Pros, help this beginner

[Argen]

Hey all, I'm a college student who has recently started lifting weight. I've realized that regardless of one's paths and goals in life, working out is the foundation of success. So from here and now on, weight training is part of my lifestyle.

I've never lifted weights in my life, and currently I'm 20, 5'9, 150lbs. I did a lot of research, asked around, then bought a Smith machine and now I'm 2 weeks into weight lifting. So far so good. But I have a few questions need answering.

First, I'm not sure whether I'm overtraining. I lift 3 times a week. But each session last for 2 - 3 hours. I've been told that each session shouldn't last for more than an hour. However, I dont think my routine is high volume at all. Here is my routine: http://www.endorphinfarm.com/workout.htm

I lift at a steady pace so I make sure I have the right form, and I take a 2 min break between sets. So is it normal that it takes me almost 3 hours? If not, what am I doing wrong here?

That's my major question. My other question is about working the chest and back area. When I work any other muscles, like biceps, deltoids, legs etc, I can feel the lactic acid kicking in at the 6th rep. But for chest and back it feels different. I dont really feel the pain kicking in at all, I just do enough reps till I'm really tired and cant lift the weight anymore. Is this normal for chest and back?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Incredible_Bulk]

You do that EOD??? No wonder it takes hours...lol

 

[Argen]

What does EOD stand for? I do the session 3 times a week, on Mon, Wed and Fri. Is it too much for one session? If so, how can I trim it down?

 

[Incredible_Bulk]

What does EOD stand for? I do the session 3 times a week, on Mon, Wed and Fri. Is it too much for one session? If so, how can I trim it down?

EOD means Every Other Day. If I were you i would stick to 1-2 bodyparrts per day.
Ex.
Mon-bi's,tri's
Tue-legs,calves
Wed-back
Thur-delts
Friday-chest

 

[lavi]

Welcome to the forums!

First of all I wouldn't recommend 15 rep deadlifts because your form could suffer after a while. I'd try to keep it under 10 reps. Kickbacks are also not the greatest tricep excercise since the tension is mainly at the top. Maybe switch it to something else?

I would cut out:
the leg extensions since you already have squats
one of the curls since you have 2
the back extensions since you already have deadlifts
1 or both of the shoulder/deltiod raises since you already have plenty of military and bench presses.
The flyes since 4 sets of bench press is plenty.

I would add in another set of pulldowns or a set of rows.

That cuts it down to ~23 sets which shouldn't be over 1.5 hours.

These are just my personal suggestions although I think you'd be fine doing even less.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Welcome to the boards brother!! Id go with a minimum of 12 sets per small body parts and 15 sets for back and legs. But Id do them in the same day. Id also make sure you are going heavy enough to reach complete failure by the 12-15 rep. I made my best gains this way. Id go with a split similiar to this:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Triceps and Biceps
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Back (and deadlifts)
Saturday:Shoulders and Traps
Sunday: off

You can always modify it to fit your recovery ability. Also, abs, rear delts, forearms and calves can be trained as desired. You dont have to worry as much about recovery on these muscles. Ive also found deadlifts not to be necessary for building my upper back size. I gained all of it from heavy rows and lat pulldowns, chin-ups, all upper back specific work. Deadlifts increased my waist significantly and also the traps, but thats about it. You might want to try them in your routine anyway though, but with emphasis on the 5-12 rep range and not on one rep maxes or 15+ rep sets. Only because form can be sacrificed as said, and that could be dangerous now that your starting out. This type of routine worked great for me, and though it seems high volume at first, you should adjust over time. PM me if you have any questions. Hope that helps

 

[lavi]

Just clarifying that you don't HAVE TO do a 1 or 2 bodypart per day routine. If you like fullbody workouts 3x a week then stick with it. I tried 1 or 2 bodyparts per day and it wasn't that great for me.

 

[Argen]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I've definitely overtrained, cause now I have this throbbing headache, and I'm experiencing a bit of every overtraining symptom. So I'm taking a few days off and start up again with a trimmed down routine.

Now my question is about full body workouts and split workouts: does one have a significant advantage over the other? I've been reading this forum for a while, and I sense that most people here are doing the split. But I also gather (from other sites) that a full body workout is suitable for a beginner, and a split program is for the more advanced. That's why I started with a full body workout. So I'm wondering whether it's advantegous for me to switch to a split routine right now. Time is not an issue to me. I just want to maximize my potential. Thanks.

 

[JKurz1]

Welcome to the boards brother!! Id go with a minimum of 12 sets per small body parts and 15 sets for back and legs. But Id do them in the same day. Id also make sure you are going heavy enough to reach complete failure by the 12-15 rep. I made my best gains this way. Id go with a split similiar to this:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Triceps and Biceps
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Back (and deadlifts)
Saturday:Shoulders and Traps
Sunday: off

You can always modify it to fit your recovery ability. Also, abs, rear delts, forearms and calves can be trained as desired. You dont have to worry as much about recovery on these muscles. Ive also found deadlifts not to be necessary for building my upper back size. I gained all of it from heavy rows and lat pulldowns, chin-ups, all upper back specific work. Deadlifts increased my waist significantly and also the traps, but thats about it. You might want to try them in your routine anyway though, but with emphasis on the 5-12 rep range and not on one rep maxes or 15+ rep sets. Only because form can be sacrificed as said, and that could be dangerous now that your starting out. This type of routine worked great for me, and though it seems high volume at first, you should adjust over time. PM me if you have any questions. Hope that helps

You don't have an off day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

 

[Tryn2]

wed and sunday = off or am I missing something ???

 

[JKurz1]

wed and sunday = off or am I missing something ???

that was to the beast.........

 

[cwick0]

EOD means Every Other Day. If I were you i would stick to 1-2 bodyparrts per day.
Ex.
Mon-bi's,tri's
Tue-legs,calves
Wed-back
Thur-delts
Friday-chest

It is best if you hit your large muscle groups (chest, back, and legs) at the beginning of the week and save everything else for the end of the week or after you hit your large muscle groups.

 

[cwick0]

Welcome to the boards brother!! Id go with a minimum of 12 sets per small body parts and 15 sets for back and legs. But Id do them in the same day. Id also make sure you are going heavy enough to reach complete failure by the 12-15 rep. I made my best gains this way. Id go with a split similiar to this:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Triceps and Biceps
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Back (and deadlifts)
Saturday:Shoulders and Traps
Sunday: off

You can always modify it to fit your recovery ability. Also, abs, rear delts, forearms and calves can be trained as desired. You dont have to worry as much about recovery on these muscles. Ive also found deadlifts not to be necessary for building my upper back size. I gained all of it from heavy rows and lat pulldowns, chin-ups, all upper back specific work. Deadlifts increased my waist significantly and also the traps, but thats about it. You might want to try them in your routine anyway though, but with emphasis on the 5-12 rep range and not on one rep maxes or 15+ rep sets. Only because form can be sacrificed as said, and that could be dangerous now that your starting out. This type of routine worked great for me, and though it seems high volume at first, you should adjust over time. PM me if you have any questions. Hope that helps

It is kinda hard to believe you take two days a week off, you must be miserable those two days since you dont spend the entire day in the gym.
lol

 

[WalkingBeast]

You don't have an off day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Thats not even my current split! Was just giving an example of what I did in the past, when I wasnt lifting nearly as heavy. I was going to failure with weights that were maximum for me at the time, but I think once the weight increases a few hundred pounds there is an increased toll on the body. My split for the major muscles now is:

Monday: Back (and deadlifts) Traps, if I dont deadlift
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Chest and Speed Bench (Flat bench and some cable work and push-ups to finish off)
Friday: Triceps and Biceps
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Upper Chest and Shoulders (Incline Bench and cable work along with push-ups to failure, or something similiar).

So, as you can see, from thursday it is five straight days of heavy lifting before a day off. And I take 2 days in a row to recover. Im usually so torn up, the rest feels good. If I dont get enough rest between back and chest, my strength is sacrificed for sure. I try to concentrate on eating more on the off days.

 

[WalkingBeast]

wed and sunday = off or am I missing something ???

That was just a sample routine. You can manipulate the off days, or split anyway that works best for you. The main thing is the way the muscle groups are split over 5 days. I believe it allows you to focus on each muscle pretty intensely, and get them all in by the end of the week. The 2 days rest also seems to be just enough. For a very long time I did a 6 day a week split also. I was training many body parts 2X a week. My recovery is much lower now that I handle MUCH heavier weights then back then. So I couldnt do a routine like that with any success these days, and Id probabally tear myself apart literally.The main thing to keep in mind when designing a split is your recovery periods between muscle groups. This can be gauged by your soreness levels. Atleast thats how I go about it. Youll have to experiment ultimately to find the right split and customize it to your recovery ability. No cookie cutter routine or split is right for everyone. I beleive all routines should be modified to fit the user. My entire routine is based on almost pure customization and alot of it still remains instinctual, but there are many principles I apply. You get a feel for what works best for you over the years of training. I dont just take one method and customize it, but I use a variety of methods which I customize and fit into my routines. The way I train is mostly related to what actually works for me, rather then some routines I altered. Getting back to the main topic though, you wouldnt want to train triceps the day before you hit chest for example. The same with back, you wouldnt want to train biceps to soon before back. The triceps are used greatly in pressing movements and the biceps are always used in pulling movements where the elbows bend. So this will cut your strength on back and chest day. I also like to hit shoulders after all my chest work, because sore shoulders will also effect my chest strength. Itll take some tweaking to get it right, but its always good to have a solid foundation to start on.

 

[WalkingBeast]

It is kinda hard to believe you take two days a week off, you must be miserable those two days since you dont spend the entire day in the gym.
lol

These days I take tuesday and wednesday off so I have 2 days in a row. haha I dont like being out of the gym, but I make sure Im torn to shit by tuesday. Thats my goal! I also focus these days on eating more. The recovery is definately good, cuz if I dont take the recovery my strength definately suffers.