Critique My new Program

[bebasshome]

Ok guys, I've been doing my research alot lately, both on this forum, and others. Learning about muscle memory, hypertrophy specific training, as well as other methods for shocking muscles, and helping them to grow. My current program I've discovered was leading to some serious overtraining on my part, so I've decided to change my routine up, and see how it goes. My MAIN goal is size/mass gains....with a lower emphasis on strength. I'm on a cutting diet now, taking in 2400calories a day. 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat. I do cardio 3-5x a week, for about 30min each time on an elliptical machine in the rec center at my college. I realize with the cutting diet, I'm soon going to start losing my strength gains. I'm currently at 18% BF, 5'10" tall, and 215lbs. Anyways, here's how I'll have my workout mapped out now for the next 12 weeks, to see how it goes.

As far as sets, my CORE exercises, I'll have 4 sets...1 warmup, 1 medium, 1 heavy, and 1 burnout set. My other exercises will have 3 sets, of heavy weight. After my core exercise I should be sufficiently warmed up.

* When I mark an exercise with this, it means I'm going to change it after 3 weeks. I feel that it would give benefits to me as far as muscle memory is concerned, as well as making my body *adapt to a new exercise. For each muscle group, I have 2 exercises like this that will be my primary focus. So for my chest day, for the first 3 weeks, I'll do Flat barbel bench, and then after those 3 weeks are done, I'll change it up to do Incline Barbell Bench. Then I'll change back again. Before, I'd do both on the same day, and I always noticed that after doing flat bench, my incline would suck ass, and vice versa if I changed it up. For back day, it would be the same if I did Deads first, as compared to Bent over Barbell rows.

CHEST DAY

*Flat Bench Barbell 4 sets.....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

*Incline Bench Barbell 4 sets....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

Incline Flyes 3 sets....8, 8, 6 reps

Butterfly machine 3 sets....8, 8, 6 reps
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BACK DAY

*Deadlifts 4 sets....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

*Bent Over barbell rows 4 sets....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

Lat Pulldown 3 sets....8, 8, 6 reps

One Arm DB Rows 3 sets...8, 8, 6 reps

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SHOULDER DAY

*Military Press 4 sets.....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

* Upright Barbell Rows 4 sets....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

Shrugs 3 sets...8, 8, 6 reps

Front Raise with DB's 3 sets....8, 8, 6 reps
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ARMS day

Biceps:

*Bicep Curls EZ Bar 4 sets...8, 8, 6, 8 reps

* Bicep Curls BARBELL 4 sets....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

Inverse Curls 3 sets...8, 8, 6 reps

Inward Curls with DB's 3 sets...8, 8, 6 reps

TRICEPS:

* Close Grip Bench 4 sets....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

* Pulldowns on hte Lat Pulldown machine.....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

Overhead Extensions 8, 8, 6 reps

One arm Extensions 8, 8, 6 reps
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LEGS

QUADS:

*Squats....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

*Hip Sled....8, 8, 6, 8 reps

CALVES:

*Sitting Calf raises....10, 8, 6, 10 reps

*Standing Calf raises.....10, 8, 6, 10 reps

Leg Extensions....8, 8, 6 reps

Hamstring Curls...8, 8, 6 reps
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Well, thats about it. Please critque this, and let me know what you all think ok? Thanks

Brian

 

[Deleted member 33117]

I'm not exactally wild about your diet, but if you are at 18%, you should be able to get leaner on it.

Your exercise selection and rep ranges look fine, but your volume and frequincy looks like something out of Flex magazine. You are doing a lot of volume, and training each body part once a week. This isn't going to yield optimal gains for you. Take a look at some of the methods used by other members of the board. DC training or HST would both probably yield better results than your current split.

 

[bebasshome]

Thanks for hte reply!

What about Needsize's 5x5, I've read up on that, and it looks interesting.

Brian

 

[supersizeme]

i agree with BBF on the volume aspect. cut down the number of sets and number of exercises.

on your shoulder day, ditch the front raises and replace them with db laterals. you're already hitting your front delt on military presses, plus they get trained a fair amount while benching.

for your back day, i'd do deads every other week. while deads are a great exercise, they consume A LOT of energy that takes away from the rest of your back workout. on the off weeks when you're not doing deads, start off with pullups and then hit some bb rows. pullups are much better for hitting the lats than pulldowns.

personally i'm a big fan of doing incline before flat as far as bench goes. that's up to you though.

good luck

 

[bebasshome]

Thanks for the advice guys......In case you didn't notice....the two exercises I have starred*....means I will alternate those exercises every three weeks. I agree totally that deadlifts majorly drain me, after them...I can barely complete the rest of my back routine. In as far as volume, I've been considering ditching the last set on my CORE exercises ie Bench, DL, Squat....as I never really noticed much of a difference in my progress wether i included them, or not. Thanks for the insight again however!

Brian

 

[bebasshomeisafatmanboob]

manboobs!