Routine for 2 Days a Week

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Just had another child and with work obligations I will only be able to train 2 days a week for the next few months. I am training around some injuries so I have eliminated some lifts. I want to basically hit every body part though any thoughts or opinions ate appreciated.

Day 1
Chest/shoulders/tricep
Warm up with band pull aparts face pulls and pushups
Flat bench machine
Incline db press
Incline press machine
Lateral raise
Front raise
Reverse flies
Tricep pushdown
Trcep rope pushdown

Day 2
Back/legs/bicep
Bulgarian split squat
Rdl
Step ups or db squat
Lat pulldown or chins
Seated row
Bent row
Db row
Concentration curls

Will do abs, calves and foam rolling during the week. Also will be adding trap bar dead lifts to the legs day as soon as I can purchase one.

2

Way too much. Look at this:

3

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Way too much. Look at this:

I was going to recommend the same article by Dan John.

Also:
Effective Training for Busy Men by Jim Wendler

The Twice-a-Week Training Program by Mike Robertson

4

Way too much shit. Half of the exercises you’re doing are reduntant. Also, you have no strength work, so you are missing that vital component of your training. And where is your conditioning work? This is also important.

An easy way to set this up similiar to what you have is to use the 2 day/week variation Jim Wendler laid out in an article for this site. It looks like this:

Day 1: Bench Press 5/3/1, DB Row 5x10, DB Bench 5x10, Curls 3x15

Day 2: Squat 5/3/1, Leg Press 5x10, Stiff Leg DLs 5x10, Abs 3x15

The Next week do this:

Day 1: Press 5/3/1, Chin ups/Lat Pulls 5x10, Dips 5x10, Curls 3x15

Day 3: Deadlift 5/3/1, Safety Squat Bar 5x10, Good Mornings 5x10, Abs 3x15

Include 3 days of hard conditioning each week. I would also suggest you do a set of chins between each set of the Bench and Press 5/3/1 sets.

Also realize that you are not stuck to those exact assistance exercises. The point is to do a big upper body push and upper body pull on the upper body days, and a big exercise for the quads and hamstrings on the lower body days.

5

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Way too much. Look at this:

^2nd this

6

Everything I was going to say was already said and all the articles I was going to post have already been posted.

Um… … … I’ll go now. :wink:

7

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Everything I was going to say was already said and all the articles I was going to post have already been posted.

Um… … … I’ll go now. ;)[/quote]

aw it’s ok Chris, you can still ask him what, exactly, he ate yesterday :slight_smile:

8

[quote]rds63799 wrote:

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Everything I was going to say was already said and all the articles I was going to post have already been posted.

Um… … … I’ll go now. ;)[/quote]
aw it’s ok Chris, you can still ask him what, exactly, he ate yesterday :)[/quote]
Ha, I really do it that often, huh? Eh, I try to only bring it up when it’s relevant.

Although, if the dude’s only training twice a week, he’ll have to stay on point with how he eats. So now that you mention it… :wink:

9

Thanks for the input I briefly read the articles and definitely see that I had way to much volume. Only issue is that due to some of my injuries I can’t do a few of the lifts and want to ease back into lifting before I do anything too heavy. Will read them more in depth and post what I come up with.

About the eating… yup gonna have to tweak my diet… suck !!

Chris87 mentioned that allot of the exercises were redundant… which ones ? like to see where I’m screwing this up

10

Thanks for the input I briefly read the articles and definitely see that I had way to much volume. Only issue is that due to some of my injuries I can’t do a few of the lifts and want to ease back into lifting before I do anything too heavy. Will read them more in depth and post what I come up with.

About the eating… yup gonna have to tweak my diet… suck !!

11

Redudant exercises are: (to me at least)

Inc. Press Machine and Inc DB Press.
Tri-Pushdown and Tricep Rope Pushdown
Doing three different types rows (or I think its redundant or overkill)

12

[quote]docholliday7777 wrote:
Just had another child and with work obligations I will only be able to train 2 days a week for the next few months. I am training around some injuries so I have eliminated some lifts. I want to basically hit every body part though any thoughts or opinions ate appreciated.

Day 1
Chest/shoulders/tricep
Warm up with band pull aparts face pulls and pushups
Flat bench machine
Incline db press
Incline press machine
Lateral raise
Front raise
Reverse flies
Tricep pushdown
Trcep rope pushdown

Day 2
Back/legs/bicep
Bulgarian split squat
Rdl
Step ups or db squat
Lat pulldown or chins
Seated row
Bent row
Db row
Concentration curls

Will do abs, calves and foam rolling during the week. Also will be adding trap bar dead lifts to the legs day as soon as I can purchase one.
[/quote]

Redundant–incline db press/incline press machine, tricep pushdown/rope pushdown, seated row/bent row/db row

If you want to hit different emphases with the rows, you need different angles, not 3 of the same angle with different machines. So for example, db row and Yates row or Yates T-Bar row might work–the torso angle is significantly different enough that it changes the emphasis. Or Seated LOW row (regular) and row to the eyes/neck (rear delt emphasis). Or a bent over neck row (parallel back to the floor, pull the bar to the neck with elbows flared)

But bottom line is you have absolutely zero need for 3 rows for your purposes.

Second issue is that one workout is all lower body and back and the other is all pushing. If you can only train twice a week, you should hit the whole body every time. With such a small workout window, increasing the frequency of the whole body

warm-up with face pulls and pushups and mobility work
Legs
back vertical
bench variation
back horizontal
overhead press variation

in both workouts at minimum. Then to ONE of the workouts a week add lateral raises and bicep work, and the other add tricep and rear delt work. Simple and effective.

Take one off day and do bodyweight exercises and pull-aparts etc. That will give at least a little more stimulation.

13

Direct tricep work (in moderation) not redunant at all, especially if you don’t want your arms to be lagging

14

[quote]RampantBadger wrote:
Direct tricep work (in moderation) not redunant at all, especially if you don’t want your arms to be lagging[/quote]

You misunderstood…I agree, but those two tricep exercises are pretty much identical. no “different angle” there. he only needs one of them

15

[quote]Aragorn wrote:

[quote]docholliday7777 wrote:
Just had another child and with work obligations I will only be able to train 2 days a week for the next few months. I am training around some injuries so I have eliminated some lifts. I want to basically hit every body part though any thoughts or opinions ate appreciated.

Day 1
Chest/shoulders/tricep
Warm up with band pull aparts face pulls and pushups
Flat bench machine
Incline db press
Incline press machine
Lateral raise
Front raise
Reverse flies
Tricep pushdown
Trcep rope pushdown

Day 2
Back/legs/bicep
Bulgarian split squat
Rdl
Step ups or db squat
Lat pulldown or chins
Seated row
Bent row
Db row
Concentration curls

Will do abs, calves and foam rolling during the week. Also will be adding trap bar dead lifts to the legs day as soon as I can purchase one.
[/quote]

Redundant–incline db press/incline press machine, tricep pushdown/rope pushdown, seated row/bent row/db row

If you want to hit different emphases with the rows, you need different angles, not 3 of the same angle with different machines. So for example, db row and Yates row or Yates T-Bar row might work–the torso angle is significantly different enough that it changes the emphasis. Or Seated LOW row (regular) and row to the eyes/neck (rear delt emphasis). Or a bent over neck row (parallel back to the floor, pull the bar to the neck with elbows flared)

But bottom line is you have absolutely zero need for 3 rows for your purposes.

Second issue is that one workout is all lower body and back and the other is all pushing. If you can only train twice a week, you should hit the whole body every time. With such a small workout window, increasing the frequency of the whole body

warm-up with face pulls and pushups and mobility work
Legs
back vertical
bench variation
back horizontal
overhead press variation

in both workouts at minimum. Then to ONE of the workouts a week add lateral raises and bicep work, and the other add tricep and rear delt work. Simple and effective.

Take one off day and do bodyweight exercises and pull-aparts etc. That will give at least a little more stimulation.

[/quote]

I like that if I am understanding correctly it would look like the following
Day 1
Squat
Lat pull or chins
Db bench
Db row
Lateral raise
Tricep work

Day 2
Dead lift
Lat pull variation or chins
Incline bench
Seated row to above chest or Yates row
Reverse flies
Bicep work

I don’t ohp any ideas what I should do ? Maybe another row variation or do lateral raises and reverse flies both days?
Might use this with the set/rep scheme from the Dan john article that was posted earlier

16

Yeah you’ve got the idea just right. Is there any physical reason you dont do overhead press? Because if not I suggest you start doing it. If is a physical reason you dont do overhead pressing, do high pulls from mid thigh AND do it as your second exercise on both days, right behind legs. The other exercises you can switch the order of but leave legs first and high pulls MUST be either second…or third after a bench movement (not back movement). So it would be either:

Legs
High pull
…

Or

Legs
Bench
High pull
…

17

[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Yeah you’ve got the idea just right. Is there any physical reason you dont do overhead press? Because if not I suggest you start doing it. If is a physical reason you dont do overhead pressing, do high pulls from mid thigh AND do it as your second exercise on both days, right behind legs. The other exercises you can switch the order of but leave legs first and high pulls MUST be either second…or third after a bench movement (not back movement). So it would be either:

Legs
High pull
…

Or

Legs
Bench
High pull
…[/quote]

I had minor shoulder surgery about 1 year ago and herniated discs in my neck

18

Anyone have an idea why doing any standing curl bother my neck ( burning pain in trap arm an neck) ?

19

[quote]docholliday7777 wrote:
Anyone have an idea why doing any standing curl bother my neck ( burning pain in trap arm an neck) ? [/quote]

Could be a variety of reasons, not sure and I’d hesitate to give my advice. Do preacher curls bother you in the same way?

20

[quote]docholliday7777 wrote:
Anyone have an idea why doing any standing curl bother my neck ( burning pain in trap arm an neck) ? [/quote]

My guess would be a pinched nerve and/or cramped up muscle. But I’m not a doctor.