Help me with upper body compound movements for a new workout I am going to do.

[solidj55]

I am thinking of doing a two day workout per week. An upper-body day and a lower-body day. I already have my lower body day set up but I need some good ideas for my upper body day. I was going to use bench press, military press, bent-over or T-bar rows, some pushdowns or extension for triceps, and some straight bar curls. What does everyone think??? Should I use some different exercises or what? Also what order should I do it in? I figured either chest, shoulders, back, tri's, and bi's or chest, back, shoulders, tris, and bis. How many sets would everyone do? I am not sure how many to do seeing as I am planning on only doing one exercise per week for each muscle. Any advice on exercises, order, etc????

 

[solidj55]

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[solidj55]

By the way I will not be doing deadlifts, I will be doing Squats(light weight , recovering from some back trouble) some lower back work(hyperextensions etc) hamstring curls, some calves on my lower body day. I will also be doing abs/obliques twice per week. I will also be running two miles(cross country running) every two days on different types of terrain and one day of 2 miles using the Fartlek system every now and then.

 

[solidj55]

Anyone?

 

[strong island]

I think you should do at least two movements for larger bodyparts. Definately do some pull ups. I would throw in some side laterals to hit the side deltoids.

I am also working out 2 days a week. I am on a CKD and my goal is to maintain. My workouts are something like this.

Bench superset with
Pullups
Flys superset with
Rows
Laterals superset with
DB Press
Pushdowns
DB shrugs

Squats(I am only doing squats for legs for a few weeks)
Leg curls
Calves

I do a lot of squats with my ass to the floor. My workouts are short and intense because of the diet I am on. I don't want to push my body too much. I just don't want to lose strength.

Depending on your goals this could be a lot of rest. You will be off for 4 to five days in a row. Maybe you should go two on three off. This gives your muscles five days to recuperate.

 

[supersizeme]

Alright I was going to try and fit my entire upperbody into one workout once a week, here's what I would do and the order I would do it in:

Pullups - 3 sets
Incline Bench - 4 sets
Bent over Rows - 4 sets
Shoulder Press - 3 sets
Dips - 3 sets
Lateral Raises - 3 sets

At that point you're probably about an hour or so into your workout and pretty damn tired. Depending on your energy level, you may throw in a couple sets of curls or some sort, or just call it a day. You really a minimmum of two days to effectively train your whole upper body, but that might get you by.

 

[solidj55]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[solidj55]

What do you think would be better, if I did one of the workouts you guys suggested once per week, or if I hit a workout similar to mine twice per week, one heavy day one light day, and never going to failure?

 

[solidj55]

By the way the only reason I am wanting to only workout 2 days per week is because I am running so much and trying to put my heart in soul into that in order to get into shape fast.