Re-writing routine, need suggestions/help

[Synpax]

Hi,

I've been training since March and in September wrote up a new routine I've been using since then. I think it is time for a better routine. I've made progress, but am unsure if this method is the best to continue with.

I *try* to work 3 days on and 1 day off. I really enjoy going to the gym. Door to door it usually takes me 2 hours total. I'd like to reduce this if possible to 1 hour 30 mins but this may not be possible.

I've used a split of:
day 1 - chest/tri/abs/forarms
day 2 - delts/legs
day 3 - back/bi/abs/forarms

Stat: 25, 5'8.5", 166, 7% bf. Legs way out of propotion in strength and appearance to rest of body.

Goals:
- 20 pullups
- Be stronger, *eventually* get to 300 bench (currently 192 for 1rm, train at 160 and less).
- Look great
- get the leg workout down to just squats and calf raises if that will develop me fully below the waist

Diet: I've designed my own diet consisting of exactly what I need. There is no need to address it here. The target is 3-4000+ calories and normally I get 4000+. Trying to bulk. Carbs from oats and dextrose, protein from powder and fish, fat from flax seed oil and a (relativly) little fish oil. Over a gallon of water a day.

Cardio: 1 or 2 cardio workouts a day (running in morning, boxing at night) hence the food demand. Running is more sustained cardio, boxing is intense, 3 minute workout periods.

Current Workout:
Day 1
flat bench 4x8 (dropping weight after each set)
incline bench 3x8 (constant weight)
decline bench 3x8 (constant weight)
assisted dips 3x12 (soon to be unassisted)
tricep pulldowns 3x8 (rope)
lying tricep extensions 3x8
5 or 6 sets of 20 wrist curls + reverse wrist curls with db
100 inclined situps
50 sidebends x2 (each side) with db in hand

Day 2
DB shoulder press standing 4x8
Lateral db raises 3x8 (3 variations - together in front, side, and back)
front db raises 3x8
one db front raises 4x8 (each hand gets 2 turns at being dominant)
Squats 4x8
incline leg press 4x8
leg curls 3x8
calf raises 4x8

Day 3
pullups weighted 4x10 (start with 30 weight belt, drop to 20, 10, and zero) (changing completetly)
back lat pull 3x8
bb curl 3x8 (3 variations - normal, wide, and close grip)
db hammer curls 3x12
deadlift 4x8 (done last because it destroys my ability to grip)
5 or 6 sets of 20 wrist curls + reverse wrist curls with db
100 inclined situps
50 sidebends x2 (each side) with db in hand

----

Ok. This needs to change. Direction? I've seen needsize and dogcrap and the others routines but am unsure which is best for me. CAn someone please clue me in? I'd really appreciate it and throw some green your way.

 

[StrongChE]

You have an enormous work capacity.

Prioritize your goals and periodize your training. Each extra set you do will take away from your recovery capacity. For example 4 sets of flat bench are done, then 3 sets of incline and decline. Your recovery has to be divided over 10 sets. If you decreased your sets of incline and decline, this would give you more recovery capacity for your flat bench strength. Instead of your flat bench strength increasing by only 1%, it may increase by 3% because your body has more resources available.

3 days on, and 1 day off may also be inhibiting your neural system. That schedule will not give you the time you need to recover fully from hvy weights.

Your goals are 20 pullups and a 300 pound bench. Here is an example schedule to prioritize those two goals.

Day 1:
Flat bench
Tri Ext
Overhead DB Press Standing
Pullups un-weighted, try to do 50 reps in as few sets as possible

Day 2:
Abs
Squats
Leg Press
Leg Curls
Calf Raise

Day 3:
OFF

Day 4:
CG Bench (14" between hands)
Weighted Pull-Ups, sets of 3 reps, warm-up with bodyweight with sets of 3 also, save strength to hit big weights
DB Plate Raises: grab a 10lb plate, do 20reps to the rear, 20reps to the side, and 20 reps to the front. That is one set. Do 3 sets.

Day 5:
OFF

Day 6:
Hvy Barbell Curl
Rev Barbell Curl
Abs
Grip work / Wrist work

Day 7:
OFF

If it is killing you to not go to the gym, then you could go on OFF days but only to increase the volume in your muscles, and to get blood in there for recovery. Increase volume using light weights, little rest, and higher reps. Dragging a sled, and other variations have always worked well to increase my volume, and I can do it at my house.

 

[Synpax]

That is helpful.

I think I avoid overtraining because of the split - there are 3 days of rest for each muscle except forarms and abs.

Do you think this is not the case? That there is a bodywide recovery period?

 

[StrongChE]

Yes, there is definitely body wide recovery. When I stressed squats in my routine, my bench went down. When I strained my lower back and avoided squats, I made jumps in my bench.

Yes, there is separation between working the muscle in your routine. If you are concerned about performance, working the same muscle group twice each week will bring about better gains.
Day 1 and 4 will hit the same muscle groups that will increase your bench and pull up strength. The exercises are different, to avoid neural adaptation.

I would not recommend flat, incline, and decline twice in the same week. If flat were to be done more than once, then the intensity must be controlled. A 3-day week bench schedule would look like this: Day 1 Hvy Bench, Day 3 Lght Bench, Day 5 Med Bench. Then the following week start over with Day 1. Some people do well with this type of routine for making gains, but most over due it on the light or medium and end up at a deadend.

Your current split looks like it is based on a bodybuilding split, but you goals are performance oriented. If want to work your tri's, shoulder, and back more than once a week it can't be more than one or two exercise per workout. You could work pullups 4 times per week if you control intensity and volume. Eventually you would make the progression towards this type of training. And it makes sense to do what you want to improve upon as much as possible, but you have to stay within your recovery capabilities. Your muscles may recover, your neural system may recover, but your mind may become stale.

 

[Synpax]

As long as the songs in my mp3 player are fresh, my mind will not go stale.

Your advice seems sound. Is what you wrote up a maximum potential workout? Meaning, there is no way for it to make me stronger?

Also, (*gasp*) I'm looking at doing a minicycle or two in the future (8 weeks, mostly test ethanate). I think my body will be able to handle a hard workout with the juice.

Hopefully some others will chip in. I wonder if it is worthwhile to take advantage of my platinum status and posting on the hardcore plat board.

Again, thanks

 

[StrongChE]

You will get much stronger on the program that I wrote. The program you were using looks like it was geared toward hypertrophy of the muscle, rather than addressing possible weak areas to support your goal of a bench and pullups.

You'll get BBing advice on the main board

Do a search on here for how B Fold the Truth trains. He uses a westside type split, and is a pro strongman.

 

[Synpax]

how is hypotrophy different from making my chest and tricep stronger?
_______________________
Main Entry: 1hy·per·tro·phy
Pronunciation: hI-'p&r-tr&-fE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -phies
Etymology: probably from New Latin hypertrophia, from hyper- + -trophia -trophy
Date: 1834
1 : excessive development of an organ or part; specifically : increase in bulk (as by thickening of muscle fibers) without multiplication of parts
2 : exaggerated growth or complexity
- hy·per·tro·phic /"hI-p&r-'trO-fik/ adjective

 

[StrongChE]

Hypertrophy is an increase in muscle size. This usually relates to an increase in strength. Training your neural system will relate to greater gains in strength. That is why a 148 lb powerlifter can squat 600lb, but most 250lb guys at the gym have a hard time.

www.elitefts.com has many articles by Louie Simmons on volume and training the neural system.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

It's insane how those little power lifting guys can lift so much weight. Brutal people to fuck with.