Stats:
5’11 Male
145 lbs
23 Years old
No injuries
Mild Anterior pelvic tilt
Mild Forward Head posture
Mild Lordosis and Kyphosis
Prior Athletic experience - Marathon runner, Wrestler, Track N field, Rollerblading
Prior lifting experience - 10 months of starting strength spread over 3 years.
Lifts at my peak-
Squat- 5reps x 235lbs
Deadlift- 5 Reps x 250
Bench- 5 Reps x 150
Pendlay Row- I don’t know.
I want to get bigger, stronger, and correct my posture. I’d prefer to aim for Hypertrophy over strength. I’ve done a buncha research. I only have time for 3 workouts a week. I plan to workout out like this-
1 day on, 1 day off, 1 day on, 2 days off, 1 day on. Etc
Well let us take B day for and example, if I were to do 2 sets of romanian DL’s, 2 Sets of barbell hip thrusts and 2 sets of reverse dumbbell lunges; would that not hit my posterior chain quite nicely? I am still a begginner and I don’t intend to do 4 sets of everything.
But I don’t plan to do consecutive days, I have a rest day between and some times two. Would it be more beneficial to do only two of those movements? I imagined a wide variety of movements would be better as they’d hit the muscles from different angles n whatnot. Do you think I should only do the Romanian DL and the Hip thrust for 3 sets each?
It doesn’t work that way. You can’t maintain intensity with 11 exercises in a workout. The following is what I see being a glaring problem:
Too many exercises. Go from 11 to 5, tops.
No built in progression
Continuing the same rep scheme throughout
You stated goal is to get bigger and stronger. Are there specific lifts you want to get stronger at?
Off the top of my head, something like the below would be much better:
Squats 2x3, 1x5
OHP 2x3, 1x5
Chins 100 reps
Walking Lunges 50 reps/leg
Face Pulls/Band Pull Aparts
Dude you weigh 145 at 5’11? Is that a typo?
If not get your cals figured out and do like push pull with 4 or 5 exercises asession. You need to fill out that frame something like 3x8 or 4x6. Your current plan is too much and you would likely burn more cals doing that routine than create a good stae for hypertrophy you need a surplus of cals. Most importantly at 145 at a height of 5’11. That is tiny.
I just want to get stronger in general, not at any specific lift. Mostly to correct my posture though, I am quite certain my posterior chain is lacking, I never did pay any attention to my gluteal or hamstring muscles, and my pelvis is anterior tilted… I have much to consider after reading your post. It was very informative. Thanks. I may have to make room to work out four days of the week and cut down on the amount of exercises in a single workout if I want to make genuine progress then…
Also, errrr, whadaya mean by built in progression? I figured I would just go up in weight as time goes on and that would be my progress.
Ahh, I Eat 3500-4000 calories a day but commute 10 miles on rollerblades to work and the store, to do laundry, etc, every day. I also have an enormous metabolism. So gaining weight has always been hell for me. Maybe one day when I can afford a car it’ll be easier. And I’m definitely going to cut back on the amount of exercises in a single workout based on everyone’s advice.
I weighed in between 160-180 doing similar activities.
Anywho everyone is different,
base your training around squat deadlift row chins bench and facepulls for shoulder health. Follow 531 its the best for your situation I think, add in a last set for volume if you want my one issue with 531 for somewhat neubies is that there needs to be one more work set like his back off sets in other programs
I’d second 5/3/1. It is a set of principles that applies to nearly every unique goal and schedule limitation, provided the trainee wants to get better.
Just going up in weight as time goes on is haphazard at best, especially if strength is a goal. I trained this way for quite some time, but never progressed weight wise.
Built in Progression would be something like 5/3/1 that uses a TM (Training Max), which is 80-90% of your one rep max. The TM becomes the basis for all your workouts. Using a percentage of the TM, you progress through 5, 3 and 1 rep maxes.
The reason I asked about specific lifts is because an increase in Squat, Bench, Deadlift or OHP is a much better metric for measuring strength increases… also, no one asks “How much do you face pull, bro?”
Oh, yes I do sincerely apologize. I am not very good with English sometimes. I made it up after reading a lot of T Nation articles. I thought it would address my weak points but I guess it is a bit much.
Well some people have an ectomorphic body type and genetics that lend to a predisposition towards being thin, in combination with a lifestyle that requires a great deal of cardiovascular exercise. This makes it exponentially more difficult to put on weight. Besides, I know I have to eat more, mass doesn’t merely appear out of thin air because I pumped some weights. So take your condescending “news flash” elsewhere. Not everyone has as hard of a time putting on mass as others.
Ignore somotypes. Gaining weight is a function of eating more than your body expends in energy.
I grew up as an ‘ectomorph’, but hit college and discovered dietary freedom. Since then, I’ve become an endomorphic. It’s difficult for me to lose fat, because I like to eat.
If you have a tough time consuming enough calories, that’s fairly easy to address. It’s something, you could say, I’m an expert at.
