Extra Lifting

allother94

¡I’m currently doing a 3x a week push pull legs routine; workout out during lunch break.. Thinking of adding some dumbbell work at night while I watch TV. For example, some nightly bicep work on chest day, some nightly push-ups after leg day, etc. Any advice on this? Better way to think about it?

Age 45, early intermediate lifter. Currently 19% body fat looking to recomp.

Thanks!

Justin_7272

What is your lifting regimen? Push pull 3xs/week doesn't tell us much. Are you on an established program (Strong Lifts 5x5, All-Pros, Etc.)? Are you progressively overloading? You need to focus on compounds before accessories. It really depends on what you're doing, and what you're planning to add.

allother94

Pull day
Deadlifts, pull ups, rows, Seated rows, pulldowns, bicep curls, hammer curls, abs…. 3sets 10 reps, increase weight when I hit all sets

Push day
Incline bench, bench, push-ups, flys, tricep extensions, abs… 3.sets 10 reps, increase weight when I hit all sets

Legs/shoulders day
Leg press, calf’s, hip thrusts, leg extensions, leg curls, overhead press, side raises, rear felt flys…. 3 sets 10, increase weight when I hit all sets

If I don’t hit weight 3 sessions in a row, I deload 10% and start over. All exercises are independent for deloading calculations

Cardio, 2x a week. Walk 2 miles

Justin_7272

There are still a lot of open questions regarding your routine (How much weight/how often are you increasing (i.e. What is your progression rate)? How often are you failing/deloading? How long have you been at it? Why did you choose some of the lifts in particular? Why aren't you doing squats? What are "abs" in your programming?) You may want to start a separate thread to get some advice and key in on your routine and modifications you may need. With that, I'll get back to the initial question.

In general I don't see an issue with adding extra lifting/accessories SO LONG AS it doesn't interfere with your compounds. You should always program your compounds before accessories for this reasons, and to the extent some nightly extra lifts aren't negatively impacting your next day's/overall performance, I wouldn't see in issue. I do question the reasoning, but not necessarily in a bad way. Accessories are typically added for one or more reasons; because you want to improve a compound (adding floor press to improve bench, for example), to target a particular muscle group, or simply because you like performing the lift. Knowing why you want to add is important.

So to tie the two together, as long as they're not hurting your compounds you're fine, but by altering/keying in your programming you may be able to better address what you see as the need for adding the lifts in the first place.

psuLemon

Did you make this routine yourself? The main problem with the current routine is you are largely only hitting most muscle groups once a week which is fairly suboptimal. From a strength prospective you be much better off going with the full body routine three times a week. It would have probably also be beneficial to get on a structure and lifting program that was designed by a professional.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Retroguy2000

It sounds like you want to do more volume, while keeping the gym at three lunch hours.

I agree with the poster above. I think you'd be better off doing full body three times a week, just focusing on the major compounds. That doesn't mean the same workout each time. Maybe legs twice instead of three times, and add some sort of squat.

Then at home with your db's you can easily do isolation stuff for arms and shoulders, so the limited gym time is focused on the compounds.

psuLemon

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

It sounds like you want to do more volume, while keeping the gym at three lunch hours.

I agree with the poster above. I think you'd be better off doing full body three times a week, just focusing on the major compounds. That doesn't mean the same workout each time. Maybe legs twice instead of three times, and add some sort of squat.

Then at home with your db's you can easily do isolation stuff for arms and shoulders, so the limited gym time is focused on the compounds.

👍

I was thinking a simple ABA BAB rotating routine. There are several good and scalable ones in that link.

I2k4

If it's just for casual exercise watching TV or at a desk, you might look at a resistance band or two. They're inexpensive, incredibly versatile for progressive resistance, don't have the serious gravitational/positional limitations of weights, little injury risk, portable and easily gotten out of the way. I can sit in a chair and do biceps curls, behind the back triceps extensions, pull aparts, overhead or (heavy band) chest presses, (No claim they're a substitute for committed gym training, but for off days or travel hard to beat.)