Comments On My Routine

[jonnyelworth]

Hi guys,
First post to this forum but have been reading it regularly for a while now.

Bit of background about myself, always played sport at school etc and would sometimes go to the gym and not really know what I was doing. Eat what I wanted etc.

Anyway came to uni and after freshers fortnight looked fat and thought I would do something about it.

That was over 1 and a half years ago now and ever since then I have been going to the gym 3 times a week (Monday,Wednesday,Friday) Made some impressive gains 11.5st to 13st (I am 5ft 10) aswell as doing some form of cardio twice a week at least. My diet has also improved greatly, eating no junk (very occassionally, lads holiday etc) and take 2x impact whey and 1x Hurricane XS daily.

Anyway I wanted you to comment on my training routine I am in the middle of at the moment and say what you think.

Monday (5 Reps)

Squat
Flat Bench
Flat Pec Plyes
Front & Side Lat Raises
Military Press
Skull Crushers/Close Grip Bench S.S.

Wednesday (8 Reps)

Bent-Over Rows
Pullups
Seated Row
Bent-Over Raise
Hammer Curls
Concentration Curls

Friday (12 Reps)

Deadlifts
Incline Bench
Incline Pec Flyes
Pullups/Dips S.S.
Concentration Curls
Seated Shoulder Press
Seated Row

I do 3 x all exercises with 1 warm up set usually on most. I warm up on the rowing machine and do Ab exercises aswell on Monday & Friday.

Each week the rep range will move along one and so on. So next week will be Monday 12, Wednesday 5 & Friday 8.

Sorry for the long post guys but look forward to any comments :-)

Jonny

P.S. Quick overview for how I am getting on

For 8 reps I lift: (5 obviously heavier and 12 lighter)

Bench 90k
Squats: 115k
Deadlift: 70k
Seated Row: 82.5K

So gains are going well in strength and size.

[Wardie]

Not a fan of it, it's messy and looks pretty unstructured. I think there's too much volume there as well.

If you want to follow a routine of that nature, i'd personally do HST.

[dope540]

agree with wardie. HST is wicked for gaining size. also checks the ego aswell. find your 15, 10 and 5 rep max and each phase you increase the weight to that max number.

[jelworthy]

Quote

Not a fan of it, it's messy and looks pretty unstructured. I think there's too much volume there as well.

If you want to follow a routine of that nature, i'd personally do HST.

Wardie thankyou so much for the response about my training routine although it is not what I was expecting.

Getting such great gains etc I thought I had hit the nail on the head :-) You have told me otherwise so I would like to ask some advice.

How would you change my programme for Monday,Wednesday,Friday, if you could explain the principles you were on about that would be awesome :-)

I have done 15 reps, 12, 8 and 5 all before so know my MAX on all.

btw I do deadlifts and squats but have fairly big legs cos of sprinting, running etc.

If you could advise me I would be delighted.

Thanks again,

Jonny

P.S. I do not want to get THAT much bigger but want to really tone my muscles to get that ripped look, I have it but want it more! ;-)

[Wardie]

Start by looking through this dude

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html

[stallion87]

Agreed with wardie 100% Hst is the way to go as your routine is like a messy and "unstructured" HST plan. Plus you usually do HST mon-wed-fri which would be in line with your current workout days.

I advise reading all of that on the HST site- its a tough one to understand straight away but if you miss a part you will regret it. Once you read it - do a search on this website for HST as i have already had a few questions answered prevously so its probably already there.

Bison and others ( wardie?) have HST training logs so maybe browse them too may help. A little bit of research goes along way as im sure you will appreciate!

Hope this helps.

[jelworthy]

Quote

Agreed with wardie 100% Hst is the way to go as your routine is like a messy and "unstructured" HST plan. Plus you usually do HST mon-wed-fri which would be in line with your current workout days.

I advise reading all of that on the HST site- its a tough one to understand straight away but if you miss a part you will regret it. Once you read it - do a search on this website for HST as i have already had a few questions answered prevously so its probably already there.

Bison and others ( wardie?) have HST training logs so maybe browse them too may help. A little bit of research goes along way as im sure you will appreciate!

Hope this helps.

Cheers for the comments Stallion, I have read it over and it seems very complex. It seems a lot of people do this or something called 5x5. Could you explain the benefits of both and what you prefer?

Going to work on a programme tonight. Off to gym now :-)

Cheers,

Jonny

[stallion87]

Im unsure of what you mean by the 5x5. But ill show you what i do which you could ( if you choose this workout) alter to suit yourself better. I miss for example a couple excercises i struggle with in exchange for isolation excercises ( machines for instance)

Here goes.

Monday Workout A LIGHT
Wednesday Workout B Light
Friday Workout A Moderate
Monday Workout B Moderate
Wednesday Workout A Heavy
Friday Workout B (heavy)

The above is basically the days i go to the gym. You need to increase the weight all the time as this is how it works basically. For instance if i was doing the Incline Dumbell Bench press, for 15 reps i can almost do 22.5.
So i would start with 18, then 20, then 22.5 over the light, moderate, heavy days that are shown above. Light being 18, moderate 20, heavy 22.5

15 reps x 2 sets
10 reps x 3 sets
5 reps x 5 sets
5 reps to 1 rep max for 2 weeks ( increasing weight everyday until i can only lift for 1 rep)

I use 2 seperate workouts ( Workout A + B )

Workout A
Squats
Leg Curl
Incline DB Bench Press
Bicep Machine
Upright Rows
Close Grip Bench Press.
Calf Raise.

Workout B
Squats
Bent Over Rows
Decline DB Bench Press.
Military Press
Barbell Hammer Curls
Tricep pushdowns
Shrugs ( front)
Calf Raise

That is basically what i do for 15 reps, I change it slightly for 10 reps adding in chin ups and dips for tricep pushdowns and bicep machine.

for 5 reps i completely change my workout to less excercises but its much more intense.

Workout A
Squats
Close Grip Bench Press
Military press
Hammer curls.

Workout B
DEADLIFTS
BENCH PRESS
Dips
Chin Ups.

Then after i complete that its the 5 reps to 1 rep max for a further 2 weeks.
Then strategic deconditiong or "rest" as some call it so i usually miss the gym for around 10-11 days to recover.

Basically i think HST is good for a bit of everything, 15 reps is more muscular endurance, 10 reps is muscle size, and 5 reps is strength , then 5 to 1 is strength too. I feel it works for me so im going to do it for a fair while and get the good rewards. You have to get a lot of carbs in you too especially on heavy days.

Get back to us on any questions , maybe someone else will comment and help or add bits if ive missed anything.

[jelworthy]

Quote

Im unsure of what you mean by the 5x5. But ill show you what i do which you could ( if you choose this workout) alter to suit yourself better. I miss for example a couple excercises i struggle with in exchange for isolation excercises ( machines for instance)

Here goes.

Monday Workout A LIGHT
Wednesday Workout B Light
Friday Workout A Moderate
Monday Workout B Moderate
Wednesday Workout A Heavy
Friday Workout B (heavy)

The above is basically the days i go to the gym. You need to increase the weight all the time as this is how it works basically. For instance if i was doing the Incline Dumbell Bench press, for 15 reps i can almost do 22.5.
So i would start with 18, then 20, then 22.5 over the light, moderate, heavy days that are shown above. Light being 18, moderate 20, heavy 22.5

15 reps x 2 sets
10 reps x 3 sets
5 reps x 5 sets
5 reps to 1 rep max for 2 weeks ( increasing weight everyday until i can only lift for 1 rep)

I use 2 seperate workouts ( Workout A + B )

Workout A
Squats
Leg Curl
Incline DB Bench Press
Bicep Machine
Upright Rows
Close Grip Bench Press.
Calf Raise.

Workout B
Squats
Bent Over Rows
Decline DB Bench Press.
Military Press
Barbell Hammer Curls
Tricep pushdowns
Shrugs ( front)
Calf Raise

That is basically what i do for 15 reps, I change it slightly for 10 reps adding in chin ups and dips for tricep pushdowns and bicep machine.

for 5 reps i completely change my workout to less excercises but its much more intense.

Workout A
Squats
Close Grip Bench Press
Military press
Hammer curls.

Workout B
DEADLIFTS
BENCH PRESS
Dips
Chin Ups.

Then after i complete that its the 5 reps to 1 rep max for a further 2 weeks.
Then strategic deconditiong or "rest" as some call it so i usually miss the gym for around 10-11 days to recover.

Basically i think HST is good for a bit of everything, 15 reps is more muscular endurance, 10 reps is muscle size, and 5 reps is strength , then 5 to 1 is strength too. I feel it works for me so im going to do it for a fair while and get the good rewards. You have to get a lot of carbs in you too especially on heavy days.

Get back to us on any questions , maybe someone else will comment and help or add bits if ive missed anything.

Awesome Stallion, just got back from the gym, could you please tell me why this is better then what I am doing at the moment. I do find I am in there too long. 45 minutes weights with bit of abs after is what I want. Not 1.5 hours.

Also I do not understand the light and moderate lifting parts? I would of thought that you would just do 15 for two weeks then 10 then 5 at the most you could lift. Please explain :-)

One more question, I do not really understand what you mean by 5 reps to 1 rep max....

So would this workout with cardio tuesday, thursday, and possibly sunday (depending on footy) Enable me to really get defined, good diet of course.

Thanks again, after your response I will draw up a routine and see what you think :-)

[CoolHandLuke]

if you really want to pack on the bodyweight and strength with a simple routine then id say 5x5

i cant post the link but.....

www dot geocities dot com/elitemadcow1/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm

its so simple to follow, and i found it very effective