Is this routine good for muscle building

Jobymartinez

Hi, a quick back story. I have been going to the gym about 8 months but have not put on muscle i believe this was due to diet as i was not eating enough calories, I have gained a lot of strength but I was wondering if this routine would be good for muscle building. When i hit 12 reps for an exercise i will move up the weight. I cannot do Squats or dead lifts due to a slipped disc injury quite some years back and dont want to risk anything. P.s warm up sets not included.

Monday (Chest & Tris):

Flat dumbbell bench 3 x 8-12
incline dumbbell bench 3 x 8-12
Machine chest press 3 x 8-12
High cable chest fly 3 x 8-12
Cable chest fly 3 x 8-12
straight bar push downs 3 x 8-12
triceps extension machine 3 x 8-12
single arm rope push downs 3 x 8-12
dips 3 x 8-12

Tuesday (back & Bis):

Lat pulldown 3 x 8-10
Unilateral hammer strength unilateral pulldown 3 x 8-10
seated cable row (close grip) 3 x 8-10
close grip machine row 3 x 8-10
T bar row 3 x 8-10
bicep curl (dumbbell) 3 x 8-10
bicep curl (EZ bar) 3 x 8-10
Preacher curl machine 3 x 8-10
Hammer curl ( rope cable) 3 x 8-10


Wednesday (shoulders & abs)
dumbbell seated over head press 3 x 8-10
machine shoulder press 3 x 8-10
lateral raise 3 x 8-10
lateral raise (cable) 3 x 8-10
machine lateral machine 3 x 8-12
reverse fly machine 3 x 8-10
reverse fly cable 3 x 8-10
ab crunch machine 5 x 20

Thursday (chest & tris)

Flat dumbbell bench 3 x 8-10
incline dumbbell bench 3 x 8-10
Low cable chest fly 3 x 8-10
machine fly 3 x 8-10
tricep pushdown (rope) 3 x 8-10
tricep machine extention 3 x 8-10
single arm rope pushdown 3 x 8-10
tricep cable crossover 3 x 8-10
chest dip 3 x 8-10

Friday(back and bis):

lat pulldown 3 x 8-10
pull up assisted 4 3 x 8-12
wide grip cable row 3 x 8-12
wide grip machine row 3 x 8-12
wide grip t bar row 3 x 8-12
bicep curl (dumbbell) 3 x 8-12
bicep curl (EZ bar) 3 x 8-12
Preacher curl machine 3 x 8-12
Hammer curl ( rope cable) 3 x 8-12

Saturday (Legs & side delts):

leg extension 3 x 8-12
leg press 3 x 8-12
pendelum squat 3 x 8-12
leg curls 3 x 8-12
lying leg curl 3 x 8-12
calf raises 5 x 15-20
lateral raise 3 x 8-10
lateral raise (cable) 3 x 8-10
machine lateral machine 3 x 8-12

Retroguy2000

8 months in, you'd be better off with a properly structured program. But, you say you need to avoid a couple of big compounds which are usually core to such programs. Perhaps you can just sub those out for something that you can do, whether leg press, hack squat, whatever.

You're doing waaaaaaay too much volume, especially for a beginner. That's junk volume level. 10-15 working sets per muscle group per week is enough for you at this stage. You're doing double that amount for chest and back.

You're working out six times per week, five upper body and one lower body. Tsk tsk.

You didn't give your age or weight, but you said you aren't making progress. I'd suggest halve the volume, make sure you're getting enough calories to increase your weight and muscle, and make sure you're getting enough protein. If you're lean, and with all this working out, close to 1g per pound should be your target.

williamsonmj1

A few comments...

First off, it's very likely that you can squat and deadlift if you want to. A huge number of lifters have had back injuries before training, or during training. They get through it, and many lifters find that strengthening the back musculature really helps them to get over whatever problems they had. If you are concerned, start very light, and make sure you have the form nailed. You may be surprised at what you can do.

Second, as Retroguy said, this is too much. I suspect that you are rushing through it and not really putting in a lot of effort. When I do five hard sets of something it typically takes me 25-30 minutes- around a minute per set and 4 minutes rest after each one, along with time for changing plates and so on. And everything should be hard. Some of this looks crazy over the top to me. Like you have 3-4 different types of curls, each done 3x12, on two separate days? Wow.

Strongly recommend that you just follow a proper program. Pick one from Boostcamp or get the Renaissance Periodization App if you are mainly after muscle.

nossmf

Ditto above comments on volume and need to equalize legs with other body parts. Your biggest muscles are in your legs; by working them, you get more muscle-building hormones flooding your system than if you work smaller upper body muscles. Literally, your chest will grow larger by increasing your leg work, even if you do not change your chest exercise routine. But the combination of increasing leg work, plus making smarter plan for upper body using proper programming, plus eating enough protein and enough overall calories, you'll be amazed how much things improve. It won't be overnight, it will still take months of dedication, but it WILL work.

psuLemon

I'll add, that if you get proper PT, they can help strength your muscles to potentially allow for some variation of squats and deadlifts. But every without that, more leg work.

laurachambers86

Just to weigh in on the back injury, I have one too so I always incorporate some core exercises e.g. variations of side planks (which can include weights) to help strengthen everything in the trunk/back area. I don't do deadlifts as I know that aggravates my back but I can do squats with relatively light weights. Obviously listen to your body but if you add in some more core exercises it can benefit your back too.

williamsonmj1

laurachambers86 wrote: »

Just to weigh in on the back injury, I have one too so I always incorporate some core exercises e.g. variations of side planks (which can include weights) to help strengthen everything in the trunk/back area./quote]

psuLemon wrote: »

I'll add, that if you get proper PT, they can help strength your muscles to potentially allow for some variation of squats and deadlifts. But every without that, more leg work.

Just picking up on this, the most commonly recommended exercises for strengthening the back for lifting and preventing back injuries in general are called "The McGill Big Three", which are recommended by a famous spinal specialist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXYPETeHZlA&t=227s

This exercise is also great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsug6uPR4y4

I have been doing these for the last three months and they have made a big difference.

rileysowner

This looks like a pro bodybuilding routine from the 80s or 90s. I did those back then, and never put on huge amounts of muscle. I also strained muscles frequently. This is WAY too much volume unless you are on steroids. I was innocent enough back then to believe those pros who claimed they were clean, but I now think the reality was they were on 'roids. You need rest day. One a week will not be sufficient. I would say focus on compound lifts, and add in rest days. I would say figure out a full body routine that focuses on compound lifts with rest days at least four day of a week stretch to start. You will get much more success doing that than this routine.