Training schedule - feedback please?

[Zelazny]

I've been posting a bit about weightlifting and strength training, but I'm pretty new at it. I've only been training for the last 4 months, and it's been one day of exercise a week.

Still, apparently, you can do a lot wrong and still get progress. Time to go for more though. I've seen some of the reports on the site and compared to my humble weightlifting, you guys are monsters.

My current regime focuses on my back, chest, shoulders and arms and totally ignores the legs. I've been working out with a friend, whose programme I'm following too, though he's at much larger weights than I am.

So far, I've been pushing my weights up, but I wonder if my gains are still significant. (Yes, a plateau, I'm going to up to twice a week in 2 weeks)

The post is to keep track of my progress and maybe get some feedback.

So far, the regime consists of the following exercises (Starting weight in february and current weight)

Bench press 30kg -> 60 kg
preacher curls 13 kg -> 28 kg
Lat pulldown 30 kg -> 60 kg
shoulder press 35 kg ->57.5 kg
Deadlift 70 kg -> None. Not in programme
pec deck 30 kg -> 55 kg
Barbell shrug 40 kg - > 85 kg
leg press 120 kg -> 200 kg (No longer in programme)
seated cable row 30 kg -> 60 kg
Free weights (Curls, flyes, presses, but this feels like a less important part of the exercises. And I don't have my weight usage on me here)
Some light cardio after all this for about 30 minutes.

Yes, I've been neglecting my legs. But the ease at which I could do leg presses and leg extensions made me realize they're pretty much overdeveloped (Cycling is the primary mode of transport here in the Netherlands)

Also, I've been eating larger amounts of protein, eating clean(er) and have been losing some fat and gaining muscle pretty visibly over the last 2 months.

This post is both to challenge me to post more results (I noticed I have a very big lack of concrete growth on this forum, so this should be a nice start, as it's easy to measure and quantify) and to get some advice as I start to change the routine. But beyond this, any glaring errors / advice on the programme I outlined above?

[Creatine Dreams]

Well, the fact that you are not Squatting is the most glaring omission.

For most people, squatting is the best exercise you can do.

You should check out a program called Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.

Also, are you using free weights or machines?

[Chaos]

Well I don't know your goal and your size but those weights are just a little below what I usually pull for every exercise and I've been going to the gym for 4 or 5 years now.

I see the weights and the progress you've made pretty reasonable.

[Zelazny]

Mostly free weights, but machines for the pec deck and the military press. And yes, I even miss squats as part of the daily routine. But I'm still somewhat afraid about having insane leg muscles and a mediocre rest-of-body (A bit of an inverse crappy bodybuilder, tiny legs and huge shoulders)

I don't actually have a goal, except trying to push myself further every time. Also, these are all 3 reps of sets of 12. Just realised that information was missing.

[Chaos]

I can only tell you what I do (in Kg). I've gotten pretty consistent results towards my goal, which is getting muscular but not big and reasonably cut. I don't want to be BIG since given my height I'd just hate the look.

For every exercise except pull ups I'll do sets of 12-10-8-6 or 12-10-8-8 raising the weight at every step (that's basic training). Thus, for example this is a basic wednesday routine for me.

BP (Bench Press Barbell) 1st set: 60 Kg - 12 reps.
Curl 1 set: 10 Kg each hand - 12 reps
Rest: 2 minutes.
BP 2nd set: 65 Kg - 10 reps.
Curl 2nd set: 12.5 Kg - 10 reps.
Rest: 2 minutes
BP 3rd set: 70 Kg - 8 reps.
Curl 3rd set: 12.5 Kg - 8 reps.
Rest: 2 minutes
BP 4th set: 75 Kg - 6 reps.
Curl 4th set: 15 Kg - 8 reps.

Rest: 3 minutes.

IBP (Inclined Bench Press) + Hammer. Same weights, same repetitions.

Rest: 3 minutes
Flies (declined): 12Kg, 14Kg, 14 kg, 16Kg

Rest: 3 minutes
P90X Chest: 4x12 reps. 10-15 kgs. + Cable Curls: 4x12.

Rest: 3 minutes
Abs.

[Traindom]

You do all of this once a week? As in you do all these exercises in one day?

But anyway, your gains seen reasonable if your form is up to par. Something that I noticed is that you don't really have a compound exercise for the back that doesn't include the use of machines. If you could deadlift or do weighted chin-ups (or work on the chin-ups until you can do ten repetitions, and then add weight), that would balance things out.

And don't worry about having big legs. If you're too worried, you can keep the volume relatively low compared to your upper body lifts. Something like three sets of five could work nicely for squats or deadlifts. You could even front squat if you want to take emphasis away from the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) if you're worried about a big butt. Don't neglect your legs too much.

As for your program, I think it would be a good idea to keep all the compound lifts together twice a week and do all the isolation exercises twice a week as easy days. That way, you can keep the focus on the big lifts and stave off plateauing a little. And if you find that you can't increase your lifts by ten pounds anymore in your training, reduce the weights by 10% and just take smaller increments, like five pound increments.

Heavy days could consist of the bench press, deadlift/chin-up, and front squat. You should focus on getting those raw numbers up. If you take away all the isolation exercises, you can better sharpen these lifts, in my opinion.

Light days could just be a stimulating day full of isolation exercises to get your blood pumping. You could experiment on these days if you feel like it too.

If you can only work out twice a week, just have one heavy day and one light day.

[Tobias]

Chaos: what other exercises do you do?

[Chaos]

Ufff, I usually change them every week to keep the muscle from adjusting so I wouldn't exactly know, but nothing fancy. I change between the standards, pull ups, chin ups, neck pulls, and quite a bit more that I don't know the names in English (lumbares, deadbeat (peso muerto), concentrado de biceps, french press, press Arnold) .... I wouldn't know where to start. I just train with Chest + Biceps one day, Back + Tricpes another, and Shoulders + Cardio another one. I don't train the legs since I naturally have a big legs and I'm pretty satisfied with them (hicking and running keeps them muscular enough).

[Creatine Dreams]

(06-27-2012 09:08 AM)Zelazny Wrote:  Mostly free weights, but machines for the pec deck and the military press. And yes, I even miss squats as part of the daily routine. But I'm still somewhat afraid about having insane leg muscles and a mediocre rest-of-body (A bit of an inverse crappy bodybuilder, tiny legs and huge shoulders)

I don't actually have a goal, except trying to push myself further every time. Also, these are all 3 reps of sets of 12. Just realised that information was missing.

I would switch to 3 sets of 5 reps and incorporate the squat and standing military press with free weights into your routine.

[I_Dare]

When I started bench pressing ....around 6 years ago...I could barely hold the freaking bar (15 kg). You're doing great.