how is this 4 day workout, ANY TIPS?

[laxaxis]

I am started working out for the first time this past year in college, because I was very skinny and wanted to get healthier and put weight on. I started out at 6'2 168. After approx 9 months of hard training I am now 180 pounds. My goal is to to be a solid 190 ibs, be healthy, stronger, and defined. The only supplements I take are cytogainer (really good), papaya enzyme, and fish oil, and eat a ****load of chicken/steak, eggs, etc. I am going to post my current workout below; i try and do three sets per exercise going 10 rep, 8 rep, 6 rep while increasing the weight. I want to know if there is anything I can do to tweak my workout, and see faster gains. Should i expect to see really drastic gains even though I have not even been lifting a full year? When i first started out i was in the worst shape ever. My chest and my back I really want to get stronger, especially my chest because it is very weak. Is there any diet tips, or new workout plans out there. Should i be lifting each muscle group more then once per week? I have seen gains, but I want to make faster gains, I still feel weak in certain areas for someone with my frame. Any advice is appreciated.

Monday: Chest

Dumbell Incline 3 sets (10x8x6)
Dumbell Flat Bench
Straight Bar Decline Bench
Machine Fly's
Dip Negatives to burn out.

Tuesday: Back

Seated Cable Row
Close Grip Lat Pulldown
Wide Grip Lat pull down
Dumbell bent over rows
Hyperextensions
Dumbell Shrugs/Barbell Shrugs

Wed: Abs/ Cardio


Thursday: Legs/Shoulders

Squats
Leg Press
Quad Extensions (Machine)
Hamstring Curl (Machine)
Calf raises
Military Press
Front Lateral dumbell raise
Side dumbell raise

Friday: Bi's /Tri's/Forearms

Dumbell Curls
SkullCrushers
Preacher Curl
Dips
Tricep Cable Pulldown (rope)
21's
Concentration Curl
Behind the back barbell wrist curls


Weekend: rest for lifting, play some pickup basketball

[Hayabusauk]

I'd say for gaining mass you are doing just a few too many exercises, best mass building program ive ever done for muscle gaining is Frankies

All are 5x5 or 4x6 done to exhaustion

NOTICE: THIS ROUTINE ASSUMES AT LEAST 6 MONTHS OF BREAK IN TRAINING FOR BEGINNERS.

THIS ROUTINE IS INTENDED FOR THE NATURAL TRAINER ONLY

Several of you have asked me for a good mass building program, so here it is. I've used this routine with many natural bodybuilders as well as professional football players looking to add some bulk in the offseason.

How many days a week? I've seen the best results with natural bodybuilders in a bulking phase on 3 days a week, training each exercise once a week. I know almost every program in the magazines you guys read will say 4 days a week, training each muscle twice a week, but my experience with hundreds of guys is that guys that train 4 days a week never make the same gains as the ones that train 3 days a week. If you train a muscle hard enough, you just can't recover in less than 6-7 days. Just because the soreness is gone doesn't mean that the muscle is recovered. 4 and 5 day splits are fine for cutting phases but not for bulking.

How to split things up? Push, pull, and legs seems to be the best split for most guys. Working shoulders with legs doesn't yield good growth in the shoulders because they end up overtrained. On push shoulders get hammered, on pull shoulders get hammered, and even working legs shoulders get hit.

Sets and reps? Like I said before, if you want to gain mass you need to stay around 5-6 reps. 4x6 or 5x5 are both good combinations. In my experience the guys that make better gains on 8-12 reps are advanced bodybuilders or are on drugs. I don't care if you feel a pump or a burn or whatever. That has nothing to do with size or strength, only momentarily pumping blood into a muscle.

Increasing your weights? You need to add weights to the bar every workout if you can. Going up in 2 � or 5 pound increments is great. You won't be able to add more weight each week, but that needs to be your mentality. Don't think about anything else but adding weight.

How long to stay on a routine? My experience is that around 8-12 weeks is best. Some guys say that after 6-8 weeks they've hit a plateau and need to change their routine. That's hogwash. Most of the time they've hit a plateau because they're not training hard enough or because they've added in more exercises than what's in my program and hinder their recovery.


DAY 1 � PULL

Deadlifts or Power Cleans
Barbell Rows, Dumbbell Rows, or Wide Grip Chins
Barbell Curls, Close Grip Underhand Chins, or Hammer Curls

DAY 2 � PUSH

Incline or Flat Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press
Barbell or Dumbbell Shoulder Presses
Tricep Dips or Close Grip Bench Press

DAY 3 � LEGS

Front or Back Squats
Barbell or Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlifts
Calf Raises (3x12) - only if a seriously lagging bodypart
Weighted Crunches or Weighted Hanging Leg Raises (3x12)

Everyone who hasnt tried this program says something like "Oh that too little, i wanna work harder!" oe whatever, but everyone i know who has actually tried it says its the best program they have ever tried

[laxaxis]

I really appreciate the insight, yet it seems that this can't be enough, if i am not mistaken there is really only one true bicep exercise, so how would that work the entire bicep, and this also goes for many of teh other muscle groups. I thought I was told that if a muscle is to grow, you need to do enough sets of the heavy weight to break the muscle, and then give it enough time to recover.

[Hayabusauk]

You have to think of your body as a whole, working together, rather than a series of seperate muscles. This program focuseses on hitting the body hard rather than isolating a particular muscle.

For Eg on Day 1 after 5x5 deadlifts to faliure, you will have burned so many calories you wont be able to manage a whole lot more after that, same goes for Bench and Squats on other days.

As i say this is a pragram that everyone dismisses until they have tried it, it is a seriously hard hard workout that will leave you wasted at the end of a session and if you keep your eating right you will see great results.