So one of my work associates the other day (a doorman, if thats any consellation) said hes got a new routine and he thinks i should take it up with him as im the same body composition as him (small ) Now i really respect this guy. Even though hes only my dap hes massively strong, doing weights three times his bodyweight. So he knows his stuff. Problem is this routines only two days a week. It all looks good, but i keep hearing "two days". So here it is and tell me if itll get me anywhere. Day one (monday) Squats 1x20 Dumbell pullovers 1x20 Bench press 2x10 Overhead press 2x 8-12 Day two (Thursday) Deadlift 1x15 Pullups 2x8 Shrugs 2x8 Cable rows 2x12 Barbell Curls 2x10 Ive never heard of this sort of rep-set range either. Is it optimal for size or strength? Many thanks guys
I don't like such low volume. It'd need to have progression built into it in the way of ramping volume and/or intensity. That being said...ditch the movements like db pullovers. 15 rep deads aren't necessary and will just fatigue the back. I'd put the sets/reps@4-6X3-8 I do db farmers walks rather than straight shrugs. I'd do pullups on both days and up the # of sets. I'd add a tricep movement paired up with teh bicep movement and run them in the 12-20 rep range. You could even run a circuit of a bicep movement, tricep movement, and calf movement.
i do gcse pe at the moment so i might be able to tell if its building mass or tone but you'd need to tell me what weights your using. btw you dont seem to have any sort of cardio workout in there, its pointless being really strong if you run out of energy in 10 seconds and the house your lifting falls on your head
Thanks guys. But since when has flat bench press damaged your body? Its a strange routine i know, for some reason hes certain about it. Its only six weeks anyways ill just do it for now and see what happens.
It really doesn't. In fact I'd say wide grip dips put you at more of a risk because of the harsh strain on your shoulders (much much more then a bench). Done right, with proper form a flat bench is fine.
If you ask anyone who has lifted weights for considerable amount of time they will tell you that Flat bench press can cause rotor cuff problems and pec tears which always come about when you, use heavy weight. Warm up enough to get the blood into the muscles and then dont drop below 8 reps to be safe, I have injured my shoulders before using Falt Bench and now I only do Incline or Wide grip dips
In the archive's there is a post regarding low volume high intesity training. That addresses what sounds like he is doing. If you search low volume high intensity, you should be able to find it. Thats what I have been doing and I like it.
Thats because they're trying to push themselfs to hard. Its a really tough movement on the body: yes. But with proper form and with your ego under control, so long as your not a competitive powerlifter or something like. Flat bench is great. Edit: If the dip was a compitition powerlift, Id bet youd see a whole lot more injuries from it!
What is heavy weight? The usual problem is said person tearing RCs are not using movements to strengthen their RCs. Said injured people were not listening to their bodies either. I've seen more injuries with db flyes or weighted dips using exaggerated ROM than the bench press. There's also no reason to stay above 8 reps. Part of the process of increasing your 1-3RM is increasing neural efficiency. Depending on your sport, this maybe necessary.
You can easily increase endurance through lifting without the use of long distance running. Some form of cardio is important for physiological reasons, but it's not necessary in itself to increase endurance.
Gotta say, thise routine is golden. All my weights are going up by 2.5KG to 5KG each week. 2 Weeks left then im moving onto Bill Starrs 5x5. That should be interesting
There we are....This routine saw all my lifts listed above go up 15-20KG over the last 6 weeks. The gains started slowing down towards the end so we stopped, but it was a good six weeks.
As usuual it all falls down to how you perform the movement and your right if people use exaggerated motion they will hurt themselves regardless. The dip is better for the chest but not the way most people do it.
Funny. No one addressed this. There's nothing wrong with training only 2x a week. It allows more time for recovery and if you're working intensely enough to justify the recovery time, then it's perfect. It's generally accepted as a good idea to mix up your routine every now and again in order to forestall the inevitable plateau. 5-6 weeks is probably about right. Glad you had good results.
i wouldn't worry about the 2 day a week thing. some of the best gains can be done w/ this type of schedule...it ensures that every time you are in the gym you are ready and recovered. the key to getting stronger is going up in reps or weight each time you hit the weightroom, and the only way to do that is intensity, not frequency(the oldest cliche in the book.) it seems like a low intensity, low volume scheme that arthur jones came up w/ called HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING. basically, you are doing one set for 15 diff exercises one after the other, no break. with upperbody you wanna do a set to failure in the 16-20 range, and lowerbody you wanna do a set in the 8-12 set range(i think thats how it was, i remember when i first heard about it, it seemed like it should be the other way around, but if you google HIT or arthur jones, you'll get more info.). an average HIT routine done correctly lasts about 30 mins or so. before warned, if you do this as intense as you should, just to give you an example....just about everybody who has worked out w/ arthur jones has puked the first couple times. you can try doing opposing muscle groups or upperbody one time, then lowerbody the next. i can't remember the stance he takes on this, but you can switch it up to see whats best for you. like, one workout will be 1 set of benchpress, then 1 set of deadlift, followed by a set of bicep curls, then a set of tricep curls as like a superset, then a set of squat, and a set of flies, followed by a set of leg curls and extensions supersetted. pick out like 15 exercises that'll work together to give you the best full body workout in about 30 mins, and don't stop till the 30 mins are over. he believed that anymore than one set to failure on a workout or 3 sets of 10 or 4 sets of 8 or force reps are waisted energy and did nothing to help the cause. i don't do HIT cuz all of my friends who did it(one guy is a really big fan of arthur jones) would dread going into a workout cuz they know they will be about dead afterwards. and you need alot of recovery time too. so if you do it, do it twice, no more than 3 days.... i say go for it. if you do it correctly i think you'll be very pleased w/ the results. i wouldn't do it for more than like 3 or 4 months, but if you are just looking for a way to help get gains and switch up the routine it'll be good. and yes, benchpress is hard on the shoulders, but done correctly, with a safe amount of weights it is no danger. the people that hurt themselves are the wanna be strongmen and high school kids who think they can benchpress 500 lbs after a year of lifting....and remember that proper lifting form in the weightroom will also help flexibility, rather its squat, benchpress, or whatever it is.
