Advice on routine please

[jay007]

i got my gym instructor to do me a routine but not quite sure if its any good. im currently doing 3 days a week.

monday: chest, back, abs.

wednesday: legs, shoulders, calves.

friday: triceps, biceps, forearms.

he told me to do 5 sets on each excercise going down from 15 reps to 6 whilst adding weight. he also told me to alternate the excercises for eg.

monday: hyperextensions, cable row, lat pulldown, one arm row, hanging leg raise, sit ups, pec dec

then the monaday after will be something like

deadlift, wide grip chins, barbell row, bench press, dumb bell fly, cable crossover, crunches.
he wrote down all the excersises for each body part and told me just to alternate them can anyone give me any info on this routine. my goal is to build muscle and bulk

 

[BiggT]

Check out the stickies pinned at the top of this board and then ask any questions you may have.

To build power and size, you need to get progressively good at squats/pulls/presses over time. You need a set range of sets/reps so you can measure progress, and you need to get good at things like squats, deadlifts, rows, bench presses, military presses, barbell curls, chins, dips.

In my opinion, the routine you were given sucks, lol.....it is totally unorganized and just has you hit a bunch of random shit in different rep ranges with the hope that something good will happen......if you're untrained, you'll get 'newbie' gains from anything, but a routine like that will leave you frustrated sooner rather than later, you'd also get results from that routine if you took truckloads of steroids and ancillaries (IF you have the genetic makeup to tolerate them in the doses it would take to make that program effective) because they enhance even a crappy stimulus (that program), and I don't recommend you try that, lol..

I seriously think you should read the training stickies and then ask whatever questions you have, your routine needs to foster improvement in compound lifts and you need to eat more calories than you burn.

 

[Protobuilder]

What's your training experience or athletic background? Is this your first exercise plan?

I agree w/ what BiggT said: that "program" is pretty weak. Pick a handful of good movements (and he's got some good one's in there but also has some crap). Work them hard a few times each week. Add weight in a logical, consistent fashion. And eat as much as it takes to get the scale to start moving north.

That "work from 15 down to 6 by adding weight" business isn't great either, IMO. It's a basic pyramid scheme and while it works OK, there are better schemes out there. Even a reverse pyramid or a flat pyramid scheme would be better, IMO. With the basic pyramid, you spend a lot of energy on lower weight sets. It can work just fine, but there are probbly better ways to set things up. Some of it depends on your experience level as well. One real simple plan is to warmup, then pick a set weight that lets you get 8 reps on the first set, 6 reps on your second set, and 4 reps on your third and final set. If you get all 18 reps, then the next workout you add 2.5-5 pounds of weight and try to get all 18 again. Rinse and repeat. Work w/ squats, deadlifts, bench, rows or pullups, and overhead press and you're taking care of pretty much everything you need.

E.g.,:

Power Clean: 8/6/4
Front or Back squat: 8/6/4
Military press (clean the barbell to your shoulders from the floor): 8/6/4
misc. ab work

Go home. Eat. Do it again, but w/ a little more weight the next time, and thank Dan John. LoL

 

[jay007]

hi protobuilder im pretty new to the weightlifting scene bin doing this routine now for the past 2 months or so. Only really noticed begginer gains. and what do you class as good movements, i also heard ur better off doing compound movements with heavy weights would this be any good.

 

[silver_shadow]

hi protobuilder im pretty new to the weightlifting scene bin doing this routine now for the past 2 months or so. Only really noticed begginer gains. and what do you class as good movements, i also heard ur better off doing compound movements with heavy weights would this be any good.

exactly! keep looking to improve your compound movements - couple that with a diet with at least a gram of protein for every lb of body weight and overall 4k+ cals and you'll get bigger and stronger. compound movements are basically multi joint exercises which involve a large number of muscles. examples - squats, deads, pressing (flat/incline/decline bench and overhead presses), cleans, rows, chins, dips.
now as to how to organize these into a routine, read the training sticky - the most recommended routine at your stage would be ripetoe's 3x5 - a fine way to pack on a ton of strength and size and learn about weightlifting. best of luck