Help me help my body!

May 30, 2007 8:19 AM

Workout Filter: I've hit the end of my 8 week cycle. Help me layout a new routine. The gym trainer gave me one, but I'm looking for second opinions/other ideas. (More inside)

This year, I've finally gotten my physical (i.e. workout) routine down and am making progress. I started out doing a 3 day split with a partner and it worked fine, but now I'm ready to change into a different routine and my workout buddy is gone. I want to do a 2 day split (upper one day, lower the next) spaced out with cardio and doing abs and calves everyday. The reasons for this are that I've got the time for a full upper/lower each day and so I can work the different muscle groups multiple times over the week. I'm not wanting to look like a ultra-pretty boy, my goal is simply to add some good muscle to help eat up the fat on my gut and to particularly do some good work on my shoulders and chest.

The gym trainer gave me the following "basic" schedule. I'm hoping some good mefi's can help me flesh it out and tell me if its good. He seems knowledgable but some people in the gym told me they don't think he knows what he thinks he knows ... you know?

Day 1: Upper, ended with 20 min light cardio
Day 2: Lower, ended with 20 min body bag
Day 3: HIIT Cardio, 30 min
Day 4: Upper, ended with 20 min light cardio
Day 5: Lower, ended with 20 min body bag
Day 6: HIIT Cardio, 30 min
Day 7: Off

Since I'm now working out alone, he suggested that instead of doing pyramid with the weight, to instead take about 60%-70% of what I can do in each exercise and simply do it to failure in reps of 12 slowly concentrating on form. Then after I've done all my groups, start over and do it again with 80%-90% until failure again. Everything is done with no more than 30 seconds rest between sets and/or exercises. Everything except a squats and lower leg is done with dumbells. Is that crap or is it good theory? I'm in a good place mentally to handle all this and am psyched about changing routines and whatnot, I'd really like to know if this is a good routine to follow.

Any ideas, comments, suggestions are welcome! He didn't give me a list of exercises, he just gave me the basic outline and theory. I'd deeply appreciate it if anyone had a good basic 2 day split routine I could copy that focuses on the "musts" excercises and not all the pretty boy things. I should add at the end, that when I wake up each morning I do about 30 minutes of Yoga, to stretch everything out.

Many thanks!

posted by damiano99 to health & fitness (3 comments total)

Some random comments -

Dumbells are good, but I would suggest mixing in free weights in alternate workouts. Definitely do not use the machines.

When I'm going for strengthening, I do 6-8 reps max per set. Once you can do 10, move up in weight, looking to add 20% every two weeks.

Benching tips can be applied to most muscle groups. Personally, I think that the schedule you have there does not have enough days off. 3 days off, unless you are competing in Mr. Universe is good, because if your body can't recover and build new muscule tissue, you will not see any benefit (plateau), no matter how hard you work. This website recommends working you chest once every 5-7 days.

What's helped me the most though, is getting back into competitive sports. 30 years ago I played in a soccer league. 3 months ago I joined an adult league. It is the greatest! And I'm in better shape than ever!

And do 'athleticism' workouts. Since you do yoga, you know about proper form and muscle control. Do shuttle runs, jump squats, uphill wind sprints, any agility and speed exercises that feel good. Your body will thank you and the fresh air will do wonders for you
posted by valentinepig at 9:38 AM on May 30, 2007

Training to failure every workout, twice a week is ridiculous. Training to failure and using negatives has its place, but not that frequently! Especially if you're just a novice. Maybe once a month.

I'd second valentinepig's advice about using a lower number of reps with heavier weights. I'd say you should rest longer than 30 seconds when lifting with heavy weights, too.

The "musts?" Squats, deadlifts, bench press, chin-ups, and dips. Other exercises are great and should be included in your workouts, but these are the essentials.

Read the forums at Bodybuilding.com and T-Nation. You'll learn a lot.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 2:33 PM on May 30, 2007

Random thoughts before I rush to dinner:

Dumbells are good, but I would suggest mixing in free weights in alternate workouts

Dumbells are free weights. I assume you mean barbells.

Mix up your rep numbers. I pointed to this yesterday, it bears repeating: HST is very popular for good reason. I think it provides great results with a very efficient use of time. It's not the split you were looking for, but you might incorporate some of the principles there when planning your routine. I also agree with Thoughtcrime that you really shouldn't be going to failure every time you lift, it's counterproductive. Your nervous system needs time to recover in order to grow stronger, it can't do that efficiently if you are always pushing it.
HIIT for 30 minutes is probably not HIIT, unless 10+ minutes of that are warm up and cooldown.
Watch out for the brotards on t-nation and bodybuilding.com. Not that there isn't good advice to be found there, but lots and lots of brotards also.
You don't have to do that much cardio. Really, you can lose fat without doing cardio 6X a week. If you're lifting hard you will burn an insane number of calories just doing that.
Watch your diet, it is essential to making progress at this point. You need enough protein and enough (but not too many) calories.
Good luck!
posted by ch1x0r at 4:29 PM on May 30, 2007