Hey everyone, just wanted to get ya'lls perspective and advice on my routine...i started at this new gym a week or two ago and i just decided to go at least talk to a personal trainer just to see what he would recommend..i told him that i was doing FBWs 3X a week that consists of week one doing a pyramid workout for all muscle groups at 2-3 sets each and a small amount of cardio before and after each workout then for week 2 i do a set weight doing 3-4 sets...for week one i do bench,inclined curls,lap pull downs(triceps), lateral extention, leg extention, weighted back extentions, weighted calf raises...for week two i do flys, preacher curls, tri extentions, front raises, seated leg press, calf raises...but he told me this was not enough of a shock for my muscles and thought i should be doing a split workout 4X a week. Anyone have any input?

also ive been workin out for an hour and a half give or take and he said that was waaaaayy to long and i should keep it to 30-45 minutes every session.

you are not hitting your large compounds.

squats

deadlifts

rows

Week 2 is same.


I thought you said you were doing a full body workout? Well I guess it is sorting of hitting all the muscles... Just not effectively. I dont agree that you need a 4 day split, but your routine is not optimal.

Yeah i didnt really agree 100% about the 4 day split but i wanted to get everyones opinion on it...what would you guys suggest other than adding in some squats and deadlifts??

I don't really know how you can make a 4 day split very effective. I'd stick with the full body workouts 3 times a week, or do a push/pull split or an upper/lower split. Like NoSweat said, make absolute sure you do deadlifts and squats. Keep your bench but also do some pullups instead of lat pulldowns.

Alrighty i can do that...it was also mentioned i wasnt getttin enough workout for all my muscles, do ya think i just need to keep my two week routines the same and just add deadlift, squat and pullups to the mix or should i comletely change it up?

There is no magical routine as they say, I personally prefer more volume than a FBW can offer, but that's just my opinion (and opposite of most people on this site who basically all do FB routines).

Don't worry about if your workouts go for 1.5 hours, that's nothing to worry about at all, there is no way in hell you could do an effective muscle building FBW in 30 minutes IMO.

I gotcha, thanx for all the advice. here are my thoughts, i think im gonna try a routine that looks a lil somethin like this and if it doesnt work after a couple weeks ill switch it back.

Monday - Chest(declined bench, and fly) and Biceps(inclined curls, and concentrated curls)

Wednesday - Legs(squats and deadlift) and Back (bentover row, and weighted back extentions)

Friday - Shoulders ( lateral and front raise) and Triceps ( tri extentions and dips)

Saturday - working abs and traps

every workout adding in a small amount of cardio before and after workout...also im doing yoga about 2 times a week for building balance.

or would it work better to put all these workouts into a upper lower split 4x a week???

I'd go with a split, either upper/lower or push/pull for the reason that you'll be able to hit each muslce group more than once a week.

Also, lateral and front raises are your only lifts for your shoulders? You would benefit a lot from shoulder presses.

yeah i hear ya, maybe ill go ahead and try a upper lower split so im gettin em twice a week. yeah i can sure switch ta shoulder presses, ive had em in my routine before but i switched to the other routine for shoulders cause they werent strong enough so i thought id try and build em up slightly first. other than that does the rest of my lifts look alright or do they still need some tweekin??

if you really want to be in the gym a bit more than the average person, why not do a upper/lower split each having 3 days a week and 1 rest day.

id like to be in the gym that often but the reality of it is i simply cant, ive got a really packed schedule the way it is, but ima try uppin it ta 4 days instead of 3 days like i doin now...should start to pickup on gains again real soon.

then if i were you, id keep the fbw. If you hit your compounds 3x a week, it seems more beneficial than that 4 day split, where you will be hitting groups only a few times at most.

ok if i stay with a fbw and add in the deadlifts, squats and pullups, does the routine i mentioned from the beginning post look alright with those things added??

a fbw should be targeting compound movements

Squats
Deads
Bench
Rows
Press

If you are doing these 5 things, or even four of them and you are doing them at an intensity that is high, then you should not need to add in many other iso exercises nor should be able to do them.

An example of this would be a workout of

Deads <----compound
Bench <----compound
BO DB Row <---compound
BNP <---compound
DB curl <----iso (not needed)

then next workout sub in the dead for the squat or something to that measure.