T Nation

I Need a New Routine

#1

I was wondering if anyone could give any pointers on a new routine. I pretty much just want to get bigger. As background, I swam competitively for years and my father lifts everyday and luckily gave me amazing genetics. So naturally i lifted also. During that time I lifted full body everyday working on lengthening my muscles for swimming. Recently i changed my routine to more of a split workout and lower reps to gain some mass. As of now this is my workout:

Sunday
Legs 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Shoulders 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Bis 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Tris 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.

Monday
Chest 5 exercises. 3 sets. 8 reps.
Back 5 exercises. 3 sets. 8 reps.

Tuesday
Chest 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Back 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Legs 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Shoulders 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.

Wednesday
Bis 5 exercises. 3 sets. 8 reps.
Tris 5 exercises. 3 sets. 8 reps.

Thursday
Bis 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Tris 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Chest 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.
Back 2 exercises. 4 sets. 12, 8, 6, 4 reps.

Friday
Legs 5 exercises. 3 sets. 8 reps.
Shoulders 5 exercises. 3 sets. 8 reps.

Saturday
Off

I also have two hours of water polo 4-5 times a week at night which is pretty much all i need for cardio. I've been told that the volume for my workout was too much but I didn't really pay attention to that until i was looking up one of Jay Cutler's workouts just to see and although i know it's probably not his real workout, it was a one body part a week split.. which got me thinking. I've made some major gains on this workout, i went from a 300 bench in weighing 160 in January to a 360 bench in mid July weighing 180-185, but i just want some more.

I don't have any great recent pics but i'll post one.
All comments are welcome. Thanks

#2

Looking pretty solid there. Have you tried OVT?

#3

Thanks, Sorry i’m not too good with the lingo yet, what’s OVT?

#4

Optimized Volume Training. Look it up here in this site.

#5

Just looked it up and actually no i’ve never tried it. It looks close to the routine i am thinking about trying though. Does it produce good results?

#6

Pretty much what I’m asking and what i’m worried about is that if i drop all my volume and do a one body part a day split. Doing say 5 exercises with 4 sets of 8-10 reps, if it will work without being on the juice or anything.

#7

Let me make sure I got this right?

Sunday: 32 worksets
Monday: 30 worksets
Tues: 32 worksets?
Weds: 30 worksets?
Thurs: 32 worksets?
Fri: 30 worksets?

That’s a total of 186 total worksets over the course of 6 continous training days! Plus 8-10 hours of water polo a week? I don’t see your warm-up listed. Or your warm-up sets for all those worksets. And only 1 day off to rest after 6 continous training days.

This is a bad recipe. BAD!!! Unless you are “juicing” or using really light weight and training for endurance ( which I doubt you are ). I would throw this in the trash.

Do yourself a favor. Read Ian Kings “Get Buffed I” & “How to write strength training programs”.

-good luck

#8

[quote]MNguns wrote:
Let me make sure I got this right?

Sunday: 32 worksets
Monday: 30 worksets
Tues: 32 worksets?
Weds: 30 worksets?
Thurs: 32 worksets?
Fri: 30 worksets?

That’s a total of 186 total worksets over the course of 6 continous training days! Plus 8-10 hours of water polo a week? I don’t see your warm-up listed. Or your warm-up sets for all those worksets. And only 1 day off to rest after 6 continous training days.

This is a bad recipe. BAD!!! Unless you are “juicing” or using really light weight and training for endurance ( which I doubt you are ). I would throw this in the trash.

Do yourself a favor. Read Ian Kings “Get Buffed I” & “How to write strength training programs”.

-good luck[/quote]

I’m not familiar with Ian King’s articles, but besides that this post is spot on. More is not always better.

#9

Solid base but you are doing WAY too much volume. Read articles by Waterbury on full body workouts, the 5x5 training or if you’re worried about volume then consider German Volume Training. (GVT) All will give you the results you are looking for. You might also consider taking a week off before begining any of these programs. You’d be surprised what a layoff will do for you.

#10

[quote]CoopDog09 wrote:
Just looked it up and actually no i’ve never tried it. It looks close to the routine i am thinking about trying though. Does it produce good results?[/quote]

Yeah. CT himself did it, and look what happened to his physique.

And I’m gonna echo what people said here that your current workout has too much volume. If you’re worried about decreasing the volume, think of it this way: it ain’t called Optimized Volume Training for nothing.

#11

Thanks a lot for all the comments and suggestions, yea i think i’ll try the OVT next week it seems pretty neat and i’m due for a workout change. Also though on a different note i was wondering if any of ya’ll have had a ganglion cyst on your wrist?

I developed one a couple months ago on the underside of my wrist and went to the doctor but he didn’t help out too much. Its starting to get pretty painful but i was wondering if any of ya’ll have had one and how to actually fix it.
thanks again

#13

I started switching off my workout. Doing heavy lifting one week and the next week i do 2 sets of 15 then 2 sets of 30 with lighter weight. I’ve been making pretty good gains.