Rough Draft ME, DE routine. Please Critique

[musclebobbuffpants]

OK, first off, I'm not planning on competing in any PL comps anytime soon. The following routine is for my own personal benefit with a desire to build natural strength and explosiveness. It basically looks like a W.S. routine with the exception of the first ME excercise which is taken from Charles Poliquins' 1-6 principle. Here's a link if you want to read it. http://www.testosterone.net/html/58princ.html

Day 1 ME Squat Wks. 1-2

C.S. Squat 1-6 principle
SLDL 5 x 8
Pull-Throughs 4 x 8-10
Incline DB curls 4 x 8
Abs

Day 2 DE Bench

Bench Press 12 x 3 @ 60% of 1RM
Pin Press 3 x 5
Dumbell Ext. 3 x 5-8
Side Laterals 3 x 12
Seated Rows 4 x 8
Abs

Day 3 ME Bench Wks 1-2

Incline BP 1-6 principle
Skull Crushers 6 x 10
Front Raises 5 x 12
Rows 5 x 8
Abs

Day 4 DE Squat

Box Squat 12 x 2 @ 50% of 1RM
DL 8 x 1 @ 60-65%
RDL 3 x 5-8
Barbell Curls 3 x 5-8
Abs


ME exercises will be changed every 2 wks to keep from frying my CNS.
DE exercises changed every 4wks or at least done a little differently.

I put the DE day after the ME day because I'll be working out Mon, Tues, Thrs., Fri. and I didn't want to do 2 ME days in a row.

Like I said, its a rough draft, so it can still be tweeked. I'd like to hear what you guys think, plus any changes you might do to it.

Thanks,

musclebobbuffpants

 

[Freddy]

Looks pretty good. Even if it means doing them back to back, I still prefer to do ME work and DE work clumped together. I've done ME bench on Monday and ME squat on Tuesday...its really not bad.

Don't ever change the DE lifts. Speed bench should always be speed bench. Speed squats should always be speed box squats. What you CAN change is the type of accomodating resistance, like the chains or the bands or the weight. But don't change the lifts themselves.

On DE bench, don't do 12x3...do 8x3. Use 3 different grips. I prefer 3 sets of pinky on rings, 3 sets of competition, and 2 sets of close grip, in that order. Everyone has their preferences though, based on their benching technique. If 8 sets sounds like too little volume, you can add another assistance exercise. In fact, I would if I were you. I might throw in some overhead presses or military presses or push presses or something like that if I were you.

Don't slack off on rows. In fact, don't slack off an any of the assistance exercises. You NEED to push them hard. I don't mean take them to failure. But I mean do volume at a set weight. For instance, 4 sets of 8 with 225 or whatever would be difficult for you in that rep range on rows.

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head. AnimalMass and Phreezer will add other ideas too.

OK, first off, I'm not planning on competing in any PL comps anytime soon. The following routine is for my own personal benefit with a desire to build natural strength and explosiveness. It basically looks like a W.S. routine with the exception of the first ME excercise which is taken from Charles Poliquins' 1-6 principle. Here's a link if you want to read it. http://www.testosterone.net/html/58princ.html

Day 1 ME Squat Wks. 1-2

C.S. Squat 1-6 principle
SLDL 5 x 8
Pull-Throughs 4 x 8-10
Incline DB curls 4 x 8
Abs

Day 2 DE Bench

Bench Press 12 x 3 @ 60% of 1RM
Pin Press 3 x 5
Dumbell Ext. 3 x 5-8
Side Laterals 3 x 12
Seated Rows 4 x 8
Abs

Day 3 ME Bench Wks 1-2

Incline BP 1-6 principle
Skull Crushers 6 x 10
Front Raises 5 x 12
Rows 5 x 8
Abs

Day 4 DE Squat

Box Squat 12 x 2 @ 50% of 1RM
DL 8 x 1 @ 60-65%
RDL 3 x 5-8
Barbell Curls 3 x 5-8
Abs


ME exercises will be changed every 2 wks to keep from frying my CNS.
DE exercises changed every 4wks or at least done a little differently.

I put the DE day after the ME day because I'll be working out Mon, Tues, Thrs., Fri. and I didn't want to do 2 ME days in a row.

Like I said, its a rough draft, so it can still be tweeked. I'd like to hear what you guys think, plus any changes you might do to it.

Thanks,

musclebobbuffpants

 

[musclebobbuffpants]

Thanks Freddy, I reread my thread and Day 4 should be where Day 3 is. Anyway, I'll try clumping the ME's and DE's together, if it becomes too much, I'll simply change it back.

Also, when I said I'd change the DE's around every 4 wks, I should have said the accessory and supplemental exercises.

I was going to put some type of over head press in, but I wasn't sure if it should be on ME bench or DE bench day, what would you suggest?

Thanks again for the reply,

musclebobbuffpants

 

[Freddy]

Thanks Freddy, I reread my thread and Day 4 should be where Day 3 is. Anyway, I'll try clumping the ME's and DE's together, if it becomes too much, I'll simply change it back.

Also, when I said I'd change the DE's around every 4 wks, I should have said the accessory and supplemental exercises.

I was going to put some type of over head press in, but I wasn't sure if it should be on ME bench or DE bench day, what would you suggest?

Thanks again for the reply,

musclebobbuffpants

Gotcha, yeah, you can change the accessory/supplemental lifts every month or so, no problemo.

I prefer to the the overhead presses on ME day, but AnimalMass prefers DE I think (or at least he used to). It doesn't matter, find where you're comfortable. I do 5x8, and I add weight every week until it gets really brutal. Like the last 2-3 sets are pretty gut busting.

 

[musclebobbuffpants]

Freddy, are you training your assistant and supplemental exercises to failure or near failure?

MBBP

 

[Phreezer]

I think it looks good also.. One thing to remember.. While doing banded work on your bench.. Try to cycle them two weeks on two weeks off.. Otherwise the joints in your elbows and shoulders may start to give you real problems..Anyone who does Banded West Side work should do prehab/rehab shoulder work every week..Those bands won't tear up your lower body like they will your upper body.. SO BE SURE TO CYCLE THE WORKOUTS!

Also be sure to keep us update.. Feel free to post a workout log here and update it as you go.. That way we can see how your coming along!!!

 

[musclebobbuffpants]

Cool! Don't have to worry about bands, we don't have them. We do, however have chains, but I'm not going to use them for a while. Mainly because I'm not exactly sure how to set them up. Any pointers would be great

I'll be keeping a journal on M.S. Excel, so yeah I can post my progress.

I threw push press in on DE bench day, as of now, I think I have plenty of assistant and supp. exercises. As I progress, I'm sure I'll tweek it out a little more.

MBBP

 

[Freddy]

Freddy, are you training your assistant and supplemental exercises to failure or near failure?

MBBP

I don't think of it that way. I certainly never try to hit failure, or even necessarily get close. This is how I approach WSB style supplemental/assistance work (like rows, military presses, tricep work, pull throughs, etc).

I start off conservatively at first. I pick a set weight that I know I can handle for multiple sets of multiple reps. It shouldn't be too bad, because I intentional pick a weight that I have handled for those sets/reps just fine.

Next week I add 5-10 pounds. If I get all reps with all sets, the next week I add 5-10 pounds. And again the next week.

I rarely fail doing this, usually by week 4 I just get really sloppy on the last few reps. Or maybe sloppy for the whole last set. Once I start getting really sloppy with form, I change to a different exercise. I will also change if I should happen to fail.

Another thing I will do, is do 5x5 style periodization for some supplemental work. For 4 weeks I'll do 5x5, adding 5-10 pounds each week. Again, I start conservatively with a weight that I know I can do. Week 3 or 4 I'll try and sets a personal record for 5x5...in other words I'll try and use more weight than I ever have before for 5x5. If I get it on week 3, I'll try to go up another 5-10 pounds week 4. If I don't get it week 3, I'll try again week 4. Sometimes I won't try to hit a PR until week 4, however. After week 4, I lower the reps and sets to 3x3 and start again except all reps are 3x3 this time, obviously not 5x5. Once week 8 or so rolls around, I'll start all over again at 5x5.

These are some ways to train assistance work very hard, without going to failure.

Phreezer had good advice too.