3 day mass building program. Thoughts?

[tarantula]

Hi, I am 21 6ft one-ish, 85kg and have been going hard for about a year and a half now and had previously being doing split body part routines until I reached a plateau and decided to try something a bit different. How do you think this program rates? Have tried to get rid of all my isolation exercises and concentrate on compound movements and go for a lower rep range/heavier weight. Goal is to keep putting on size.

Monday: Flat bench press, dips, upright rows

Wednesday: Squats, military press, calves

Friday: Deadlift, chinups, bent over rows

Rep range: warm up, 8, 5, 5, 2 or 3

[mike27]

add some lunges! DB weighted ofcourse

doesnt seem like much? core work? arm work? shoulders?

u may find ur not breaking down each muscle group enough

ie not enough stress on chest? only flat bench

[rose]

I reached a plateau

Are you eating enough?

[tomsammce]

Hi, I am 21 6ft one-ish, 85kg and have been going hard for about a year and a half now and had previously being doing split body part routines until I reached a plateau and decided to try something a bit different. How do you think this program rates? Have tried to get rid of all my isolation exercises and concentrate on compound movements and go for a lower rep range/heavier weight. Goal is to keep putting on size.

Monday: Flat bench press, dips, upright rows

Wednesday: Squats, military press, calves

Friday: Deadlift, chinups, bent over rows

Rep range: warm up, 8, 5, 5, 2 or 3

yeah try it never hurts to mix things up.

[EMC]

have you tried changing up the order of your training? eg legs then chest then back last?

[tinytraps]

add some lunges! DB weighted ofcourse

doesnt seem like much? core work? arm work? shoulders?

u may find ur not breaking down each muscle group enough

ie not enough stress on chest? only flat bench

arms will get worked with dips chins rows, calves - squats deads. shoulders with upright rows and millitary press.

Seems like an ok type plan could set it up 1 push 1 pull 1 lowerbody then hit them hard keep the reps 1-5 lots of sets 5-15 per exercise

[Phedder]

I agree with TinyTraps that a push/pull legs type set up could work better.

Something more like;

Monday: Flat bench press, dips, military press, incline press DB or BB

Wednesday: Squats, glute-ham raises, leg press, calves, abs if you wish

Friday: Deadlift, chinups, bent over rows, upright rows

A bit more volume and hits the target muscle groups from more angles.

Rose mentioned diet which is key when trying to gain muscle. It doesn't matter how hard you train, if you're not eating enough you're not going to gain.

[tarantula]

Sweet thanks. I had been doing a 5 day cycle before, each workout lasted about an hour, but had been reading some stuff about keeping the workout to 40mins or under so hence my reason to cut it down. I will try that push-pull-lower body set up with the reps/sets as mentioned. Could try changing the order too. Yea I've got the diet sorted already.

[tinytraps]

Phedders plan was quite good but I was thinking more along the lines of

monday: squat, overhead press, bb row

wednesday: Front squat, incline bench, deadlift

friday: box squats, flat bench, weighted pullups

chop and change whatever exercises you want ( only free weights though) then do them to death. 15x1, 12x2, 10x3, 5x5 etc

*edit* this is chaos and pain in a nutshell. Good times.

[Phedder]

I see what you meant now TT. A push a pull and a legs exercise each session, instead of a day dedicated to each. Both plans have pros and cons and either way it'd be a change for him and should illicit some more gains.

Tarantula, would you mind posting up exactly what you're going to do and your diet as well? There's a lot of experienced people here that could chime in and provide some advice on small alterations which could help you achieve your goals. I don't think workout time is anything to worry about, there's many programs from each end of the time spectrum that have shown good results. It's more important to complete the planned exercises with the planned sets/reps and weights. If it means an extra minutes rest before the heaviest set then so be it.

[rose]

I don't think workout time is anything to worry about

But it is worth thinking about re calorie expenditure. Diet may be sorted but calories insufficient for the amount of work being done etc.

[tarantula]

I'm leaning towards this plan I adapted from both of your suggestions Phedder and TT:

Mon: Squats, flat bb benchpress, dips

Wed: Deadlift, bent over rows, chinups

Fri: Front squats, millitary press, upright rows

1-5 reps, 5 plus sets depending on how many reps (plus warm up set for bench, squats, deadlifts)

Main reason I was changing from my previous 5 day a week plan was because I was reading up about doing mostly compound excercises and lifting heavier, plus not wasting energy on isolation excercises.

Am back and forth from uni or there the whole day sometimes, so meals vary. Usually something like this:

breakfast: 6 weetbix or oats, multivitamin

meal: *

lunch: pasta or rice with small can of tuna or chopchop chicken, piece of fruit

meal: *

Post workout mass gainer shake

dinner: 250g steak/mince/chicken + vege serving + rice/pasta/potatoes

meal: *

*one of: instant noodles/bowl of yogurt /bowl of weetbix/Deli meat + cheese sandwiches/couple eggs with baked beans on toast (plus museli bar for these meals except baked beans & eggs on toast)

[tinytraps]

Sounds like a good plan tarantula. Just make sure you keep lifting heavier and breaking prs your body will respond

[Hone]

That is NOT a good diet to be trying to build muscle on. You are lacking in protein and good fats.

Breakfast - Where is your protein?? when you wake up your body is in a catabolic state. Get some protein into you whether its a whey shake, whole eggs doesn't matter.

Meal* - You have a number of meal options listed which you say you pick one of them, so if you happen to pick instant noddles, again no protein! So you are going with no protein ingested since your last meal the night before all the way through to lunch time the following day! Stick with either your meat and cheese sandwich or the eggs and beans on toast. Use wholemeal bread. Get rid of the yogurt and muesli bars.

Lunch - No probs there.

Meal* - As above, eat something like a tin of tuna and a peanut butter w/m sandwich.

Post workout meal - Finish off the mass gainer then get a tub/bag of whey protein. Have a protein shake with a banana straight after your workout. The problem with alot of the mass gainers and even some whey proteins is they are full of fillers and crap which actually slow up the absorption rate of the whey.

Dinner - Good

Meal* - Small tub of cottage cheese.It is casein protein which is absorbed by the body slowly while you sleep.

The whole eggs and peanut butter will give you some good fats but you may need more. I find Udo's oil good. Remember as your body weight changes you need to keep adjusting your diet as well.