Please critique my routine

89nunu · October 2013

The background story:

I'm 5'11" 155.4 lbs been training with free weights for about 6 months now, so still new.

I've been following the nrol4w and would like to use the winter months for a bulk. This is going to be my first bulk and I'm not sure yet how long I will psychologically manage to do it but I'm really looking forward to get some gains again, that have been seriously lagging in the last weeks.

I'm mainly looking to build muscle and will eat about 250 over my tdee.

Now to the training:

I would like to follow something that lyle. Mcdonald has described in one of his articles (this one: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/training-frequency-for-mass-gains.html )

Which is to do a shorter 3day split Tuesday to Thursday and then an upper lower split on the weekend to work every muscle twice a week without having to spend to much time in the gym during the week. (which would be brilliant for me cause I just don't have a lot of time during the week but do enjoy long sessions, which I could do on the weekends) I couldn't find a routine like this so I made up my own...
So my idea is to spend about 30-40 mins during the week and about 80-90 mins on the weekends in the gym. Does that sound alright?

Then my routine, all 4 sets with 5-8 reps with 180 secs rest on the big ones (bench press, squats, deadlifts etc) and 8-12 on the smaller ones with 90 secs rest (heel raises, crunches, back extensions etc)

Tuesday: chest/back
Bench press
Wide lat pulldown
Cable crossover
Back extension

Wednesday: legs/abs all
Squats
Straight leg deadlift
Weighted decline crunch
Horizontal woodchops

Thursday: delts/arms
Military press
Hammer curls
Triceps extensions
Side raises

Saturday lower:
Squats
Lunges
Heel raises
Hip thrusts
Abductors
Incline reverse crunch
Jacknive

Sunday Upper:
Deadlifts
Dumbbell incline benchpress
Underhand lat pulldown
Lying rear Lateral raises
Seated row
Dips

These are all things put together from different split routines, things I like doing and whatever the equipment in my gym allows me to do. But I have no idea whether the mix is any good so please critique away.

89nunu · October 2013

I would also happily take a link to a good programme that is doing something similar (little time during the week more time on weekends)

koing · October 2013

Saturday lower:
Squats
Lunges
Heel raises
Incline reverse crunch
Jacknive

Looks fine.

You ask 10 people on how to do a training programme and you would literally get 10 answers.

The only hard part is you have legs on Saturday and you have Deadlifts on Sunday. Just make sure you eat lots and sleep a lot on Saturday.

The absolute most important thing in your training will be RECOVERY, FOOD. Do not be scared to eat more than 250cal over your maintenance. If you aren't use to training hard 4x a week this training programme is going to beat you up and you will feel terrible if you do not sleep or eat enough.

Make sure you can increase the weights over time. e.g. every 2-3-4 weeks you can up the weights you use a tiny bit. If your weights do not move you are not building muscle.

Koing

89nunu · October 2013

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, 250 cals over will be the minimum...

You reckon it would make more sense to swap deadlift with the back extensions on Tuesday?

travbrah · October 2013

to build serious muscle with more exercises per muscle group. in my opinion 2 exercises for back and 2 for chest wont hit them from all angles and prevent maximum growth.
i go for no less than 4 per muscle just for the angles, such as
bench press
incline barbell press
decline dumbell press
pec deck.

with time being limited it would pay to split the muscles up further and hit them individually as your training 5 days a week anyway you can do a 5day split like
Chest/abs
back
legs/calves
shoulders/traps
arms/forearms

or however you choose.
as you have more time on weekends you could always choose your weak points for the weekends, or (like i do) double up something from the week.
my split . eg/
mon - chest/abs
tue - bicep/tricep/forearm
wed - Legs
thur - shoulders/traps
fri - back/calves
sat - bicep/tricep or legs or shoulders if i feel like i didnt hit them properly during the week or if theyre falling behind.

hope this helps.

89nunu · October 2013

The problem of splitting the muscle groups up even further means I would train every muscle only once a week. I'd much rather do it twice per week though.

Looking at chest I'm still doing 4 workouts a week in total...
Or am I going wrong here?

soldiersmudge · October 2013

As has been said ud be better doing 1 session per bodypart a week properly with maximum recovery time than half decent workouts with minimum recovery!!!!

soldiersmudge · October 2013

U need to be over ur calorie allowance by quite a lot too!! Remember ur weight sessions are gna be using a lot before u even want ur body to grow!!!

koing · October 2013

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, 250 cals over will be the minimum...

You reckon it would make more sense to swap deadlift with the back extensions on Tuesday?

You have squats and straight leg deadlifts on the Tuesday. Leave it as it is.

Just train ***hard*** and EAT.

Again the most important thing is the weights you use. If they do not go up every 2-3 weeks you are not recovering enough (not enough food or sleep) you will not build muscle. A 17yr old guy I'm coaching is up +2kg for this month. His average is up and his strength is up. He is putting on muscle and doesn't look that much fatter but he would have put on some fat to get that 2kg. He is pretty much a beginner. He was doing *random* training before I started to coach him. He was doing CHEST EVERY OTHER SESSION...OMG, wtf?!

You can train and adapt to things. When I started olympic weightlifting I was hitting legs hard 3x a week. The first month was brutal but after the initial shock you get use to it. My numbers went up and they were still going up 13yrs later.

Koing

tdelo7634 · October 2013

You need rest to gain. Twice a week will not make you gain more.

TimElwis · October 2013

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, 250 cals over will be the minimum...

You reckon it would make more sense to swap deadlift with the back extensions on Tuesday?

You have squats and straight leg deadlifts on the Tuesday. Leave it as it is.

Just train ***hard*** and EAT.

Again the most important thing is the weights you use. If they do not go up every 2-3 weeks you are not recovering enough (not enough food or sleep) you will not build muscle. A 17yr old guy I'm coaching is up +2kg for this month. His average is up and his strength is up. He is putting on muscle and doesn't look that much fatter but he would have put on some fat to get that 2kg. He is pretty much a beginner. He was doing *random* training before I started to coach him. He was doing CHEST EVERY OTHER SESSION...OMG, wtf?!

You can train and adapt to things. When I started olympic weightlifting I was hitting legs hard 3x a week. The first month was brutal but after the initial shock you get use to it. My numbers went up and they were still going up 13yrs later.

Koing

This^

scimitarslash · November 2013

A good site is aworkoutroutine.com. not spamming, i just got a lot of good info on there. He rally breaks down the complicated stuff to make it really understandable. One thing i learned on there that may apply to you is to remember that big lifts hit multiple muscles and you may overwork the smaller muscles Ie. shoulders bis and tris, with the routine you have listed. He adrdresses this on the site too. anyway lots of useful articleas, and he really cuts throught the B.S. He can be a bit beligerent so just keep it in mind.
Hope it helps and best of luck.

Please critique my routine

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