rowing, using bicep as prime mover involving shoulders heavily along with lats and other muscles.
Day 3 Most of upper torso especially shoulders in recovery, triceps and chest starting to get into growth phase.
Arms workout. This will stop any growth of your triceps the day 1 workout would have given, and mean you are overtraining the biceps, resulting in more fatigue and less growth than allowing full recovery.

The hardest part for many when training for growth is getting the rest right. It feels wrong to be doing nothing or not hitting the weaker areas but that is why they are the weaker areas. You would get better results doing a 3 or 4 day split on bulk workouts than risking overtraining as you are currently doing. All this said, if it's working for you and you enjoy it ignore me. Personally I have been over training for many years, gained in many ways albeit slower than I could have and really enjoyed doing it, no regrets.

Your circuit is a good muscluar strength endurance mix, and will serve well to give generally good condition. Remember that you need to change your programs every few months, less often means you become too used to it, more means you don't get the max gains from it. Exact timing is personal, for me it's 8 weeks, others more gifted, it's 6, etc. Rep ranges can be tweeked, exercises changed, etc. The changes don't have to be massive, just enough to wake the body up.

Diet is going to be key for you. When bulking there will need to be a calorie excessto ensure you don't catabolise (cannabalise) your muscle to provide energy. this won't be much a few say 500 calories a day extra, which is as good a guide as I can give. If it's too much cut it back, too little eat more.
When cutting the training is the same but you eat less, again not much less and the same balance. These subtle changes will give you what you want.

I don't know what the job is but if practical have food there that you can dip into. I run during my 'lunch' break, so eating is during work time, and that is by having a tub of food and shovelling some in regularly. This is possible in most places, obviously chemical manufacturing is one exception.

 

[JustinRVA]

I can't say much beyond what Tony has already said.

The only advice I can give you is that true progression comes from setting goals, completing sets and moving up in weight. 8 reps of a bench press then moving on is not enough to make progress. If you want an "all around" lifting session, try 8 reps/light, 6 reps/medium and 4 reps/heavy. That'll do some damage. If time is also an issue for you, the 5-3-1 is a good "hit it and get out" routine that's shown great results for a lot of people. That's actually the routine I'm looking into switching to now.