[steve_a123]

Day 1 – Chest and Triceps
EXCERSISE Reps Sets
Bench Press 6 - 8 + 1 Failure 3 + 1 Drop Set

Incline Press/Flyes 6 - 8 + 1 Failure 3 + 1 Drop Set

Bent-Arm Dumbbell Pullover 10 - 12 3
Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press10 - 12 3
Dips 5 – 10 + 1 Failure 3 + 1
Triceps Pushdown/Pulls 12 – 15 + 1 Burnout 3 + 1

Day 2 – Back
EXCERSISE Reps Sets
Deadlift 6 - 8 + 1 Failure 3 + 1 Drop Set
Hyperextensions (Back Extensions)10 - 12 3
Bent Over Two-Arm Long Bar Row10 - 12 3
Seated Cable Rows 10 - 12 3
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 10 - 12 3
Wide-Grip Lat Pull down 12 – 15 3

Day 3 – Legs and Bicep
EXCERSISE Reps Sets
Squats 6 - 8 3
Leg Press 10 - 12 3
Dumbbell Step Ups 10 - 12 2
Barbell Curl 10 - 12 3
Hammer Curls 10 - 12 3
Close Grip Pull Downs 12 – 15 + 1 Burnout 3 + 1

Day 4 – Stomach, Shoulders and Traps
EXCERSISE Reps Sets
Barbell Shrug 10 - 12 3
Barbell Shrug Behind The Back 10 - 12 3
Smith Machine Upright Row 8 - 10 2
Arnold Press 10 - 12 3
Military Press 10 - 12 3
Hanging Leg Raises 12 - 16 3
Ball and Leg Raises 12 - 16 3
Decline Crunch 12 - 16 3


Please give any advice!!

[Rocky]

You don't say how long you've been training or anything. Are you pretty much set to this programme, if so the I will just make my comments on the programme as is:

personally I wouldn't plan to do specific drop sets/burns, etc for specific exercises every time. Rather change it up andf not necessarily do it every time. They are intensity techniques and more often than not better used sparingly to push past a point.
Also you are effectively doing 5 exercises for chest there in that dips and close grip work pecs too, I don't know if that was deliberate but if not then I'd be tempted to knock off the flat bench and start with the incline.
I wouldn't do hyperextensions if you are already doing deads which is enough work for that imo.
You leg day doesn't appear to have any direct work. Given that you are already doing conventional deadlifts maybe doing SLDL every week could push you to overtraining so maybe alternate each week doing SLDL with leg curl to get some ham work in there. Also, don't forget calf raises, seated/standing or both.
With the trap work, you are doing 2 shrug movements and an upright row and deads on another day so I would think the one shrug movement would be enough. Also and this is purely being nit-picky now, I think one pressing movement is enough for shoulders, maybe add a rear delt exercise in there like rev pec deck or bent over lateral raises.
They are all just my opinion, and I would also think about doing a different routine full stop depending on your level, one more geared towards full body type workouts or split into 2 such as a PUSH/PULL split focussing on the compound lifts.
Good luck either way and I hope that helped some! :)

[steve_a123]

been training 2 years, im 6"2 and 13.5 Stone.

my max bench is about 120KG
Deadlift about 120KG
and squat about 100KG

Can you re-design that workout the way you think it would work best ?
thanks for your time

[Rocky]

Those are some good lifts although I suspect you concentrate more on upper body rather than legs judging by the lifts as I would expect squat and dead to be heavier, but nonetheless...
If you are planning on training 4 days per week then maybe try a 2 day split, 1 on 1 off like this:

PUSH:

Squat
Incline Bench
Military Press
Dips
Calf Raises

PULL:

Deadlift alternate with SLDL each week
BB Bent Row
Chins
BB Curl
Crunches
Leg Raises


or

UPPER BODY/LOWER BODY and split the exercises accordingly. Or one that I did for a while is PUSH/PULL/LEGS and again split the exercises accordingly. On this one you'd restart the routine on the 4th training day.
I know this does not have the same quantity of exercises as in your previous routine but these are the ones I feel should definately feature in there, if you feel the need to add some exercises in (such as direct trap work) then do so as long as these ones make up the mainstay.
And with regard to reps, I would always lean towards the 6 - 8 mark, with maybe an exercise where you do 10 - 12 reps. But variety is the key so this is when you can change it round and start to include your intensity techniques.
Have a look in the log section too and see what people are doing, it may give you some further ideas.
Hope this is what you were looking for.

Alternatively of course you could stick with the routine you've outlined and just make the changes I initially suggested if you have your heart set on that split! :)

[steve_a123]

hmmm, well this is the first workout plan iv done. i USED TO do everything by days like monday - chests, tuesday - legs and so on. Im only now getting a feel for it. So if im training 4 - 5 days a week is it best to do a split body workout like upper and lower, or section it off like iv been doing EG chest & triceps, Legs and biceps??

[Rocky]

The general concensus is that to make the quickest progress you should do more full body based routines focussing on the compounds, this way you use the most amount of muscles in each exercise, and the less you split your routine up, the less exercises you need for each bodypart and also the more frequently you can train the same muscles. Compounds and frequency being the magic formula of sorts. Admittedly, I do more of a split routine as it works better for my lifestyle, so it's up to you. If you can do it then I'd do a 2 split routine and train every other day as you should make the most progress.

[steve_a123]

im really confused! can u put this in simple form for me lol, like a bullet list!
Iv read so much info now and so many different views my brain is going to explode!!

[Rocky]

lol -It is a problem when there are so many different opinions and views, and at the end of the day, mine is only another opinion:

Easiest way is try the PUSH PULL routine I outlined.

Day 1 - PUSH
Day 2 - Rest
Day 3 - PULL
Day 4 - Rest

and so on. You may find you can knock off one of the rest days depending on how quickly you are recovering so experiment.

Do the exercises I suggested and personally I only do 2 main sets aiming for 6 - 8 reps at the point of failure. Do 1 or 2 warm ups of around 60% of your main weight for each exercise.

And that's it.

On top of this though you have to make sure you are resting well enough and getting a good amount of food into you, but that's a whole other topic.

As I said before, you can see what the exercises I've outlined are primarily hitting so if you feel the need to add in an isolation exercise or something for a particularly lagging part then by all means do so. (e.g. Military press and also do upright row to hit traps and delts together).

Try it and really give it your all and you should see results.

[steve_a123]

cheers, thanks for your time

[mindstar]

Rocky's advice is sound, especially because you grow when you rest, not when you train.

I'm on a legs/push/pull and it is great.

[tim290280]

Rocky's covered it pretty well.

Just make sure there is a good balance between movements. So for every set of chest you do there is a set of back (at roughly the same intensity), same with quads and hammys (hammys were missing completely in the first post), arms, shoulders......

Doing push pull, it is a good idea to break down the movements into planes of motion and work the alternate motions. e.g. pullup and OH press, bench and row, etc.