What's next?

[miraage]

Hi folks,

I started working at the end of the summer. My goals are to build some muscle mass and gain as little fat as possible. I'm 5'7". I was 130lbs at the beginning, now at 145lbs. I eat a bunch of protein (can't quantify it exactly), and take a protein supplement daily. I probably have a daily intake of about 130g of protein (educated guess!). Here's the program that I've been following (with hypertrophy in mind):

Full body workout, 3 days a week (MWF), I do 5 sets of 8-12 reps of each exercise, it takes about 1:30.

Biceps: one arm db preacher curls and/or barbell preacher curls
Quads: squats and/or lunges
Pecs: bench press and/or machine chest press
Hams: machine hamstring curl
Back: some kind of row
Calves: seated calf raise
Shoulders: db shoulder press
Abs: bicycle kicks, 4 sets of 40
Triceps: skull crushers

I've also been working forearms (wanna be popeye) on TTh with 4 super-sets of:

db wrist curls
db reverse wrist curls
db wrist turns (cuff rotations)
cliffhangers (grand finale: hanging off a pullup bar for 15-20s)

Now here are my questions.
1. is this a good routine?
2. i've been doing this thing, not sure if it's good idea or not: for the first 3 sets, I try to do free weights, then i switch to machine and increase weight. ie. i'd do a bench press with like 140 lbs, for 3x10, and then switch to machine and stack up 180lbs. the idea is to increase weight (i don't really feel comfortable adding a lot more to free bench)
3. if i want popeye forearms, is the second routine on off days a good idea?
4. i'm pretty serious about this, so maybe it's worth switching to a split? any ideas in that direction?

Thanks for your time!

 

[dswithers]

If you are really serious about adding lean body mass loose the isolation exercises and concentrate on heavy compound movements: squat, deadlift, bench press, bent row/pullup, military press.

I would also stick with the basic barbell/dumbell exercises and forget the machines. Try mixing up the reps on each day of the week: M 3 sets of 8, W 2 sets of 15, F 4 sets of 6. Also change exercises, for example on M do flat bench, W dumbell bench, F incline bench...

You should try to add weight every week. If you can still do the desired number of reps, keep that weight, if not go back to the previous weight for another week (or 2).

 

[miraage]

Thanks for the advice. Yesterday I tried squats with proper weight, so my QUADS are really feeling it today

I've composed a more compound program consisting exclusively of free weight exercises. My only concern with this program is that I'm not covering all muscle groups sufficiently. It is clear that barbell curl works the biceps... but what deadlifts work is much more complicated Anyway, I'll try it out in the gym tomorrow, and post back here my new routine.

Meanwhile, do you know of any sample workouts consisting more of compound exercises? I got all of my information previously from ExRx Weight Training Workout Templates , but these seem to be written with isolation in mind, as they suggest going through muscle groups and selecting an exercise for each muscle.

Thanks.