The Official "Post Your Weightlifting Routine" Thread

[Devestator]

My workout works biggest muscles first and smallest muscles last. Every muscle group is incorporated in a lifting sessions; none of that "split routine" crap.

So, I start with squats, end with arm curls and wrist curls.

If your workout impresses girls, you aren't working hard enough. Girls and everyone else should FEAR you at the gym due to your intensity and the amount of weight you're pushing. You shouldn't be able to mack anyway due to exhaustion. It pays off after you leave the gym. Look better at higher weight = being able to eat more!

Supplements: caffiene, creatine, and stacker.

 

[Trant]

For about 3 years I didn't have a set routine, but I'd go to the gym 3x a week and do one hour long lift session of all muscle groups (chest bis tris shoulders back etc etc), with almost no gains.


Recently I discovered these boards and read the great guides to cutting and bulking up by diesel. I'm like, hey, wtf I'll try these, can't be worse than what i'm doing now, here's what i'm doing

(if i say 3 sets, i mean 1 set x 8 reps, 1 set x 6 reps, 1 set x 5 reps)

day 1 - chest:
4 sets bench, 3 sets flys, 3 sets incline / decline bench alternating week to week

day 2 - back/bis
3 sets seated row, 3 sets pulldown, 3 sets long bar row (look it up @ bodybuilding.com), 4 sets curls

day3 - off

day 4 - triceps
3 sets cable extension, 3 sets lying extension, 3 sets lying press

day 5 - off

day 6 - shoulders
3 sets seated dumbell press, 3 sets side lateral raise, 3 sets shrugs

day 7 - off

repeat

I do mix up various exercises week to week, but these are the ones I do the most

Let me tell you guys something, in 3 weeks of changing from my previous routine to this one guided by what diesel wrote, my 8 rep bench has gone up by 20 pounds! TWENTY! Using no suplements (creatine etc.) and not changing my already protein-heavy diet. I'm lifting more now than ever before. Before I was seeing small gains, like, maybe 10 pounds a month, maybe. I was basically stuck where I was. After only three weeks of this new routine, I can say that the best is yet to come. I wish I started this years ago!

Oh yeah, what about abs and forearms? I do them twice a week, usually when I have extra energy at the gym. I try to do them twice a week. Right now I'm not doing legs. My legs are strong enough from carrying my fat ass around my whole life (i lost a lot of weight 3 years ago and my legs are still pretty strong) right now i'm 6'0 190 lbs, could stand to lose a few pounds, but my main concern is lifting right now.

Read diesel's guide, it worked for me. Good luck everyone, hope this helped.

 

[madgame]

If your workout impresses girls, you aren't working hard enough.

In case you're referring to my last post, I didnt mean to say that you should try to impress girls at the gym. I was only saying, that working out and thus getting more muscular helps u a great deal with being more attractive to the opposite gender ;-)

none of that "split routine" crap.

Why do you call a split routine crap? Its only crap if u dont stick to it and thus dont work out all muscles equally.

 

[Devestator]

I wasn't referring to you. Sorry if you thought that.

Working all muscle groups every other day is the best way to go. That's because most lifts incorporate more than one group. Say you work chest one day, then arms the next. The bench press and the tricep presses both work triceps. Triceps don't get rest for two days. This fatigue prevents optimal growth.

If you work with proper intensity, working the whole body shouldn't take more than 1 1/2 hours.

I added about 100+ pounds to my bench within a year doing it this way.

You are right though. Doing any workout consistantly is better than nothing.

 

[Ricky]

Devastator

Sounds like hypertrophy specific training a bit.

Thats what I'm doiing. 3 fullbody workouts a week, (I admit sometimes I only get 2 a week in, but thats not too big of a deal)

Then I do cardio on the other days. Sometimes a very light cardio workout, but I'm just going to do cardio every other day until I lose a tiny bit more fat.

 

[Walden]

I do a real simple routine , Day 1 Chest and pullups (I'm training specifically to be able to do a lot of them as it's a testing criteria ofr the Paras), Day 2 Arms and Pressups (ditto), Day 3 WHatever feels it needs working , plus abs and stretching (for resilience).

This is a good thread.

 

[FitnessGuy]

Trant that looks like a really solid routine.

 

[madgame]

I wasn't referring to you. Sorry if you thought that.

No problem, I just thought you might have misunderstood me.

Working all muscle groups every other day is the best way to go. That's because most lifts incorporate more than one group. Say you work chest one day, then arms the next. The bench press and the tricep presses both work triceps. Triceps don't get rest for two days. This fatigue prevents optimal growth.

Right. I work out like this though:

(Usually Monday to Sunday)
Day 1: Chest / Shoulders / Triceps
Day 2: Legs / Back / Biceps / Abs
Day 3: Off
Day 4 = Day 1
Day 5 = Day 2
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off

Of course you could say, but when u do bench presses you work your lats too and train them on the following day too, but actually Ive never had a burn in my back the day after doing bench presses. Maybe it does work them out but I guess it puts so little stress on them that they dont really get stimulated enough/recover quick enough.

I used to work out all muscle groups in one session too (I kinda changed my routine a couple of times over the years, but right now I feel most comfortable with this one, I might go back to working out three times a week training all body parts in one session though, or maybe using another split program), but the results I got werent really better or worse than those that Im getting with this routine. If you plan your routine thoroughly I think you can avoid a fatigue in your muscles.

Let me tell you guys something, in 3 weeks of changing from my previous routine to this one guided by what diesel wrote, my 8 rep bench has gone up by 20 pounds! TWENTY! Using no suplements (creatine etc.) and not changing my already protein-heavy diet. I'm lifting more now than ever before. Before I was seeing small gains, like, maybe 10 pounds a month, maybe. I was basically stuck where I was. After only three weeks of this new routine, I can say that the best is yet to come. I wish I started this years ago!

Oh yeah, what about abs and forearms? I do them twice a week, usually when I have extra energy at the gym. I try to do them twice a week. Right now I'm not doing legs. My legs are strong enough from carrying my fat ass around my whole life (i lost a lot of weight 3 years ago and my legs are still pretty strong) right now i'm 6'0 190 lbs, could stand to lose a few pounds, but my main concern is lifting right now.

Increasing your bench by 10 pounds a month are pretty good gains to me. After working out for a while you might be really glad to get these results. (not saying anything against your new routine though)

I'd definetly incorporate legs and abs into your workout. I think you can do fine without working your forearms specifically though (point of view however). You should definetly start working out your legs right now though. I always thought my legs were strong already and my maingoal was to just add muscle to my upper body so I never worked out my legs then I realized..hmm it might be about time to start working out my legs also but always procrastinated it and now that Im about to start working out my legs, Ive almost reached my upper-body goal, but will still need to do the bulking for quite some time in order to make my legs stronger (not that my legs look like toothpicks compared to my upper body lol, but I think only working out your upperbody will put too much stress on your knees, besides I play basketball and working out your legs helps u jump higher and all in all I think its better to work out your legs too). Believe me in a year or so youll be happy if u start working out your legs in the beginning.

Besides, if your legs are strong cause u used to be fat or something, this doesnt mean theyll stay strong now that you lost most of that excess fat. All in all that sounds like an excuse for not working out your legs to me (I know a lot of guys who made such excuses..probably including myself). So better start working em out next time u hit the gym ;-)

 

[spikehead]

im using the school gym right now for my workouts so my equipment and time is limited. But this is my current bulking routine:

monday
chest dip 2x8-10
machine bench press 3x5-8
machine incline bench press 2x5-8
lying DB tricep extension 3x5-8
tricep dip 2x8-10

tuesday
DB front raise 2x5-8
machine shoulder press 3x5-8
DB squat 3x5-8
seated leg press 3X5-8
leg curl 2x5-8
seated calf raise 2x5-8
reverse curls 2x5-8

thursday
pull-ups 2x8-10
close-grip front pulldown 2x5-8
wide-grip front pulldown 2x5-8
barbell shrug 2x5-8
DB shoulder press 2x5-8
barbell curl 3x5-8
DB curl 3x5-8

 

[HB_Hunter]

I want to just ask about 2 things :

Diesel said that i have to change my routine every 4 weeks , so if i do

Day:Chest , Tri

Day:Back , Bi

Day Delts , traps

Day:legs

and 2 times a week abs , calves , forearms

then if i want to change my routine could it be back and bi first then chest and tri another followed by delts and traps or this is wrong since it produces overload on your chest 2 consecutive days ??? cause i go to Gold's Gym Maadi , Egypt and they told me this ...


the other thing is about the supplements .. what is the best whey powder that i can find ??? how often shall i use it ???

Regards ,

 

[madgame]

wouldnt really overtrain your chest, but maybe your triceps, cause its worked out on 2 following days.

Most of Diesel's guide is really good advice (especially for newbies) but I think the "change your routine every 4/8 weeks" and rest 1 or 2 full weeks or whateva he exactly said is nothing but bull**** to me. I've been working out constantly for 4+ years now and well I did change my routine every now and then in the beginning but for the whole last year or so (maybe even longer) Ive used the same routine and I couldnt really see that my results slowed down after 4 weeks or anything. The routine is still working the way it did months if not over a year ago. I think if somethings working for you you should stick to it. When you reach a plateau maybe changing your workout routine will help.
Idont know for a fact that my results hadnt been a little bit better if i had changed my routine every now and then, but I kinda doubt it. If I see I need to do something new to overcome a plateau or whateva I might change my routine, but y fix something if its working?
(Ive read that changing your workout routine a little every other moth is a good thing, but I had never read that you should change it as often as Diesel says and take a whole week or was it 2 weeks(?) of the gym as often as Diesel said).

The rest of his guide is really good though (dont mean to take nothing away from him). If you read it again youll see that he also said how much protein you should consume; the whey protein powder is only there to "supplement" your diet in other words to get the amount of protein that u need per day.


Oh and by the way if u wanna alternate your routine every once in a while I dont think ud have to do it the way you suggested. I think the point in changing your routine is using different exercises for your muscles for example.