Pick apart my workout routine

[TallBill]

I really need to get into a better schedule. I currently workout 5-7 days a week work dependent, and have a 3 day rotation of what I work. Exercises change. Reps change.

Day 1 -
Chest
Biceps

Day 2 -
Back
Triceps

Day 3 -
Legs

I insert shoulders and abs in when I feel ready to hit them again. I've been doing this for about a month now, and working out in general for about 2 months, and my overall strength has shot up, but I could probably be spending my time more efficiently.

Btw, I do plenty of cardio. Each workout starts with a 10 minute run, and each workout ends with a few minutes destroying the heavy bag.

And as far as diet goes, I eat as good as I can, but my choices are not super. I am on a high calorie diet, and barely gaining weight, but a slow gain is fine with me.

Edit - I had a typo on day 3. I dont do back back to back. lol

 

[Nutdotnet]

To me, it seems like you may be OVER-working.

You're trying to make strength and mass gains right? Muscles grow while they heal. If you don't give them a chance to heal you're robbing yourself of better and faster gains.

If you're going to the gym 5-7 days per week and rotating this routine on those days, yeah, I'd say you're overworking yourself. Especially on day 2 and 3...back on both days? I don't think back should be done with legs, they are such large muscles that, in my opinion, it would be tough to get the most out of your workouts by doing them on the same day.

If you wanted to do something ELSE on your leg day go with shoulders.

Like this:

Day 1-
Chest
Biceps

Day 2-
Legs
Shoulders

Day 3-
Back
Triceps

Either do this 3x per week, or, at least take a one day break in between.

See how that works for ya.

Oh, and if you want to really gain weight, cut out the cardio.

 

[purbeast0]

so you lift weights 5-7 times a week? if so that right there is way too much.

 

[BrownTown]

Just out of curiosity, how long does it take you each day to do that?

 

[Fern]

Give us a typical schedule - like Mon ,Tues, Wed etc.

Can't tell much about your rest schedule the way you've posted it. Also, list the specific excersises pls.

 

[jman19]

If you are LIFTING more than 4-5 times a week you are seriously overtraining. I was on a rotation where I would lift days 1,2,3, rest on 4, and repeat. Then I decided to just spread out the 3 days across a week and found it MUCH easier to make strength gains.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
so you lift weights 5-7 times a week? if so that right there is way too much.

It almost always ends up being 5-6, but I have to workout in some form. It not an option.

Anyways, I have to do cardio as well. I enjoy the whole package of fitness, and I feel great.

Lastly, each session goes no longer then 70 minutes, regardless of what I'm doing.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Fern
Give us a typical schedule - like Mon ,Tues, Wed etc.

Can't tell much about your rest schedule the way you've posted it. Also, list the specific excersises pls.

I don't have a typical schedule. I work random days and random hours. Thats why I made a 3 day rotation, isntead of a weekly schedule.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: jman19
If you are LIFTING more than 4-5 times a week you are seriously overtraining. I was on a rotation where I would lift days 1,2,3, rest on 4, and repeat. Then I decided to just spread out the 3 days across a week and found it MUCH easier to make strength gains.

Same. I was overtraining for about a year and a half until I decided to do each muscle once a week. I used to do each group 2 times a week.

When I switched to doing each muscle group once a week, my gains were MUCH larger.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: TallBill
Day 1 -
Chest
Biceps

Day 2 -
Back
Triceps

Day 3 -
Legs

I much prefer combining tricepts with chest and shoulder (I don't see any mention of shoulders above), and bicepts with back.

Why? After bench, tri's are warmed up and ready for isolation excersises. And if you split it the above way, you're working them out, at least to some extent, twice - two days in a row. One day right after the other.

Similarly, bicept and back together. Most back excersises hit the bicept as well. I always do bicept b4 back. Back requires much heavier weights for me, and I like teh bi's really well warmed up b4 hitting heavy "back" weights.

I also don't see any abs above. I like to combine those with legs.

Is day 4 a rest day? I would make it one. I really hammer my pec's & tri's and need 3 days rest for full recovery if I'm gonna really pound 'em again.

As I've said elsewhere, everybody is different. So, diff workouts are necesary for diff people - Also here I'm referring mostly to the amount of rest (can't comment beyond that because you haven't provided your specific excersises etc, just body groups). Also, rest will depend on several other factors, how hard you work out the muscle group (to failure), your diet, rest and metabolism. etc

Fern

 

[Alprazolam]

Just curious, who are you guys to give advice out like this?

 

[amicold]

Don't do a split, you sound new(er) to the whole deal. Do full body workouts for a year or so. Or if you're so inclined.

20 rep squats

The 20 rep squats work, no matter what anyone says. They're great for putting on mass.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Alprazolam
Just curious, who are you guys to give advice out like this?

he asked on here you knucklehead.

 

[brikis98]

when lifting weights, esp heavy, rest is very important. for the average person, you probably don't want to hit the same muscle more than once a week (every 6-7 days)... i usually throw in cardio between days of lifting. however, before every workout, i warm up for 5-10 minutes on a treadmill/bike/jump rope. my schedule looks something like this (note, i'm limited in that the gym at work is only open M-F):

sunday: cardio
monday: chest + triceps
tuesday: back + biceps
wednesday: cardio
thursday: shoulders + abs
friday: legs
saturday: cardio

i found that some workouts overlap - e.g, a chest workout can make your shoulders a bit sore, a back workout can make it hard to hold the weight for squats, etc) - so this workout is setup to leave ~2 days between such conflicts. i also prefer to do the supporting arm muscles (bis, tris) on the same day as the larger muscles (back, chest) as they might be sore after.

 

[jmdeathsquad]

Originally posted by: Alprazolam
Just curious, who are you guys to give advice out like this?

time to lay off the xanax there, chief

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: brikis98
when lifting weights, esp heavy, rest is very important. for the average person, you probably don't want to hit the same muscle more than once a week (every 6-7 days)... i usually throw in cardio between days of lifting. however, before every workout, i warm up for 5-10 minutes on a treadmill/bike/jump rope. my schedule looks something like this (note, i'm limited in that the gym at work is only open M-F):

sunday: cardio
monday: chest + triceps
tuesday: back + biceps
wednesday: cardio
thursday: shoulders + abs
friday: legs
saturday: cardio

i found that some workouts overlap - e.g, a chest workout can make your shoulders a bit sore, a back workout can make it hard to hold the weight for squats, etc) - so this workout is setup to leave ~2 days between such conflicts. i also prefer to do the supporting arm muscles (bis, tris) on the same day as the larger muscles (back, chest) as they might be sore after.

Hah damn dude your workout is VERY similar to mine. Except swap your chest/tricep day with your shoulder/abs day, and move your legs day to saturday.

if you do that, i have the EXACT workout as you as far as lifting weights goes, and even in the same order (back first then biceps, etc).

 

[rstrohkirch]

I'd consider myself a hardgainer - 5'11" 130-132lbs resting weight while not working out

Over the last 6 years I've tried a few types of routines for 6-12 month intervals with the same diet 2500-3000c/125-150p daily no supplements

The routine I've come to like the most and work best for me is essentially the basics:
I work out 3 times a week and do only compound exercies...no more isolation techniques

chest/shoulders/tri/trap
bi/back/forearms
legs/abs

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Alprazolam
Just curious, who are you guys to give advice out like this?

Fellow ATOT'ers with similar interests.

But you've been here long enough to know that. So, what's your point?

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: Alprazolam
Just curious, who are you guys to give advice out like this?

You're just a wee bit of a moron...

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: purbeast0
so you lift weights 5-7 times a week? if so that right there is way too much.

It almost always ends up being 5-6, but I have to workout in some form. It not an option.

Anyways, I have to do cardio as well. I enjoy the whole package of fitness, and I feel great.

Lastly, each session goes no longer then 70 minutes, regardless of what I'm doing.

Ahh...see...this is good information to put in your original post.

You're essentially looking for advice where advice can't really be given.

You're over-training. Wether by choice or not it really doesn't matter. You're probably a cardio-king and can run for quite some time, but it's going to take a long time to make significant gains in weight with all the calories that you burn.

Good luck!

 

[Sex Smurf]

List your exercises, sets and reps. Can't be overtraining if you're only doing one set/bodypart.

Are you feeling muscle soreness after your workouts?

 

[TallBill]

Alright guys, I think I'll switch over to.

Chest + Tri's
Back + Bi's
Legs + Shoulders

With Abs still done on random days.

I think you guys keep focusing on the 7. I've probably only worked out 7 days in a row once in the last few months. Its almost always really 5-6, with the rest days completely random, or I'll jus throw in a total cardio day if I feel overworked.

But yes, I do burn a crapload of calories. I'm eating 4500 a day to maintain, and going to increase it to 5000. But yes, my cardio is fairly decent.

Anyways, as far as soreness goes, I'm only slightly sore for 1-2 days in each group.

I usually end up doing 3-4 excersises on each muscle group with 3 sets of 6-10.

 

[TallBill]

I should add that I wont switch to total body workout because I HAVE to go workout so often. I wouldn't have anything to do on the in between days.

 

[TallBill]

Bump for more input.

 

[TheNinja]

How they heck do you even take it 5000 calories? I have to really focus and work hard to get 3000.