Critique my routine?

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I've had pretty solid progress on this routine. I've only been on it for a month but so far I'm liking it. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything so I thought I'd post it for review.

The way I cycle it is into five days with alternating hypertrophy and power days. So basically A-H, B-P, C-H, etc.

Hypertrophy (H) 5x10@50-60% 1RM

Power (P) 5x5@70-80%1RM

Day A-Chest/triceps
Dips
Pec flies
Tricep pull downs
Bench

Day B-Abs/lats
Leg lifts
Torso rotation
Wide grip lat pull downs
Close grip lat pull downs
Abdominal

Day C-Back/biceps
Pull ups
Delt flies
Back extension
Bicep curls
Dead lift

Day D-Shoulders
OHP
Lateral raise
Shrugs
Bent over rows
Upright rows
Front raise

Day E-Legs
Leg curls
Leg extensions
Calf press
Squat
Hip adduction
Hip abduction

Comments/suggestions?

grantdumas7

Why not drop the lat day since lats are part of the back?. Lats and back will get plenty of work from deadlifts, rows and pulllups or pulldowns.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Why not drop the lat day since lats are part of the back?. Lats and back will get plenty of work from deadlifts, rows and pulllups or pulldowns.

Should I add more ab isolation? That's my weak spot but I don't have a lot on that day so I just threw lats on there.

hungrywhodat

Agree. Lats=back.

I wouldn't want to do your back workout the day after doing all that lat work. A lot of people will put biceps+triceps on their own day before or after leg day. They can take two workouts a week a lot better than your back.

That's what I do for 5 days -> Chest, back, shoulders, legs, arms and I'll just throw in abs with a couple of those

grantdumas7

Why not drop the lat day since lats are part of the back?. Lats and back will get plenty of work from deadlifts, rows and pulllups or pulldowns.

Should I add more ab isolation? That's my weak spot but I don't have a lot on that day so I just threw lats on there.

I don't think you need a day just for abs. Your abs are getting a lot of work from squats and deads but if you want to add abs I would do a few sets at the end of back day and a few at the end leg day. Also I would put deadlifts and squats first on their perspective days.

hungrywhodat

(Deleted post because I'm a moron)

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

This may be stupid, but for the life of me I can't figure out what OHP is

Overhead press

hungrywhodat

Yeah I just figured that out. It was a stupid question after all. Just never seen it abbreviated that way.

koing

Day C-Back/biceps
Pull ups
Delt flies
Back extension
Bicep curls
Dead lift

I would order this day like this:

Day C-Back/biceps
Pull ups
Dead lift
Delt flies
Bent over rows : new exercise, great exercise imo
Bicep curls
Back extension


Day E-Legs
Squat
Glute ham raisers, do negatives until you can do them properly
Calf press
If you must...
Hip adduction
Hip abduction

The leg curls/ extensions are rubbish. If you can squat you don't need to hit the legs with a bunch of curls etc. Same with lunges, you can't use enough weights. Just squat nice and deep. One week you can hit up front squats and another week hit up back squats.

Koing

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Day C-Back/biceps
Pull ups
Delt flies
Back extension
Bicep curls
Dead lift

I would order this day like this:

Day C-Back/biceps
Pull ups
Dead lift
Delt flies
Bent over rows : new exercise, great exercise imo
Bicep curls
Back extension


Day E-Legs
Squat
Glute ham raisers, do negatives until you can do them properly
Calf press
If you must...
Hip adduction
Hip abduction

The leg curls/ extensions are rubbish. If you can squat you don't need to hit the legs with a bunch of curls etc. Same with lunges, you can't use enough weights. Just squat nice and deep. One week you can hit up front squats and another week hit up back squats.

Koing

I do bent over rows on shoulders day (D) and I hit leg curls and leg extensions right after I squat and just destroy my quads/hams. I seem to grow better that way.

Oh, and the reason I do hip abduction/adduction is because I dislocated my hip a few years ago and I still have pain, weakness, and limited ROM in my left hip so I'm trying to rehab it a little. I've managed to hit 305lbs for a few reps and that's the max on the machine. It's helped improve stability of the joint.

lurcstet

I'd condense it into a 3 day split... Bi/triceps.... Chest/back....... Shoulders/legs.... Then in between I'd add one complete rest day and two conditioning days where you can concentrate on core conditioning and fat burning cardio

Leadfoot_Lewis

The way I cycle it is into five days with alternating hypertrophy and power days. So basically A-H, B-P, C-H, etc.

I'd look into Layne Norton's PHAT routine (Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training). It's an excellent routine if you don't mind a little volume.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I'd condense it into a 3 day split... Bi/triceps.... Chest/back....... Shoulders/legs.... Then in between I'd add one complete rest day and two conditioning days where you can concentrate on core conditioning and fat burning cardio

I don't do rest days or cardio. I only eat after I workout so if I don't workout I won't have any motivation to eat.

If I split bi/tri chest/back what day would I put bench on? That's chest/tri. A chest/tri back/bi is more logical IMO.

Capt_Apollo

in my opinion, you don't need a dedicated abs/lats day. you can throw those ab exercises at the end of your other days.

grantdumas7

I'd condense it into a 3 day split... Bi/triceps.... Chest/back....... Shoulders/legs.... Then in between I'd add one complete rest day and two conditioning days where you can concentrate on core conditioning and fat burning cardio

I don't do rest days or cardio. I only eat after I workout so if I don't workout I won't have any motivation to eat.

If I split bi/tri chest/back what day would I put bench on? That's chest/tri. A chest/tri back/bi is more logical IMO.

I wouldn't have a separate arm day (bis/tris). Bench is chest movement and chest can go with either tris or bis. Doesn't really matter.

Capt_Apollo

I'd condense it into a 3 day split... Bi/triceps.... Chest/back....... Shoulders/legs.... Then in between I'd add one complete rest day and two conditioning days where you can concentrate on core conditioning and fat burning cardio

I don't do rest days or cardio. I only eat after I workout so if I don't workout I won't have any motivation to eat.

If I split bi/tri chest/back what day would I put bench on? That's chest/tri. A chest/tri back/bi is more logical IMO.

why?

Endman

I now know why I am still out of shape. It is because I don't understand any of this stuff. What is A-H, etc.? Help.

StaticEntropy

I now know why I am still out of shape. It is because I don't understand any of this stuff. What is A-H, etc.? Help.

A-H means Day A is a hypertrophy workout
B-P means Day B is a power workout

Endman

I now know why I am still out of shape. It is because I don't understand any of this stuff. What is A-H, etc.? Help.

A-H means Day A is a hypertrophy workout
B-P means Day B is a power workout

Thanks. Now I need to learn what "hypertrophy" and "power" mean.

grantdumas7

Thanks. Now I need to learn what "hypertrophy" and "power" mean.

Sometimes the terms power and strength get miss used. Power is force times speed so to work on power you would do explosive or fast movements. An example would be take 50% of your max squat and do sets of 3 to 5 reps as quickly as you can. Strength is lifting heavy weights in the 1to5 range. Hypertrophy is to increase muscle size and is generally done in the 8-12 range although reps as low as 4 to 5 can be a good strength and hypertrophy range.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I'd condense it into a 3 day split... Bi/triceps.... Chest/back....... Shoulders/legs.... Then in between I'd add one complete rest day and two conditioning days where you can concentrate on core conditioning and fat burning cardio

I don't do rest days or cardio. I only eat after I workout so if I don't workout I won't have any motivation to eat.

If I split bi/tri chest/back what day would I put bench on? That's chest/tri. A chest/tri back/bi is more logical IMO.

why?

I just plain don't like cardio and also I don't want to have to eat more. I don't take rest days because I'll have no appetite and end up not eating on those days.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I feel like I could be hitting abs and biceps harder. Those are my weak spots but I don't know what other exercises I should add.

Tedebearduff

It's always good to keep your body guessing I would add in a different work out for each of those days on a monthly basis so add another and increase your volume or replace one, try something new it will keep things entertaining.

Make sure you're increasing your sets, reps and weight ... you know what I mean.... make sure your making progress if you keep doing the same thing you wont see "gains" for much longer, have to switch it up.

Capt_Apollo

It's always good to keep your body guessing I would add in a different work out for each of those days on a monthly basis so add another and increase your volume or replace one, try something new it will keep things entertaining.

Make sure you're increasing your sets, reps and weight ... you know what I mean.... make sure your making progress if you keep doing the same thing you wont see "gains" for much longer, have to switch it up.

no it isn't.

the whole muscle confusion thing is just a thing that people who don't know what to do or what works say. they hope by "keeping their body guessing" that eventually, something will work. it's like throwing lots of things against the wall and hoping something sticks.

boring works. consistancy works. repetition works. progress works. how can you know what is working if you keep changing routines??

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

It's always good to keep your body guessing I would add in a different work out for each of those days on a monthly basis so add another and increase your volume or replace one, try something new it will keep things entertaining.

Make sure you're increasing your sets, reps and weight ... you know what I mean.... make sure your making progress if you keep doing the same thing you wont see "gains" for much longer, have to switch it up.

no it isn't.

the whole muscle confusion thing is just a thing that people who don't know what to do or what works say. they hope by "keeping their body guessing" that eventually, something will work. it's like throwing lots of things against the wall and hoping something sticks.

boring works. consistancy works. repetition works. progress works. how can you know what is working if you keep changing routines??

Yeah, I planned on ignoring that advice. Progressive overload from adding sets, reps, and/or weight is enough to "keep my body guessing."

koing

Day C-Back/biceps
Pull ups
Delt flies
Back extension
Bicep curls
Dead lift

I would order this day like this:

Day C-Back/biceps
Pull ups
Dead lift
Delt flies
Bent over rows : new exercise, great exercise imo
Bicep curls
Back extension


Day E-Legs
Squat
Glute ham raisers, do negatives until you can do them properly
Calf press
If you must...
Hip adduction
Hip abduction

The leg curls/ extensions are rubbish. If you can squat you don't need to hit the legs with a bunch of curls etc. Same with lunges, you can't use enough weights. Just squat nice and deep. One week you can hit up front squats and another week hit up back squats.

Koing

I do bent over rows on shoulders day (D) and I hit leg curls and leg extensions right after I squat and just destroy my quads/hams. I seem to grow better that way.

Oh, and the reason I do hip abduction/adduction is because I dislocated my hip a few years ago and I still have pain, weakness, and limited ROM in my left hip so I'm trying to rehab it a little. I've managed to hit 305lbs for a few reps and that's the max on the machine. It's helped improve stability of the joint.

Bent over row is traditionally on a back day.

Fair point on the leg curls/ ext stuff. I have literally done no leg machines in the past 15yrs. Just deep squats and OLifts 3-5x a week.

Your body doesn't need to guess. It needs to get stronger over time. If the weights/ reps go up over time you will be in better shape if everything else stays constant.

If the OP has time for an abs day, let her have it. It isn't a big deal. Just that most people can't train 5x a week and at 3x a week it's a waste to have an abs specific day.

Koing