critique my routine

[platinumpike]

mon: chest/tri
BB bench 5x5
DB incline 3x10
DB bench 3x10
DB incline fly 2x10
DB fly 2x10
cable cross over 3x10
weighted dips 3x10
BB close grip bench 4x10,8,6,4
skull crushers 3x10
push downs 3x10
over head tri extensions 3x8,6,4
kick backs 2x10

tue: back/bi
deadlift 5x5
bent over row 5x5
reverse grip bent over row 2x10
weighted pull ups 4x3-5
cable rows 2x10
lat pull down 2x10
DB curls 4x10
preacher curls 2x10
straight bar curls 5x5
chin ups 3x10 or cable curl 3x10
hammer curls 5x2

wed: off

thu: shoulders/trap
military press 5x5
side lat raise 3x10
bent lat raise 2x10
shoulder press 3x6-8
front raise 2x10
Arnold press 2x6-8
BB shrugs 5x5
upright row 4x10,8,6,4
DB shrugs 3x10

fri: legs
squats 5x5
ATG squats 3x10,8,8
hamstring curls 3x10
hack squats 3x10
standing toe raises 3x15
seated toe raises 4x15

[caerus13]

What do you squat, dead, bench?

That's a lot of volume, I'd cut out like half the exercises at least.

[platinumpike]

i squat 225,275,315,335,355
bench 135,205,215,225,245
DL 225,315,355,385,405
ive been doing this for a few months now and my lifts havent went up. is this bacause of the volume? what should i get read of?

[caerus13]

i squat 225,275,315,335,355
bench 135,205,215,225,245
DL 225,315,355,385,405
ive been doing this for a few months now and my lifts havent went up. is this bacause of the volume? what should i get read of?

I'm confused...so those are the sets you do in the 5x5? Check out the Bill Starr 5x5, or Madcow 5x5 and compare it to your program.

I would say you have too much volume, and you're not doing the lifts often enough. Also, I think your warm-up sets are too close to your final set (i.e. jumping from 315 to 335 to 355), and is probably taking some energy away from hitting 355x5. I don't think the huge amount of assistance exercises are helping you much.

[platinumpike]

yeah bill starr's 5x5 is where i got the idea but there is only like 4 exercises per day and i dont feel like ive got a good workout doing this load, so i added all the other exercises.

so should i make bigger jumps in weight like 315, 355, 375?

[caerus13]

yeah bill starr's 5x5 is where i got the idea but there is only like 4 exercises per day and i dont feel like ive got a good workout doing this load, so i added all the other exercises.

so should i make bigger jumps in weight like 315, 355, 375?

What do you qualify as a 'good workout'? For me it's when I lifted more than last week, last month, etc... More is not always better.

For squats, I jump 40 lbs a set, so count backwards from whatever your top set will be (i.e. you're going for 355x5, so do 315, 275, 235, 195, in reverse order of course). Same for deads, I do probably a 50 lb jump, for bench, 30 lbs.

[platinumpike]

for me and my thinking is, working every possible part of the muscle during the workout.
i know i need to stay with compounds so maybe ill try a 3 day split 5x5 ABA and BAB, and maybe inbetween those days tuesday and thursday do exercises i feel i havent hit hard enough.

that sounds pretty good to me. ill give that a shot.

[caerus13]

for me and my thinking is, working every possible part of the muscle during the workout.
i know i need to stay with compounds so maybe ill try a 3 day split 5x5 ABA and BAB, and maybe inbetween those days tuesday and thursday do exercises i feel i havent hit hard enough.

that sounds pretty good to me. ill give that a shot.

Read up on programming for strength training. At the level you're at (intermediate), going hard 3+ days a week will probably wear you down too much, slow progress.

I think I'm at a similar level to you, and I really could do not go hard 3 days a week and still make progress, I need the rest, so light and medium days keep me going without killing me. Again, you may be different.

[TheAncientOne]

5x5 is great, upper-lower is also good. Since you are strong at squat, bench etc. why bother do curls, front raises and others ?
You are already good on the lifts that matter, just try to improve on these.

[platinumpike]

thanks brah. ive been looking at just strength workouts because im ganna start my cut here in the next few weeks and my normal workout may be a little to hard to keep up with.
there are just so many strength workouts though, ex. 5x5, max-ot, hit, westside, hst, etc. so im trying to find a good one others have really progressed on.

[cnparong]

mon: chest/tri
BB bench 5x5
DB incline 3x10
DB bench 3x10
DB incline fly 2x10
DB fly 2x10
cable cross over 3x10
weighted dips 3x10
BB close grip bench 4x10,8,6,4
skull crushers 3x10
push downs 3x10
over head tri extensions 3x8,6,4
kick backs 2x10

tue: back/bi
deadlift 5x5
bent over row 5x5
reverse grip bent over row 2x10
weighted pull ups 4x3-5
cable rows 2x10
lat pull down 2x10
DB curls 4x10
preacher curls 2x10
straight bar curls 5x5
chin ups 3x10 or cable curl 3x10
hammer curls 5x2

wed: off

thu: shoulders/trap
military press 5x5
side lat raise 3x10
bent lat raise 2x10
shoulder press 3x6-8
front raise 2x10
Arnold press 2x6-8
BB shrugs 5x5
upright row 4x10,8,6,4
DB shrugs 3x10

fri: legs
squats 5x5
ATG squats 3x10,8,8
hamstring curls 3x10
hack squats 3x10
standing toe raises 3x15
seated toe raises 4x15

yipes! overtraining!

[platinumpike]

5x5 is great, upper-lower is also good. Since you are strong at squat, bench etc. why bother do curls, front raises and others ?
You are already good on the lifts that matter, just try to improve on these.

after hearing what a lot of people have said, im going to cut a lot of exercises out and focus more on a compound strength routine.

[TRTraining]

Hey All The Pros Start With Incline Barbell Bench Its The Best For Chest Development, and i dont think ur overtraining. Maybe u should work a six day split in which u hit the muscle group once a week and trains calves abs and forearms everyday as long as u have the diet to support your routine u wont overtrain

[platinumpike]

how about this one?
mon:
powercleans 5x5
bench 5x5 and 1x10 with weight of the 3rd set
squat 5x5 and 1x10 with weight of the 3rd set
2 assistance exercises

wed:
dead lift 5x5
military press 5x5 and 1x10 with weight of the 3rd set
bent row 5x5 and 1x10 with weight of the 3rd set
chin ups

friday:
powercleans 5x5,5,3,3,3
bench 5x5,5,3,3,3 and 1x10 with weight of 3rd set
squat 5x5,5,3,3,3 and 1x10 with weight of 3rd set
abs

[TheAncientOne]

the exersices are great, but I wouldn't do cleans and squat at the same day.

[chinesemuscle]

You can keep with your 4 days splits if you want, to get over your plateau just switch up your reps and sets and you do not need 5 exercises for tris and bis, especially if you're doing them on chest and back days. If you push yourself every set, 15 sets for big muscles and 12 sets for smaller muscles is plenty. And you shouldn't be cutting, you should be packing on more weight.

[platinumpike]

i found a couple other workouts that i like and i think ill try and mix them all together to try and find a good workout that will give me the best strength/mass gains.

im going to try and gain 5 more pounds then cut, i hate carrying around the extra body fat.