advice on my new full body routine

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i usually train one body part per week (typical chest and tris, back and bis, and legs), but i decided to mix it up with a full body work out 3 times per week and then two days rest.

i warm up with pushups, chinups, hindu squats, frog kicks, crunches, and unweighted good mornings. i dont do any of them until failure. 75% maybe.

the lifts i do are the dead, bench, squats, bent rows, side presses and forearms.

ill also do either curls, skull crushers, or upright rows once a week (do curls monday, rows wednesday, etc.). i know what people say about isolation exercises but im a little dude who still wants a bit more size.

i lift heavy and close to failure but not quite. if im sore ill give it another day before lifting again, but thus far i haven't been sore but once.

im just kinda playing around with this routine so any advice is greatly appreciated.

[GreenCloudCLF]

See my last post...A routine is based on your goals and desires...if you want to add size, strength, endurane, it will affect the advice given.

Give a little more background and I will give a little more advice.


BTW thats $20 you owe me in advice now!

[Ford Prefect]

How do you cycle intensity, exercises? What are set/rep schemes? What is your actual schedule? Rest periods between sets? Etc. Really can't say anything without more info. It's like saying "I bought a car with 4 wheels, an engine, leather seats, and a radio. What do you guys think?".

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i havent started cycling intesity at all ... i guess this is the kind of advice im looking for. as it is i just record the weight i did ill add 5lbs every 2 or 3 workouts.

i do 7-10 deads (125 - just learning them adding 5lbs per workout), 3 sets 3-5 benches (135), 3 sets 5-7 squats (140), 2 sets 5-8 bent rows (80), just learning the side press so i punch out 10 - 12 very low weight , and forearms are 3 sets 12 wrist curls (60 with big ass foam on bar) follwed by 3 sets 8-10 reverse wrist curls (55), and then i play with weights by just pinching plates togeather and doing curls or just holding them or whatever.

i typically take a minute to a minute 30 between sets. if possible ill do another exercise while waiting. like ill do bench, take 30 seconds, bent row, take a minute, bench, etc.

curls, skull crushers (or whatever tri exercise), and upright rows are a little different. ill do 2 heavy sets of 3-6 reps and then follow them with 2 - 3 burn out sets of lightish weight in the 8-12 range. these are only done once a week.

my goal over all is raw strength, but im still trying to get a little more size. i had to spend some time in the hospital and i went up to a fat 140 (im 5'4''), took myself all the way down to 118, and now im back up to a defined 134. my goal is to be a solid 140 to 145 and be benching over 200 by mid to end summer. 200 might sound laughable to some of you but remember im a little dude and i'll take it past that after that goal is reached.

i've been thinking about using pavels meathods of cycling but havent committed to anything as of yet.

i hope that helps.

[Ford Prefect]

Alright. Well, first of all gaining mass is really a function more of diet than training. A routine has to follow some basic principles in order to enduce hypertrophy, but diet is the overriding factor. I'd say that at your height and weight, then heavy lifting like you describe should be enough in conjunction with the proper diet to meet your goals.

Your size is actually a benefit when coming to heavy benching or squatting. Since your limbs are shorter, you have a shorter ROM to work through and you have a leverage advantage over somebody with longer limbs. Most world class power-lifters are shorter than average due to this.

It's kind of hard to say how much is too much with your bodyweight stuff and BJJ because throwing weights in there could effect your recovery time and lead to over training. How long have you been combining the 2? How many times do you go to BJJ/week? And what type of bwe stuff do you for endurance?

I'll recommend some routine options when I hear back.

[fa_jing]

3 sets of 3-5 on bench and 3 sets of 5-7 on squat aren't enough for growth. The fact that you aren't sore is not a good sign IMO. Try for 25-30 reps in each of your two primary upper and lower body exercises (squat and bench) in reps ranges of 3-7.

Also, you probably need to cut down the warmup BWEs. Given your workout weights a set of 5 at 95 lbs and another at 115lbs would be enough for either exercise. Don't statically stretch before lifting either. I'd save all the stretching, BWEs for off days except pullups which are hard enough to be useful

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i start juijitsu next week hehe. ill be going 2 to 3 times per week and its a pretty typical juijitsu class from what i understand. i wont be training for competition or anything so i probably wont be doing any killer conditioning.

right now since its cold i do 2 to 3 minutes of jump rope followed by 10 mins of running up and down my steps as fast as i can. this is barely enough to keep my from slipping too far, but once it gets warmer ill be biking again and im going to finally start running. im only going to run through the woods and only for a mile or two though. not for any other reason than the fact that i really hate running, but i guess that could change. ill also be hiking a big ass hill with my budy once a week

[Water Dragon]

Sounds good. The only thing I'd recommend is hanging some heavy weights from your Jimmy twice a week.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

right right ... i just didn't mention that cause i figured the willy weights went without saying.

oh and tonight i put up 165 on the bench without a spot. i know some of you may not lift that light for a warm up, but i was proud of myself.

another question though ... is it bad that my feet don't reach the ground when benching? my bench is wide enough that when i lay down only my toes touch the ground ... should i put something under my bench so that i can put my feet into it or am i better off without it?

[Chief Fox]

You've already gotten some good advice. The only thing I could add is maybe get some coaching on olympic style lifts Like the squat clean, Clean and Jerk and the Snatch. These exercises will give you full body explosive strength and will develop a killer core.

[AndrewS]

GDA,

Here's a suggestion based on your proposed exercises- deadlifts, bench, squat, bent rows, side press, lifting 3x wk- fewer exercises per session, more volume in the exercises. Lose the bodyweight warmup- do that on your post-lifting days as a recovery workout, and do light mobility stuff to warm up.

Then-
Workout #1).
Deadlift 5x5
side press 5x3
Forearms

Workout #2).
Bench 5x5
Bent row 5x5
Front squat 5x8
'triceps'
Weighted ab work- flexion (i.e. weighted situps, roman chain situps, leg raises)

Workout #3)
Box squat 5x5 (more sets if you really want mass)
Good morning or Back extension 3x8
Weighted abs - rotation (fullcontact twist, side bends, woodchoppers)

Rest intervals 2-3 min for the main exercise (cut down to under 90s for more hypertrophy- maybe pick one day a week where you do that and go up to 8-10 sets if you're hungry for size), 1 min for the assist work

After 6-8 weeks you can either change up your workout or change out your exercises (Sumos for regular DL, change the height, bar position and stance on your squat, floor presses for bench press, etc.).

The above should give you enough volume per session to get you strength and size.

Andrew

[AndrewS]

GDA-

everything I've read about benching says that if you intend to bench heavy you need to have your feet on the floor- check the bench articles over at efs for details.

Andrew

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

awesome thanks man .... i'm almost happy to hear that i should have my feet on the floor.

if i get something under my feet and a real spot (suzi sitting on the basement steps waiting to see if she has to call the ambulance or can go back upstairs doesnt really count) i might be closer to 200 than i think.

[Ford Prefect]

GDA,

Yes, your feet need to be on the floor in order to lift the maximum amount of weight. You should be driving your shoulders into the bench with your legs. Your butt needs to stay firmly planted on the bench as well, so don't lift it while driving.

Andrew's 5x5 recommendation is a good one. I wouldn't go 5x8 on anything especially legs if want to remain relatively recovered for your BJJ sessions. Going to BJJ with hurting quads is a good way to waste a training a session.

A thing to remember with 5x5's. Their true power comes in how you cycle the weight. You don't move up in weight until you can do the 5x5 with the same weight for all sets. For instance it may look like:

Bench Session 1: 135x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x4, 135x2
Bench Session 2: 135x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5, 135x3
... etc. You don't add a single pound until you are doing 135 for 5 reps for all 5 sets.


Also, if you can do pull-ups, I'd add those as well and just start adding weight. Maybe something like:

Monday:
DL 5x5
Bench 5x5
Push Pressx5-4-3-2-1

Wednesday:
Pull-up 5x5
Goodmorning 3x4
Split Jerk x5-4-3-2-1

Friday:
Squat 5x5
Bench Press 1.5's 4x4
Bent Row 3x8

Start by selecting 2 workouts and doing them on Monday and Thursday for a few weeks to get used to the volume. Then start the 3 workout program.

Don't sweat the olympic lifts. They are very overrated when it comes to power-speed development and there are easier ways to get explosive. Adding strength is step #1.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

awesome ... i think im gonna start that tomorrow.

i wasn't familiar with the split jerk or the bench 1.5s though.

i found a link to the split jerk here: http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...SplitJerk.html , but i may want some coaching on that one before trying it with any real weight.

but what's the bench 1.5s?