My schedule needs tweaking - Please Help

[Porkape]

I am working out 5 days a week with 3 on - 1 off - 2 on - 1 off routine. I take Tuesday and Saturday off. I hit my chest, trcieps and biceps twice a week and I want to squeeze in shoulders twice as well. Here is my current routine.

Sunday - Chest/Triceps
Monday - Back/Biceps
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Shoulders/Forearms
Thursday - Legs/Biceps
Friday - Chest/Triceps
Saturday - Rest

I do abs every workout morning before breakfast and 40-60 pushups between breakfast and lunch also on workout days. I start my exercises at 5pm. I also do 10 to 15 minutes of cardio about 3 times a week before I start my workouts.

I am currently trying to bulk.

How does my setup look to you guys and how do I add another shoulder routine into my week?

Thanks

[headhuntr]

You can add shoulders on Sunday if you really want to. Is there a reason why you only work your back once a week?

[Porkape]

You can add shoulders on Sunday if you really want to. Is there a reason why you only work your back once a week?

Hmmm...no reason. I am a newcomer and like all rookies I am bound to get to the workout that suits me through trial and error. But its always good to get a 2nd opinion from more experienced cats. Why do you recommend doing Back twice?

When I first started I used to do 6 days a week routine which was something like this:

Day 1 - Chest/Arms (Biceps + Triceps)
Day 2 - Back/Shoulders
Day 3 - Legs/Abs

Then take a day off and repeat cycle. This way I was getting all body parts twice but it seemed too much. So I started doing what I am doing now as it says in my first post.

[Gzus]

Personal opinion. Splits are more taxing than full body workouts. You can get away with doing a full body workout 3 times a week, but using a split scheme the way you are planning (Back+Biceps twice a week) would be excessive unless you possess some expertise to deal with its risks.

Start with full body workouts, whether twice or three times a week with sufficient rest days between workouts.

Lose the cardio and pushups.

So Mon-Wed-Fri.

Pickup a split when you have read enough to know how to make an effective split or have put on some lbs of muscle.

[Porkape]

Personal opinion. Splits are more taxing than full body workouts. You can get away with doing a full body workout 3 times a week, but using a split scheme the way you are planning (Back+Biceps twice a week) would be excessive unless you possess some expertise to deal with its risks.

Start with full body workouts, whether twice or three times a week with sufficient rest days between workouts.

Lose the cardio and pushups.

So Mon-Wed-Fri.

Pickup a split when you have read enough to know how to make an effective split or have put on some lbs of muscle.

You make a good point. I do need some changes. What's an example of a full body 3 day routine?

I am also looking at a single body part scheme where everything gets hit once a week. It will still be a 5 day routine with Tuesday and Saturday off (work reasons). If I go with single body part scheme should I still ditch the cardio and pushups?

[gainin_muscle]

I personally wouldn't ditch the cardio altogether, but I would not do it before the workout. The right kind of cardio will keep your appetite high, increase recovery between workouts, and give you the health benefits your body needs. 3 times per week at 10-15 minutes isn't going to hurt your bulking efforts. I would ditch the push ups for sure, though, unless you have some reason for doing them such as an upcoming fitness test or similar. I always recommend full body workouts to everyone...unless you are very advanced.

One more thing...I would focus on your legs and back just as much as everything else. Especially if you are a beginner. Ignoring them and working your other muscle groups more will be a big mistake.

[Porkape]

I personally wouldn't ditch the cardio altogether, but I would not do it before the workout. The right kind of cardio will keep your appetite high, increase recovery between workouts, and give you the health benefits your body needs. 3 times per week at 10-15 minutes isn't going to hurt your bulking efforts. I would ditch the push ups for sure, though, unless you have some reason for doing them such as an upcoming fitness test or similar. I always recommend full body workouts to everyone...unless you are very advanced.

One more thing...I would focus on your legs and back just as much as everything else. Especially if you are a beginner. Ignoring them and working your other muscle groups more will be a big mistake.

I have been in and out of gyms for a good part of the past 10 years and I had a trainer back in college who showed me the ins and outs of keeping a routine and working out every group equally. But I did fall back into the bench press+curls guy routine more than once since then. Now I am more serious and possess more knowledge than I did but still a long way to go.

I would say my legs are the strongest out of all my body parts, have been since I was 18. The rest are a bit slow to catch up but they are getting stronger for sure, size department still needs a little work.

So if I do a 3 day/week full body routine and add a day for abs and cardio, is that still too much? I am currently trying to bulk....patiently.

[gainin_muscle]

No, that's not too much. Now, if you make your full body routine with 3 or 4 sets each exercise with 3 exercises per body part and all sets to failure...then yes, that would be too much. Most full body routines do not have you go to failure and only have you do a few sets per exercises and only 1 to 2 exercises per muscle group. Even if your legs are your strong body part, I would still work them equally...unless they are absolutely huge.

[Porkape]

Ok, I am new to this full body schedule. So I would start out with one compound and one isolated exercise for each body part, cover all 5 (chest, delts, back, arms and legs) groups and keep the sets to 3 each. I would make 2 or 3 routines that cover me on all 3 days. What about:

a) number of repitition in each set?
b) amount of weight? i.e. heavy/moderate/light

I am eating like 2500 to 3500 calories a day in hopes of getting big but its coming so sloooow.