Looking for a new wt routine

[Suzr]

I was wondering if any of you could give me ideas to freshen up my wt training. I have been a little low on motivation. I do much better when I have a plan for the next 4-6 weeks laid out. I would like to put on some size. Previous cycle was a strength cycle and then a maintanance cycle while I was both working and going to school. These are the areas I want to emphasize: upper chest (had been doing a lot of flat bench work for the past 6 months), glutes ( genetically I have a flat butt )and hamstrings. Quads are looking pretty good, calves are good , waist is alright , lower abs are strong but could use work, And I always want to work my back hard. Shoulders I am careful not to over train.
I mostly work out at home. I have a squat rack, BB, DB's, upper and lower cable, bench, treadmill. I am not a morning person, so I work out in pm's around 7:00 or 8:00pm. On Fridays I meet a girl friend at the local YMCA to do heavy squats and leg presses. I am open to suggestions of routines that have worked well for any of you. The split, reps ,sets, types of exercises, etc.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Suzr]

Lobo,
Thats my problem, for the last few months I have been just training without a specific plan. I have including something for each of the major body parts but not towards a specfic goal except to maintain. Now I have the time again to move foward toward building more mass.
I checked my training log and this is an example of what I have been doing.
Monday
Bench press
incline DB press
shoulder press
lying french press
lateral bb raise

Tues
areobics

Wed
pull up
lat pull down
bentover row
hammer curl
db curl
pull over

Thurs
aerobics

Friday
BB Squats
Romainian Deadlift
leg press
leg extension
leg curl
calf raises

Sat and Sun
OFF

 

[BatZgirl]

I was wondering if any of you could give me ideas to freshen up my wt training. I have been a little low on motivation. I do much better when I have a plan for the next 4-6 weeks laid out. I would like to put on some size. Previous cycle was a strength cycle and then a maintanance cycle while I was both working and going to school. These are the areas I want to emphasize: upper chest (had been doing a lot of flat bench work for the past 6 months), glutes ( genetically I have a flat butt )and hamstrings. Quads are looking pretty good, calves are good , waist is alright , lower abs are strong but could use work, And I always want to work my back hard. Shoulders I am careful not to over train.
I mostly work out at home. I have a squat rack, BB, DB's, upper and lower cable, bench, treadmill. I am not a morning person, so I work out in pm's around 7:00 or 8:00pm. On Fridays I meet a girl friend at the local YMCA to do heavy squats and leg presses. I am open to suggestions of routines that have worked well for any of you. The split, reps ,sets, types of exercises, etc.
Thank you in advance.

Just curious on how you do it. Ive tried home workout plans and just cant do it. I only get motivated when I actually go to gym and check people training and sweating makes me want to workout out (funny enough)

 

[Suzr]

BatZgirl,
I have been working out for more than 10 years and have found that I love the intensity of lifting the wts. I like how I can get into a kinda zone. Pushing or pulling against a heavy resistance is something I enjoy. I love being able to isolate and feel the muscles I am working on. And I love the feeling of pushing past a previous limit. But these positive feelings towards the wts came with time. I trained in the gym for 6 or more years before I statrted training at home. When I have a compatible training partner I also train at the gym.

Now doing areobic exercise is a whole other ball game for me. I don't particularly enjoy working out aerobically and get bored easily, so I do my longer areobic workouts with a group. At home I will do an aerobic warmup of maybe 15 min. Somedays I will get on the treadmill for a half hour but I count the minutes till it is over.

It definitely helps to know your goals and have a cycle planned to keep up the motivation, which is why I am getting ready to set up a new program with goals to attain!

 

[KEL]

bump for suzr

 

[Sassy69]

Hi Suzr -

Understand about getting bored w/ the same routine - I guess I've never laid out a "new routine" -- I change it around - generally I follow a 2 on / 1 off schedule for lifting so that I can give my shoulders a break. I have tendonitis problems that affect the quality of my chest, bis & shoulders workouts - so I at least try to split it up to give my upper body a rest. E.g.

Mon - Chest & tris, cardio
Tues - Back & bis, calves, cardio
Wed - cardio
Thurs - Shoulders, rear delts
Fri - Legs
Sat - Cardio
Sun - repeat

Every 6 weeks or so I'll maybe switch to Chest & bis, Back & Bis. Sometimes I'll mix it up and do 1 exericise Chest, then 1 exercise Bis. I'm experimenting now with lighter weights, higher reps because of the tendonitis. I also vary if I'm doing dumbbells or barbells, or machines. I basically keep the same muscle groups, but change up the exercise.

 

[Suzr]

Thank you for the suggestions

Thank you Sassy69, Spatterson, for you response. I guess I should have been more specific. I was interested in knowing what type of exercises and rep ranges have given good responses for putting on size for different women on the board.

I will be doing a search on periodization and workout routines just a soon as I finish studying for a final I am taking on Wed. I like the back, rear delt combo you mentioned Spatterson . Never have tried that split.

I should say that I am not new to training as I have mentioned before. I work full time as a nurse and part time as a personal trainer. I am certified with both ACE and NSCA. I mostly work with unconditioned newbies to exercise. Progess comes easily to this population. But gains after many years of training come more slowly. So I am always looking for things that are working for others especially women with similar goals. Plus as I said before my motivation has been low lately. I think this is due to my personal adjustment at becoming menopausal and the hormone shifts, which seem to make gains even harder.

Thanks again for your suggestions
Maybe when I decide on something for the next 6 -8 weeks I post it.
If either of you have time to post exercises and rep/lbs of what you are doing now I'd love to know, but I'll understand if you don't have time.
Thanks again
Susan

 

[FitFossil]

This is a tough question to answer because everyone has different goals and experience. I also do periodized training, so my routine is constantly changing. The book Serious Strength Training discusses periodization in great detail and has sample routines for various levels. It even lays out yearly plans for different goals, be it muscular definition, hypertrophy, maximum strength, general fitness, etc. Also has great nutrition info. Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...1270/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/107-5120345-9802953

 

[SteelWeaver]

Hi Suzr. I wanted to reply to this post last week, but I'm moving on to a new split this week, and hadn't made the programme yet.

For the past 6 weeks I've done:

Day 1: Chest, bis, calves, abs
Day 2: Quads, hams, shoulders
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Back, traps, tris, abs
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Repeat Day 1
Day 7: Rest
Day 8: Repeat Day 2
etc, etc

I was doing a compound movement first for about 5 reps for each body part, then 2 other exercises for each part at 8-10 reps.

The plan I've worked out for the coming 6 weeks is:

Day 1: Quads, hams, calves

Parallel squats: 4 x 10, 8, 6, 6
Deep squats: 4 x 15, 15, 20, 20
Leg Press: 2 x 10 - 15
Stationary barbell lunges: 2 x 10 -15
Romanian deadlifts: 4 x 10, 8, 6, 6
Hamstring curl: 3 x 10, 8, 6
Standing calf raises: 3 x 15 - 20
Seated calf raises: 3 x 15 - 20

Day 2: Chest, shoulders, bis

Flat bench press: 4 x 10, 8, 6, 6
Incline d/b press: 4 x 10, 8, 8, 6
Incline d/b flyes: 4 x 10, 8, 8, 6
Military press: 3 x 10, 8, 6
Upright row: 3 x 10, 8, 6
One-arm d/b lateral raise: 3 x 10, 8, 6
Barbell curl: 3 x 10, 8, 6
Incline d/b curl: 3 x 10 , 8, 6
Bicep high cable curl: 3 x 12, 10, 8

Day 3: Back, tris

Deadlifts: 4 x 10, 8, 6, 6
Seated cable or barbell row: 4 x 10, 8, 8, 6
Straight-arm pulldown: 4 x 10, 8, 8, 6
D/b shrugs: 3 x 12 - 15
Lying french press: 3 x 10, 8, 6
Seated overhead triceps extension: 3 x 10, 8, 6
Triceps pushdown: 3 x 10, 8, 6

4 sets abs 3 times a week.

I still intend to go with the 5-day or so frequency, depending on what Day 2 does to me - it looks freaking long! But actual training usually takes me about 1.5 hours. I plan to cut the rest time a bit this time around, so I may be quicker (I hope). I'm working on upping the intensity - so I do drop sets, supersets or forced reps for the last one or 2 sets of the last 2 exercises for each part, on alternate workouts. Just straight sets the other times. Maybe one day I'll even lower the volume! I'm still learning about how far I can push myself (been training about 2 years), so I don't feel I have the intensity for a once-a-week programme yet. Currently I'm making slow but steady gains, and I never get sick or feel too tired or over-wired or any of the usual over-training symptoms, so I guess it's OK. Sometimes, if I get to set 3 and I'm wasted, I just trash the last set. I aim for failure from set 2 or 3. (Only because, somehow, despite warm-up sets, I never feel very strong on the first set). I aim for tears or nausea on the final set.

Anyway, I hope this is some of what you were hoping for. Sorry, no poundages, but mine're pretty pathetic anyway ...

 

[SteelWeaver]

I aim for tears or nausea on the final set.

Oh, which isn't to say that I don't aim for successful failure, of course