advice to optimize my gym routine

[ThePhoenix]

Hi.

I wonder if some of you could give me some feedback on ly current gym program, or help me optimize it.

Here goes.

Each day:
20 minutes of rowing.
Benchpress 5 sets - 10 reps with 33kg

A days:
All the exercises are 10 reps 5 sets.

Regular Bench:
Hold Dumbbell in each hand and lay flat on back on bench. Angle elbows outward and rest ends of weights on chest. Slowly lift weights straight up in to the air, hold for 2 seconds, and slowly bring back down.

Pin Bench:
Hold Dumbbells together parallel over chest. Rest on chest and slowly lift. Maintain a tight grip on weights.

Chestflies:
Hold Dumbbells parallel over chest with arms extended straight up. Slowly spread arms out to sides like a cross. Then bring back up to meet in middle.

Curls:
Stand with palms facing upwards, and Dumbbells perpendicular to the ground, slowly lift up towards shoulders, hold for 2 seconds, then slowly lower back again.

Front Raises:
Hold Dumbbells in each hand. Hold arms out straight forward with weights perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other. Slowly lower and raise your arms alternating sides like doggy paddling.


B days:
Side Raises:
Hold Dumbbells parallel to ground at your sides. Slowly raise arms out to the side until feeling top of shoulders burn. Lower back slowly to sides.

Side Rows:
Sit on bench with chest pressed to back of bench. Hold Dumbbells down in front of you. Slowly pull weights up almost as if into your armpits. Lower back down slowly.

Skullcrushers:
Lie flat on bench. Hold Dumbbells down by head, with elbows pointing up towards ceiling. Straighten arms out until weights are up in the air then lower back down to touch head.

Chest Pulls:
Stand bent at the waist with one arm holding on to the bench. Pick Dumbbell up with the other hand and similar to side rows, pull weight towards chest until it touches chest. Do a set, then switch to the other hand.

Shrugs:
Stand with back straight and Dumbbells down at sides. Keep arms straight and slowly shrug shoulders. (this one I do 15 instead of 10 reps)


A-days are Monday, wednesday and Friday.
B-days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
On Sunday I do 30 minutes of abs and core exercises.


ps: Sorry if my descriptions of the exercises is kinda strange.
PPS: I'm open to more or less scrap this plan, if someone has anything better.

 

[TRPim]

Hey!

First thing that really hit me is the lack of lower body exercises. You need to incorporate that.

Then it would be great if you could describe your goals, how often you workout, how many rest days a week you have, how much experience you have in the gym. Also, what do you mean by "optimize"?

I will be very happy to help you out, but you need to tell us more.

Edit: Now I see, that you did describe your split durign the week.

 

[ThePhoenix]

First thing that really hit me is the lack of lower body exercises. You need to incorporate that.

It is not strictly incorporated, but I from time to time do leg press - 5 sets 10 reps.
I also from time to time do some cross training, but I suspect that wasn't really what you were getting at.

Then it would be great if you could describe your goals, how often you workout, how many rest days a week you have, how much experience you have in the gym. Also, what do you mean by "optimize"?

My goals are to get abs and lift 50kg in benchpress, then 100kg.
I'm trying to find a balance between lean enough and muscular.

I started going to the gym in mid-2019, where I mainly focused on losing fat. The last 3 month or so, I've switched to more weight exercises and the last 2-3 weeks I went from machine exercises to more free weight exercises.

I hope that answers your question

 

[TRPim]

All right, this is at least something I can work with. I am by no means a personal trainer or an expert, but I think I can throw some ideas your way.

Honestly, your gym routine is usually relatively irrelevant to getting lean or building mass. Your goal in the gym should be still the same - improve performance in your lifts (i.e. increase weights, increase reps or improve exercise execution) regardless. The deciding factor for growth or fat loss is your diet. But that is a whole ‘nother topic.

As far as your routine is concerned, it probably needs a complete overhaul.

Since you’re a gym newbie, I would strongly suggest hiring a personal trainer and learning some basic exercises with proper technique.

The exercises you should focus on are:
- Barbell Squat
- Deadlift
- Romanian Deadlift
- Lunges
- Barbell Bench Press
- Barbell Overhead Press
- Barbell or Dumbbell Row
- Chin Up or Pull Up
- Dip
- Some Biceps Curl variation (Barbell, Dumbbell, Hammer Curl)

These are compound exercises that basically cover all your bases and you will benefit profoundly from getting stronger at these. I am not saying there are no other exercises worth implementing, but in my opinion you should learn these first and execute them properly. You could learn without a personal trainer, but it takes unnecessarily long time and you risk injuring yourself - trust me, I’ve been there.

Then I would suggest actually working out LESS. Your muscles grow when you rest after a workout, not during your workout. If you made a full-body split, training 3x a week should be enough. Also, try to keep your workouts around an hour in length. There really is no benefit in spending 3hrs a day in the gym.

Example full-body routine for you and your goals could look something like this:

Training A
A1 Barbell Squat 4x6-8, 120s rest
B1 Chin Up 4xAMRAP without weight, 120s rest
C1 Romanian Deadlift 3x8-12, 120s rest
D1 Overhead Press, 3x6-8, 120s rest
E1 Single Arm Dumbbell Row 3x8-12, 120s rest
F1 Barbell Curl (empty barbell) 1x100
G1 Walking Lunge 1x100 without weights

Training B
A1 Deadlift 4x3-5, 120s rest
B1 Bench Press 4x6-8, 120s rest
C1 Bulgarian Split Squat 3x12-15/leg, 120s rest
D1 Chin Up 4xAMRAP without weight, 120s rest
E1 Dip 3xAMRAP without weight, 120s rest
F1 Hammer Curl 3x8-12, 90s rest
G1 Walking Lunge 1x100 without weights

There is a lot more to cover, but alternating this routine on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays should be enough for you for a while. The goal would be to improve upon previous training sessions - do more reps or more weight.

Example Squats:
Training A1
Barbell Back Squat
60kgx8
60kgx8
60kgx7
60kgx6

The next time you squat you should aim for increase in reps until you get 60kgx8 for 4 sets. After you get 60kgx8x4, you should increase weight to approx 62,5kg. This goes for every exercise. Only for AMRAP aim for increasing reps without the weight.

Also, remember to do 3-5 warm up sets before your working sets and increase the weight and reduce reps in every warm up set to get to your working weight.

With squat it could look like this:
20kg(empty bar)x10
30kgx8
40kgx5
50kgx3

Then 4 sets of 6-8 reps with 60kg and 120s between the working sets.

I could go on and on...

Think about it and ask away if you have any questions. Also, just get the personal trainer - you can always ditch him after you learn the basic lifts.

 

[ThePhoenix]

@TRPim thanks. I'll take a look at it, an contact a trainer at the gym, to get some in-person guidance