Day one: Chest + triceps
1. bench press (4x8)
2. bench dumbell press (4x8)
3. pec flye (machine) (4x8)
4. tricep extensions (4x8)
5. tricep pushdown (4x8)

Day Two: Shoulders + Abs
1. Shoulder press with dumbells (sitting) (4x8)
2. lateral raise (4x8)
3. frontal raise (4x8)
4. upright row (4x8)
5. mediball crunch 4x8
6. knee lifts 4x8

Day three: Back + biceps
1. lat pulldown (wide grip bar) 4x8
2. T-Bar row 4*8
3. close grip pulldown 4x8
4. seated row 4x8
5. standing bicep curls 4x8
6. concentration curls 4x8

Day Four: Legs + Abs
1. leg press (inclined at 45 degrees) 4x8
2. leg curls 4x8
3. calf raises 4x8
4. squats 4x8
5. mediball crunch 4x8
6. knee lifts 4x8

Just a few questions:

1. I have been going to the gym for a couple of months. And now I am starting to enjoy lifting weights, and getting into the sport I was wondering if I should change my workout plan so that I do each muscle group twice a week. This is my current routine, my training instructor(comes with gym membership) recommended that I drop an exercise from each muscle group, change from 4 sets to 3 sets in each exercise and merge 2 days together.

For example:

Day one:

1. bench press (3x8)
2. bench dumbell press (3x8)
4. tricep extensions (3x8)
5. tricep pushdown (3x8)
1. Shoulder press with dumbells (sitting) (3x8)
3. frontal raise (3x8)
4. upright row (4x8)
5. mediball crunch 3x8
6. knee lifts 3x8

Do you think this is a good idea or would it be better to just go to the gym 6 times a week and repeating day one again in day five etc...

2. I remember reading on here a technique about going passed failure, were you pretty much wait for 10 seconds after your last rep, and then continue lifting again until you can't lift anymore. My question is, should I use this technique after every set or just on the first or last set?

Thanks for your time.
Day one: Chest + triceps
1. bench press (4x8)
2. bench dumbell press (4x8)
3. pec flye (machine) (4x8)
4. tricep extensions (4x8)
5. tricep pushdown (4x8)

Day Two: Shoulders + Abs
1. Shoulder press with dumbells (sitting) (4x8)
2. lateral raise (4x8)
3. frontal raise (4x8)
4. upright row (4x8)
5. mediball crunch 4x8
6. knee lifts 4x8

Day three: Back + biceps
1. lat pulldown (wide grip bar) 4x8
2. T-Bar row 4*8
3. close grip pulldown 4x8
4. seated row 4x8
5. standing bicep curls 4x8
6. concentration curls 4x8

Day Four: Legs + Abs
1. leg press (inclined at 45 degrees) 4x8
2. leg curls 4x8
3. calf raises 4x8
4. squats 4x8
5. mediball crunch 4x8
6. knee lifts 4x8

Just a few questions:

1. I have been going to the gym for a couple of months. And now I am starting to enjoy lifting weights, and getting into the sport I was wondering if I should change my workout plan so that I do each muscle group twice a week. This is my current routine, my training instructor(comes with gym membership) recommended that I drop an exercise from each muscle group, change from 4 sets to 3 sets in each exercise and merge 2 days together.

For example:

Day one:

1. bench press (3x8)
2. bench dumbell press (3x8)
4. tricep extensions (3x8)
5. tricep pushdown (3x8)
1. Shoulder press with dumbells (sitting) (3x8)
3. frontal raise (3x8)
4. upright row (4x8)
5. mediball crunch 3x8
6. knee lifts 3x8

Do you think this is a good idea or would it be better to just go to the gym 6 times a week and repeating day one again in day five etc...

2. I remember reading on here a technique about going passed failure, were you pretty much wait for 10 seconds after your last rep, and then continue lifting again until you can't lift anymore. My question is, should I use this technique after every set or just on the first or last set?

Thanks for your time.

Okay, that routine looks just like something a fitness instructor'd recommend, good god.

First, you needn't workout 4 days a week; move shoulders to leg or chest/tricep day and leave it at that - that amount of training will overtrain the shoulders terribly (you can get away with ONE set per week for shoulders imo).

Next, reduce the number of exercises to two for a major muscle group (legs, back, chest) and one for a minor one (everything else). Reduce your sets/reps to 2x10-12 for most exercises; 1x10-12 for deadlifts (include them in your routine) and 1x6, 1x20 for squats (your first set with a heavy weight, the second with around 75% of that weight).

The technique you talk about is rest-pausing, and yes, you take one set to failure, take 10-15 deep breaths and lift again to failure (you'll get half as many reps or thereabouts) and then another 10-15 breaths and then lift to fail once more (you'll get only a couple of reps) - you're taking a weight you go to failure on at say 8 reps and making your body do 11 or 12 or more reps with it, and if that doesn't give the muscle a reason to grow I don't know what does. I recommend it if you've got the focus and drive to get the most out of that one set; you can only really do one rest-pause per bodypart and then that bodypart is exhausted and can't do anything else (which is the point) hence you really need to go all out on that one set; if you feel you can do this, go for it, otherwise two straight sets are probably the way to go.

Rest Pausing = (RP)

Day One: Chest + Triceps

1. bench press 2x10
2. bench dumbell press 2x10
3. pec flye (machine) 1x10 (RP)

Day Two: Back + biceps
1. lat pulldown (wide grip bar) 2x10
2. Deadlifts 1x10
5. standing bicep curls 1x10 (RP)

Day Three: Legs + Shoulders + Abs
1. Shoulder press with dumbells 1x10 (RP)
2. leg curls 2x10
3. squats 1x6 1x20
4. Machine Crunches 1x10 (RP)

Thanks a lot for your time Warboss Alex, but I have a couple more questions
.
1.OK I redid my workout routine. My first question is WILL I GET ANY ****ING GAINS from this? I am not looking to get super big but, I do want some gains. I noticed MoM goes to the gym 7 days a week and he has a body that I would really like to have, it's not too much a of a problem for me to go more often. Because the gym is in the uni I go to. Right now I'm getting about 3-400g of protein in my body a day, which means I'm putting a **** of a lot of calories in my body. I don't think this workout will be burning as many calories as it has in the past, do you recommend that I should do some extra cardio to avoid gaining excess fat? Also I heard smaller reps = bigger gains, how am I going to get big gains with 12 reps?

2. Do you know of any other good ab exercises that I can do? All the ab exercises at the moment I am getting up to about the 25 rep range, which IMO is way too much for building. Also is it even possible to get a decent six pack doing Abs just once a week? I noticed that MoM does it 3 times a week.

3. How long should I be waiting between these sets, in the past I've been waiting 90-120 seconds until the next set, but I'm guessing I should be waiting longer with a workout like this.

4. Do you see any exercises that I kept, when you thought a different exercise would help me build more?

5. Do you only recommend rest pausing on smaller muscle groups and giving a more thorough workout to the bigger muscle groups?

Preface: MoM has only just seen the light and started on serious protein intake, his bodywork thus far has been an absolute fluke .. lol, joking mate! Good to see he's an inspiration to you all.. He certainly is an impressive specimen. Now, if only I could convince you that the big-bellied powerlifter physique is what girls REALLY want. Ho hum.

1. At your current level any routine that you can progress on will net you gains; don't worry about that - worry about eating enough and staying injury free, and beating last workout's lift EVERY SINGLE TIME in the gym, even if it's only by 2.5kg.

300-400g of protein is perfect, well done mate, you're one of the few people who've actually got the protein intake spot on - that said, don't be neglecting other macros either. Moderate carbs and moderate good fats too. Protein is the brick, but a calorific excess is the workforce.

Again, props to you for doing cardio to avoid excess fat gain. It's perfectly possible to stay lean while gaining muscle, and even lean out while gaining muscle - but the best gains come when you just worry about maintaning bodyfat, not reducing it. Your abs might fade but they'll come back.

Remember calories burned in a workout doesn't concern us, leave that to the fitness models. We want muscular growth, thus all we need to do in our workout is give the muscle a damn good reason to grow (progressively lifting heavier weights) and damn how many calories burned, lol.

Without knowing your history I can't say how much cardio you need - you know this much better than I do. If you're prone to gaining fat then you might need six times a week, on the other hand maybe you can get away with two or three times.

As a bare minimum I'd say three times a week (on your offdays) and take it from there. If you're prone to getting fat then play around with your carb intake (maintain a baseline with protein and fat in your diet and increase fat rather than carbs for extra kcals) and find the balance between gaining extra pudge and having optimum energy levels to work out.

Okay, about your rep question. Some muscles don't need a huge stimulus to grow, and so no, possibly 10-12 reps is overkill. However, your form really must be perfect for this and also the fewer reps you do, the greater chance of injury. So to take into account sloppy form (not flaming you here, just saying) and to keep injuries at a minimum, go higher reps - it makes sense to me. Some people will say lower reps (Manuva also advocates two sets but he prefers lower reps) - I like the higher rep range (the majority of my sets are done with a 10 rep minimum and I'm sure as hell growing).

If the weight you lift increases every time, then the rep range is irrelevant - strength gains (in a controlled, safe fashion) is what we're after. Again, that's your main worry - slapping on an extra plate each workout.

2. Weighted crunches and hanging leg raises are my choice of ab exercises - although abs are all down to bodyfat level. Lose the fat around your middle and your abs will come through, even without ab work. That's one of my greatest failings, I just can't be bothered to do abs even though I should but when I'm leaner I can still see them.

I agree with the rep range though. 20-25 is fine for ab work, work your way up in weight and you're fine. Start with weighted crunches and if you can do leg raises after, do them, but it's not always necessary. 2x20-25 weighted crunches to start with.

As a side note, MoM is a gifted and advanced trainer, who works EXTREMELY hard for his body, kudos to him in every way possible - however his routine has been built through his own experience, what works for him might not work for you. Using someone else's routine might work for you, then again it might not. Better to start with a core program then tailor it as you make/don't make progress. I'd say abs only need training once a week, twice at the most - but I can't see mine right now, what do I know?

3. With straight sets I'd wait a couple of minutes between them, just long enough to catch your breath and gear yourself up for the next one - take as long as you need to go all out. This could be thirty seconds, it could be five minutes.. whatever time is needed for maximal effort each time. Again, experiment.

4. Your exercises:
Chest/Triceps: I would lose the pec flye machine and add a tricep exercise in there, close/reverse grip bench or skullcrushers will do nicely. Swap one of your presses for an incline/decline press, two flat presses really defeat the object. I would recommend incline barbell and flat dumbbell, but that's me.

Back/Biceps: Looking good to me, keep the deadlift last though, do biceps first. You might want to add a forearm exercise (hammer curl, reverse curl, something like that) if you find your forearms are lagging.

Legs/Shoulders: Looks fine to me. You might want to do abs first, I doubt you'll be able to walk after your 20-rep squat set..

5. Now, your RP. First, I wouldn't mix straight sets and RP in this fashion, either stick to just straight sets or just RPs (you won't be able to RP back or legs for obvious reasons, that's fine). Chest can be rest-paused, although once you've RP'd it on one exercise you might not have enough in the tank for the next one.. this is the point.

To be perfectly honest I don't see anything wrong with just straight sets for now. Smaller muscle groups are built by the big muscle groups' work.. they don't need to be exhausted. As long as your back is totally fried, so will be your biceps, believe you me.

I'd pick up the book "Beyond Brawn" by Stuart McRobert. It will answer most questions and give you a healthy view on training.

Straight dips are an awesome exercise too for the triceps, it's the upper body squat. =)

Also I would suggest you add in one exercise for calves. Standing calves raises are very good exercise. I have heard of two ways of doing it, going with 1 set of 10-12 reps with ten second negative and stretching at the bottom and my way of doing it rest paused 15-20 reps.

I I would switch the every 6 - 8 weeks but

I would suggest a 5 day split

Light = 6-9 sets

Monday: Chest (morning) Light Tris (night)
Tuesday: Back (morning) Light Bis (night)
Wednesday: Legs and abs
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Arms (bis/tris)

Originally posted by iLoveCookies
I I would switch the every 6 - 8 weeks but

I would suggest a 5 day split

Light = 6-9 sets

Monday: Chest (morning) Light Tris (night)
Tuesday: Back (morning) Light Bis (night)
Wednesday: Legs and abs
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Arms (bis/tris)

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I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. It sounds like something straight off bbing.com.

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. It sounds like something straight off bbing.com.

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its not but on that note, whats wrong with BB.com?

Originally posted by iLoveCookies
its not but on that note, whats wrong with BB.com?

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How long have you got? lol.

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
How long have you got? lol.

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cliff note me.

In brief:

Overtrainers, overanalysers, wifebeaters, teenage knowitalls. (there are some exceptions but not many.)

I've noticed a couple of reasonable recipes and their store is probably good service (not cheap though) but I only really go to that place when I'm desperate for a good laugh.