Exercise Routine
March 5, 2010 1:45 AM Subscribe
How and what should I warm up, and when and how long should I rest for a 4 day muscle sculpting routine?
Previously I used to exercise, unfortunately for the last 2 years I've had an IT job and hadn't kept exercising. I plan on starting my routing hoping muscle memory will return...
THE 4 day workout
Day #1
- (for 40 minutes at the gym concentrating on back muscles only)
- (20min jog)
Day #2
- (for 40 minutes at the gym concentrate on shoulder muscles only)
- (crunches)
Day #3
- (for 40 minutes at the gym concentrate on arm muscles only)
- (20min jog)
Day #4 (rest day)
- (crunches only)
Recovery period?
Diet?
I am an endomorph...
appreciate any advice here.
Cheers guys 'n' gals
Previously I used to exercise, unfortunately for the last 2 years I've had an IT job and hadn't kept exercising. I plan on starting my routing hoping muscle memory will return...
THE 4 day workout
Day #1
- (for 40 minutes at the gym concentrating on back muscles only)
- (20min jog)
Day #2
- (for 40 minutes at the gym concentrate on shoulder muscles only)
- (crunches)
Day #3
- (for 40 minutes at the gym concentrate on arm muscles only)
- (20min jog)
Day #4 (rest day)
- (crunches only)
Recovery period?
Diet?
I am an endomorph...
appreciate any advice here.
Cheers guys 'n' gals
You don't have a chest workout; if you're going to do all upper-body lifts, don't forget your chest. That said, you can get a hell of an arm workout rather quickly, especially if you alternate a triceps exercise and a biceps exercise (little recovery time). When I used to lift a lot, I combined my short arm workout with some squats and such.
Arm workout:
Biceps:
Twentyones: lighter weight, dumbbells, one set=seven each of standing curls from straight elbow to 90 degrees, seven from 90 to full bend, and seven full range.
Neg curls: very heavy. Dumbbell in one hand only. Use other hand to assist on lifting, then lower the dumbbell s-l-o-w-l-y. Eight left hand, then eight right= one set.
Preacher curl, barbell, really try to stretch it at full extension.
Triceps:
Kickbacks - while bent over a bench, with non-lifting arm giving support, keep the upper arm parallel to your torso and kick the dumbbell out.
Killers (this also gets abs): lay across bench with torso parallel to ground, facing up. Hold barbell over your head, lower it to behind your head (stretch the hell out of the triceps). After 8-10 reps, burn it out by doing close-hand presses from vertically from your chest, but with a trick - think like you're pressing down to your navel. Your body will compensate by pressing up, but it burns the hell out of your trceps.
Rope press-down - with cable stack. Use attachment that is an 18" section of thick rope, knotted at ends, bent over cable carabiner. press down and out to your sides.
I used the above - three sets of each exercise, alternating a biceps and triceps exercise - in about 25 minutes to get killer arms back in the day.
posted by notsnot at 4:57 AM on March 5, 2010
Arm workout:
Biceps:
Twentyones: lighter weight, dumbbells, one set=seven each of standing curls from straight elbow to 90 degrees, seven from 90 to full bend, and seven full range.
Neg curls: very heavy. Dumbbell in one hand only. Use other hand to assist on lifting, then lower the dumbbell s-l-o-w-l-y. Eight left hand, then eight right= one set.
Preacher curl, barbell, really try to stretch it at full extension.
Triceps:
Kickbacks - while bent over a bench, with non-lifting arm giving support, keep the upper arm parallel to your torso and kick the dumbbell out.
Killers (this also gets abs): lay across bench with torso parallel to ground, facing up. Hold barbell over your head, lower it to behind your head (stretch the hell out of the triceps). After 8-10 reps, burn it out by doing close-hand presses from vertically from your chest, but with a trick - think like you're pressing down to your navel. Your body will compensate by pressing up, but it burns the hell out of your trceps.
Rope press-down - with cable stack. Use attachment that is an 18" section of thick rope, knotted at ends, bent over cable carabiner. press down and out to your sides.
I used the above - three sets of each exercise, alternating a biceps and triceps exercise - in about 25 minutes to get killer arms back in the day.
posted by notsnot at 4:57 AM on March 5, 2010
No lower body at all? That's going to hurt you. Bodybuilders have a saying that if you want big arms, do squats.
Don't devote an entire workout to just triceps & biceps...add triceps to your "push" exercises, and incorporate chest. Something like:
Bench Presses (flat, incline)
Shoulder Press (seated or standing)
Dips, Cable Pulls
Add biceps to your "pull" exercises, so you do a day of back and biceps. For instance:
Seated rows
Deadlifts and/or good mornings
Lat pulls
Chinups
Barbell/dumbbell curls
Third muscle day, do legs and abs. A good routine might be:
Squats
Lunges
Leg extensions/Leg curls (machines)
Crunches/hanging leg raises
Throw the leg day in-between chest and back days, so the upper body gets a rest. Do cardio after a muscle workout, so you don't exhaust yourself when you need strength.
There are a couple of schools of thought on abs, but I personally think you should treat them like any other muscle group, and exercise them once per week.
posted by xingcat at 5:30 AM on March 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Don't devote an entire workout to just triceps & biceps...add triceps to your "push" exercises, and incorporate chest. Something like:
Bench Presses (flat, incline)
Shoulder Press (seated or standing)
Dips, Cable Pulls
Add biceps to your "pull" exercises, so you do a day of back and biceps. For instance:
Seated rows
Deadlifts and/or good mornings
Lat pulls
Chinups
Barbell/dumbbell curls
Third muscle day, do legs and abs. A good routine might be:
Squats
Lunges
Leg extensions/Leg curls (machines)
Crunches/hanging leg raises
Throw the leg day in-between chest and back days, so the upper body gets a rest. Do cardio after a muscle workout, so you don't exhaust yourself when you need strength.
There are a couple of schools of thought on abs, but I personally think you should treat them like any other muscle group, and exercise them once per week.
posted by xingcat at 5:30 AM on March 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
You're going to have to explain what your goals are and what your current training level is for anyone to give you specific recommendations. No one can tell you anything based on the extremely vague template you've laid out here.
For example, you could tell us your age, height and weight, and current best lifts. Then you need to explain what exercises you're using in your program and how many sets and reps you're doing them for, as well as any other variables relevant to your training.
Respectfully, my first thought is that you may not be in a position to be designing your own program at this point and would be better off using a tried-and-true program that was appropriate for your goals and level of advancement.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:28 AM on March 5, 2010
For example, you could tell us your age, height and weight, and current best lifts. Then you need to explain what exercises you're using in your program and how many sets and reps you're doing them for, as well as any other variables relevant to your training.
Respectfully, my first thought is that you may not be in a position to be designing your own program at this point and would be better off using a tried-and-true program that was appropriate for your goals and level of advancement.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:28 AM on March 5, 2010
As others have touched on, I'd advise incorporating your arms into days when you do back/chest and focus on more compound exercises. Compound exercises are a more efficient way to build muscle, release more testosterone and tend to more closely mimic real life activities that you might want to use your newly formed muscles for. Also, it's hard to truely isolate the back and chest without hitting the arms, so it just makes sense. Roll your triceps into a day when you also work your chest and roll your biceps into a day when you also work your back. Do your shoulders on one of the days as well. Good upper body exercises would be things like bench presses, pull-ups, chin-ups, pushups and bent over rows. For your shoulders add in the shoulder press or similar. These are all compound exercises that will hit lots of muscles at once, and this is desirable for the best results. Isolation exercises like bicep curls and triceps extensions do work but honestly it's somewhat of a waste of time to do it that way.
And as others have said, you'll want to do some heavy lifting with your lower body. Think squats, deadlifts and lunges. Especially squats. People are usually less interested in the legs because they don't care about them as much aesthetically, and that's fine, but the legs contain a huge portion of your body's muscles, and working them will release a ton of testosterone that will help you build other muscle. Sort of like a natural steroid with only positive side effects.
For a 4 day work-out like you seem to want, I'd do something like the following, spread out over a week:
-back/biceps/shoulder day
-chest/triceps
-Core muscles including abs, obliques and lower back (don't just do crunches and forget about the lower back - balance is important)
-Lower body, focusing on the big exercises such as squats, deadlifts and lunges. The leg press machine might be fun, but it doesn't have nearly the benefit that squats will give you. Note that a lot of the lower body exercises, when done right, will also exercise the core muscles and stabilizer muscles
Diet:
This depends heavily on your goals (do you want to lose fat or gain muscle), but either way get lots of fruits and veggies and plenty of lean protein (think chicken, fish, milk, etc). Get plenty of carbs before your workout so that you have energy to complete it properly.
posted by Diplodocus at 8:42 AM on March 5, 2010
And as others have said, you'll want to do some heavy lifting with your lower body. Think squats, deadlifts and lunges. Especially squats. People are usually less interested in the legs because they don't care about them as much aesthetically, and that's fine, but the legs contain a huge portion of your body's muscles, and working them will release a ton of testosterone that will help you build other muscle. Sort of like a natural steroid with only positive side effects.
For a 4 day work-out like you seem to want, I'd do something like the following, spread out over a week:
-back/biceps/shoulder day
-chest/triceps
-Core muscles including abs, obliques and lower back (don't just do crunches and forget about the lower back - balance is important)
-Lower body, focusing on the big exercises such as squats, deadlifts and lunges. The leg press machine might be fun, but it doesn't have nearly the benefit that squats will give you. Note that a lot of the lower body exercises, when done right, will also exercise the core muscles and stabilizer muscles
Diet:
This depends heavily on your goals (do you want to lose fat or gain muscle), but either way get lots of fruits and veggies and plenty of lean protein (think chicken, fish, milk, etc). Get plenty of carbs before your workout so that you have energy to complete it properly.
posted by Diplodocus at 8:42 AM on March 5, 2010
also, I agree heavily with this:
"Respectfully, my first thought is that you may not be in a position to be designing your own program at this point and would be better off using a tried-and-true program that was appropriate for your goals and level of advancement."
The program that you initially outline is unbalanced and could result in injury if used in the long term. I'd recommend following an established program that is balanced to avoid problems down the road. Taking the advice here into consideration, pick a routine that works for you that was designed by someone knowledgeable. One recommendation is the stronglifts 5x5 program, which is a fantastic combination of compound exercises that will give excellent and balanced results.
posted by Diplodocus at 8:47 AM on March 5, 2010
"Respectfully, my first thought is that you may not be in a position to be designing your own program at this point and would be better off using a tried-and-true program that was appropriate for your goals and level of advancement."
The program that you initially outline is unbalanced and could result in injury if used in the long term. I'd recommend following an established program that is balanced to avoid problems down the road. Taking the advice here into consideration, pick a routine that works for you that was designed by someone knowledgeable. One recommendation is the stronglifts 5x5 program, which is a fantastic combination of compound exercises that will give excellent and balanced results.
posted by Diplodocus at 8:47 AM on March 5, 2010
Seconding what everyone else said -- this is not a good workout. Better to focus primarily on large muscle groups (chest, back, quads, etc.) and compound exercises (squats etc.).
I recommend picking up a good book or program and following the workout recommendations in there. Personally, I like the workout given in Bill Phillips's Body for Life (you don't have to follow the nutrition stuff in there if you're not interested in that kind of body reformation, and if you are, I'd pick up Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Build the Muscle too for a slightly different, slightly more advanced, perspective), which you can get for cheap used online. It's a 6 day/week program, 3 days of cardio and 3 days of resistance alternating upper and lower body. But it hits basically all the muscle groups, which yours does not, and that's the important thing. (You could easily modify it to 2 days resistance/2 days cardio or even 1 day cardio just by removing stuff at the end of the week.) Others may have different recommendations.
Or just get a session with a good personal trainer who will build a workout for you and teach you how to do exercises safely.
posted by paultopia at 11:19 AM on March 5, 2010
I recommend picking up a good book or program and following the workout recommendations in there. Personally, I like the workout given in Bill Phillips's Body for Life (you don't have to follow the nutrition stuff in there if you're not interested in that kind of body reformation, and if you are, I'd pick up Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Build the Muscle too for a slightly different, slightly more advanced, perspective), which you can get for cheap used online. It's a 6 day/week program, 3 days of cardio and 3 days of resistance alternating upper and lower body. But it hits basically all the muscle groups, which yours does not, and that's the important thing. (You could easily modify it to 2 days resistance/2 days cardio or even 1 day cardio just by removing stuff at the end of the week.) Others may have different recommendations.
Or just get a session with a good personal trainer who will build a workout for you and teach you how to do exercises safely.
posted by paultopia at 11:19 AM on March 5, 2010
Arm workouts are for the advanced -- your arms will get worked out plenty if you're doing the right exercises. Stick to dips, pull-ups, bench press, should press, and rows for upper body. And add in some squats and dead lifts for lower.
For the next year or 2, judge every exercise as worth doing or not based on how much weight you can do it with. Body weight exercises are best. When you're happy with the number of weighted pull-ups and dips you can do (say, body weight + 25 lbs.), you can start adding arm days and shoulder days. But by then you'll probably know that such things aren't necessary.
posted by coolguymichael at 12:27 PM on March 5, 2010
For the next year or 2, judge every exercise as worth doing or not based on how much weight you can do it with. Body weight exercises are best. When you're happy with the number of weighted pull-ups and dips you can do (say, body weight + 25 lbs.), you can start adding arm days and shoulder days. But by then you'll probably know that such things aren't necessary.
posted by coolguymichael at 12:27 PM on March 5, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Your goals are going to inform what your workout and diet should be. Do you want to be more athletic? Do you want to be big and muscular? Do you want to be stronger? Who do you want to look like? Are you trying to get in shape for a sport or event? How much experience do you have?
The more specific info you give, the better suggestions you should get (in theory).
I will say right off that your workout is not that great. I'm not sure where you picked it up but it looks like you may need to do a bit of reading to find something more suitable. My favorite go to site is T-Nation (Archives)
I mean suitable as in a solid program that you like and you'll stick to, if the program you have makes you happy then keep it. You're probably going to get a couple of suggestions regardless of what you want. Like Crossfit and Starting Strength, they're good but there are other programs that are just as good. Again, find something you like (& is effective) and do that.
Your diet is the most important part of this and nobody can give you good advice on that without knowing what your goals are.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:11 AM on March 5, 2010