Which Routine ???

[Carl1174]

In a couple of weeks I am going on vacation, when i get back i want to get stuck in to a good routine so iam looking for inspiration.

Last time i asked this board which routine to do i ended up on the Reeves which was a complete turning point for me. it rekindled my love of the iron, made me see the benefits of fullbody and helped me grow, so as it was such a success I thought Id ask you guys again.

OK so first about me;

I get bored easily so like variety
I DONT under anycircumstance want to get smaller (excpet around the waist)
I want to increase strength if possible (whilst geting smaller around the waist)
I currently have lifts of around 2pps for a few reps on bench, 3pps for squats (for reps) and 3.5pps for deadlifts for a couple...
I like power building rather than high (12) reps

Current front runners in my mind are Steves Strength and Density routine or Madcow (or other 5x5 type strength routine).

Any ideas/inspiration guys ???

Carl.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by Carl1174

I get bored easily so like variety
I DONT under any circumstance want to get smaller (excpet around the waist)
I want to increase strength if possible (whilst geting smaller around the waist)
I currently have lifts of around 2pps for a few reps on bench, 3pps for squats (for reps) and 3.5pps for deadlifts for a couple...
I like power building rather than high (12) reps

My first suggestion would be to pick a goal!

Me personally I alternate periods of the year for various things. Some months i'll be gaining weight/strength on abbreviated routines. Other months I'll be going for fat loss and will train up to 5 full body sessions a week with that prior base of strength.

How about thinking a little more long term. Plan out where you want to be (training wise) in 12 months and break it down from there. You can accomplish all that you wish in that list, but I believe having specific phases where you bump up one factor while maintaining the other will work best.

[Carl1174]

Originally Posted by Fazc

My first suggestion would be to pick a goal!

Me personally I alternate periods of the year for various things. Some months i'll be gaining weight/strength on abbreviated routines. Other months I'll be going for fat loss and will train up to 5 full body sessions a week with that prior base of strength.

How about thinking a little more long term. Plan out where you want to be (training wise) in 12 months and break it down from there. You can accomplish all that you wish in that list, but I believe having specific phases where you bump up one factor while maintaining the other will work best.

Well first goal is to trim down the fat. i want to see if there has been any muscle built this last year or so. But I really dont want to lose any strength whilst doing it. I know everyone will tell me there has to be some strength loss but I really dont want there to be, plus if i am only losing fat then i think I can maintain strength and muscle mass as much as possible.

Once I have stripped down to a lowish bodyfat (so circa 10%) and i can see what kind of base i have, then I will look to adding some size and perhaps competing (bb'ing) if I have a decent kind of shape. I have never been at a low bf% and am just curious to see what kind of shape I have under the fat if that makes sense.

In 12 months i would like to be as close to comp ready as possible.

So vacation in a month, then after that cut for 4-6 months (however long it is to get to 10% ish bf), then a real slow build and depending on what i have got look to competing, or at least getting to that kind of muscularity where i could compete if I dropped the necessary 4-6% to get ultra shreaded if thats what i decide I want to do...

Carl.

[Fazc]

Awesome, so what we need initially at least is a fat loss plan. The only thing here is people go about this in tremendously different ways. What has worked for me the past 4-5 months is what I've documented in my log since I started posting here. The way I go about cutting is to really shove up my weekly volume and then calorie reduction and some cardio on top of that, for a number of reasons that's better for me. I like the benefits of a very balanced, high volume, high repetition routine. But others will say stick to the same routine but manipulate calories and cardio.

So for fat loss, I think you need to decide what's best for you. If you wanted to go the high volume route check out my log for ideas, as well as the article I wrote for here recently.

For strength gain after that, I'd say a Full Body routine would be the way to go as well. Perhaps with a variety of reps and lifts throughout the week.

If any of this sounds good just say, and I can expand with some example routines etc.

[Carl1174]

Originally Posted by Fazc

Awesome, so what we need initially at least is a fat loss plan. The only thing here is people go about this in tremendously different ways. What has worked for me the past 4-5 months is what I've documented in my log since I started posting here. The way I go about cutting is to really shove up my weekly volume and then calorie reduction and some cardio on top of that, for a number of reasons that's better for me. I like the benefits of a very balanced, high volume, high repetition routine. But others will say stick to the same routine but manipulate calories and cardio.

So for fat loss, I think you need to decide what's best for you. If you wanted to go the high volume route check out my log for ideas, as well as the article I wrote for here recently.

For strength gain after that, I'd say a Full Body routine would be the way to go as well. Perhaps with a variety of reps and lifts throughout the week.

If any of this sounds good just say, and I can expand with some example routines etc.

well i prefer lower reps as I like to lift as heavy as possible (ego I know ), I dont really have time to be in the gym more than 4 days per week lifting. I can add in some cardio (road running) on off days and I have about an hour or so in the gym, so i could do cardio PWO if my workouts were short enough in length to get done in say 45-50 mins...

Carl.

[Fazc]

There ya go then, we got ourselves the basis of a routine already!

So we're looking at low reps, up to 4 days a week but no more. You're an intelligent guy Carl, i'd just sit down for 10 minutes and piece together a routine based on:

Your favourite lifts
How often you can perform each lift
Arrange exercises toward a H/L/M schedule.
Plan on avoiding cardio near your heavy days.

So plan your own, based on what you know works. We've already established a few ground rules that you want, so we're pretty much there.

[big_swede]

Ive never had fat loss as a goal but Ill give you my best advice from what ive heard and read.

I would go with a 3 days a week fullbody routine like Wendlers 5/3/1 fullbody or the Texas Method, and then do GPP / Cardio in the shape of hillsprints, sledpulls, box jumps and KB swings etc on every other day. That and a clean diet, the macros and cal counting i leave to the pro's at the board

Good luck with this C!

[Carl1174]

Originally Posted by Fazc

There ya go then, we got ourselves the basis of a routine already!

So we're looking at low reps, up to 4 days a week but no more. You're an intelligent guy Carl, i'd just sit down for 10 minutes and piece together a routine based on:

Your favourite lifts
How often you can perform each lift
Arrange exercises toward a H/L/M schedule.
Plan on avoiding cardio near your heavy days.

So plan your own, based on what you know works. We've already established a few ground rules that you want, so we're pretty much there.

Im thinking perhaps 4 Fullbody worhouts per week, One heavy (low reps) one medium (medium reps) one light (high reps), then start again on heavy and just rotate...

kinda like
Mon - H (3-4 exercises, 4-6 sets x 4-6 reps)
Tue - off
Wed - M (4-5 exercises 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps)
thur - Cardio (complexes, tyre flipping etc)
Friday -L (5-6 exercises 2-3 sets x 10-15 reps)
sat - H
sun - off
mon - M

etc etc...

or am i really barking up the wrong tree, ive never tried to program something like this before

Originally Posted by big_swede

Ive never had fat loss as a goal but Ill give you my best advice from what ive heard and read.

I would go with a 3 days a week fullbody routine like Wendlers 5/3/1 fullbody or the Texas Method, and then do GPP / Cardio in the shape of hillsprints, sledpulls, box jumps and KB swings etc on every other day. That and a clean diet, the macros and cal counting i leave to the pro's at the board

Good luck with this C!

Im definitely thinking of hill sprints, KB swings, complexes and stuff for cardio, arranged around the light and medium days...

Carl.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by Carl1174

kinda like
Mon - H (3-4 exercises, 4-6 sets x 4-6 reps)
Tue - off
Wed - M (4-5 exercises 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps)
thur - Cardio (complexes, tyre flipping etc)
Friday -L (5-6 exercises 2-3 sets x 10-15 reps)
sat - H
sun - off
mon - M

Yeah that sound workable.

I'd go a little different and concentrate on a calender week that way you have the option of expanding. I'd have 4 different full body sessions made up. Two of them based on heavy stuff, they will be your H and M days. Two of them based on lighter dumbbell work, complexes or even superset/pre-exhaust stuff if you like (yeah, yeah I know, but it's a light day so shoot me!).

That way you start with H/L/M/L, this can then be expanded out later if you have the recovery ability to go H/L/M/M.

Some guidlines than I like to make recovery easier:

• Bench/Squat on your Heavy day. Stick to barbell lifts, even some of the useful partial lifts (partial overheads, partial curls etc).
• Strictly dumbbell and isolation work on your light day(s).
• Medium day can have more of a focus on Overhead Pressing and deadlifting. Also concentrate on tricker lifts with longer ROM, like Incline Presses, Wide grip chins.

Again, loads of ideas in my log here.

[Off Road]

I don't know if I'm a big fan of doing a full-body workout four days a week with extra conditioning work and reduced calories. Seems like a recipe for burn-out to me. I think three days might be better, at least for the majority of people.