New guy - questions and feedback on my routine

[SmellHole]

First off, I'm new here so I'll do a little intro - if you're not interested skip to the second paragraph. My name's Shane, I'm 42 and my fitness experience is limited to having done the Body for Life challenge in 2001 (lost 20 lbs of fat, gained 10 lbs of muscle), working out for a year after that, and a whole lot of reading. A short while after that I hit a rough patch in my life and stopped working out. I'm Type II Bipolar, have Asperger's Syndrome, Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD, ADHD, severe depression and I'm often quite suicidal. Over time my physical health deteriorated to the point that I'm in the worst shape of my life. And it certainly didn't help that I was put on medication last fall that caused me to gain 20 lbs in 2 months. I'm the heaviest I've ever been, but I'm off that evil med now. As if all that wasn't bad enough I also have a permanent spinal injury - 2 blown disks for which I had to have surgery and degenerative disk disease - that limits the type of exercises I can do. Point is, I have to overcome a lot of challenges. Not looking for sympathy, just stating the facts.

Ok, with that out of the way I can get to my routine and ask some questions and ask for feedback. In a nutshell, it's a split routine: upper body, and legs/core. Each body part gets 5 sets (except for core; i'm doing the beginner core routine found on this site), the first a warm-up and the next 4 with the same weight till the last set is done to failure within the rep range. Last time I did this I did a rep range of 8-12. Basically, I'd start with a weight that on the last set I would fail on the 8th rep. Every time I did this body part I used the same weight and tried to get one or two more reps on that last 5th set, to failure. When I reached 12 reps I would up the weight so that I was again failing on the last set at 8 reps. The workout cycles every two weeks like so: Su- HIT cardio, M-upper body, T-HIT cardio, W-lower body, Th-HIT cardio, F-upper body, Su-HIT cardio, M-lower body, T-HIT cardio, W-upper body, Th-HIT cardio, F-lower body. There's a name for this type of training, but I forget what it's called.

FIRST QUESTION: my primary goal is to lose body fat, and I've got my diet down for the most part, but I want to build as much muscle as possible as well. With that in mind, is a rep range of 8-12 ideal or should I be doing less reps with more weight, like 6-10?

Next are the exercises themselves. As I mentioned, I have a spinal injury (see above) and coupled with a very weak core I can't do any sort of exercise that puts a load on my spine. Squats are out, deadlifts of any kind are out, back exercises where I have to lean over are out, and I'm not supposed to work my hams directly because if they got any stronger/tighter (in relation to my abs) they would pull on my hips in such a way that would put dangerous pressure on my lower spine. In the past I've had to rely on leg presses to indirectly work my hams.

Here's the workout. Note, I do most exercises on Hammer machines as my core is too weak to handle free weights at this point. I've already hurt myself using dumbells and had to take some time off.

Upper Body
Hammer Chest Press 5 sets @ 8-12 reps, last set to failure.
Hammer Back Row 5 sets @ 8-12 reps, last set to failure.
Hammer Delt Press 5 sets @ 8-12 reps, last set to failure.
Barbell Curls 5 sets @ 8-12 reps, last set to failure.
Tricep Cable Extensions 5 sets @ 8-12 reps, last set to failure.

Lower Body
Leg Press 5 sets @ 8-12 reps, last set to failure.
Leg Extension 2 sets @ 8-12 reps, last set to failure.
Beginner Core Routine (found in the sticky of this sub-forum)

SECOND QUESTION: Is 5 sets (given that the first set is a warm up) enough, too much, or too little? I'll have 4 days of rest between working each body part.

If you got this far thanks for reading this long ass post. If you answered with advice thanks even more .

 

[zazen5]

You are obviously coping very well with stress. I use chess/go(wei-chi) board games to deal with stress.

5 sets of weights is plenty to build muscle I find that 3-4 sets heavy is fine. Given that you have spinal problems, why push it with heavy weight? Have you ever considered one leg pistol bodyweight squats or is even that too problematic? What about Hindu bodyweight squats for high reps(say 100 reps). You will build muscle doing high reps but with less risk to the joints. There is a reason why people dont do 100 rep sets and it involves willpower and pain threshhold of lactic acid. What about leg curls to balance the quadriceps? Is that too problematic for the spine also? By doing these high reps you will burn fat off unbelievably and also build strength. For those exercises where spine compromise is not an issue of course you can do lower reps. 10-12 reps builds a different type of muscle than 4-6 reps. 10-12 reps is generally also going to hypertrophy the endurance fibers and stress the tendons/ligaments less with a more full type muscle because of enhanced glycogen storage. With lower reps, 4-6, there is more reliance on the ATP=CP phase, less of a burn due to less lactic acid buildup, but a thickening and strengthening of tendons. Keep in mind for whatever rep range that you do, the heavier the weight and the less reps you do, the more intense the exercise actually is on the body, however it may not feel so. Lactic acid at the end of a 20 rep set certainly feels intense, but there is less risk of injury at these higher rep ranges assuming proper lowering and raising of the weight at correct speeds than doing a set of 3 reps with a monster load. The last thing that will also help with post exercise recovery and training of the muscles and fascia is stretching static as you are able at the end of the training. Be very careful on the leg press to not hyperextend the knees and when the reps get tough, use the pause at the bottom to accentuate the difficulty of the exercise(similar to pausing at the bottom of a squat).

 

[SmellHole]

Thanks for the input. I can do leg presses with fairly heavy weight and my back is ok with that. My problem is only when I have extra weight pressing down on my spine and that doesn't happen with the leg press. I've never even heard of a one leg pistol body squat, but it it's what I think it is I'm not flexible enough to do it. I have considered doing high-rep squats with just the bar, or maybe a little more weight, but I'm pretty happy doing leg presses for now. Maybe once my core becomes stronger I will try this. Thanks again for the help.

Anyone else? 168 views and no other responses? C'mon folks you can do better than that. Help a guy out would ya?

 

[zazen5]

Congrats on determining what works for u. The key element to long term change is to approach training as a fun job.

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[Azato]

You probably want to lay off the cardio, use a day or two for recovery. As for rep range, you should change it up often.

 

[ha1a1]

Learn front squat. A lot less pressure on the spine and knees. It takes a bit to get used to holding the bar up as you need a lot of flexibility. You only need 1 day off between workouts. You're main goal at this point is to do something everyday, even if it is just a walk on recovery days. Become consistent at eating right and moving. Try using tempo in the eccentric phase. A count of 3 or 4 is for good body comp and you can keep the weight lower and still get intensity.

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[Creepusmaximus]

My one comment is I'm not a big fan of machines, I would use free weights when ever possible. Reason being free weights make you use various small muscles stabilizers etc. that a machine is probably not going to hit.

 

[FQRboost]

Go to bodybuilding.com and do Kris Gethin 12 week trainer program. The best program for weight loss and building muscle.... Kris does it with you and videotapes himself everyday... he lost 30lbs and gained a lot of strength. I myself did it without most of the cardio, only did like 3 sessions a week of 20 mins a week and lost 17 lbs and gained a lot of strength too.

 

[zazen5]

Nice to hear there is someone friendly at bodybuilding.com. that wasn't my perception after contributing tons of polite info to their forum.

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[FQRboost]

yeah.... they're forum isn't the best, most people are rude and quick to tear you apart and look for internet fights. But that program will take care of you man... exactly what you want, cut mad fat while retaining muscle and staying strong