My Routine: Please Critique

[Mark Kerr]

Here is my current workout routine. All changes/suggestions are greatly appreciated:

Stats: 6' - 220ish @ 10% BF - Early 20's - I am a bodybuilder in the middle of bulking right now. Been training for about 7 years now.

All excercises are 3 working sets of 10/8/6 reps, unless noted otherwise.

Monday Chest:

Flat Bench Press
Incline Bench Press (wide grip)
Decline Bench Press (dumbbell)
Dumbbell Flyes (just to stretch my muscles - 1 set/slow reps)

Tuesday Legs:

Squats
Hack Squats
Leg Extensions
Seated Calf Raises
Standing Calf Raises

Wednesday Arms

Regular Barbell Curls
Hammer Curls
Dumbbell Curls
Close-Grip Bench Press
Tricep Extensions (Skull-Crushers)
Reverse Grip Cable Extensions

Thursday Rest (Abs/Forearms/LSD Cardio)

Friday Back

Deadlifts (3 sets of 10)
Lat Pulldowns
Machine Rows
Chin-Ups (Unweighted to Failure - 2 sets)

Saturday Shoulders

Overhead Barbell Press (Smith Machine)
Lateral Side Raises (while sitting)
Upright Rows

Sunday Rest (Abs/Forearms/Interval Cardio (30sec Sprint/30sec Jog))

All help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks bros!

Your friend,

Mark

P.S. Only constructive criticism please. I dont want 10 posts about how much of a pussy routine I have...thanks

 

[Mark Kerr]

BTW- My strongest bodypart is my Chest and my weakest is my back (specifically my lats, I have a spread worth a shit!). I posted a pic of myself in members pictures, so look for that! Thanks.

Your friend,

Mark

 

[Grizzly]

That's the biggest pussy routine I've ever seen!

Nah, just kidding. Personally, I'd drop the deadlifts from 10 reps to like 4-6, but that's just me.

I'll try and take a look tomorrow again because I'm tired from work right now.

 

[ratmonkey]

here are my changes to your core routine.

Monday Chest:

Flat Bench Press
Incline Bench Press (wide grip)
Dips, weighted.
Dumbbell Flyes (just to stretch my muscles - 1 set/slow reps)

Tuesday Legs:

Squats
Stiff Leg Deadlifts
Seated Calf Raises
Standing Calf Raises

Wednesday Arms

Regular Barbell Curls
Hammer Curls
Dumbbell Curls
Close-Grip Bench Press
Tricep Extensions (Skull-Crushers)
Reverse Grip Cable Extensions

Thursday Rest (Abs/Forearms/LSD Cardio) I'd drop the cardio but if you don't think it's hurting your gains at all then keep it up lightly.

Friday Back

Deadlifts, after warming up with sets of 10 i'd go as heavy as possible with 4-6 reps for 3-4 sets.
Weighted chins and pullups
BB or DB rows, alternate weekly


Saturday Shoulders

Clean and press
BB or DB press
reverse flyes

Sunday Rest (Abs/Forearms/Interval Cardio (30sec Sprint/30sec Jog))

i'd personally put light cardio and abs and forearms in with the other workouts and rest completely on your "days off", i'd probably even take out the arm work completely and throw in a couple of sets for tris with chest or shoulders, and bis with back.

if you're bulking you need to keep it basic, short, and heavy.

 

[wolfman]

Mark, I've had success with the 3 on 1 off 2 on 1 off routine...Although, you may want to take one rest day completely off as opposed to doing abs, forearms, and cardio as you have outlined...I have one question though...Do your hamstrings lag behind your quads? Just qurious as you don't have any direct hamstring work in there--but if you're squatting ass to grass then it's all good

-wolfman

 

[biffbiffington]

Good job wolfman spotting the obvious. Although you didn't say it in so many words. You spend way to much time in the gym! Although we are all different in regards to what works for us. The catabolic common denominator we all share and will suffer from is overtraining. One of the most common terms you will hear is "more is not better". I am an advocate of this! Bro your movements and rep scheme look good, keep it fresh.



I initially worked a 3 on 1 off split for about 4 years. I'm certain it set the foundation but I was in the gym to much and to long(time) and I felt drained. I decided to split into a 4 on 1 off. This reduced my time in the gym, allowed me to priority train small body parts that weren't given the proper attention because of fatigue. I have kept it fresh and stuck with it the past 17 years. This works for ME. More is not better for ME.



My four on one off looks like this;

**Day 1 Legs (10 power sets, this can be a combination of four movements
or 10 sets of the same movement, i.e, squats, leg press, hack squats, heavy lunges. I always mix em' up) leg extensions or sissy squats 4 sets, leg curls or stiff legged dead lifts (5 sets)

**Day 1 Back (8-10 sets) Bi's (6-8 sets)

**Day 2 Chest (8-10 sets) Tri's (6-8 sets)

**Day 4 Shoulders (6-8 sets) Traps (4-6 sets) Calves (10 sets) Ab's (10 sets) Yes you heard that right I train calves & abs only once per week, but I hit them hard. Like any other muscle I never train at less than my 80% workload through a full range of motion unless I am doing partials/negatives/etc.



NOTE: Every third 4/1 thru I take an extra day off, i.e, 4 on 2 off. This helps prevent overtraining. The 4 on 1 off split above should have you in & out of the gym in about 40-60 min. I usually take a full week off in June then again 24 December until my kids go back to school. 10 days or so. Hope this helps.

Peace

 

[urbadside]

Good job wolfman spotting the obvious. Although you didn't say it in so many words. You spend way to much time in the gym! Although we are all different in regards to what works for us. The catabolic common denominator we all share and will suffer from is overtraining. One of the most common terms you will hear is "more is not better". I am an advocate of this! Bro your movements and rep scheme look good, keep it fresh.



I initially worked a 3 on 1 off split for about 4 years. I'm certain it set the foundation but I was in the gym to much and to long(time) and I felt drained. I decided to split into a 4 on 1 off. This reduced my time in the gym, allowed me to priority train small body parts that weren't given the proper attention because of fatigue. I have kept it fresh and stuck with it the past 17 years. This works for ME. More is not better for ME.



My four on one off looks like this;

**Day 1 Legs (10 power sets, this can be a combination of four movements
or 10 sets of the same movement, i.e, squats, leg press, hack squats, heavy lunges. I always mix em' up) leg extensions or sissy squats 4 sets, leg curls or stiff legged dead lifts (5 sets)

**Day 1 Back (8-10 sets) Bi's (6-8 sets)

**Day 2 Chest (8-10 sets) Tri's (6-8 sets)

**Day 4 Shoulders (6-8 sets) Traps (4-6 sets) Calves (10 sets) Ab's (10 sets) Yes you heard that right I train calves & abs only once per week, but I hit them hard. Like any other muscle I never train at less than my 80% workload through a full range of motion unless I am doing partials/negatives/etc.



NOTE: Every third 4/1 thru I take an extra day off, i.e, 4 on 2 off. This helps prevent overtraining. The 4 on 1 off split above should have you in & out of the gym in about 40-60 min. I usually take a full week off in June then again 24 December until my kids go back to school. 10 days or so. Hope this helps.

Peace

Hey bro.....give us an idea of the poundages and the reps you use as well.

 

[Blinky]

If you want, you can work your abs, calves, and forearms everyday... they do not need rest days like your other muscles do.

 

[Freddy]

If you want, you can work your abs, calves, and forearms everyday... they do not need rest days like your other muscles do.

Thats true to a large extent.

I think abs should be trained heavy 2-3 times a week in addition though. Beyond that you could certainly do situps or whatever every day though. It wouldn't hurt, and would probably help.

Calves (as have already been discussed here a bunch of times) can handle a ton of frequency.

As long as you are doing a good program, you're forearms will be hit every workout from stabilizing weight through pulling and pressing movements. In fact, this is true of your calves and abs to a huge extent as well, but not to such an extreme as forearms.

As long as you've picked a good routine, its impossible to NOT give your forearms a good workout every training day.

 

[fatboy]

workout

quick ans simple reply.
i would not work my back and arms, back to back.

 

[Bigasmatt]

Maybe a little too much time in the gym like a few of the guys have said. If you are bulking then you need to rest and make sure you sleep a good 8hrs.

For me, I would cut out the arms day and work bis on back day and tris on chest day (as both are preexhausted by the main workout). This worked well for me and gave me good gains in the arms because the workout lasted longer and ended by killing my already tired arms.

Needs plenty of protein and rest.
also I keep reps between 6-8 when bulking (if I can do 10 then i up the weight).

Just how I do it bro. But its whatever works for you. All the best

 

[dolfe1]

Agree with big, especially on the chest tris, I always found that if I work on my tris on a different day than my chest the got overtrained, gotta keep those two muscle groups together.