critique new training and cardio schedule

[MattRecc]

looking to lean out, and holding off on the juice, i will be doing this natural, no super supps. Criticisms welcome, started this today. DC training (M, W, F) followed by cardio sessions on every day but leg days. Right now i weight around 220lbs at 6'2, at probably 16% bf

The exercises:
Chest- Slight incline smith machine presses, smith machine bench presses, incline barbell presses
Shoulders- Standing OHP, smith machine military presses, seated OHP
Triceps- CG benches, rg benches on smith, dips elbows in
back width- hammer strength pulldowns, cg pull-ups, neutral grip pull-downs
back thickness- rack deadlifts, hammer strength rows, floor deadlifts

Biceps- Paramount preacher curl, standing barbell curls, preacher curls
Quads- Squats, Hack Squats, Leg Presses
Hamstrings- lying leg curls, seated leg curls
Calves- standing calve raises, paramount donkey calf raises, leg press calve raises

30min cardio sessions on non-leg training days, 45min cardio sessions on off days (tues. Thurs, sat)

diet: Carbs only around training sessions, and in the am (oats, fruits) about 320 grams of protein, 150-200 grams of carbs, 40-50 grams of fat (olive oils, anpb). Eating relatively clean, cut out all alcohol (damn that shit was slowing me down). My goals are to lean out to hopefully aorund 10-12% bf, around 195-200lbs. I feel i will be taking in enough protein to maintain the foundation of muscle that i built in the last 6 months (went from being a scrawny 175 to 220). Any suggestions/criticisms are welcome. Thanks guys

 

[gymtime]

I think 30 minutes of post workout cardio is too much, especially with the 45 minutes on the off days. I think with that amount of cardio every week, you're going to have a very tough time maintaining muscle mass.

 

[MsBeverlyHills]

I think 30 minutes of post workout cardio is too much, especially with the 45 minutes on the off days. I think with that amount of cardio every week, you're going to have a very tough time maintaining muscle mass.

agree w/Gymtime. And dude-- whats all that Smith Machine/ Hammer Strenght machine stuff??? doesnt your gym have any free weights??

 

[MattRecc]

agree w/Gymtime. And dude-- whats all that Smith Machine/ Hammer Strenght machine stuff??? doesnt your gym have any free weights??

no partner+dc+rest pauses, and i do have a lot of free weight movements in there, except for chest

 

[gymtime]

So why not use bar or dbs for chest?

 

[MsBeverlyHills]

So why not use bar or dbs for chest?

I guess thats not allowed in DC training???

 

[guldukat]

I guess thats not allowed in DC training???

You can use dumbbells, but Dogg doesn't always favor them for presses. They're a struggle to get into position, a detriment itself, and makes them extremely hard to do rest-pauses with.

They're a great tool, but they also don't allow you to progress quite as gradually: at most gyms, any weight increase means you've got to go up 10 lbs. total. There are ways around that--get Platemates, a better gym , work the reps up higher, then make the weight jump--but it's still less than ideal for DC methods.

As far as not using the bar, Matt said he didn't have a training partner, and I understand his reticence to ask whoever's available for a spot. Good spotters are rarely on hand when you need them

That doesn't rule out the power rack, but let's face it: Hammer stuff works pretty well. They're not barbells, but I've never been able to tell the difference between my pec growth with BBs vs. a very good machine, FWIW. For bodybuilding purposes I honestly believe the differences, assuming they exist, are so minor as to be undetectable.

That wouldn't much help a powerlifter, though, would it? LOL.

 

[MattRecc]

I guess thats not allowed in DC training???

first of all, rest pausing is impossible to do with dumbells, it is obvious to me and i am knowledgeable enough to know that freeweights are better than machines, which is why i have included incline barbell presses, 2 kinds of overhead presses, squats, and floor and rack deadlifts. I dont see a problem with trying to add some weight to the other lifts that i have listed. I am not a powerlifter, but i DO include those major movements. I am either doing this or a veryyy basic routine but i wanted to try something new, seeing that ive been doing the same thing for a while, have not really made many gains lately.

Heres another split i was thinking of:

Mondays-
Chest- flat bench barbell presses, 2x5-8
triceps- cg benches 2x8
Back- rack deadlifts 2x5 on lowest setting in rack
wide grip chins 2x8
Ab and core work.

Wed-
Seated OHP 2x8
hammer strength rows 2x8
Squats 2x10 or 1x20 (breathing set)
abs, core, and grip work.

Friday- same as mondays, with saturdays and sundays off, 20min cardio everyday but squatting day and weekends. All big moves, 30min workouts tops, all out intensity. any modifications on this?

 

[guldukat]

Heres another split i was thinking of:

Mondays-
Chest- flat bench barbell presses, 2x5-8
Back- rack deadlifts 2x5 on lowest setting in rack
wide grip chins 2x8
Ab and core work.

Wed-
Seated OHP 2x8
hammer strength rows 2x8
Squats 2x10 or 1x20 (breathing set)
abs, core, and grip work.

Friday- same as mondays, with saturdays and sundays off, 20min cardio everyday but squatting day and weekends. All big moves, 30min workouts tops, all out intensity. any modifications on this?

Definitely not bad!

I would raise a few concerns:

1--I think doing rack deads, squats, then rack deads again would beat the hell out of the lower back. Training it hard 3x week would put me under, at least.

2--I would consider cycling your Friday exercises. Again, I'm only speaking from my experience, but I burn out on single exercises if I do them hard twice a week for very long.

3--Calves?

4--Direct arm work? I do not lose arm size when I don't do curls etc., but I don't usually gain a whole lot without training them directly either. (To that end, perhaps you could do close-grips on Friday instead of repeating regular grip BP?)

That said, you are doing a fair amount of heavy pressing and pulling...it *might* not be necessary for arm growth after all.

5--Though there's certainly nothing wrong with it, is there a specific reason you favor 2 hard sets/exercise? Just curious there.

 

[MattRecc]

thanks for your response, Guldukat. i did edit the post and added in cg benches which i left out. I do occasionally do barbell curls, but it really seems that with all the heavy pulling i would be doing it would almost be unecessary. My best arm growth (esp biceps) has come from doing almost no direct work. This just basically comes from me knowing my own body i guess (i know guys like needsize devote an entire day to just arms b/c they feel that their arms are stubborn to grow, while i feel mine arent. My Shoulders and calves definitely are though!!

to answer your question about 2 hard sets, i basically feel that after 2-3 warmups, i can hit that exercise hard on those 2 sets and be able to recover in time to do it twice in 8 days. I too am concerned about lower back, so i think im going to take your advice on cycling the friday exercises. Maybe some dumbell or T-bar rows in place of the rack deads again, and incline barbell presses for chest. I also forgot to mention i will be changing my grip on the chins.

almost forgot about calves, standing calve raises on squat days. so heres how it would look now:

Mondays-
Chest- flat bench barbell presses, 2x5-8
triceps- cg benches 2x8
Back- rack deadlifts 2x5 on lowest setting in rack
wide grip chins 2x8
Ab and core work

Wed-
Seated OHP 2x8
hammer strength rows 2x8
Squats 2x10 or 1x20 (breathing set)
standing Calve raises 2x15
abs, core, and grip work.

Fridays
Incline barbell presses, 2x8
dips elbows in
T-Bar or Dumbell Rows 2x8
CG chins 2x8

sat&sun off.