Suggest a New Routine

[groovy]

Hi all. I am just a newbie and looking for some advice on changing my routine and shock my body a little bit. It sort of looks like i've hit a plateau. I have been doing the same routine with changing some exercises in between for 3 months now.

28yrs, 5'9, 77kgs. 16%BF or so.

Goal - increase strength and build mass if possible.

Current Routine

Mon - Legs (squats, legpress, leg exten, lying hamstring curls, seated calf, standing calfs and 20min HIIT cycle)

Tues - Chest + Tris (DB press, incline DB, cable flys, pec dec, dips and cable push downs)

Wed - Rest

Thurs - shoulder (all delts, traps, rotator cuffs, HIIT 20min cycle)

Fri - Back (Deadlift, Pullups, barbell rows, cable rows, DB rows, bicep curls, HIIT 20min cycle)

Sat and sun - Rest

Was thinking of Strong lifts 5 X 5.

I actually dont know many others. Any links of advice would be great.

Also wondering, do i need up my cal intake a bit to increase my strength? Currently around 2500 i think.

Thanks.

[shruglife]

I would drop the cardio, it burns a lot of calories meaning you have to eat more to compensate. There's a few things I don't like about that program so rather than list all the weaknesses I'll just suggest a different one. If you primarily want to gain strength and some mass then Rippetoes (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=712752) or Stronglifts 5x5 would be some good beginner programs to follow for a while to build a solid base. I would also recommend bumping your cals up to 3000+

[groovy]

Thanks shruglife. Will look into that program and up the calories a bit. I was also thinking if taking Creatine would help?

[shruglife]

Thanks shruglife. Will look into that program and up the calories a bit. I was also thinking if taking Creatine would help?

I wouldn't worry about creatine initially. You will make plenty of gains during the first few months of training - you don't need to worry about platauing. When you have more eperience and things slow you can look at buying some.

[nicksmith3]

Perform cardio on your off days

[teamfatboy]

Goal - increase strength and build mass if possible.

Perform cardio on your off days

Really? Training four days a week, with 20m HIIT on three of those four, with a goal of increasing strength/mass, and you'd recommend MORE cardio on rest days?

Just curious as to how that'd work?

[xen]

Agreed with Shruglife. I'd also say sleep as much as possible and make sure your protein supply is good. In terms of supplements, get a good protein powder and a multivitamin. Creatine is great, but expensive, and probably overkill at your stage of development.

Re: cardio: focusing on the basics through either programme will build your aerobic capacity too, the squats and power cleans are killers for this. I'd hold off on the cardio given your goals.

[Specter]

Creatine is shit...stuffs for short term nothing