Need Help Developing a New Routine

[jobyjoe]

Thanks in advance for any input and help.

Well I have been training strong for just about 3 years now, and I have made pretty good gains. I’m 22, 6 foot 3 inches. When I started lifting I was a mere 180lbs. Now I am up to just about 150lbs. While I know I have definitely put on some fat (I am around 15-16% bf) I have also made good gains. However I have been training the same for a while now. I work out with a core group of friends and my split is as follows
Day 1- Chest
Day 2- Legs
Day 3- Off
Day 4- Delts
Day 5- bi's/tri's
Day 6- Back
repeat

I guess I have acquired the mindset that more is better. Mainly, if I’m not in the gym every day, I can’t be growing. However, I feel that this split might not be too good and I may be over training slightly. Basically I’m looking to build mass and I see all these posts by guys saying that they lift 3 or 4 days a week and experience great gains. I sort of want to try this out, but I have always thought that only guys on roids (I haven't yet taken anything. Still doing research) could make gains off a cycle like this. So basically I’m posting to get some help. I want to develop a spit that will help me make some more gains. I found this split that someone posted (I’m sorry I can’t find the original poster’s name. I am not taking credit for this. Again, sorry). I sort of like the looks of it. But I’m still nervous that on days where I do two muscle groups I won’t be hitting them hard enough and that waiting a week to do them again is too long. What does everyone think?

Monday
Chest (13) /Tris(6)
A.
4x Incline DB Press
3x Flat BB Press
3x DB Flyes
3x Hammer Chest Press
3x Dips
3x Skull Crushers
B.
4x Incline BB Press
3x Flat DB Press
3x Incline DB Flyes
3x other Hammer Chest Press
3x Close Grip Bench
3x Rope Push Down

Tuesday
Back (13) /Bis (6)
A.
4x Deadlift
3x Chins
3x Overhand BB Rows
3x Cable Rows
3x BB Curls
3x DB Curls
B.
4x SL Deadlift
3x Pull-Ups
3x Cable Rows
3x Hammer Strength Rows
3x Hammer Curls
3x DB Curls
C.
4x Deadlift
3x Pull-Downs
3x Underhand BB Rows
3x Cable Rows
3x DB Curls
3x BB Cur

Thursday
Legs (10)/Calves (4)
A.
4x Squats
3x Leg Extension
3x Leg Curl
4x Legs Press Calf Raise

B.
4x Leg Press
3x Hack Squat
3x Leg Curl
4x Seated Calf Raise

Friday
Shoulders (10) Traps (7)
A.
4x DB Shoulder Press
3x Lateral Raises
3x Rear Delt DB Flye
4x DB Shrugs
3x BB Shrugs
B.
4x Arnold Press / BB Shoulder Press
3x Cable Lateral Raises
3x Rear Delt Cable Flye
4x BB Shrugs
3x DB Shrugs


I was thinking that maybe instead of taking the weekend off I could do traps (not do them with delts) and forearms on saturday. But I don't know. Cardio on off days. Abs every day. Comments??

[jobyjoe]

bump

[jobyjoe]

bump,

Come on guys, anything??

[jobyjoe]

Bump


nothing??

[Canadiantiger]

For Mass I would look to lift 3 days a week and all compund movements. I know how you feel but you grow when resting not by spending more time in the gym. Everybody is different but IMO I would look to do less.

For Mass maybe try something like this. It was written by a strength coach named Ian King.



MONDAY

Flat Bench
10 reps @ 30% * * denotes warm-up
8 reps @ 60% *
6 reps @ 80% *
4 reps
3 reps
2 reps
4 negative reps 25% heavier than max
15 reps


Close Grip Rows

Same Rep scheme

Close Grip Bench

3*10 reps


WEDNESDAY

Deadlifts

Same as above however the second set of 4 is not negatives. They just have to be heavier than the first set of 4.

Squats

Same as above

Calve Raises

3*20


FRIDAY


Military Press

Same as bench

Wide Grip Pulldowns/ Pullups

Same as above


Barbell Curls

3*10

I would also maybe keep cardio to a minium or atleast make sure you are 65% HR.


I posted this in another thread before but I made good gains in strength and size doing this.

[jamminJohn]

That looks like a pretty solid routine. Actually, it's very similar to the one I use. You should see some really good results from it. Don't worry about hitting 2 muscle groups in the same day. There's nothing wrong with that. The idea behind hitting chest/tris or back/bis together is that you will already be pre-exhausting the smaller muscle group with the compound excercises that you are doing for the larger muscle group. For example, the presses and dips that you do for chest will also involve a lot of tricep work, which means you won't have to do as much direct isolation work for the tris. If you put enough effort and intensity into each workout, then hitting each muscle group once a week should be plenty. Remember that your muscles grow when they are resting and recovering, not when you are in the gym. Also remember that your diet is going to be even more important then your training program when it comes to building quality lean muscle mass.

There is no one single routine that will work for everyone. You're going to have to experiment a little to find what works best for you. Just keep reading and researching this site. Also, if you haven't already, look at the sticky's at the top of this forum. They will provide you with some excellent information.

[jobyjoe]

Yeah, I've been trying to get as much info as possible. My diet is pretty solid (I'm in college now and I don't got a lot of money, but I'm able to get in 4 solid meals a day, with 2 or 3 smaller "snack" type meals). I guess I am just afraid of change.

Any other thoughts, infor, experience about a routine like this. Also, what do you think about isolating traps and forearms on saturday??

[novastepp]

Don't be afraid of change man, change is what makes your body grow...

[jamminJohn]

I like doing my traps and shoulders together on the same day. I usually do 2 or 3 excercises directly for my shoulders and then hit some upright rows before doing my shrugs. The upright rows will help with the delt/trap tie-ins and really bring it all together. You can also experiment with different grip widths to target certain areas more (narrower grip will isolate the traps more, wider grip will hit the delts more). Your forearms will get worked on your back and bicep day, in fact you could just throw in some wrist curls or reverse curls on your bicep day. Of course, if your forearms and traps are lacking and you really want to give them priority, it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and do them on Saturday.

[taiboxa]

Take a gander at this.. i have been having great SUCCESS w/ this routine.. i thought it would be over training but since my workouts are only 30-35 min i have been having SOME SERIOUS GROWTH which is unusual for somenoe as fat as me

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=217777

[l2elapse]

what is a negative rep

[Lavinco]

what is a negative rep

There are 2 parts to a rep

Up and down or Positive and Negative.

If you are doing bicep curls with a barbell, then when you lift the weight towards your chest, that is the positive part and when you lower the weight back down, that is the negative resistance part.

[Lavinco]

Everyone's body responds differently but this is what works well for me. Personally, unless I am on gear, the "one muscle group per week" does not build but instead only maintains.

My routine below hits all muscles 2 times a week with perfect rest between days.

I will admit too that I usually gain my weight (muscle mass) over the weekend with this workout.

Monday

Chest & Shoulders 5-6 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Bench Press
Incline Bench
Military Press
Lat Raises
Dumbell Flies
Decline Bench
Dips

Triceps 5-6 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Close Grip Bench
Pushdowns
Tri Ext. Super Curl

Biceps 5-6 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Barbell Curls
Preacher Curls
Dumbell Curls

Forearms 5-6 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Reverse Super Curl
Barbell Wrist Rolls
Wrist Twists


Tuesday

Back 5-6 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Lat Pulldowns
Seated Cable Rows
1 arm Dumbell Rows
Barbell Shrugs
Straight Leg Deadlift

Legs 5-6 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Warmup Squats
Squats
Leg Extensions
Hamstring Curls
Barbell Lunges

Calves 10-12 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Standing Calf Raises

Abs 5-6 sets 6-8 reps heavy weight
Decline Bench situps

Wednesday
off

Thursday
same as monday

Friday
same as Tuesday

Saturday
off
Sunday
off

[Doc.Sust]

there is no reason to make an entire day of delts on day 4. and there is NO reason to go in and do trap on the wknd, you can easily make this program 4 days awk and i advise you take off the wknds to heal, tryin to go to the gym 6 days a wk is an easy way to overtrain