Critique My Training Program

[Angela]

My main goal is to gain lean muscle mass and shed that lovely unwanted fat!! Any suggestions/advise would be awesome....I just want to know I'm on the right track.

Monday AM - Cardio Only; 1hour

Tuesday AM - Shoulders/Tri's & 45min Cardio
Shoulders
- Side Lateral Raises - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Arnold Military Press - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Bent Over Rear Delt EZ-Bar Pull-Ups - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Incline Front Lateral Raises - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
Tri's
- Cable Pull-Downs - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Dumbbell Overhead Press - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Dips - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Skull Crushers - 3 sets; 15-20 reps

Wednesday AM - Legs & 45min Cardio
- Single Leg Extension - 2 sets; 15-20 reps
- Lying Single Leg Curls - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Walking Lunges - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Semi-Straight Leg Dead Lifts - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Reverse Hack Squats - 2 sets; 15-20 reps
- Cable Kickbacks - 3 sets; 15-20 reps

Thursday AM - Chest & Bi's & 45min Cardio
Chest
- Flat Bench Flies - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Incline Press - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Cable Crossovers - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
Bi's
- Dumbbell Curls - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Cable Curls (alt. wide/narrow grip) - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Barbell Curls - 2 sets; 15-20 reps

Friday AM - Back & 45min Cardio
- Lat Pull-Down - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Seated Cable Rows - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- Bent Over EZ Lat Pull-Ups - 3 sets; 15-20 reps
- One Arm Rows - 2 sets; 15-20 reps
- Lower Back Extension - 3 sets; 15 reps

Saturday & Sunday will be cardio only days (Sunday most likely will end up
being something easy like Yoga)
My biggest concern is legs. I was lucky ( ) to be blessed with very muscular legs but want to lean them out more then anything.

[imann]

That looks like a decent training split, you might want to put your back and chest "in front" of bi's and tri's.....just a thought.I know with my split I get a better back and chest work-out when I do the secondary groups(bi's &tri's)after the primary group.
I might be moving to the vancouver area and I was wondering what the job opportunities were like and what kind of gyms are available.I'm from Chicago and have no clue(other than what I've seen on the internet)about the city and what it has to offer.If you have time a PM would be fantastic.

[Ejuicer]

I noticed you dont have any calf work in there... I would add seated and standing calf raises. I would also change around your training schedule so you arent hitting your bi's the day before you do back. Other then that it looks good though.

[Hypertrophy]

Hey,
15-20 reps is not going to build muscle. It is fine for now, but take the advice above. After about 4-6 weeks of a 15-20 rep max scheme, increase weight and do 4-6 weeks of a 10-15 rep max scheme. Then further increase weight and do 4-6 weeks of a 5-10 rep max scheme. That would be the best approach~ It seems like you put your assistance (single joint movements) before your compound movements. To build muscle, you need to put the compound movements first and finish with the assistance exercises.
Good Luck

[Angela]

I have not been able to get a decent workout in for awhile now so I wanted to start out at a lower weight and higher reps until I get my strength back...glad to know that I'm on the right track
When I posted my program I hadn't taken into consider the sequence of each excersise (that is my next step) but I will definitely be putting compound before assisted. I've also revised my daily split:
Tuesday - Chest & Bi's
Wednesday - Legs
Thursday - Back & Calves
Friday - Shoulders & Tri's
I have one more question (sorry) how does my leg workout look, have I chosen all the best excersises for building lean muscle mass as opposed to size? I don't want my legs to get any bigger, so would what I have and doing lower weight and higher reps be best???

[Ejuicer]

Lower weight and higher reps would be what you're looking for if it's just toning that is the goal instead on muscle gain. If I were to change anything on your program i would probably remove the reverse hack squats and replace them with some light normal barbell squats.

[Angela]

I just realized this morning that my new gym doesn't actually have a hack squat machine and I wsa trying to figure out a way to replicate the excersise and was actually considering doing barbell squats.....thx for the reassurance!!

[imann]

Yeah, I agree with E, squats(even for just definition) are the way to go. Seated quad extensions are also a great defining exercise, it will give you the separation thru-out your upper leg.

[6_pak]

To burn fat, outside of nutrition and cardio(which i assume you got in check)you need to build muscle. Not so sure light 15-20 rep schemes due very much to stimulate muscle growth. I would drop that down to 8-12 reps. You can do a variety of squat exercises. Sissy squats are effective when supersetting with regular squats. You dont want to use the bar, so use the smith machine. Also with this machine you can do front squats. It also allows you to vary your stance to hit many different angles.
Also, dumbell squats could be thrown in as your final exercise to burn them out. I've never done these. There not very effective to use early in a workout b/c your legs will be able to handle more weight than you can hold, but maybe as a finishing exercise.

[allsaucedup]

i have always thought that anything over 12 reps is worthless. it seems to tire me out more than help. i believe even when cutting 12 reps should be the max