Critique my routine?

[diablo]

Here's the deal. I'm 5'11", 200 lbs. A year ago, this same month ironically enough, I started working out fanatically - except I had no idea of what I was doing. I went with the first workout routine my trainer suggested, with no clearcut goals. I'd do strength training 3 times a week, and 1-3 hour long cardio sessions every single day (inline skating... I got really into it.) After half a year, my body fat dropped from 24% to 16%. Body lean went from 76% to 85%. Obviously not too great, but it could be worse. For half a year now, I've been out drinking, eating at Hooters quite a bit, and generally been living a very sedentary lifestyle.

A little over a week ago I decided that the time's come that I start taking my body and diet seriously once again. My goal is to reach 12-14% body fat in the next 3 months. Also, as I'm 200 lbs, I plan on losing about 20 lbs in body fat over the 90 days to come.

3 days ago I did HIIT springs for 4 minutes - 30 secs jogging, 30 sprinting at 100% effort, another 30 jogging, 30 sprinting, 30 jogging, then tried to make it for 30 secs at 100% but my body wouldn't help me.. so I fell to about 70%. Jogged for a good 40 seconds, then forced another 30 seconds of sprinting at about the same level - 70%. I covered nearly a mile in that time - about 500 feet short, actually, give or take 200 feet. For a good 30 minutes after I felt like I'd rather be dead. Anything would feel better than the gasping and wheezing - and I haven't had a single cigarette for over a year and a half! Sedentary lifestyle catching up...

Today I went to the gym for my new routine - keeping my muscles in shape. The last thing I want is to go on a cutting cycle and lose my muscle mass, too. Here's what I did at the gym - on the machines, not free weights.

Seated Leg Press: 200 lbs 15 reps
Leg Extension: 100 lbs 15 reps
Seated Leg Curl: 75 lbs 15 reps
Hip Abduction: 95 lbs 15 reps
Hip Adduction: 115 lbs 15 reps
Chest Press: 110 lbs 15 reps
Seated Row: 85 lbs 15 reps
Shoulder Press: 65 lbs 15 reps
Tricep Press: 85 lbs 15 reps
Arm Curl: 60 lbs 15 reps
Ab Crunch: 110 lbs 15 reps
Torso Rotation: 115 lbs 15 reps
Calf Raises: 210 lbs 15 reps
Back Extension: 130 lbs 15 reps

On a side note, I read a study put out regarding working out: Apparently people who focused on their specific muscle groups that they were exercising instead of reading a book or thinking about what food they'd get later on experienced a 15% gain in muscle as opposed to their distracted counterparts. Today, I pictured in my mind each muscle contracting and relaxing as I used it to lift weight. Hopefully it'll help.

I've also been watching every piece of food I put in my mouth for the past week. It's getting easier now to judge how much I should eat... I've got a Excel spreadsheet that I stole from here:
http://www.johnstonefitness.com/php/menus.php
That I've customized to my own use. I'm eating about 2000 cals a day, which I plan on adjusting to find my maintenance mode.. if anyone knows how to do this better, please let me know.

Also, I know that supplements aren't the end-all, but I don't have any problem using them if they cut even a week or two off of my goals. Here's the list of what I've got, and when I take them.

- 40g whey protein (GNC) twice daily = 80g
- 4 caps L-Glutamine 3g total
- 2 caps Glucosamine 1g total
- 1 cap Yohimbe Fuel (Twinlabs... just for fun)
- 1 cap TIGHT by S.A.N
- 1 cap One-A-Day Active MultiVit

Here's my diet timeline:
9:00 - 40g whey protein shake, 2 caps L-Glutamine, 2 caps Glucosamile, 1 Yohimbe, 1 TIGHT, 1 MultiVit
10 - small breakfast high in carbs (i.e. oatmeal & Total cereal)
1 - small mid-afternoon meal (i.e. chicken breast, pork chop, etc)
4 - 40g whey protein, 2 caps L-Glutamine, another mid-afternoon meal
7 - evening meal
9 - bedtime meal (natural peanut butter included)

That's it! Thanks for taking the time to read this thread - and hopefully for taking the time to reply to it.

Tomorrow I'll be doing another 4 minute session of HIIT. I'm still sore from the last one, but I'll make sure to warm up beforehand. Actually, I'm going to go for 5 minutes - that means an additional 30 secs of jogging and another 30 of sprinting (my legs hurt from the thought...).

 

[semag]

you need to split up your muscle groups for workouts bud. You're just kinda doin half assed hitting of the muscles when you work each one with one set like that.... split them up into different days... 2 at least, and throw a few exercises for each muscle in. I'm not gonna spell it out, cause there's tons of routines here, and on www.bodybuilding.com, but that's one thing you gotta do.

On everything else, sounds pretty good. Maybe I'll reply with some more later.

 

[NRM]

HIIT is good for you as long as you do it to exhaustion and to the point where you can't do any more. It's similar to working close to failure and your body just can't hold.

As semag said, you REALLY need to split up the routines. I don't know how long you've been doing it or how many times a week you do your workout, but you should split your routine into a 3-4 day split focusing on certain body parts once a week. Working out when you are still sore and not completely repaired is not doing your body a favor. You break down muscles when you work out and you build muscle when you rest. A week is a good rest period for your muscles.

I say figure out a routine that goes Monday, Wedesday, Friday. 30-50 minutes each. Also, figure out if you want to do cut or bulk up first. It is VERY Hard to do both at the same time. I recommend that you cut up first. Continue lifting heavy weights, sets of 4-5, but cut back on the calories. Once you are satisfied, hit the weights. The more lean mass you have, the less body fat percentage you will have. Not necessarily the less fat, just less percentage of your total body mass.

Use the mirror, skip the numbers. Go till you're satisfied.

Also, skip to machines if you have them. Freeweights aren't as productive as machines. They don't require your stabilizer muscles that you'll use in REAL life and they just aren't as overall effective. Good luck.

 

[DJBen]

Also, skip to machines if you have them. Freeweights aren't as productive as machines. They don't require your stabilizer muscles that you'll use in REAL life and they just aren't as overall effective. Good luck.

Just to clear it up, he means go to freeweights, not machines. Must have been a half-asleep typing error ^^

 

[diablo]

Thanks for the replies -

Semag, check out: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=304884

NRM, my goal for now is to cut. The reason I'm continuing with weights is so that my muscle mass doesn't decrease by a drastic amount as well... Why'd you think I might be trying to bulk up?

I've got a friend who's going to rewrite my workout schedule/routine - he's pretty hardcore about working out, so I'm guessing he knows what he's doing - I'll post it when I get it later today.

 

[NRM]

Haha, thanks DJBen. Yeah, I meant that machines aren't as productive.

Sorry, I think I WAS a little tired. I saw something about gaining 15% more in each muscle group and thought of bulking. 2000 cals for cutting didn't quite click for me.

If you want to see a good routine, check out one of the routines in the MAX-OT setup. Just look at the exercises, you don't have to follow the whole thing if you don't want to, but the goal is to hit all muscle groups.

Right-click + Save As

Everybody has different recovery rates. Professional bodybuilders will spend hours in the gym EVERYDAY and work out many body parts at a time. Something basic is good.

Monday - Legs + Abs
Wendesday - Chest + Triceps + Shoulders + Traps
Friday - Back + Biceps

Choose your exercises accordingly.