Workout Question

HookemCards · April 22nd, 2004, 03:51 PM

I just recently started working out in order to tone and sculpt my body a bit. I can really only work out 4 days a week (and that sometimes is stretching it). My question involves what type of workout should I be doing. What I have been doing is Mon. and Wed. shoulders, chest, and arms, then Tues. and Thurs back, stomach and legs. Seems to be working ok except for one thing, each body part generally has two different excercises, ie chest (bench, flies), quads (squats, leg extensions), back (row, lat pulls), etc. If I work my chest all in one day, it feels like when I do the flies and can't do a full set if I do bench first. Also when I do the back (upright row) on the same day as upper body stuff, I can't do full sets.

Would it be better if I switched my workout to Mon (excercise #1 of each body part), Tues (excercise #2 of each body part), off Wed, then Thurs (#1 again), Fri. (#2 again), Sat and Sun off. Generally I do low weight/high rep workouts (2 sets of 30 to 35 of each), but occasionally (about once every 2 weeks) switch to high weight/low rep (2 sets of 10 to 15).

Any help would be appreciated.

maddogkf · April 22nd, 2004, 04:46 PM

Hey man! I go 6 days a week - usually 50 min or so a day on workout days & 30 minutes for cardio days. Keep a log & chart your workouts each day.

OK - here's what I do & results have been pretty good so far - I'm just under 230 from 242 in Jan (net loss = muscle gain - fat loss):

M - Cardio & ABS - 20 minute running on treadmill - 4 minutes walk brisk pace, run 2 minutes as fast as I can, walk 2 minutes, run 2 minutes...for 20 minutes - then crunches - 40 reverse, 40 regular, 40 ea side

T - Chest, Biceps, shoulders: 2 exercises each body part, usually 3 sets & vary reps & weights. ( I do chest: DB bench, DB fly, should: Dips, biceps: DB curl, preacher bar curl, shoulder: shoulder fly/raise)

W - Cardio & ABS: 20 minute running on treadmill - 4 minutes walk brisk pace, run 2 minutes as fast as I can, walk 2 minutes, run 2 minutes...for 20 minutes - then crunches - 40 reverse, 40 regular, 40 ea side

TH - Legs: Squats, Leg extension, leg curl, calf raise, calf press, donmkey calf press

F - Cardio & ABS: 20 minute running on treadmill - 4 minutes walk brisk pace, run 2 minutes as fast as I can, walk 2 minutes, run 2 minutes...for 20 minutes - then crunches - 40 reverse, 40 regular, 40 ea side

Sat - Back, Tris, Traps: Close grip overhand pull down, stiff leg dead lift, cable push down, skull crushers, shoulder shrug, side lifts

I go in 12 week cycles:

Week 1 - 3 sets of 12 reps at a certain weight per exercise - 12 rep is exhaustion (can't lift another weight - usually I will try out a weight & see if I can do 12. If I could do one more, I'd bump it up a bit, if I couldn't do 12, I'd bump it down a bit) - go 75% of this weight - ex if you are doing dumb bell benches with 50 lb DB, use 35 lbs - do this for each exercise. YOu will find out by trial & error what your maxes are

Week 2 - 3 sets of 90% 12 rep max (ex use 45s)

Week 3 - 1 sets of 95% 12 rep max, 1 set 100% max, 1 set 105% max (use 45s, then 50s, then 55)

Week 4-6- repeat cycle w/10 rep max (more weight, less reps) - maybe 55-60 lb if your 12 rep was 50 lb
Week 7-9 repeat cycle w/8 rep max - maybe 60-65 lb
Week 10-12 repeat cycle w/6 rep max - maybe 65-70 lb

Take a week or 2 off & then start over, this time your weights will have increased ex. your 12 rep max for DB bench will be 55 or 60!

Good luck!