My Routine.

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hi Guys. I have just registered, but I have been reading the forum and found lots of useful info here. I have been training for about 2 years, since I was 17 (I mean proper training). During this period I managed to improve my strength, decrease my waist line from 54 inches to 30 inches and stop getting bullied school (though its not much use, since now I am in university and people are much nicer).

I am currently dieting (not contest or anything, just for myself) and hopefully in a few weeks I will start gaining muscle again (I hate the word “bulking”). I came up with a training programm etc, however I have realised that I have never “cycled” my weights (you know changing rep range etc etc) and I need to do it in order to improve, so ill write my plans for the next few month of training and would really appreciate if someone will correct my training routine or just post a comment. My goals are pretty obvious, I want to gain more muscle, especially need to improve laterals and deltoids.

I also want to introduce a new exercise - standed military presses, I currently do seated military press with free weight 65 kg*10-12 reps, however want to change to standed in order to improve core body strength. However I am concerned that the weight on the bar will decrease and so will my delts… My current body weight is around 80 kg.

So. The first month I decided to train with medium intensity slowly introducing my body to the concept of gaining mass again (start icreasing carbs slowly but steadily) etc etc. So the first month will look like that:

Monday - Deltoids
Standed military press 310
Seated behind the neck press with dumbells 310
Side dumbell raises 3*12
This training session I like to keep short and intensive, 2.30 min break between military, 1.30 min rest between dumbel presses and 30-45 sec between raises.

Tuesday - Legs + some abs
Squat 120 (not a warm up, this is a proper 20 rep set), 115, 112.
Leg press 210 or leg extensions 312
Hyperextensions 410
Abs 3*max (i do vertical leg raises)

Thursday - Back, triceps
Pullups 310-12
Dumbell rows 310
Horizontal cable rows in a machine (sorry dont know whats the proper name but u know what i mean) 310 or T-bar rows 310
Dips 310
French press 312 (i think this is not the name people usually use, but still)

Friday - Chest, Biceps
Horizontal benchpress with dumbells 310
Inclined benchpress with a barbell 310
Dumbell flies 312
Standed biceps curls with barbell 310-12
Standed biceps curls with dumbells 3*12

So, then after this month it gets a bit tricky since I want to make some weeks harded (lower rep range) and some weeks lighter (higher rep range), however I am not sure in what order it should be done. My current guess is after the first month I should try to go heavier aiming for 5-6 reps in each exercise (except biceps curls - bad wrist). Then after that do mid range rapes (7-8) and then the third month (10-12). However I have never actually done this sort of thing before, so as I have said - any comments welcome.

2

why are you doing back/triceps and chest/biceps? why not just go with back/bi and chest/tri, so they don’t overlap since you’re doing it on back to back days. other than that i don’t have much to offer, but eat big, lift heavy and get some good rest.

3

I definitely agree on the Back/Bis, Chest/Tris combo. I have been using that split for 4 weeks now. I have found my arms are generally fairly pumped at the end of my back session then I only need to do a couple of bicep exercises to finish them off.

Maybe check out throwing in deadlifting on your back days… Big compound exercise that will strengthen the whole body but mainly lower back/hamstrings.

Finally… You have to Eat Big to Get Big.

good luck

4

Thanks for your replies. My diet is spot on, while gaining muscle I will be eating about 350 gramms of carbs a day, mostly low gi, sugars only after training. Plus 120-140 gramms of protein a day, casein at night. I have done it before so I believe I have the necessary knowledge about food.

About back/biceps, chest/triceps… I have nothing agains doing back and biceps on the same day, but I dont like chest and triceps… Since I really like dips (every exra kg I put on my belt makes my day:D) I know that after doing dumbell benchpresses, inclined benchpresses and dumbell flies I will not be able to dip as heavy as I did before even thought the dipping handles I use are parallel and not V-shaped (on parallel pec are less involved). And as far as I am concrned both chest/triceps and chest biceps work (worked so far on me) so I havent really given it much thought…

5

You could switch triceps to monday (shoulder day) and throw a few of the shoulder exercises on your chest day (friday) Shoulders recover pretty fast and it wouldn’t hurt to train them twice per week.

6

Dankid, u mean like this?

Monday - Deltoids, triceps
Standed military press 310
Seated behind the neck press with dumbells 310
Side dumbell raises 312
Dips 310
French press 3*12 (i think this is not the name people usually use, but still)

Tuesday - Legs + some abs
Squat 120 (not a warm up, this is a proper 20 rep set), 115, 112.
Leg press 210 or leg extensions 312
Hyperextensions 410
Abs 3*max (i do vertical leg raises)

Thursday - Back, biceps
Pullups 310-12
Dumbell rows 310
Horizontal cable rows in a machine (sorry dont know whats the proper name but u know what i mean) 310 or T-bar rows 310
Standed biceps curls with barbell 310-12
Standed biceps curls with dumbells 312

Friday - Chest, Delts
Horizontal benchpress with dumbells 310
Inclined benchpress with a barbell 310
Dumbell flies 312
Military press 310
Behind the neck press 3*10

It seems like a reasonble thing to do… NEver thought of it before. Thanks.

7

You want to be aiming to consume 1 or 1.5x your bodyweight in lbs in grams of protein. For you being 80kg that’s about 180-260g a day.

8

80kg and only 120-140 grams of protein a day? You might want to look into increasing your protein intake.

*edit: I’m slow…

9

Soz wasnt clear. 120-140 plus casein at night.

10

[quote]Der wrote:
Soz wasnt clear. 120-140 plus casein at night. [/quote]

How much? 100 gr on your pre-bed shake? Just kidding…but, as other posters said, try to get 1-1,5 gr of proteins per lb of bodyweight, mostly FROM REAL FOOD.

Then, if you want, you can go on with casein before bedtime; also, post work out whey+carb wouldn’t hurt (if you can’t get a solid meal within an hour after your WO).

Nice job with fat loss, so far!

11

Well Ok it seems like i have to go into more detail=) I have 2 servings of artificial protein per day. Firsty after training 40 g of carbs (20 of which sugars) and 30 g of protein. After an hour or hour and a half I consume about 50 grams of low gi carbs (probably rice) and 30-40 gramms of protein. So my diet is spot on. btw this is just pow meals:D Obviously I have proper breakfast, lunch, dinner etc, so trust me, I am fine.

What I wanted to hear about was training really and “cycling” the rep ranges, because thats where it gets tricky.

12

why did you try to copy my screen name?

13

[quote]Der wrote:
About back/biceps, chest/triceps… I have nothing agains doing back and biceps on the same day, but I dont like chest and triceps… Since I really like dips (every exra kg I put on my belt makes my day:D) I know that after doing dumbell benchpresses, inclined benchpresses and dumbell flies I will not be able to dip as heavy as I did before even thought the dipping handles I use are parallel and not V-shaped (on parallel pec are less involved).[/quote]

Your doing OK.

I don’t train triceps on Chest day, or biceps on Back day for the same reason. I don’t want my Tri’s to be fatigued or pre-exhausted from chest exercises, because then I won’t be able to hit them as hard as I’d like. Same goes for biceps.

I believe Poliquin also said to train this was as well in an article last year…
It makes a lot of sense to me.

LR

14

[quote]London Runner wrote:
Der wrote:
About back/biceps, chest/triceps… I have nothing agains doing back and biceps on the same day, but I dont like chest and triceps… Since I really like dips (every exra kg I put on my belt makes my day:D) I know that after doing dumbell benchpresses, inclined benchpresses and dumbell flies I will not be able to dip as heavy as I did before even thought the dipping handles I use are parallel and not V-shaped (on parallel pec are less involved).

Your doing OK.

I don’t train triceps on Chest day, or biceps on Back day for the same reason. I don’t want my Tri’s to be fatigued or pre-exhausted from chest exercises, because then I won’t be able to hit them as hard as I’d like. Same goes for biceps.

I believe Poliquin also said to train this was as well in an article last year…
It makes a lot of sense to me.

LR[/quote]

Going by your logic, doing any more than one working set for any body part would be useless, because the muscle would be fatigued after that first one.

15

RossDB
There is a big difference between dipping with additional 25kg on your belt fresh and dipping additional 10 kg on your belt after 9 proper sets for pecs. If your pecs are dead you will not be able to give your triceps a proper load. At least not on dips.

LR
Yeah well thats my idea… Thanks

16

[quote]Der wrote:
RossDB
There is a big difference between dipping with additional 25kg on your belt fresh and dipping additional 10 kg on your belt after 9 proper sets for pecs. If your pecs are dead you will not be able to give your triceps a proper load. At least not on dips.

LR
Yeah well thats my idea… Thanks[/quote]

Well, if because your pecs are fatigued you are unable to dip w/ as much weight… Logic would say that with your pecs fatigued your triceps are now taking on more of the load…

Not trying to start an argument…

Edit: If it was so counterproductive I doubt it’d be one of the most popular splits…

17

[quote]Der wrote:
Dankid, u mean like this?

Monday - Deltoids, triceps
Standed military press 310
Seated behind the neck press with dumbells 310
Side dumbell raises 312
Dips 310
French press 3*12 (i think this is not the name people usually use, but still)

Tuesday - Legs + some abs
Squat 120 (not a warm up, this is a proper 20 rep set), 115, 112.
Leg press 210 or leg extensions 312
Hyperextensions 410
Abs 3*max (i do vertical leg raises)

Thursday - Back, biceps
Pullups 310-12
Dumbell rows 310
Horizontal cable rows in a machine (sorry dont know whats the proper name but u know what i mean) 310 or T-bar rows 310
Standed biceps curls with barbell 310-12
Standed biceps curls with dumbells 312

Friday - Chest, Delts
Horizontal benchpress with dumbells 310
Inclined benchpress with a barbell 310
Dumbell flies 312
Military press 310
Behind the neck press 3*10

It seems like a reasonble thing to do… NEver thought of it before. Thanks.[/quote]

Umm… Well if you are going to train them twice a week, you gotta do less each time. So maybe drop the side DB raises on monday, and add something like tricep ext or tricep pushdowns.

and then on Friday, you now how TOO MUCH PRESSING. I would drop the military press and behind the neck press on this day and add your shoulder raises in. There is no need for these vertical presses on this day since you already have two bench variations and are hitting the same movements on mondays.

Hope this helps.

18

dankid

Thanks, mb on friday, get rid of militaries and leave behind the neck presses? Dumbell raises is not a compound exercise, so doing it solo does not seem to be enough for delts.

19

NO, leave out the behind the neck presses on friday as well. Flat bench and incline bench ARE compound and hit the shoulders.