New Workout Advice

Pigeon_Killer

Pigeon_Killer

Pigeon_Killer

Caporegime
Joined
21 Nov 2005
Posts
41,953
Location
Cornwall
I'm heading back to the gym today and I'm in need of a new workout. I will only be able to get to the gym twice a week for the next six weeks so I'm looking for a workout that's suited to that time frame. My main goal is to continue to improve my strength.

I was planning on doing the following exercises in the following order:

Day 1

1. Squats - 4x6
2. Bench - 4x6
3. SLDL - 3x8
4. Dips - 3x8
5. Abs - 3x15

Day 2

1. Deadlift - 4x6
2. Rows - 4x6
3. Shoulder Press - 4x6
4. Chins 3x?
5. Dumbbell Curls 3x8


Any thoughts or suggestions regarding each exercise and the order I plan to do in them would be appreciated. Thanks :)
 
Very good choice of exercises you've picked there, guaranteed to make you grow if you work hard at them ;)

This is the order i'd do them in:

1. Squats - 4x6
2. SLDL - 3x8
3. Bench - 4x6
4. Dips - 3x8
5. Abs - 3x15

Day 2

1. Chins 3x?
2.Deadlift - 4x6
3. Rows - 4x6
4. Shoulder Press - 4x6
5. Dumbbell Curls 3x8

I always start my back day with chins (weighted) i rate them very highly. Personally i never do deadlifts first because the risk of injury is too great, the back needs to be thoroughly warmed up.
 
egt said:
I always start my back day with chins (weighted) i rate them very highly. Personally i never do deadlifts first because the risk of injury is too great, the back needs to be thoroughly warmed up.
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Im the same, however I dont do chins first. I start with some rows, then move onto deadlifts.
 
if you're doing chins then do wide grip pull-ups, works the lats more

i always do them first, then rows, then deadlift, purely because after going heavy on DL and rows, im too knackered to do any pull ups :)
 
Never considered doing anything other than deadlifts first. I was under the impression you should always start with the exercises that hit the most muscles and work from there :confused:

I was considering moving SLDLs to day 2 and doing them as some of my warm up sets for the deadlift. I don't know if it's advisable to mix two exercises like that but I thought it might work. I've never done them before yesterday so I'm starting the weight quite low and moving up 20K each week.

I forgot to include incline dumbbell press in my routine. I usually do 3 sets of 8 and include them after the bench on day 1. I hope it's not too many exercises to do on one day but I'm only hitting my chest once a week so I don't think it should be a problem.

Cheers for the help :)
 
egt said:
I always start my back day with chins (weighted) i rate them very highly. Personally i never do deadlifts first because the risk of injury is too great, the back needs to be thoroughly warmed up.
Click to expand...



Yeah the lower back, but chins won't do that for you, besides which you'll be weakening your grip as well.
 
Which is why you'll need to do a couple of warm up sets on deads. I do wide grip chins first on a back day, gets the bloody pumping and get's me ready. I've never found it effects my grip on deads at all, I can do exactly the same if they are first in the routine.
 
A2Z said:
if you're doing chins then do wide grip pull-ups, works the lats more

i always do them first, then rows, then deadlift, purely because after going heavy on DL and rows, im too knackered to do any pull ups :)
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree with you less :p

I disagree about wide-grip working the lats more, I think they hit the shoulders harder. Close grip hits the back and biceps harder if anything while hardly hitting the shoulders at all. For this reason I never do wide grip.

I do deadlifts, chins, then rows. Always do the heaviest exercise first when you have the most energy... makes sense to me anyway ;)
 
Chong Warrior said:
I couldn't agree with you less :p

I disagree about wide-grip working the lats more, I think they hit the shoulders harder. Close grip hits the back and biceps harder if anything while hardly hitting the shoulders at all. For this reason I never do wide grip.

I do deadlifts, chins, then rows. Always do the heaviest exercise first when you have the most energy... makes sense to me anyway ;)
Click to expand...
Sorry maybe i worded it wrong, by 'wide grip' i meant overhand, not underhand, what would then be chins. As underhand is much more bicep based then underhand, which definately uses the lats more.

And as for doing deadlifts first, i guess its whatever works for you. Since switching to deadlifts last, the weight im lifting has not suffered at all, and has actually gone up :D
 
A2Z said:
Sorry maybe i worded it wrong, by 'wide grip' i meant overhand, not underhand, what would then be chins. As underhand is much more bicep based then underhand, which definately uses the lats more.

And as for doing deadlifts first, i guess its whatever works for you. Since switching to deadlifts last, the weight im lifting has not suffered at all, and has actually gone up :D
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Ah right I'm with you. Yeah you're right, I rely heavily on chins to build my biceps, love them :)

Yeah definately a personal thing, to be honest I'll switch them around sometimes to try and help me blast through a sticking point. Whichever execise needs a boost goes first, works well.
As a rule of thumb though I'll do squats or deads first in my workouts... get them out the way!! :D
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
I'm heading back to the gym today and I'm in need of a new workout. I will only be able to get to the gym twice a week for the next six weeks so I'm looking for a workout that's suited to that time frame. My main goal is to continue to improve my strength.

I was planning on doing the following exercises in the following order:

Day 1

1. Squats - 4x6
2. Bench - 4x6
3. SLDL - 3x8
4. Dips - 3x8
5. Abs - 3x15

Day 2

1. Deadlift - 4x6
2. Rows - 4x6
3. Shoulder Press - 4x6
4. Chins 3x?
5. Dumbbell Curls 3x8


Any thoughts or suggestions regarding each exercise and the order I plan to do in them would be appreciated. Thanks :)
Click to expand...

As you're only working out twice a week I think you could be ok squeezing an extra exercise into each workout. I'd be tempted to throw in some incline bench press and some calf raises.

I've found in my experience it's easy to build bulk on the chest through flat or decline benching and dips but it soon becomes apparent the top of the chest isn't getting worked if you neglect inclines.

Calves are tough and need to be hit hard, they require lots of weight which good for building up body strength, I wouldn't miss them out.

That's a good solid looking routine you got there, just a few thoughts for you to consider;)
 
Is there any particular reason for doing 4x6 rather 3x8 on the big lifts? I generally do 3x8 but may try 4x6 if it's worth it.
 
S7yl3s said:
Which is why you'll need to do a couple of warm up sets on deads. I do wide grip chins first on a back day, gets the bloody pumping and get's me ready. I've never found it effects my grip on deads at all, I can do exactly the same if they are first in the routine.
Click to expand...

Ditto.
 
sh4rk said:
Is there any particular reason for doing 4x6 rather 3x8 on the big lifts? I generally do 3x8 but may try 4x6 if it's worth it.
Click to expand...

It's good to experiment with rep ranges, then you can see what your body responds to.

I like to pyramid my sets. eg: 10, 8, 6, 8, 10.
 
sh4rk said:
Is there any particular reason for doing 4x6 rather 3x8 on the big lifts? I generally do 3x8 but may try 4x6 if it's worth it.
Click to expand...
I think it's generally regarded as safer to perform fewer reps per set on big heavy exercises because there's more chance of your form suffering the more reps you try for.

3x8= 24 reps
4x6= 24 reps

Your muscles perform the same amount of work but if you're lifting near to your maximum then there's much more chance of you struggling near the end of the 8 reps and that means cheating which means poor form.
 
egt said:
It's good to experiment with rep ranges, then you can see what your body responds to.

I like to pyramid my sets. eg: 10, 8, 6, 8, 10.
Click to expand...

As do I. But my rep range begins at 12. I find it gives me my best results right at this moment.
 
S7yl3s said:
As do I. But my rep range begins at 12. I find it gives me my best results right at this moment.
Click to expand...

Whatever works for you, thats what it's all about. Everyone should experiment with rep ranges, there really are no fixed rules in our game :)
 
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