rbdazza

HI,

have been out of the gym and off diet for nearly 3 weeks now due to illness and bein in hos, but while ive been sat around ive searched for a way to change my routine.
My original routine was advised by someone at my gym, but i am sure i have been over training for a bulking routine, lots of isolation exercises!

anyway i am going to list what i have come up with from various sources:

Tues:

bench press (weekly alternating flat/decline) 3 x 8
incline press 2 x 8
military press 3 x 8
upright rows 2 x 10
barbell curls 3 x 8
preacher curls 2 x 8

thur:

Squats 5 x 6
straight leg deads 3 x 6
leg press 3 x 8
leg curls 3 x 8

sat:

dead lift 5 x 6
cable pull downs 3 x 8
pull ups ( icant do these yet but keep trying lol) 2 x 8
rows 3 x 8
tricep press 3 x 8
tricep push down 2 x 8

after looking around on here that kinda fits into ppl although is plp lol.
does this look enough for a bulking routine?

i started the routine tonight, taking it steady as first time back in for a while, and it felt great to be back in gym but not sure i felt like i did enough.

also any suggestions on rep ranges? or does what i got look ok? i was wondering about 5 x 5 for all of them.

big

Give it a try and see.

Looks fairly reasonable, altho i would dump some (or all) of the isolation stuff, at least to start with.

One thing I will say is that push/pull routines place the tricep execises with the pushing and the bicep exercises with the pulling. I think you should rearrange those.

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rbdazza

i thought that about bi's n tri's when i firt looked at the completed routine, but forgot all about it until u mentioned it then, will swap accordingly.

i wasn't sure about the isolations in there, but there is a hella lot less than what i had before and the routine looked bare without them lol

big

Don't worry about a routine looking bare. Just worry about picking the main exercises, working your ass off, and adding weight to the bar EVERY session. That's what gives growth, both size and strength.

I can guarantee you that it's a damn sight easier to add weight to the bar on 1-2 exercises than it is to add weight to the bar on 4-5 exercises

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rbdazza

very good advice, thanks.

and it makes complete sense to me, before i went along with a mate at the gym and beleived along with him that more is better.

but neither him or i was growing well, we were making gaines dont get me wrong, but we werent adding weight on bench, etc each week.

one thing im not sure about; if i was at say 25's on bench for 8, would i do 3 sets of 8 at 25's each side, then the next week go for 3 x 8 with 27.5's, or am i better off building up and having the extra weight on last set?

big

Both ways are valid.

I would say for now, do 1-2 progressive (but not taxing) warm-ups, and then do your 2-3 work sets on the same weight. Start with a weight that is comfortable, and add to it each session. Once you are unable to complete the 3x8, drop down to 2x8, or 2x5 or 1x6 or whatever, and keep adding weight each week until you stall again. When you stall again, change things up again... backing off the weight if necessary.

The main thing is to be adding weight and/or reps each session. If you are unable to do this, something isn't working right.

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rbdazza

that sounds like a plan!

would something like the following look better?

tues:

flat bench / decline bench
incline bench
military press
dips

thur:

squats
leg press
leg curls
calf raises

sat:

deads
lat pull downs
rows
barbell curls

or am i still thinking too much lol.

big

Looks loads better to me dude, that's very much how i would structure a push/pull/legs routine

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rbdazza

thats good to hear, makes me think im understnding it lol, rather than just doin as told/advised!

i was thinking legs is too much but isnt the idea you do your legs on their own so you can hammer them, to the point where you couldnt do another body part if you wanted?

big

Well that's sort of the idea, but you probably don't want to be hammering every single session. You don't need to be hobbling away feeling like a used condom every time you do a gym session. In fact, it's usually counter-productive if you do that.

You do however want to get in the gym and give it a decent level of intensity (which usually means being in there no more than about 40-50 mins including warm-ups - if you can maintain a fairly intense session for longer than that, you probably aren't trying hard enough - or you're just a genetic freak ).

Some sessions you might want to take it "fairly" easy; others you might want to try for a new maximum weight. Listen to your body, and if it tells you to take it easy, the best thing you can do is take it easy (and/or just rest). Similarly if it's crying out to thrash your personal best lifts, then go for it

But definitely don't make the mistake of trying to "blast" a bodypart until it feels like it's falling off. All you should be doing is lifting enough so that you can recover, and come in the gym and lift a little more weight next time. The guys who are hammering things until they're crying are usually the guys who don't recover between sessions.

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rbdazza

it all seems so simple when put in to context like you have, i think i am going to surprise my mate who is not going to change hismind and still be doing:

incline/decline/flat bench
peck deck
cable cros's(dunno what theyre called)
fly's
dumbell curls
hammer curls
preacher curls

:crazy: :withstupi


the list goes on and thats just one session, you can imagine what the others are like, back n tri's and legs n shoulder.

one last thing, where should i fit abs in here if at all?

big

Abs will get hit plenty by core exercises like squats, deadlifts and overhead press (assuming you are doing the standing version).

If you want to add some additional ab/core work, just do something like 2-3 sets of weighted crunches on whichever day you find the easiest (or whichever is done in the quickest time if none of them are easy )

Perhaps on some sessions where you are hitting new maximums you won't have the energy to do the additional ab work. Other times you may want to back off the weight for a week or two, and do some more core work in there. Maybe some weeks you just don't feel fired up to do something like squats or deads - in that case you may just want to dedicate a whole session to ab/core work. Or you may do your ab/core work on a separate cardio day. Every week doesn't have to be exactly the same

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rbdazza

thanks again for your time, i may print this off for my friend lol.

i think my way of thinking is final heading in the right direction now.

i was looking at things through rose tinted specs before as i had some brilliant newbie gains when i first changed my training and diet.
but for the last couple of weeks before getting ill i saw no real gains, strength or weight, my strength was going up real slow, and weight stayed the same but more definition. now the whole lot needs a kick start.

i am hoping my diet is all ok now, although i did ask for some advice on things that suit me and things i should steer clear of (got chrons desease) in the diet section

big

Well you did the right thing to change things up now that you've stalled Just remember to keep doing that whenever you stall in the future, and you will be one step ahead of most people... some people stay doing the same thing for months/years with little to no progress.

Good luck with it all. Let us know how you get on

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