please critique my workout

[chinadoll]

Ok I am ready for any suggestions so shoot. I am currently on a 5 day plan that was set up by a trainer at my local gym. I am OK with the program but I find that some body parts tire faster than others. Ex. when I work Chest and Tri's If I work my Tri's first I don't get a good Chest workout. What Body part should be worked first for the best results, And what exercise for that body part. I want to get the best results possible.

Day -1 Chest and Tricep (plus 30-40 min of cardio after weights)
Chest
Iso-Incline press
Flat bench press
Pec flies
Triceps
Cable pushdowns
1-Arm reverse curls
Lying Extensions

Day -2 Back (plus 30-40 min of cardio after weights)
Back
Wide Lat Pull
High Row
Low Row
Low Back Extensions

Day -3 Legs Day (plus 20 min of cardio if possible)
Hamstrings
Seated Hamstring Curls
Lying Hamstring Curls
Dead Lifts
Quadraceps
Leg Extensions
Super Leg Press
Squats
Calves
Standing raises
Seated raises

Day -4 Shoulders and Biceps (plus 30-40 min of cardio)
Shoulders
Military press (d-bells)
Side laterial press
Behind Neck press
Biceps
Preacher curls
Dumbell curls
Hammer Curls
Concentration curls

Day-5 Abs (plus 30-40 min of cardio)
A mixture of abdominal exercises.

I usually do 3 sets of 12,10,8 reps increasing weight each set.
sometimes adding in supersets every other week.

Any suggestions to fully optimize my workout would be greatly appreciated. I want to get the most out of each exercise

Thanks
china doll

 

[makedah]

From one 'novice' to another...

Everyone gets tired in some places before others because muscles come in different sizes. Do the compound moves first -- the big moves that use the big muscles. They're the most important moves for building strenght. And as you see, if you tire out the little muscles first they can't help the big ones!

There are a LOT of exercises here. What are your goals? How much lifting have you done before?

Behind the neck presses can wreck your rotator cuffs - are you used to doing them?

 

[chinadoll]

I just upped my routine because I was on a 3-day and was starting to get in a slump. As for the behind the neck press. I it a hammer strength machine It is more of a above head but your body is at an angle. I sometimes leave one of the exercises out depending on how fatigue the muscle is. I don't feel overworked as I can take two days off and then repeat the program without any problem. I am also seeing better definition as for as my upper body.

How many exercises do you recommend per body part? I am just back to lifting again going on 6 months (have lifted before).

 

[makedah]

Well, I'm far too inexperienced to be in the habit of 'recommending' much! But I can tell you what I do... I follow the advice of those who recommend focusing on the big compound moves. My goal is to increase my strength, so I don't do much in the way of isolation moves that aren't going to help me with the big lifts.

Your routine may be perfectly normal for someone with your goals (what are your goals?), but I'm amazed at how many exercises there are. Seated AND lying hamstring curls? Seated AND standing calf raises? Militaries AND behind the neck presses? Four kinds of bicep curls? If you were a competitive BBer trying to shape your muscles in a certain way by hitting different angles, I'd understand, but since you seem fairly new I was wondering why you elected to do this particular routine.

I'm amazed that you're able to do squats after two kinds of hamstring curls, deadlifts, leg extensions and the leg press. I'd either be hauled off in the ambulance after crumpling under the bar or I'd be doing some half-ass squatting because my legs were wasted!

I'm doing a routine I got at www.stumptuous.com/weights.html I'm in the process of reworking it (I want to make it a 4-day split to better accomodate some squat assistance work and more core exercises), but here are the basics. Oh yes, I do three sets of everything except for close-grip press and bicep curls (2 sets). The rep range for everywhere is somewhere between 6-10 (as in 6-8 for some things, 6-10 or 8-10 for others). I often lift heavier on the last set. I'm considering experimenting with lower rep ranges in the coming weeks.

Monday
squats
leg press
stiff-legged deadlift
rotator cuff rehab exercises

Wednesday
bench press
close-grip bench press
lateral raises (I can't do OHPs)
rear delt raises (today or on back day)
abs
rotator cuff rehab

Friday (today will be back day and this day is a work in progress!)
deadlifts one week, good mornings the next
lat rows
yates rows or face pulls (in flux)
bicep curls
back hyperextensions (unless I did good mornings)
rotator cuff rehab

 

[chinadoll]

My goal is more to define my muscles than to develope strength. I am doing this all natural now. As far as Squats go I always do them first. I listed them wrong oops. then I do presses then hams then extensions and last is calves. I usually do both calves raises only if i feel I can. I feel a different contraction on each maybee I am doing something wrong? I really work legs alot because I know I am most likely not doing any cardio that day so I get really into it. Like I said on some days depending on how exausted I get my muscles I usually have to drop an exercise and then I just mix it up the next week. I don't always do everything. These are just the exercises I do for each muscle group.

 

[Arioch]

You are doing as much work for you biceps as you are for your back. Which one is larger and far more complex?


You really do all of that on leg day?

And could you re-post the order.

 

[Arioch]

My goal is more to define my muscles than to develope strength.

Ya gotta have 'em before they will show. Definition is more a function of diet than anything else.

 

[chinadoll]

Opps I forgot some days I sub in straight leg deads or lunges for lying hams.

 

[chinadoll]

Yes I really do all that. I will post exactly how I do them.

Chest is exactly as I posted.

Back is exactly also I am working on adding to this I usually don't have a spotter, but when my husband is there he will help me do more.

And ahhh legs they go as follows
Squats
super leg press
Either lying or seated hams sometimes both
If I don't do both hams curls I do straight leg dead lifts or lunges.
( I find these give my muscles a good stretch to)
Leg extensions
Calves- sometimes both standing and seated

Shoulders and biceps
Behind neck press
military press (only if I have spotter)
side lateral press
(I listed both d-bell curl and precher curl I usually only do one)
Concentration curl
Hammer curl

I hope this clarifys. I know that i need to build muscle first as I am also trying to do this. Maybee I used the term definition wrong.

Remember I am not doing all these exercise every time these are a list of the exercises I feel comfortable doing with correct form so I mix them in and out my routine.

My orginal question was what exercise should I start with. (per each body part.)

chinadoll

 

[makedah]

Sorry china, I thought I answered that question but it seems I deleted the line that answered it directly. My info says do the big movements first, and that seems to work for me. I don't know if squats or deadlifts should come first on leg day (but one of them should), but bench press first on chest/tris day, and militaries first on shoulder day. I don't know the difference in work loads/muscles worked between lat pulls and rows, so I can't make a recommendation there.

When you say you got in a slump, do you mean you stopped seeing results or you got bored?

Does your trainer meet you at each workout? Or was it more of a consultation thing? How did he/she come up with the split?