Attempt at creating a good workout program

[Azarok]

Heyas, im trying to make my own workout program, mainly focuses on strength. I'm relatively new, 8 months into  training and im attempting to fix the issues i ran into with my last few plans. If you have any advice or exercise suggestions, tell me. :]

 

4 sets of 5-7 reps. 2 min breaks.

Leg day

Barbell Squat

Deadlift

box jumps (3 sets of 20, 45 sec breaks)

Tabata cardio 4 min

 

push day

Military Press

Bench press+Incline Dumbbell Press (3 sets of each)

Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Press

Lying Face Down Plate Neck Resistance (3 sets of 7)

 

 

pull day

pullups

barbell row

Hammer curl +alternating dumbbell curl

Overhead Slam (2 sets of 20, 30 second break)

Farmers walk

 

ab exercises every second day

Landmine 180's

Cable Crunch

 

 

[Grandkai_NL]

What are your weights (how much do you vench, squat, deadlift?) and what program did you do before?

[El Exorcisto]

What were your issues with your former programming? What are your physique goals? What are your strength goals? What are your lifts currently? We need to know this before we can point you in any particular direction with your training.

[Azarok]

Sorry for the late reply. My current program is a 5x5 program i made with an upper/lower body day split. I was focusing more on my nutrition plan and made the swap from full body workouts to upper/lower workouts. I've learned a lot about workout planning in the last month and wanted to make a better, more time efficient plan that targets everything.

The main issue was trying to effectively train every muscle group in a lower/upper day split. My previous upper body days took around two hours and i also switched focus between the triceps and shoulders every second workout. I also switched out the bench press for pushups and svend press to change things up, which was a mistake im pretty sure. As for my current lifts, i've only recently started doing dead-lifts and weighted squats so i am going up slowly at around 5kg a week, so i can get the form down. I likely wont reach what i can actually lift with these for a few more weeks. My bench is close to 55kg.

 

I want to focus almost entirely on strength and power, get as strong as i can before i reach freakish muscle territory. I also plan to join muay thai(or wing chun) and do parkour.

[El Exorcisto]

Judging by the 55kg bench, you are still well within newbie gains. Look at Stronglifts or Starting Strength and run it out until you can't anymore. At that point get on some real programming like 5/3/1 to continue advancing. Speaking form experience, just throwing some shit at the wall and seeing what sticks is a sure way to not progress as quickly as you want to.

[wildross]

Premature optimization is a common issue (ie, doing custom stuff before you've done the 'easy' stuff)

[El Exorcisto]

It's also called special snowflake syndrome. Most have fallen victim to it at some point.

[Azarok]

hmmm, i'll think this over. Also the 55kg bench was back when i was doing 10 reps. Absolutely no idea what i current 1 rep max is, might as well find that out later today. Thanks for the info guys but i do have a question. Why is it recommended to take a premade plan, is my plan simply too much training for someone with my experience? Because i seem to be having pretty good improvements with my current upper/lower split. I just don't understand why a plan like this wouldn't be effective for me simply because im still having newbie gains. It seems to me like it should accelerate my progress instead of stunt it. :]

 

[wildross]

hmmm, i'll think this over. Also the 55kg bench was back when i was doing 10 reps. Absolutely no idea what i current 1 rep max is, might as well find that out later today. Thanks for the info guys but i do have a question. Why is it recommended to take a premade plan, is my plan simply too much training for someone with my experience? Because i seem to be having pretty good improvements with my current upper/lower split. I just don't understand why a plan like this wouldn't be effective for me simply because im still having newbie gains. It seems to me like it should accelerate my progress instead of stunt it. :]

as a new lifter, essentially any plan, consistently applied will yield results. There is no need (or real benefit from) to customize a plan until after you have exhausted 'newbie gains' and discovered some true weaknesses. and we see a lot of people who customize so much, that the get overwhelmed and quit. It's like worrying about how much vitamin D when you still eat at McDonald's every day.

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[matty_mcfly]

SL5x5 and SS are only recommendations that most of us all suggest. At your stage there's no real reason you need to do ALL the work you're doing and being in the gym for more than 45 minutes to an hour.

You can take squat, deadlifts, bench, press, rows and pull ups very far and work ALL the major muscles to develop strength. Though I would keep core/ab work just cause I know SL5X5 lacks this.

All (majority) of us took either program and made excellent progress and gains. However it's only a recommendation (that we generally know works) but feel free to run YOUR program until you want to try out a proven one.

[Azarok]

ah gotcha, thanks. :]

[Kidney bean]

Sorry for the late reply. My current program is a 5x5 program i made with an upper/lower body day split. I was focusing more on my nutrition plan and made the swap from full body workouts to upper/lower workouts. I've learned a lot about workout planning in the last month and wanted to make a better, more time efficient plan that targets everything.

The main issue was trying to effectively train every muscle group in a lower/upper day split. My previous upper body days took around two hours and i also switched focus between the triceps and shoulders every second workout. I also switched out the bench press for pushups and svend press to change things up, which was a mistake im pretty sure. As for my current lifts, i've only recently started doing dead-lifts and weighted squats so i am going up slowly at around 5kg a week, so i can get the form down. I likely wont reach what i can actually lift with these for a few more weeks. My bench is close to 55kg.

 

I want to focus almost entirely on strength and power, get as strong as i can before i reach freakish muscle territory. I also plan to join muay thai(or wing chun) and do parkour.

 

I don't want to be too pedantic, but... maybe you would be better off with a full body workout? Its more time efficient and trains every muscle group. If you don't want to, that's fine, but I would definitely suggest adding squats to another workout- maybe the 'press' day- so that the movement stays fresh and you squat more than once a week.

 

If I were to start again, I would do the starting strength program with 3-5 sets of chins/ pull ups at the end.

[Azarok]

Hey kidney, i did do full body workouts for about 6-7 months. I also forgot to mention the idea was to do my plan 5-6 days a week, Like this  Push, Leg, Pull, Break, Push, Leg, Pull, break. I didn't bring it up in my original post because i was asking about the structure of the program, not the intensity. :]

[Jedrik Serpenthelm]

So, lets look at the pros and cons of your program. On the Legs day you start off with squats which is good. But here's the question you have to ask yourself, why are you doing front squats on the same day as back squats? If tear dropped quads are your goal then highbar squats would probably be more beneficial then lowbar squats, so if you have highbar squats in your program at your current level of development what are front squats giving you that hb squats aren't?

 

Similarly, what do you think that leg presses at your current level of development are giving you that squats aren't? Moving onto standing calf raises, have you ever heard of a powerlifter missing his squat because of his weak calves? Of course not, but lets say you want to perform standing calf raises because you are interested in bodybuilding, wouldn't you rather perform standing calf raises at a higher volume, like 3-5 sets of 15, that would cause more hypertrophy? Next, you included box jumps presumably because you are interested in parkour, and deadlifts. Having deadlifts in the program is good, but if you just did 60 box jumps how great do you think your deadlift pull is going to be?

 

Moving onto press day, lets start with the obvious. If you want to be big and strong why would you leave out the bench press? Ignoring that you start out with an OHP which is good. Now run the same analysis as earlier, at your current level of development what are arnold presses giving you that OHP's aren't? Similarly, you have three exercises focusing on the triceps (close grip Bench, tricep dips, and the overhead tricep press) at your current level of development why do you think that you need three different bench accessory exercises when you aren't even benching? If it was for hypertrophy you would be doing them for 3-5 sets of 10-15.

 

On the pull day you have pull-ups which is good. You also have dumbell shrugs, but the truth is you aren't going to get a yoke from dumbell shrugs so why do them? If you want a yoke you have to go heavy with barbell shrugs or go into the olympic lifts and do what those guys do. Moving onto the dumbbell rows and t-bar row once again you have to ask yourself what are they giving you that deadlifts aren't? Finally we come to rear dumbbell raises. The first question you have to ask yourself is why are doing them? What are they giving you that OHP's aren't giving you? If it was for hypertrophy you would be doing them for 3-5 sets of 10-15.

 

I hope I gave you some things to think about, good luck.

[Azarok]

ah crap, i didnt post these in the right order xD. I meant to stick all of my compound exercises to the front, fixing now. Good point about the front squats and leg press, i thought that they would target slightly different muscles. I suppose i could take out the leg press and just do the back squats. As for arnold press and rear dumbbell raise, i just heard that it focuses on different parts of the shoulder. As you said though, it does not seem necessary, i suppose i could remove them for now :]. Also, ill switch out the close grip bench to a regular one. The rows are there for variance and to help with lat development as well. Although i will consider replacing them with a deadlift. Thanks for the help jendrik, thinned out my day considerably.

[El Exorcisto]

The deadlift doesn't have anywhere near the same effect as rowing movements. Both of them touch the lats in some way, but that's like saying a movement touches your legs in some way. Doing multiple row variations at this point would be fruitless, but row. With the epidemic of weak upper backs and people dropping their deadlifts around here, please, row something heavy.

 

Box jumps can have two different training effects. If you want to do them to build speed in the squat and pull, then do at most 3 jumps and make them MAX effort. If you want to do them for conditioning effect, then use a low box and do as many as you want. There will be little if zero crossover between the two approaches.

 

Rear laterals are great, and fast. They build the rear delts and scapular retractors, which are typically neglected, although would be hit with DB rows if done right.

 

Skip the shrugs. If you want to build a yoke then be a big puller. If you want to do more than just deadlift for them, then do farmer's walks with heavy ass weight. Carry 75% of your deadlift around for a while. That will build your grip, lats, traps, and core at the same time while also having a huge conditioning effect.

[Shortgorilla]

EE, what do you mean, 'weak upper backs and dropping their deadlifts'?  You mean people are just skipping out on deadlifts?  That's all over the place.  People hate deadlifts.

[El Exorcisto]

No, people are dropping their deadlifts on the floor because their grip sucks and resorting to straps.

[Azarok]

Interesting, one of the main reasons i added t-bar rows was the focus on the middle back. the dumbbell rows are to get greater range of movement. Im doing box jumps for conditioning, I'll add the farmers walk as well because it seems like it would take less time to finish than the shrugs. :]

[El Exorcisto]

Stick with one. You're not a pro bodybuilder needing to bring up regions of a muscle group.

[Shortgorilla]

No, people are dropping their deadlifts on the floor because their grip sucks and resorting to straps.

 

Oh, so you mean people like me, haha.  I HAVE BABY HANDS GET OFF MY BACK!!!

[Jedrik Serpenthelm]

Earlier you had asked why everyone was recommending cookie cutter programs. Now that you’ve considered why you should perform certain assistance exercises (for hypertrophy and to improve weak areas on your mainlifts) I’ll show you. The thing to remember is that intermediate programs are really more of templates that you adjust, rather than straight cookie cutter programs. So here would be one way to perform your old program

 

Your old exercises as Wendler 531:

 

Bench: 531 sets

Incline dumbbell press: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

Pullups: 3-5 sets of as many reps as possible

Hammer curl: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

 

Barbell Squat: 531 sets

Leg press: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

Lunges: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

Standing Calf Raises: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

 

Press: 531 sets

Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Press: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

Dips: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

Rear lateral raise: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

 

Deadlift Day: 531 sets

T-Bar Rows: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

Dumbbell Rows: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

Shrugs: 3-5 sets of 10

 

 

Here’s a variation of your current routine as the Texas Method. In the Texas Method volume is used on the main lifts to drive intensity.

 

Monday (Volume Day)

5 x 5 squat @ 85 percent of Friday’s lift

5 x 5 bench @ 85 percent of Friday’s lift

5 x 5 row

 

Wednesday (light Recovery Day)

Press or closed grip bench press (powerlifting focus) 3 sets of 5

Front Squat (this is less stressful then a back squat so can be put on the recovery day)

Pull-ups

 

Friday (Intensity Day)

Squat: ramp up to one top set of 5

Bench: ramp up to one top set of 5

Deadlift: ramp up to one top set of 5

 

Exercises that don’t work enough muscle to be real stressful can go here to as long as it doesn’t interfere with Monday’s workout: Rear lateral raise: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20; Hammer curl: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

 

A possible variation of your program as Heavy Light Medium

 

One cool thing about this program is that you can vary intensity through the week by using percentages on the lifts, or by the selection of the lift because the variation of the lift at full effort will be less stressful then the main lift.

 

Heavy Day

Squat 3 sets of 5

Bench 3 sets of 5

Deadlift

 

Light Day

Squat 3 sets of 5: 10-20% less then Heavy day

Press 3 sets of 5

Pullups

 

Medium Day

Squat 3 sets of 5 5-10% less then Heavy day

Incline Bench Press or Close Grip Bench Press (alternating every once a while) 3 sets of 5

Rows

 

Exercises that don’t work enough muscle to be real stressful can go here to as long as it doesn’t interfere with Monday’s workout: Rear lateral raise: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20; Hammer curl: 3-5 sets of 10 to 20

[Azarok]

Very interesting jedrick. I may try one of these methods every six weeks. See which works best for me. The wendler 531 looks particularly interesting. im starting my program on friday so i'll think everything over before then. Thanks :]

[El Exorcisto]

Neither program works on a "try it for 6 weeks" kind of approach. 5/3/1 in particular is laid out to be a long term solution. Both methods are simply different approaches to periodization, neither being inherently any "better" than the other. The Texas Method has been regarded as just being too much by some. I've bounced on and off of 5/3/1 for about a year now and it has been a huge mistake. Had I just stuck to it, not been greedy, and addressed supplemental and assistance work properly I am sure I would be stronger than I am now.

[Azarok]

Right now im stuck between my current plan, 531, starting strength and stronglifts. I'm sure i will see decent results regardless of what i choose. Thanks for your help everyone :]