Shake up my workout for me

[Fingolfin269]

Currently breaks down something like this... assume 3x8 on each exercise and I do one major muscle group and a corresponding 'minor' per day, the 3x8 is done with the idea that by the 24th rep I will be at or near exhaustion:

Chest/Tris
Bench (DB/BB/I switch up the method from time to time)
Incline Bench (Same as above)
Dips (forward lean to focus more on chest)
Insert randomly chosen extra tricep exercise here

Back/Bis
Pull Ups
Bent-Over Row or BB Row
Deads
Insert randomly chosen extra bicep exercise here

Shoulders
Military Press (usually with DB)
Unfortunately I can't remember the next two names but I hit the other heads.

*I do shrugs on either back or shoulder day depending on how I feel

Legs
Squats
Stiff Leg Deads
Calf Raises

I do ab exercises as well as cardio but am not really looking to shake that aspect up. I've been using the above for quite awhile in terms of my weight lifting. I like the results. I like the amount of time it takes to complete (usually 30-40m per day) so I am just looking for advice on how to shake it up a bit.

Exercises I will not do:
V-Ups or whatever you want to call them
Most fly exercises for chest. Bum shoulder that really gets hit when performing that motion.

I'm mainly interested in compound muscle exercises so I could very well be doing the workout I need to do but am open to any suggestions.

 

[brikis98]

Typical questions I ask everyone who makes these types of posts:

1. What are your goals? Are you trying to add muscle mass? Lose fat? Train for a sport? Improve your overall fitness?
2. How much weight training experience do you have? On the big compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench, press, etc), do you make daily linear progress (ie, increase the weight on the bar almost every workout), weekly linear progress (increase the weight on the bar once a week or so) or do you only set PR's once every several weeks? Where are you in the weightlifting performance standards?
3. Where did you get your routine from? Did you come up with it yourself? If so, do you think you have enough expertise in weight training to really do that?

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Typical questions I ask everyone who makes these types of posts:

1. What are your goals? Are you trying to add muscle mass? Lose fat? Train for a sport? Improve your overall fitness?
2. How much weight training experience do you have? On the big compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench, press, etc), do you make daily linear progress (ie, increase the weight on the bar almost every workout), weekly linear progress (increase the weight on the bar once a week or so) or do you only set PR's once every several weeks? Where are you in the weightlifting performance standards?
3. Where did you get your routine from? Did you come up with it yourself? If so, do you think you have enough expertise in weight training to really do that?

Let's see if I can answer this well enough here...

1) Main purpose at this point is to lose fat while maintaining current muscle mass. This is my usual goal to be honest. I'm in my early 30s and at this point I'm primarily concerned with keeping the fat off than adding additional mass. (No I'm not trying to say 'ZOMG I DONT WANT TO GET JACKED! 😛)

2) I've lifted for about 4 or 5 years on and off now. My progress has waned to the point where I am probably to about the max I can get due to certain injury limitations (shoulder issue) and my diet just doesn't leave much room for gains anymore. Maybe one day I'll try upping my caloric intake to allow for greater gains but at this point I'm content. In terms of the link you gave I'm in the intermediate range on most other than the shoulder press due to my injury. I'm in the upper novice range there. It's kind of funny because I was doing that exercise today and noticed that it's amazing how light the weight feels its just that the bum shoulder starts to feel pretty bad/fatigued. TBH weight lifting is more of a maintenance thing for me and I don't want to have surgery or anything just so I can lift heavier weights... if that logic makes sense I don't know. 🙂

3) I believe I pulled my routine from one of the bodybuilding.com stickies a few years back. They had 3-day and 4-day splits and I took one of theirs and adjusted it to what felt right for me after the injury. To be honest it has been a very good workout for me and I'm really just trying to find something to 'shake it up a little bit' as the original subject suggests. I'm not looking to make major gains but who knows maybe changing it up will show me some slight/unexpected gains.

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
1) Main purpose at this point is to lose fat while maintaining current muscle mass. This is my usual goal to be honest. I'm in my early 30s and at this point I'm primarily concerned with keeping the fat off than adding additional mass. (No I'm not trying to say 'ZOMG I DONT WANT TO GET JACKED! 😛)

While losing weight, almost any reasonable routine that works the whole body a few times per week using heavy, compound, free weight exercises should do the trick.

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
2) I've lifted for about 4 or 5 years on and off now. My progress has waned to the point where I am probably to about the max I can get due to certain injury limitations (shoulder issue) and my diet just doesn't leave much room for gains anymore. Maybe one day I'll try upping my caloric intake to allow for greater gains but at this point I'm content. In terms of the link you gave I'm in the intermediate range on most other than the shoulder press due to my injury. I'm in the upper novice range there. It's kind of funny because I was doing that exercise today and noticed that it's amazing how light the weight feels its just that the bum shoulder starts to feel pretty bad/fatigued. TBH weight lifting is more of a maintenance thing for me and I don't want to have surgery or anything just so I can lift heavier weights... if that logic makes sense I don't know. 🙂

Sounds like you're an intermediate then, so an intermediate routine is in order.

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
3) I believe I pulled my routine from one of the bodybuilding.com stickies a few years back. They had 3-day and 4-day splits and I took one of theirs and adjusted it to what felt right for me after the injury. To be honest it has been a very good workout for me and I'm really just trying to find something to 'shake it up a little bit' as the original subject suggests. I'm not looking to make major gains but who knows maybe changing it up will show me some slight/unexpected gains.

Yup, your routine looks like a standard bodybuilding style 4 day split. These sorts of routines are usually tailored towards maximizing hypertrophy. This is a bit different than strength training routines, which are tailored toward maximizing strength. Although both types of routines will produce both strength & hypertrophy gains, they are usually most effective at just one of those, so you should pick the type of routine that most closely matches your goals.

In terms of changes to your current routine, here are a few ideas:

* Instead of doing 3x8, try a different set/rep scheme, such as 5x5 or 3x5. Consider using sets across (same weight for all sets) or ascending sets (increasing the weight each set).

* Your current routine works the upper body 3 days a week and the lower body only once a week. Since the lower body has the biggest muscles, and working them produces the biggest hormonal/endocrine response, it may be worthwhile doing 2 days of each. One way to do this is to rearrange your routine into a push/pull, upper/lower split.

* Add olympic style lifts to your workout. The clean, snatch, power clean, power snatch, split jerk, etc all develop explosiveness, quickness and power. These are quite different than the "slow lifts", which primarily build strength, and are an excellent way to round out your routine.

I can also recommend a few alternative routines for you to try:

* Max-OT: a bodybuilding style split routine that's fairly similar to yours, but with some very strictly defined rules/principles in how to construct each workout. Should be fairly effective for hypertrophy.
* Hypertrophy Specific Training: a routine designed specifically for maximizing hypertrophy. It's a bit different than typical BB routines as it uses full body workouts 3 times per week rather than a split routine.
* Bill Starr 5x5: a very well known strength training routine for intermediate lifters. Uses full body workouts 3 days a week and is based around the squat. It's a very effective way to add some serious poundage to your lifts (and to your body, with the proper diet).
* Texas Method: another intermediate strength training routine. Again, full body workouts, 3 days per week, based around the squat.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Quick update... I didn't really vary up my exercises but did change to 5x5 and love it. I'm finally increasing weight again and I think it may very well be because my shoulder is not fatiguing out on me quite as quickly with only 5 reps.

On the flip side, I'm sad to report that I have made a move to some machine type lifting (Nautilus types where you place the actual weights on yourself) for some of the exercises that used to give my shoulder trouble. I do still work in some light weight sets using DB but am not trying to push myself with DBs any longer. It's just not worth it.

BTW, does anyone know of a good substitute for BB deadlift? The gym I'm using now (Snap Fitness) is very convenient to my house but is set up more for cardio and machine lifting. They do have a smith machine but the thing doesn't go low enough for SLDL or DL so that's out. However, DBs are available so I was wondering if there is a decent alternative to use with that in mind?

Yes, this does affect my ability to do standard squats so the smith machine will have to do.

Thanks!

 

[Kipper]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Currently breaks down something like this... assume 3x8 on each exercise and I do one major muscle group and a corresponding 'minor' per day, the 3x8 is done with the idea that by the 24th rep I will be at or near exhaustion:

Chest/Tris
Bench (DB/BB/I switch up the method from time to time)
Incline Bench (Same as above)
Dips (forward lean to focus more on chest)
Insert randomly chosen extra tricep exercise here

Back/Bis
Pull Ups
Bent-Over Row or BB Row
Deads
Insert randomly chosen extra bicep exercise here

Shoulders
Military Press (usually with DB)
Unfortunately I can't remember the next two names but I hit the other heads.

*I do shrugs on either back or shoulder day depending on how I feel

Legs
Squats
Stiff Leg Deads
Calf Raises

I do ab exercises as well as cardio but am not really looking to shake that aspect up. I've been using the above for quite awhile in terms of my weight lifting. I like the results. I like the amount of time it takes to complete (usually 30-40m per day) so I am just looking for advice on how to shake it up a bit.

Exercises I will not do:
V-Ups or whatever you want to call them
Most fly exercises for chest. Bum shoulder that really gets hit when performing that motion.

I'm mainly interested in compound muscle exercises so I could very well be doing the workout I need to do but am open to any suggestions.

Suggestions:

Good mornings for back/hamstrings
Weighted dips with belt or a dumbbell placed between the ankles (I prefer the latter, which makes it harder to cheat). Also, weighted pull-ups.
Standing barbell shoulder press
Close-grip bench press for tricep, although this can be hard on a chest day
Skull crusher (tricep, a personal favorite)
Dumbbell row (back)
T-Bar row for back (if your gym has the equipment, or you can take a barbell, weight one side down with about 4-5 25-lb plates and then load up the other side to whatever weight).
Hyperextensions, weighted, for lower back (this has helped me particularly).
Hanging leg raises for abdominals (straight leg, no swinging of the torso)

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
On the flip side, I'm sad to report that I have made a move to some machine type lifting (Nautilus types where you place the actual weights on yourself) for some of the exercises that used to give my shoulder trouble. I do still work in some light weight sets using DB but am not trying to push myself with DBs any longer. It's just not worth it.

What's wrong with your shoulder?

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
BTW, does anyone know of a good substitute for BB deadlift? The gym I'm using now (Snap Fitness) is very convenient to my house but is set up more for cardio and machine lifting. They do have a smith machine but the thing doesn't go low enough for SLDL or DL so that's out. However, DBs are available so I was wondering if there is a decent alternative to use with that in mind?

Yes, this does affect my ability to do standard squats so the smith machine will have to do.

Thanks!

There are no particularly good alternatives for squats and deadlifts evne with freeweights and anything you do on a machine will be VASTLY inferior. You won't recruit as many muscles, you won't get the same hormonal response, you won't be training your neuromuscular coordination (so you won't be able to apply the strength in the real world) and if you start moving heavy weights, the machines will probably just set you up for injuries (due to a fixed/unnatural bar path). Dumbbells are great, but not for squats and especially deadlifts, as most people can move far more weight on those exercises than you can get with dumbbells.

 

[xboxist]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269


BTW, does anyone know of a good substitute for BB deadlift? The gym I'm using now (Snap Fitness) is very convenient to my house but is set up more for cardio and machine lifting.

I go to Snap too and I was just bitching to Brikis about the lack of a power rack there. But mine does happen to have a single barbell that allows me to do proper deadlifts with. I take it yours doesn't have even that?