Gym Routine

[Stevo985]

Yep, impossible to say.

 

And burning more calories whilst lifting isn't necessarily a good thing. You'd probably burn more calories doing a 10kg bench press for a hundred reps than you would doing 100kg for 5 reps. But I know which one would do you more good.

 

As JB said, I don't account for calories burnt whilst working out. I make sure my diet is good enough for me to lose weight anyway, and then any calories burnt from weights/cardio is a bonus.

[villaglint]

Day 1 - Chest and Triceps

 

Dips to warm up

 

Bench press

Incline DB Press

Cable Cross Over

Incline DB Flies

 

Skull Crushers

Tricep pull downs

DB Tricep extensions

 

Day 2 - Back and Abs

 

Pull ups to warm up

 

Barbell Row

Deadlifts

Single arm DB rows

Lat Pulldown

Seated Row

 

Various Ab exercises

 

 

Day 3 - Shoulders and Biceps

 

Overhead BB Press

Lat Raises

Shrugs

High seated Row

 

Seated DB Bicep Curls

Standing BB Curls

Hammer Curls

 

Day 4 - Legs

 

Squats

Leg press

Leg Extension

Romanian Dead Lifts

Calf Raises

 

 

Question here for Professor JB and Stevo.

 

I have always done shoulders (usually some form of shoulder press) on the same day as chest, my reasoning being that both are involving the triceps. I then alternate with back and arms, and a leg days to make up the week.

 

Has never been a problem but recently I developed a bit of niggler in the front of my left shoulder which is taking ages to go away. I'm wondering if its because I'm doing shoulders on the wrong day. Trouble is the shoulder is so connected that if you really think about it there seems to be no right way to do it in terms of working out every(week)day and not hitting the same areas on consecutive days.

 

For instance if I switched up and did more of a routine like the one above (Stevo) then arent you effectively working out your biceps on Day 2 (various rows and lat pulldown) and then Day 3 (biceps curls etc)?

Edited April 13, 2015 by villaglint

[Stevo985]

A lot of people do back and biceps on the same day as it's pulling movements.

 

For me, back is my least favourite day. I find it very intensive and time consuming even though I don't do many lifts for it. I also find Deadlifts to be the most energy draining lift, so I'm really knackered after I do my back workout.

 

Whereas shoulders I find enjoyable and fairly easy so I much prefer to group biceps in with them as I find it much more enjoyable to do those two together, and I'm too knackered after doing back to throw in biceps as well. I also don't do many direct bicep exercises (only 3, and even then I sometimes skip hammer curls) for the exact reason you say. They get worked out a hell of a lot on back day too.

 

It's personal preference, I don't think there's any problem with doing it on back day. In fact that's probably the more common way of doing it.

 

 

As for the shoulder thing, yes I personally wouldn't do chest and shoulders. You use a lot of shoulder in chest exercises, particularly bench press and dumbell press. So throwing in direct shoulder work would be a lot for your shoulders to take. I'd keep chest and shoulders separate

Edited April 13, 2015 by Stevo985

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I've been out of the gym for almost 4 months with back problems. All muscular, mostly related to posture. I hit rock bottom when I started to have spasms.

I'm still not 100% but I'm not far off. I'm starting back in the gym today with a new upper/lower split programme. Keeping it simple, I've lost almost a stone in muscle so simple seems right to me for now! It's not exactly beginner but it should keep strains to a minimum.

Excited and a little nervous to find out where I'm at.

[JB]

Day 1 - Chest and Triceps

Dips to warm up

Bench press

Incline DB Press

Cable Cross Over

Incline DB Flies

Skull Crushers

Tricep pull downs

DB Tricep extensions

Day 2 - Back and Abs

Pull ups to warm up

Barbell Row

Deadlifts

Single arm DB rows

Lat Pulldown

Seated Row

Various Ab exercises

Day 3 - Shoulders and Biceps

Overhead BB Press

Lat Raises

Shrugs

High seated Row

Seated DB Bicep Curls

Standing BB Curls

Hammer Curls

Day 4 - Legs

Squats

Leg press

Leg Extension

Romanian Dead Lifts

Calf Raises

Question here for Professor JB and Stevo.

I have always done shoulders (usually some form of shoulder press) on the same day as chest, my reasoning being that both are involving the triceps. I then alternate with back and arms, and a leg days to make up the week.

Has never been a problem but recently I developed a bit of niggler in the front of my left shoulder which is taking ages to go away. I'm wondering if its because I'm doing shoulders on the wrong day. Trouble is the shoulder is so connected that if you really think about it there seems to be no right way to do it in terms of working out every(week)day and not hitting the same areas on consecutive days.

For instance if I switched up and did more of a routine like the one above (Stevo) then arent you effectively working out your biceps on Day 2 (various rows and lat pulldown) and then Day 3 (biceps curls etc)?

This is a really common problem.

There is no such thing as a "wrong" day. However, you may have seen me banging on about balancing push/pull movements before. My guess (and it's nothing more than an educated guess) is that your routine may be a bit push-heavy. Try balancing this out with some properly executed, high volume upper back/rear-delt work, maybe as an antagonistic superset, e.g.

1A Incline bench press x 6

1B Face pulls/band pull-aparts x 15

I always do a set of pull-aparts after any heavy benching. This approach worked wonders for me when my shoulders were flaring up. Touch wood I haven't had any problems since. The shoulder is extremely complex and very easily injured, commonly from overuse. Too much pressing on one day is going to take its toll. I'm speaking anecdotally here so take this advice as you will but I don't do much direct shoulder work anymore and if anything they've grown. I usually just do some form of lateral raise and rear delt work and leave it at that. I've just started doing explosive snatch-grip (lol) barbell high pulls too, which are great.

Edited April 13, 2015 by JB

[sexbelowsound]

Lateral raises were a big problem for me. They always seem to twinge something however lately I've been doing a variation where you hold the weights at shoulder height in front of you with a bend in the shoulders then you raise your arms up and down like you are pouring out 2 jugs of water. Creates a really good burn.

 

Not sure if I explained that well or not though!

[lapal_fan]

What do you call the lift, when you move your hand to the pie on your plate and then lift that into your mouth?

 

I'm good at that one, no crumbs or nuffin'.

Edited April 13, 2015 by lapal_fan

[Stevo985]

In other news, I picked some of this up at the weekend

 

 

Giving it its first test run tonight. Working out later these days (about 8pm) so I need a bit of a boost. Been flagging after half an hour lately.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Stevo985

[sexbelowsound]

Haha that stuffs got an ingredient called horny goat weed in it!

[dont_do_it_doug.]

"Good luck DDID"

"No worries cheers fellas"

[sexbelowsound]

"Good luck DDID"

"No worries cheers fellas"

 

We're right behind you princess. 

Edited April 13, 2015 by sexbelowsound

[Stevo985]

"Good luck DDID"

"No worries cheers fellas"

Have a "like"

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I genuinely looked behind me then.

[villaglint]

Thanks for the advice.

 

I used to do bench press lowering the bar to an inch or two above my chest. After reading varying bits I thought I was probably cheating and started going down to touch my chest and that is when the niggle in my front left shoulder started.

 

I've given it a few weeks off and it feels like it is pretty much gone. Now starting again with low weights going super slow to make sure I build up the full range of motion which was obviously missing last time.

 

Will heed the advice in putting together a new schedule.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Lateral raises were a big problem for me. They always seem to twinge something however lately I've been doing a variation where you hold the weights at shoulder height in front of you with a bend in the shoulders then you raise your arms up and down like you are pouring out 2 jugs of water. Creates a really good burn.

Not sure if I explained that well or not though!

That's a front raise no? An utterly pointless exercise and potentially dangerous exercise unless you're really advanced. It's a muscle you use plenty doing other compound exercises. That's probably why you've tweaked it, you're overtraining. It's decisions like that that took me out of action for 4 months.

Lateral is out to the side. Not so pointless.

[villaglint]

I think he's talking about a 90 degree external rotation rotator cuff exercise.

 

I'm guessing he ment bend in the elbow rather than shoulders. If your bending your shoulders then you definitely have issues with your form!

 

[sexbelowsound]

 

Lateral raises were a big problem for me. They always seem to twinge something however lately I've been doing a variation where you hold the weights at shoulder height in front of you with a bend in the shoulders then you raise your arms up and down like you are pouring out 2 jugs of water. Creates a really good burn.

Not sure if I explained that well or not though!

That's a front raise no? An utterly pointless exercise and potentially dangerous exercise unless you're really advanced. It's a muscle you use plenty doing other compound exercises. That's probably why you've tweaked it, you're overtraining. It's decisions like that that took me out of action for 4 months.

Lateral is out to the side. Not so pointless.

 

 

Nah, not a front raise. I just didn't explain it very well. It was the lateral raises that used to do it but the variation works well.

Edited April 13, 2015 by sexbelowsound

[sexbelowsound]

Can't get the video to embed but I just found the HodgeTwins explaining it.

 

http://youtu.be/jqFCHsnNUe4?t=3m

Edited April 13, 2015 by sexbelowsound

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Ah yeah.

I find that helps take the strain off my girly wrists.

[JB]

There are not many exercises potentially more injurious than the dynamic lateral raise generally favoured by the bros (aka clearings in the woods) in the gym, whereby they pretty much throw the weight up to their sides at pace, with an accompanying forward lean. It should be done slowly. It is not an explosive movement.

An excellent variation is what's called the dead stop lateral raise. Basically sit in the middle of a flat bench so that the two ends are either side of you. Start with the (light) dumbbells raised out to your sides with straight arms. Lower them until they come to rest against the bench. Your hands and the DBs should be at least 4inches away from your body. This is your starting position. From there, raise the DBs out to your sides and lower them until they come to rest against the bench again and repeat for reps. This takes the momentum out of the movement and the gap between your hands and body takes the traps out of the equation. Lots of people tend to be trap-dominant on lateral raises, which can cause problems. Leading with your pinky finger is good, too.

Edited April 13, 2015 by JB