How Does My Routine Look?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hey, just wondering what you think of the routine I’ve been doing recently.

Day 1

Squat 5x5
Hangclean 5x5
Lat raises 2 x 10
Dumbell press 3 x 8/10
Chest dips/gironda dips 3 x failure ( Would possibly weight if wernt preformed after db press’s)
Cable flies 3 x 10
Seated calf rasies 3 x 10 reps each on insides outside and normal stance

Day 2

Deadlifts 4/5x5
Pull up variations 4 x to failure
Rows 3x 8
standing calf rasies 3 x 6 reps each on inside outside and normal stance
Bicep curls(sometimes depending on fatigue from pulls) 3 x 8
Cable pull downs
Shrugs

How does this look to everyone?
Cheers

2

[quote]simonx2x wrote:
Hey, just wondering what you think of the routine I’ve been doing recently.

Day 1

Squat 5x5
Hangclean 5x5
Lat raises 2 x 10
Dumbell press 3 x 8/10
Chest dips/gironda dips 3 x failure ( Would possibly weight if wernt preformed after db press’s)
Cable flies 3 x 10
Seated calf rasies 3 x 10 reps each on insides outside and normal stance

Day 2

Deadlifts 4/5x5
Pull up variations 4 x to failure
Rows 3x 8
standing calf rasies 3 x 6 reps each on inside outside and normal stance
Bicep curls(sometimes depending on fatigue from pulls) 3 x 8
Cable pull downs
Shrugs

How does this look to everyone?
Cheers[/quote]

Looks like you are kind of doing a push/pull other than hang cleans on push day and push downs on pull day. You have a lot of muscle overlap between the two days to, so a lot of that is going to depend on scheduling and your recovery ability.

3

Train mondays wensdays n fridays

Dont usualy find recovery an issues as mondays is mostly chests sholders and legs and the next sesiong being workout day 2 is mainly back with a little legs

Just trying to hit my calfs more often in order to encourage some growth.

4

by cable pull downs i think he means lat pulls aka cable chin ups as opposed to tricep press downs.

Other than that I would say that you could get a bit more volume in there. by that I mean if you paired some of the lifts up like curls and calf raises you could do 5 sets of each in the same time as the three of each singularly.

Also, it seems to me that from a muscle growth perspective your calf reps seem low. If they are growing then great, but if not then id try some higher rep ranges like 15-20. you’ll notice that you can push mad weight at high reps with your calves for many reasons. but if you are going for calf power and speed then keep the reps where they are and change the lifts to deadlift clean and snatch pulls.

lat raise, db press and flies could be done in a sequence and you could get easily 4 sets of each in the same time as doing them singularly.

It looks alright, but what are your goals? If its to be at the gym doing something and get sorta strong and a bit bigger then you’ve got it. but if you want to get more out these two days I’d say to get more sets in of the larger movements. I’d have 5 sets of 8 rows in there for sure. rows are the key to victory. If you want calves I have more like 4 sets of 20, 15, 12, 12 with rep/max weights.

Make the most of each session. unless you have other sports to perform in you should really put your dick into each lift day.

-chris

5

[quote]Avocado wrote:

Other than that I would say that you could get a bit more volume in there. by that I mean if you paired some of the lifts up like curls and calf raises you could do 5 sets of each in the same time as the three of each singularly. [/quote]

Could you explain what you mean by pairing up curls and calf raises? Do you mean taking dumbells onto the seated calf raise machine?

[quote]Avocado wrote:
Also, it seems to me that from a muscle growth perspective your calf reps seem low. If they are growing then great, but if not then id try some higher rep ranges like 15-20. you’ll notice that you can push mad weight at high reps with your calves for many reasons. but if you are going for calf power and speed then keep the reps where they are and change the lifts to deadlift clean and snatch pulls. [/quote]

Id based my calf exercises aroudn the Diamond Calves by Thibaudeau. I found that I couldnt do them all in one day. After 3 sets of 10 on the inside outside and normal stance so 90 reps I found calfs too fatigued to do the standing so I was doing the seated in workout 1 and standing in workout 2.

You think its worth uping the reps stil? Im mainly looking for growth as im not playing many sports at the moment just some football(soccer to you i think?)

[quote]Avocado wrote:
lat raise, db press and flies could be done in a sequence and you could get easily 4 sets of each in the same time as doing them singularly. [/quote]

Afraid I dont quite understand what you mean here? You mean almost like a circuit?

[quote]Avocado wrote:

It looks alright, but what are your goals? If its to be at the gym doing something and get sorta strong and a bit bigger then you’ve got it. but if you want to get more out these two days I’d say to get more sets in of the larger movements. I’d have 5 sets of 8 rows in there for sure. rows are the key to victory. If you want calves I have more like 4 sets of 20, 15, 12, 12 with rep/max weights. [/quote]

[quote]Avocado wrote:
Make the most of each session. unless you have other sports to perform in you should really put your dick into each lift day. [/quote]

-chris
Thanks for the feedback and would appreciate any more on my questions.

6

[quote]simonx2x wrote:
Avocado wrote:

Other than that I would say that you could get a bit more volume in there. by that I mean if you paired some of the lifts up like curls and calf raises you could do 5 sets of each in the same time as the three of each singularly.

Could you explain what you mean by pairing up curls and calf raises? Do you mean taking dumbells onto the seated calf raise machine?

[/quote]

oh shit. uhhh… what i mean by pairing is to do a set of one and then a set of the other, then repeat. so you go back and forth between lifts until all the sets are done on each. not at the same time. still take breaks in between.

holy shit. so you mean you do 3 sets of 10 for 3 different types of calf raise? fuck me blind. i thought you meant set one was inside, set 2 was normal and set 3 was outside.

In that case I would say pick just normal calf raise for seated and standing and do 4 sets of 20 for each. it will take you half the time and likely work your calves more optimally for some size.

Shit dude that’s a ton of calves.

yup. do one set of one lift. small break. do a set of the next. small break. do a set of the next. normal break. repeat till all sets are done.

How long have you been training? how long do each of these training sessions take? you need a simpler program. If you like the push pull method go for something like this id say:

(A1 and A2 are a pairing. do a set of a1 then a set of a2. if there are three then do the same for three. B’s and C’s are separate lifts or pairs/circuits)

push day

A1) Squat 5x8
A2) standing calf raise 5x15

B1) Standing DB shoulder press 4x10
B2) dips 4x10 (add weight once you get to 10)
B3) BD bench press 4x8

Pull day

A) Deadlift with explosive calf raise at the top 8x3

B1) seated cable row 4x10
B2) regular grip chins 4x10

C) close grip palms facing you chin up 3x[as-many-reps-as-possible]

Put your best effort into that and you will see results. I’d say do some short sprints if you have a track or box jumps if you have boxes but you dont have to if you dont want to.

-chris

7

[quote]Avocado wrote:

oh shit. uhhh… what i mean by pairing is to do a set of one and then a set of the other, then repeat. so you go back and forth between lifts until all the sets are done on each. not at the same time. still take breaks in between. [/quote]

Ah right, yeah I get you. Had been doing with with DB presses and calf raises.

[quote]Avocado wrote:
holy shit. so you mean you do 3 sets of 10 for 3 different types of calf raise? fuck me blind. i thought you meant set one was inside, set 2 was normal and set 3 was outside.

In that case I would say pick just normal calf raise for seated and standing and do 4 sets of 20 for each. it will take you half the time and likely work your calves more optimally for some size.

Shit dude that’s a ton of calves.
[/quote]
Yeah fair enough, Id read to work inside, outside and normal stance to try and widen them up but as there lagging slightly I ought to aim at size for now

[quote]Avocado wrote:
How long have you been training? how long do each of these training sessions take? you need a simpler program. If you like the push pull method go for something like this id say:
[/quote]

Been training around a year and a half although only more recently have I started taking it more seriously with diet and compound exercises.

Training sessions from the routine I posted are taking between 1.5 and 2 hours. Which isant a problem for me at the moment.

[quote]Avocado wrote:
(A1 and A2 are a pairing. do a set of a1 then a set of a2. if there are three then do the same for three. B’s and C’s are separate lifts or pairs/circuits)

push day

A1) Squat 5x8
A2) standing calf raise 5x15

B1) Standing DB shoulder press 4x10
B2) dips 4x10 (add weight once you get to 10)
B3) BD bench press 4x8

Pull day

A) Deadlift with explosive calf raise at the top 8x3

B1) seated cable row 4x10
B2) regular grip chins 4x10

C) close grip palms facing you chin up 3x[as-many-reps-as-possible]

Put your best effort into that and you will see results. I’d say do some short sprints if you have a track or box jumps if you have boxes but you dont have to if you dont want to.
[/quote]

Looks pretty good. Can I ask why you suggest 8 X 3 on deadlifts? I’ve seen this before on a few routine. Does it promote optimum mass gain?

Would it hurt if I added flies and hang cleans to push press’s ( standing military press) on push day? rather than the standing db sholder press?

Thanks for the feedback

8

shit I’d say it’s better to keep your training times under 1.5 hours or an hour and train more time per week.

The DL’s go 8x3 because you don’t really want to high a rep on these as form will decrease and it will change into a elastic tension movement as opposed to an explosive concentric lift. also with 8 sets you have the chance to get some volume in to help out your form. Anything over 5 for DL’s would be for a strange specific purpose. this way you can put more into each set and the weight will go up faster.

The squats are at higher reps to make sure that you develop good structure and connective base. You can worry baout going with lower reps on squats next year when you have a good base of muscle structure to support the loads.

I would exclude the flies unless you want to put floor flies (lay on floor between two low cables and pull them together ah la flies) in a shoulder prehab routine at the end. flies are mostly shit if you’re a beginner. And feel free to add hang-cleans between the squat/calf pair and the other triple. It’s the kind of lift that you can keep by itself so you can concentrate on explosiveness and form. you also dont want to tax your grip while doing it or they might boot you out for “throwing” the weights.

As for now id also stick with straight up shoulder press. Even I go back to DB shoulder press to help recruit the most motor units and pick up a lagging jerk or BB press. Push press will be good for a few months down the road. The DB’s will help even out any likely imbalances between sides.

have fun sir,

-chris