Advice/Input on workout program.

[perpetual_injuries]

Hi guys.

I just found this site today and there seems to be a lot of guys who really know what they're talking about and happy to offer advice. I figured I'd post a copy of my program, I've mostly put it together from various sources online and some PT programs I've done, using what exercises I've enjoyed.

Any advice on improving it, or things I may be doing totally wrong would be warmly welcomed.

Work out goals

Long term i'm hoping to gain muscle mass and get to about 8% body fat. I'm currently 1.88cm tall and weigh 82.9kg. My body fat is approximately 13%.

Workout

I'm working out 7/8 days focusing on different things each day, as follows below. It normally takes me about 1 hour 30 to 2 hours to complete my program in full.

When doing weights I always go for, 4 sets of 8-12 reps each. If i can't make 8 reps i drop the weight for the remaining sets, and if can get to 12 on a set i'll put the weight up for the remaining sets. Rest is about 2 min between sets.

I bike to the gym each morning which takes approx 20min and i use this as a warm up. It's mostly flat or down hill, so quite low intensity.

Day 1: Chest/Biceps:

Chest = Barbell bench, barbell incline bench, cable chest flys.

Biceps = Barbell curl, seated dumbell curls and standing cable curls.

I also do abs this day 5 exercises at 2 sets per exercise, I finish with an intense cardio work out that is pretty similar to interval training, approx 20-30min. I'm a fencer (as in the swords) so do footwork practice for cardio.

Day 2: Back/Triceps: Back = Iso Lat Pull (machine), Assisted pull up (can almost do unassisted), another machine that works the rear deltoids. Triceps = Rope pull down (attached to a cable machine), overhead rope press with same cable machine,(not sure on actual name) and tricep push ups on a half swiss ball.

No abs, fencing footwork for cardio approx 20-30min.

Day 3: Shoulders/Legs: Shoulders = Dumbell shoulder press, Cable shoulder press, and a dumbell lat raise. Legs = Calf raise, machine leg pull down, machine leg raise, and a machine that targets the gluteus minimus (for and injury).

(I get a lot of leg work out fencing so don't need much extra). Abs the same as day 1 and fencing footwork cardio approx 20-30min.

Day 4: Fencing footwork cardio 20-30min, and a body balance class at Les Mills. This is a partial rest day for me.

Day 5: Repeat of day 1.

Day 6: Repeat of day 2.

Day 7: Repeat of day 3.

Day 8: Total rest day, no exercise at all.

Diet:

Breakfast: Muesli with milk.

After workout: Protein shake with banana

Morning tea: Greek yogurt with berries, peanuts and raisins.

Lunch: 2x scrambled eggs, 180g tuna, 2 slices of toast, and a tomato

Afternoon tea: Peanuts, raisins (sometimes a protein shake if i'm extra hungry.)

Dinner: Lots of veges and 100-150g of meat.

That's about all i can think to post atm. Sorry about any poor grammar or typos. I'm probably the worlds worst proof checker.

Any thoughts or advice is most appreciated.

Cheers,

Michael.

[soundsgood]

How many sets if heavy squats do you do during fencing training? None? You don't train your legs during fencing mate. Legs needs it own day. Squats, leg press, stiffleg deadlifts, leg extension, ham curls, lunges. Get them all in there

Also your back day pretty much consists 100% of machine exercises. Where are the deadlifts? Barbell rows?

I also question your volume. 2 hours is to pong to be spending in the gym. ESP seeing as you are training 7 out of 8 days. Rest is very important mate.

[Phedder]

Change nearly everything would be my advice :pfft: Diet seems ok, I'd add some protein with breakfast. But are you trying to gain muscle or lose fat at the moment?

Chest with triceps and back with biceps instead. Use more free weights, less machines. Include either a dumbbell or barbell row for back, squats and deadlifts for legs. Fencing is not a sufficient leg workout.

[perpetual_injuries]

Thanks for the response. Why do you recommend doing chest/triceps and back/biceps instead. I'm interested in the rational behind this.

You're right I do need to move away from as many machine exercises and will endeavor to do this.

However, on the leg work out front you would be astonished as to how much my legs are worked out fencing. Just a standard en garde done properly is effectively a 90% squat, add to this movement back and forth as well as lunges from this position all explosive and you get an extremely tiring leg work out. To top this off, during fencing training we employ a lot of plyometric exercises to boost explosive speed. The leg training i do do it mostly at a rudimentary level to build the strength around my shins, and knees both of which i have major problems with. To top this off i would normally fence for between 1.5 to 3 hours at a time. By the end my legs are burning and have gotten a very good workout.

And finally my goals are a little mixed. I've got exercises to rehabilitate my knee and shins, strengthening for fencing training, i want to get ripped (for image) and build some more muscle mass (again for image). The first two i have to do regardless. The last two I've heard conflicting reports again. Some people say you have to build then cut down. While a very well respected sport medicine specialist I've been seeing about my leg issues says that this is an extremely common misconception.

Again thanks for your input.

[Phedder]

Chest with triceps and back with biceps is because most chest movements also incorporate the triceps, and same with back movements. Pushing things away from you with your upper body involves the triceps to extend the elbows, pulling things towards you with your upper body involves the biceps to flex the elbows. So with your current set up you'd essentially be training your triceps and biceps 4 times a week. Everyone responds differently, but to me that's not optimal for either strength or muscular development. If you change it to chest/triceps and back/biceps you'd end up training them twice a week which should be better.

I get what you're saying about fencing giving you a great leg workout, I've been in a similar position with gymnastics and tumbling (to a very basic level :oops: ) and I too thought I was getting a good enough leg workout. But doing high weight resistance exercises is a totally different workout, and makes such a difference. Once I started doing squats, deadlifts, leg press etc my legs started growing, and so did the rest of me. Quite simply you won't get to your goal of being muscular and looking good at 8% bf without heavy leg work, unless you just want to look good in jeans and a t shirt :pfft:

I'm not going to claim to know what you need to do leg wise to help you for fencing and your rehab, but if it's safe for you to incorporate heavy free weight leg exercises, do it.

Building and then cutting down is probably the easiest method and allows you to visually see the progress ( you getting bigger, and then dropping the fat and revealing more muscle) But it is possible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time, but it's much more difficult, takes greater attention to diet, and from what I understand takes a bit longer.

[perpetual_injuries]

Thanks again for the reply.

I was under the impression that when doing chest exercises you used the biceps more, especially in the negative/downward element of the press. Hence why I have pair it with the biceps. I'll have to look into it and check which is accurate.

I'm definitely understand what you're meaning about doing the big lower body exercises as and ideally i think i will end up doing them. Though I've got to be really careful of a bunch of things. Weak knees, a bad back and shin splints. Also i really don't want my legs getting any bigger, just more toned. They're naturally quite large any bigger and I won't be able to wear anything. I'm going to continue with the exercise that isolate the muscle groups for a while longer so i can strengthen the support around my knees and lower back before moving onto these.

Do you by chance know which method gives the most long term results? Building/cutting or a slow steady progress? I don't have a clue, but something tells me that the slow and steady would be more likely create a more solid long term base strength.