Advice on my workout
 

I was hoping to get a bit of feedback on the workout which I am currently doing. I work out on a home gym, and put together what I am doing based on magazine articles and the like, so I am not sure if it is the best thing i could possibly be doing.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 3 sets of 10 reps each.
- Bench press
- Upright row
- Tricep Dip
- Flat Fly
- Shoulder Press
- Tricep Pulldown
- Lat Pulldown

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
- Superset (3 sets):
Incline curl (6 reps, heavy weight)
Standard curl (12 reps, moderate weight
Hammer curl (25 reps, light weight)
- Reverse curl (3 sets 12 reps)
- Crunch (3 sets 25 reps)
- Leg Raise (3 sets 25 reps)

I also run 4 times a week (5km each session) and do a lot of work on an exercise bike, which provide my legs with a workout.

Can anyone give me a bit of feedback/advice/comments, eg am I doing the right thing and working out the right areas? Thanks

This seems like a good starting point to me if you are just getting into lifting. It is important to note though that workout will provide you with mainly toning. Doing lots of reps at light weight (and 3 sets of 25 is a LOT of reps) will be for toning the muscle. So if you are looking to bulk up then you need to do more focussed workouts (eg a day for chest / tri's, back bi's, shoulders, etc. of heavy weight with low reps).
Same thing with the legs, all the running and biking will be great for toning them, but its very important not to neglect your legs. too many people do that. your legs are where most of your testosterone is stored. working out your legs more will help you overall as well.

at any rate, this is a good starting routine to get into the swing of things, and will help get you toned up.

Check this thread out:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=44118

I got back into lifting here 2-3 weeks ago and just bilked plan9's workout and changed it a bit to suit me. There's lots of good routines in there though.

Best advice I can give you like Booker said, you need to exercise your entire body, all I see here are alot of heavy arm lifts and then alot of light but alot of leg lifts, If you intend to bulk up your arms you should do the same for your legs, and as far as I can see there is only really one leg focused exercise there. My machine has a squat area on it which works pretty well, you have a good workout plan but really you should be doing your max weight on everything and fewer sets most people prefere to do 5 5 8 8 8 / 10 10 10 . 5 at your near max weight and then after you finish those some 10s at about 75% of your max to continue pushing yourself to the max.

Overall, you have a nice workout plan it just needs more leg exercises and if you want muscle mass you need to do heavier weights with fewer sets.

Yep...and if you just getting into lifting...stay away from the supersets for now. If your looking to bulk up, and from it sounds like you are, keep on the heavy's and away from the 25 rep sets. Don't pass up squats, deadlifts, and leg press's for running. Keep up the cardio, but keep in mind the weights also. Switch up dumbells with the machines also. I'd throw another tri routine in with all those bicep routines...they give you the over all size look in your arms. Maybe some over the head tri extentions.

I like your workout, but I would do crunchs everyday. We never really work the Abs hard enough so it is some thing that you should try and do every day.

your working out too much....go to superslow.com and learn about real exercise

I just checked the workouts in that thread, and I have one question...

How in the hell does anyone have that much extra time?? Seriously though, I work 8 hours...lucky to get even a decent amount of lunch (I eat a pudding, an apple, and carrot sticks most days for lunch) and then I get home, make a decent dinner, usually chicken every other day.

So most of my day is wasted driving to work, working, driving home, time to make dinner, clean up the mess, get a shower in, read before I go to sleep, then sleep for (if' I'm lucky) 7 hours. Then repeat.

heh... I work 60 hours 6 days a week and still find time somehow... I just take it out of sleep hours ;)

As for your workout, you're exercising the same muscle groups again way too soon.

You need to leave time to heal in between - you'd be far better off to do each muscle group once a week than doing it 3 times a week.

What will happen is you will be in a permanent plateau, as your muscles will have had no time to heal and grow when you work them again.

split it up differently - maybe chest/triceps on monday, biceps and back on wednesday, and shoulders/legs on friday. You could do abs on monday and friday, but PLEASE do not do abs every day. Work them like every other muscle, preferably with resistance (weighted crunches or leg raises).

Get rid of those high rep sets.

High reps will build endurance, not strength or size. You haven't stated any of your goals, so I don't know if that is what you want or not.

Of course, if you need endurance in your arms for some sport, then by all means keep some high rep sets.

Your goal should be 3 sets of 6-8 reps each, with enough weight that makes the last rep of the last set REALLY hard to finish.

For muscle endurance sets, forget a set number of reps and just do it till exhaustion. Make sure you do that set last though ;

I thought about doing something like this, but wasn't sure if it would be enough. In other words, is working out a muscle group only once per week enough to build it?

Yup. If you work out the same muscle group too much you will do more harm than good. You will be overtraining. Your muscles need time to heal and repair themselves. Give them that time. It will only benefit you in the long run.

Your plan is going to be too hard on your muscles. Break up your workout and try to make each session about 45 minutes (a good guage that you are spending enough time on each few muscle groups per workout).

Start off with 8hrs of sleep and proper nutrition.

You also need to set a goal. Bulk up or cutting down?

If your bulking stick to compound movements. For your chest i would eliminate fly's. Just stick to flat and incline bench with some weighted dips. Close grip bench is the best excercise for your triceps. Biceps you can do alternating dumbell or barbel curls. Hammer curls are excellent for your forearms. Your best back excercise would be chinups or you can just do pulldowns, also some deadlifts would help. I would also strongly recommend doing some type of squat. Just because you are running doesnt mean you dont have to work out legs.

if your bulking keep the reps low and the weight high. Keep the intesity up and try and keep the workout to the 45mins period. If you want to run on lifting days then give yourself 8hrs between the two.

if your trying to lose weight or cut then you can increase the reps and lower the weight some. your goal here is maintain muscle mass and lose fat.

You may also want to look into HIIT training.

This is the cycle I'm doing now, I'm more or less just starting out, though I'm already in good physical shape.

Day 1-
Bench Press (3x8)
Dumbbell Curls (3x10)
Tricep Pull Downs (3x10)
Butterfly's (3x8)
Shoulder Press w/Dumbbell's (3x8)
ABS- Plate Twist, Incline Crunch
20 Min. of Cardio

Day 2-
Leg Press (3x10)
Hack Squat (3x10)
Leg Extension (3x10)
Calf Raises (3x10)
Vertical Leg Extension (3x10)
20 Min. of Cardio

Day 3- Rest
Day 4- Repeat day one but do sets 5x5
Day 5- Repeat day two but do sets 5x5
Day 6- Rest

Repeat

Any ideas? I have a fairly good diet, 3 large meals/2 small meals daily, and I'm on no supplements. Is this a good idea? Anyone?

What are your goals Tholo?
Are you trying to bulk up or tone or just be generally more fit?

Hmm I think you should get some more rest in there somewhere, especially since you said you do lots of cardio work that should also be working your legs. Also, like it has been said before, your routine will vary greatly based on your goals. Let us know what you are trying to do, be it bulking up, general fitness, toning, or somewhere in between all that, and we can help you further.

oh right right, my goals are a little from column A and a little from column B. I definately want to get some more size, but I'm not looking for huge gains. I'm also interested in being more fit/defined.

make your mind up
you have wishey washy goals and will thus get wishy washy results

Sounds to me like you want to get more cut, but gain some strength. I'd do pyramid sets if I were you, starting at 12 reps. (12 reps decent weight, then 10 reps bit heavier, then 8 reps heavier). I'd also break down your days more. I'd go on a 4 or 5 day routine. say chest/tri, back/bi, legs, shoulders. make sure to focus on form and get a good burn out of every exercise you do. rest or cardio on the off days.

1 day of legs and 1 day of upper body wont give you very quick results and you wont get that big intense burn on a muscle group. Your body will adapt to your workout way too fast like that.