routine question for weightlifting

Hi, I am looking to adjust my routine. I realised that doing squats with no rack, in the atic where no one could hear me scream is pretty unsafe, expecially being pretty new to it.

So I've cut squats from my routine, which leaves a very small leg day, and more time.

ORiginally it was:
Mon: Back+Abs (barbell rows, deadlift, bent over dumbell lifts, weighted crunches)
Tue: Legs (squats, dumbell lunges, tip toe dumbell lunges for the calves)
Wed: Shoulders (military press, barbell shrug, lateral raises)
thursday rest day
Fri: Chest (bench, incline bench, dumbell flys I think as well)
Sat: Bis&Tris (hammer curl +half reps + dropsets, weighted chins, close grip benchpress, skullcrushers)
sunday rest day again.

I was thinking now with no leg day (temporarily until it is safe), How can I make my routine more spread out? I'm thinking about making recovery time good, so probably each muscle group once per week, but I know some of the exercises there are compound (eg. I can feel bent over dumbell lifts working triceps), so I want to make these on opposite sides of the week so the secondary group affected can still recover properly by the time it becomes the main group.

Also if you have any suggestions to the exercises that would be very helpful!
This is the proposed plan:

Monday=rest
Tuesday: Triceps
Wednesday: Biceps
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday=rest
Saturday: Back+Abs+Legs
Sunday: Chest

I'm not sure why this way round, Just thought it was a decent enough starting point.

Thanks again for any advice! Reps if you want them..

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Reply 1

erk

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBHackSquat.html

Use those instead of squats, or perhaps one legged ones holding dbs - will work your forearms too

I dont see the point to be honest, just wait until you get a rack/gym. Until then use the second best.

chest/tris
back/traps
shoulders/biceps/abs
legs

But again, i'm not a fan of this; i do believe that if you work your back hard enough your bi's will be ****ed. Hence why i only have one isolation on bi.

I'd just stick to chest/tri, bi/back, legs.

Reply 2

pete77

I would ignore leg completely focus on upper body muscle and jus running for lower limbs intense running though !

Reply 3

RetiredAccount89

pete77

I would ignore leg completely focus on upper body muscle and jus running for lower limbs intense running though !

nah, there are much better ways of exercising legs than running alone.
I'm a fan of having 2 days off for arms, and in the latter going at it really hard on a cross trainer plus rowing. Mainly works legs, but does both arm groups too semi-gently(cross trainer if you do clock and counter i mean). course theres always the leg weights machines too, but im sure the poster said somewhere they have a buggered knee or leg or something (unless im thinking of someone else!)

Reply 4

pete77

Y0u dont need to do that for legs ! Depends on why yu need muscly legs anyway all you need is pace and a strong upper body !

Reply 5

Barny

Your routine is pretty awful to be honest, deadlifts are predominantly a leg exercise, and planning to do a legs day immediately after doing them is clearly not a good idea.

Barbell shrugs are a back exercise, not shoulders, so having them on a shoulders day makes no sense, also its only 2 days after your back day.

Then you've got bis and tris day on friday, only 4 days after your back workout, which will work your biceps massively and immediately after your chest workout which is simultaneously a tricep workout.

Your new routine isnt much good either, for similar reasons to above.

Basically, you grow out of the gym, not in it, doing more work in the gym does not mean more muscle, infact in most cases it means the opposite.

Basically, what you need to realise is, when you train chest, you are also training triceps and shoulders slightly. Therefore you put them on the same workout.

Example: Benchpress, Chest Flys, skullchrushers, military press/dumbell shoulder press, side/front shoulder raises, incline/decline bench and/or close grip bench.

When working your back, you also need to consider that your biceps are involved massively, they may only be a secondary muscle, but when you use them lots, it becomes extremely fatigued.

Back and bis: Bent over rows, dumbell rows, lat pulldowns, shrugs, bicep curls. Thats all you need! Always do bicep curls at the end as theyre an isolation exercise!

For legs, squats, deadlifts, hamstring curls of somesort, calf raises of some sort, thats probably all you need, also do some hyper extensions, as you can double this up as a lower back session as deadlifts work that quite heavily.

Abs - add them to the session with least number of exercise, so probably legs day, you only need to do weighted crunches, squats/deadlifts work your abs quite a bit anyway. Dont go overboard on the abs weights - its not needed, lots of bodybuilders dont even work their abs in isolation at all! Remember its lower bodyfat% that shows them, not how big they are!

So all in all, something like:

Monday: Back/Bis
Wednesday: chest/shoulders/tris
Friday: Legs

Or you can put them in any order !

Thats all you need, remember its the eating that builds the muscle, doing the weights just *sparks it off* so to speak, only train the same muscle groups once a week, so they have time to recovery properly!

Reply 6

RetiredAccount89

Whats a weighted crunch.....?(a crunch whilst holding free weights?)

Reply 7

IZZY!

i always do one day for legs, another one for arms then resting day then again legs, then again arms and then resting day and so on

Reply 8

Barny

Yeh, a weighted crunch is just a crunch holding a weight behind your head.

Izzy - thats not an effective way to build muscle.

Reply 9

john !!

How about this routine? I changed a load of stuff and have most of the exercises you recommended.

routine3day.JPG94.9KB

Reply 10

Barny

Yep looks good, you need a hamstring exercise in the legs day, also in general just remember to switch up the order of exercise and change the exercises every couple of weeks, as in, of just doing dumbell shoulder press do military press etc.. changing is good for shocking your body into a response!

Reply 11

erk

Put deads on back day, you could then maybe take one of the rows out, and do SLDL or another ham exercise instead instead of deads.

Reply 12

john !!

SLDL = side lateral something?

Reply 13

erk

stiff legged deadlift

Reply 14

Barny

Deads work the glutes and the quads massively, you wouldnt want to put them on a back day, especially if you're going to do a legs day only a few days later.

Reply 15

rock_tenth

Ive got some advice: I deadlifted 150kg today w00t

well its not advice, nor a big lift, but im happy about it. 140 came up easy as ****, I was so surprised. 150 was harder. Rock on everyone

--Joe

Reply 16

erk

imasillynarb

Deads work the glutes and the quads massively, you wouldnt want to put them on a back day, especially if you're going to do a legs day only a few days later.

So you'd put deads and squats on the same day? i'd be physically sick.

I feel monday back/bis (deads) and friday legs (squats) is plenty of rest between the two

Reply 17

john !!

Is it not a better idea to put the isolation exercises first, so when you come to the compounds you can be sure that if you fail it will be on the muscle set you're aiming to workout?

Reply 18

Barny

erk

So you'd put deads and squats on the same day? i'd be physically sick.

I feel monday back/bis (deads) and friday legs (squats) is plenty of rest between the two

Yes, on the same day, if you'd be sick, I'd recommend either getting fitter or eating less before working out.

4 days is not enough recovery time, work the same muscle groups once every 7!! days, its so annoying to hear people say 'but I'm not aching bla bla bla', 4 days is NOT enough!

There is no way you can justify putting a deadlift on back day, it works the legs far more than it works the back!

Reply 19

Barny

mik1w

Is it not a better idea to put the isolation exercises first, so when you come to the compounds you can be sure that if you fail it will be on the muscle set you're aiming to workout?

Dont go to failure every set every exercise, you'll quickly begin overtraining!

And you should always do compound exercises first, having fresher muscles will mean you can shift more weight in the compound exercises(far more important than being able to shift more weight on isolation exercise). And trust me, it will be your main muscles that are getting knackered, not the smaller ones(simply because theyre much smaller than the main ones!).