First post and a bit of advice please?

[keysersoze]

I've been a bit of a lurker on here for a while but I require a bit of advice so I thought I'd better sign up and start posting.

After reading many helpful posts on here I've improved my diet and I also supplement this with protein shakes in between meals. I've been training with weights for just over a year but at the moment I just do a bit of everything with no real focus on body parts. I've read a little bit about split workouts and decided to try this myself.

I'm sure you get newbies like myself asking for this all the time but if anybody could have a look at this routine I've designed that would be great.

3 day split routine

About 3 x 8-10 reps for each or until failing

Monday: Chest and Triceps

Flat bench press
Dumbbell Flyes
Dips
Tricep Pushdown

Thursday: Back and Biceps

Lat Pulldown
Seated Cable Row
Dumbbell Curls

Saturday: Shoulders and Legs

Seated Military Press (dumbbells)
Lateral Raises
Squats
Leg Curl


Hopefully I've typed that out correctly. My target is to gain about 24 pounds of lean muscle over the next 6 months.

Cheers!

[turtleboy]

Quote

I've been a bit of a lurker on here for a while but I require a bit of advice so I thought I'd better sign up and start posting.

After reading many helpful posts on here I've improved my diet and I also supplement this with protein shakes in between meals. I've been training with weights for just over a year but at the moment I just do a bit of everything with no real focus on body parts. I've read a little bit about split workouts and decided to try this myself.

I'm sure you get newbies like myself asking for this all the time but if anybody could have a look at this routine I've designed that would be great.

3 day split routine

About 3 x 8-10 reps for each or until failing

Monday: Chest and Triceps

Flat bench press
incline DB press
Dumbbell Flyes
Dips
Tricep Pushdown
(maybe choose just one of the tri movements)

Thursday: Back and Biceps
deadlifts
Lat Pulldown
Seated Cable Row
Dumbbell Curls

Saturday: Shoulders and Legs

Seated Military Press (dumbbells)
Lateral Raises
something for the rear delts?
Squats
Leg Curl - is that for the quads or hams?
if for quads then maybe SLDL
calf raises




Hopefully I've typed that out correctly. My target is to gain about 24 pounds of lean muscle over the next 6 months.

Cheers!

hi i've put some sugestions in red, i've tried not to add too much as i've accused of over-training in the past

oh and about the 24lbs in six months thingy you mentioned which creatine are you on?? a pro on gear would be happy with that

[keysersoze]

I'm not on creatine at the moment I've just been eating loads and getting lots of protein shakes into me. I've considered trying it for a bit, I might give it a go on my next order.

[fletch2]

welcome i would drop the db flyes(assuming you are doing incline bench as suggested by turtleboy).Also you say 8-10 reps or until failing,but try to never go to failure.

[James Copping]

More leg work if you really want those 24lbs. 4 sets of squats, 3 leg press and a couple of extensions. Then some curls and calf raises. For shoulders you need only seated or standing shoulder presses 3 sets as they get hit a lot on back/chest days. Turtle boys back workout looks a lot better, drop the flies and make the dips targeted at the chest(lean forwards)

[Aren_Tyr]

Definately definately definately get deadlifts in there! Truly awesome exercise, in my opinion only squats match it in overall importance for all round strength/mass development.

I'd also ditch the leg curl and replace with the leg press and/or gluteal ham raises and/or straight-leg (romanian) deadlifts.

Quote

but try to never go to failure

I'm sorry but I have to completely disagree with you. Everyone's body is different, so there is no one size fits all recipe, but I routinely go to failure every week on most exercises (not every single day, not every single exercise mind you). Following this regime, I am getting great improvements in strength on a weekly basis.

Going to failure means pushing the muscle to the point of absolute exhaustion. This provides a huge stimulus for growth. The overload on the CNS also provides great stimulus for growth. Whilst many would argue you are better not to go to failure, it does not fit with my experience. I progress faster going to failure often and regularly than if I avoid it.

Quote

24 pounds of lean muscle over the next 6 months

24 pounds is just under eleven kilograms. That is nearly 2kg per month, or 0.5kg per week. Unless you have truly fabulous genetics, I suspect that this target is somewhat unrealistic; most pros on a heavy dosage of anabolic steroids would struggle to gain this fast.

Gaining 24 pounds of decent weight is just about possible in 6 months, and if say, 60% of this is muscle, that would be extremely good progress! I would aim for something more like this.

Personally I've gained about 7-8kg over the last 6 months, of which maybe 5-6kg is muscle (hopefully).

Aren.

[fletch2]

i think that if you are training each muscle group just once a week(p/p/l) then going to failure is not too much of a problem in terms of the muscles being fatigued as they have plenty of time to recover,however the main problem is muscular failure leading to the CNS being overtaxed,and if your CNS is 'fried' you could experience performance decrements.

Having said this i will sometimes train to failure and will feel absolutely fine next session

[Tom_4000]

Aren: are you training to failure on a muscle group once a week, as you would in a p/p/l program?

Personally, I think that a p/p/l workout is a great way for anyone to start, and training to failure on this routine is absolutely fine. Overtraining is bad, but undertraining will get you nowhere!

keysersoze: I'd take your routine and use good, heavy weights to get the best out of it. But you'll learn your limits. Don't go crazy and take a break if needed.

Ta, Tom.

[MartinM]

Quote

Gaining 24 pounds of decent weight is just about possible in 6 months, and if say, 60% of this is muscle, that would be extremely good progress! I would aim for something more like this.

Not gonna happen unless he is stll very new to training