Chris_505

i'm 22, about 6'1" / 6'2", about 12.5st, lean and toned

i'm after adding a few more effective muscle building exercises to my routine as i think i'm limiting my results at the minute by not doing enough. mainly not enough free weights. also thinking of switching around which nights i do which groups. currently do gym and cardio 5 nights a week, monday-friday with weekends off

currently:

mon, wed, fri - chest and back
tues, thurs - shoulders and arms (plus a small leg session)
i do my stomach the odd night aswell. just a few crunches and leg raises to keep it tight

current exercises: (excuse any novice names/explanations lol)

chest
bench press
pec deck machine
incline press machine

back
seated row machine
lateral pulldown machine (behind my neck, palms forward)
chin ups (wide grip, palms forward)
dumbell shrugs

shoulders
dumbell front raises (palms facing inwards)
dumbell side raises (palms facing the floor)
dumbell overhead raises (seated)

arms
dumbell bicep curls
dumbell tricep curls (lowering the weight behind my neck)

bit basic i know. but i have noticed alright results with it. although i'm sure i can do a lot better with the right routine

last night for shoulders/arms i did:

shoulders
dumbell front raises (palms facing the floor)
dumbell overhead raises
barbell miltary press (in front of my neck)
barbell upright rows

arms
barbell bicep curls
dumbell tricep curls

thinking of switching my routine to:

monday and thursday - chest and back
tuesday and friday - shoulders and arms
wednesday - legs, plus squats and deadlifts

gives more rest between muscle groups as i'm probably not allowing them sufficient time to repair at the min. i don't feel like i'm over training but chest/back three times a week is probably too much

what do you think?
what other exercises do you think i should be doing?

cheers, chris

Benni

The one we do which I hate, but it's meant to be good is the bent over lateral raise which is for your rear deltoids. Also, the standing up side lateral raise. Could add it to your Shoulder workout?

Benni.

Chris_505

thanks mate yeah will try that

i was doing the side lateral raises but developed a pain in my mid/lower back. thought it might have been a trapped nerve at first but was maybe down to bad posture. will have another go soon

Ollie.

You're doing big muscle groups together mate.

Try 1st day... chest, triceps.
2nd day...... legs.
3rd day...... back and biceps.
4th day...... shoulders, traps.

Just throw in abs whenever you feel like it.

Kieron

As said break the muscle groups down and hit them harder during the one session. Your routine is more focused on high reps and fitness as your training each muscle far too regularly. If training right they will hurt for 2-3 days after and you wont be able to train.

Chris_505

ok nice one thanks chaps. think i'll stick to only doing each group once a week then

probably same routine as what ollie posted

are there any groups i shouldn't do on consecutive days? like biceps one day and triceps the next? or is it ok so long as they're not done on the same day? if that makes sense...

cheers, chris

vroomtshh

Its a perosnal thing, but i do
Chest, biceps
Back, lats
Shoulders, traps
legs, triceps.

I feel that if you do chest, you use your triceps in most exercises, and doing your back you use ur biceps a lot. So i dont like training them together.
Theres no real wrong way though.

Kieron

I wouldn't train Bi's or Tri's before their respective partner from the pairs Ollie has mentioned. i.e if you train Bi's hard they will hurt when doing back the next day. The other way round is fine, back one day then Bi's the next but if you can split them all up its better.

Chris_505

yeah true. makes sense really

i thought that about using tris when doing chest and using bis while doing back, which is why i was thinking of doing chest and tris or back and bis on same day. otherwise if you do chest one day and tris the next you're effectively working your tris two days running! each to their own i suppose and just got to do what's right for you

will have a think on it and start new routine on monday

Chris_505

right. new routine starts today

monday - chest and triceps
tuesday - legs
wednesday - back and biceps
thursday - shoulders
friday - either rest or abs

bike ride every midweek nite with weekends off completely. will just throw abs in as and when i feel like it

upped my protein intake aswell

how does that sound?

Kieron

Sounds good to me. Don't forget traps in there too.

If you could have your rest/abs/cardio day on a Wednesday. For me it would break the week up a bit but it all depends on if you want to train on a Friday or not. If not then the above is fine.

Chris_505

yeah i thought about having wednesday off but if i do that through choice then miss thurs or fri for whatever reason i'll only have done 3 nights and would rather do 4. whereas if i do all 4 nights monday to thursday then i've done every group and friday can be a choice of rest or cardio/abs

planning to do traps with back as aren't they part of your back? or should i do them with shoulders?

Kieron

You pre-exert Traps more with shoulders than you do with back imho but saying that I usually train them with back like most people do.

If I think about it sensibly though it would be best to train them with shoulders as shoulders is an easier routine than back due to the muscle size/excertion. Traps are a fairly big muscle on their own so I personally do a good 9 sets of shrugs in a pyramid fashion. Its all down to personal preference though but if you think of the size of your back and train it all properly then it takes ages: Deadlifts, rowing, pulldowns/pullups etc etc Done properly I would say back is the second most involved workout after legs.

Chris_505

aye very true. probably wouldn't end up giving my traps as good a workout doing them with back as i would with shoulders. will have a think and maybe try both, see what i find best

thanks for the advice mate :y:

]cal[

your not letting your muscles rest your working them to much,im 17, 6ft and 15st,
do all the big muscle groups once a week n small ones twice a week,and stay with 3-4 exercises per muscle group and 8-10 reps per exersize,i would say only do cardio 1 or 2 nights a week. this is wat i do..

monday: triceps - shoulders

tuesday: back

wednesday: biceps - forarms

thursday: chest

friday: triceps - biceps - forarms

saturday: legs

and just try n eat 7-9 meals a day with over 300g of protein and 600g of carbs a day and you will soon start building muscle.

Kieron

I'm sorry but I disagree as in one hand your telling him he's overtraining by doing each muscle group once a week then on the other hand you say he should train the smaller muscle groups twice? Doesn't make sense as his routines are certainly not over the top reps/sets wise.

However, saying that, we are all different and respond to different routines etc etc so best to work for whatever is best for your body. We can only give advice and the person can make up their mind from there. Listen to lots of people and then make your own mind up, thats what I do.

vroomtshh

Personally, thats way too much training. Unless you;re really doing what u say and doing 3-4 exercises for 8-10 reps.

I do 3-4 exercises per muscle group for 3-4 sets at 8-10 reps

6 days training a week is too much. Your body needs to rest too. I'm currently doing 4 days weight split, 2 of those days i run in the mornings and one day I do MMA, and thats too much.

Kieron

Sorry to jump back in on this again Cal but after looking at your routine I think you need to look at it too buddy.

If you train Bicepts properly on the Wednesday there isn't a cat in hells chance that you should be able to train them again Friday.

You also do chest by itself when its a no bigger muscle than Tri's or Shoulders imho.

You train what you call the "smaller" muscles far too much and definately overtrain your arms.

I hope you take our pointers in a helpful way, we are not trying to be picky.

Chris_505

thanks chaps, will take all this into account

did chest and tris last nite

CHEST
bench press
incline press
decline press
dumbell flys
pec deck

TRIS
close grip bench
dumbell tricep curls (?) behind my neck
tricep pulldown machine
barbell tricep curls (?) lying on my back, arms straight in the air. then bending my elbows and bringing the weight down past the top of my head then return to the top

3 sets of each, 8-12 reps (as i was going mainly for form and finding a suitable weight. can always increase the weight/decrease the reps later)

feeling it today but i'm hoping that's a good thing

cheers, chris

]cal[

bigger muscles take longer to repair and it seems to be working for me and iv got 17 inch arms at 17 i think thats good?

Ollie.

Pics ?

vroomtshh

What he said. I used to have 17 inch arms and be 18 stone. But I got it by laying on the couch eating pizza and watching telly.

snedboy

]cal[

lol ye im not 18 stone ill try n take a pic soon

snedboy

Yeah deffo get pics up m8 be good to see your size at such a young age.I know a boy who's 19yrs old and has 19" arms and is ripped to shreds!! His physique is out of this world but wont let me take pics lol

Chris_505

slight change of plan. think i'm gonna dedicate one night a week purely to back. did back then biceps last nite. by time i got round to biceps i was struggling with my usual weight and reps

so probably do:

monday - chest and triceps
tuesday - legs
wednesday - shoulders
thursday - back
friday - biceps and abs

if that sounds ok

cheers, chris

Kieron

As said pics mate. It may be impressive, who knows until we see your frame. Also no point in having massive arms if you have a pigeon chest and look out of proportion.

Kieron

Chris, looks good to me and well done for taking some advice. the only thing I might personally change about the above is swap the days for legs and back. Just because your doing biceps the day after back and they may hurt a bit when doing pulldowns etc.

Chris_505

ah yes course you're right, will do that mate

that was the problem last night. using biceps while doing back then having no strength left when i came to do just biceps

that's sorted then. thanks again chaps

Jordy05

I find i have no energy left after doing a propper back or chest work out to then do bi's or tri's. My week schedule is:

monday....chest

incline, flat and decline bench press 6/1/6 reps of each
incline, flat and decline flies (dumbells or cable crossovers depending on my mood) 12/6/12
pullovers...3 sets of 6 to 8 reps
close, med and wide press-ups...at least 12 of each

wednesday...Back

warm up on the rowing machine for 3 mins and stretch then
Deadlifts...one good warmup set, then 6/1/6 reps
good mornings... 3 sets of 8
t-bar rows...3 sets of 6
weighted chin-ups... wide, med and close as many as i can in each set.

friday... Shoulders and tri's

Seated barbell press 6/1/6/1/8
barbell shrugs 2 sets front grip, 2 sets rear
upright rows 3 sets of 6 to 8
seated bent over lateral raises 3 sets of 6 to 8

standing tricep extension (with one dumbell) 3 sets of 6 to 8
lying tricep extension (ez bar) 3 sets of 6 to 8
weighted dips 3 sets of 6


sat...legs and bi's

Squats... 6/1/6
barbell lunges... 3 sets of 6
calf raises... 3 sets of 6
seated leg extensions (machine) 3 sets of 6.

hammer curls.. 2 sets of 6 to 8
ez bar on the preacher bench... 2 sets of 6 to 8
21s with the olympic bar not the ez

this way im hitting pretty much everything except abs and i get 3 rest days a week. works for me, im 6'3" and now 13st 4 of lean muscle. 7 months ago i was hovering around 12st.

]cal[

im not ripped iv got abit of fat on me but my frame is kind of big.

this is wat i do:

dumbell curl - 25kg

bench press flat - 120kg

leg press - 330kg