Hi, I currently do a full body routine 3x weekly, but I don't always do the exact same exercises. However, I'd like to ask if what I've been doing is advisable.
Sorry I'm so long-winded. I made a list of the muscle groups I work every single workout:
• I do some kind of squat every single workout, usually to start. I'll either do goblet or Bulgarian split squats, with dumbbells. With the goblet squat I do go below parallel but lately have been tried going as low as I possibly can. My poor hip flexors!
• For the chest I had only been doing the incline plate-loaded chest press, but just used the bench press for the first time this week, and plan to use it regularly in rotation with my chest press.
• Thus far, the only exercise I do especially for the biceps is dumbbell curls.
• For triceps, I do either the pulley machine extension, rope extension, or dumbbell extension. I end up doing each of these once a week since I rotate them.
• My shoulder exercises include dumbbell rows, shoulder press, and lat pull. Actually, this is one of the only muscle groups that I will do more than one exercise for in one session. My shoulders need a lot of help catching up with my other muscles.
• For abs, I do stability ball crunches, sometimes with a dumbbell in hand, or I do oblique twists on a Bosu ball while holding a medicine ball, and just recently started doing the decline leg raise. The latter is also great for the inner thighs! I also do the plank pose sometimes but I don't really consider it an "exercise".
• Each workout I do either deadlifts or barbell glute bridges. I find that both are great for the hamstrings and lower back! Oh yeah, and the glutes.
• I had been doing side-lying leg lifts, which are good for the outer thighs, but I haven't done them in the past week or so.
• I first did lunges with dumbbells a few days ago and am considering adding them to my regular routine.
I do my exercises in pairs. For example, I'll usually start with squats, and then alternate it with a chest exercise. I keep doing this until I've completed my 3 sets of each.
So is it bad that I'm only doing certain exercises only once or twice weekly, due to my rotation? Should I do deadlifts every time I work out? I know that they are a fundamental bodybuilding move, but I find that the glute bridges work similarly.
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08-18-2013, 01:50 PM #1
- Join Date: Jul 2013
- Location: New Jersey, United States
- Posts: 3,573
- Rep Power: 1663
Keeping the body "guessing" by changing up exercises
Make Fihe Not Fat Again.
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08-18-2013, 02:20 PM #2
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08-18-2013, 02:25 PM #3
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08-18-2013, 02:30 PM #4
^^^^This is why beginners are always advised to go with a pre-packacked, proven program written by someone with a lot of experience.
Stop what you're doing and get on a structured beginner program. You'll then be using the most-appropriate exercises with the most-appropriate set/rep scheme, with an appropriate progression plan, and all of it laid out so that you can track your progress week to week.
Stop what you're doing, and start here:
*Routine: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843No brain, no gain.
"The fitness and nutrition world is a breeding ground for obsessive-compulsive behavior. The irony is that many of the things people worry about have no impact on results either way, and therefore aren't worth an ounce of concern."--Alan Aragon
Where the mind goes, the body follows.
Ironwill Gym:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpost.php?p=629719403&postcount=3388
Ironwill2008 Journal:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=157459343&p=1145168733
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08-18-2013, 02:36 PM #5
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08-18-2013, 02:38 PM #6
- Join Date: Jul 2013
- Location: New Jersey, United States
- Posts: 3,573
- Rep Power: 1663
Thank you for that helpful link. But that workout seems suspiciously simple!
At one time I had been doing the heavy, medium, and light thing, but now it's just two heavy and one light day. I see that everything in that routine includes some variation of something I already do, except for the calf raises, which I stopped doing a long time ago. But what's wrong with doing more? Nothing wrong with using the same muscles with a different range of motion...right? Since I'm currently too weak to do presses and curls with a barbell, would dumbbells work? Maybe even a body bar. O_O
I normally do 3 sets of 8 reps, but on my light days I'll do 3 sets of 12 reps with a lighter weight. I increase the weight when I find that it's getting easy.
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08-18-2013, 02:50 PM #7No brain, no gain.
"The fitness and nutrition world is a breeding ground for obsessive-compulsive behavior. The irony is that many of the things people worry about have no impact on results either way, and therefore aren't worth an ounce of concern."--Alan Aragon
Where the mind goes, the body follows.
Ironwill Gym:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpost.php?p=629719403&postcount=3388
Ironwill2008 Journal:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=157459343&p=1145168733
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08-18-2013, 02:57 PM #8
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08-18-2013, 03:09 PM #9
For someone who is far-advanced, yes, increased training volume is a necessity. But for a beginner, working very hard to systematically progress the same few compound lifts, multiple times per week, for as long as they can possibly make gains is the most-timely path to increased strength/mass.
Diluting your energy by spreading it over dozens of exercises will leave you with no appreciable gains from any of them. Your muscles can't 'guess' at anything; all they need in order to be prodded to grow is an increase in the weight and/or reps lifted with good form over time.
And if you are constantly changing any of the factors involved in your training, that leaves you no way to evaluate your progress; you can't gain any knowledge from where you're at now if you can't tell where you've been.No brain, no gain.
"The fitness and nutrition world is a breeding ground for obsessive-compulsive behavior. The irony is that many of the things people worry about have no impact on results either way, and therefore aren't worth an ounce of concern."--Alan Aragon
Where the mind goes, the body follows.
Ironwill Gym:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpost.php?p=629719403&postcount=3388
Ironwill2008 Journal:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=157459343&p=1145168733
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08-18-2013, 04:00 PM #10
- Join Date: Feb 2007
- Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States
- Age: 42
- Posts: 191
- Rep Power: 1760
Bolded +1,000
If I could rep you I would, but on spread with you.
Let me give an example from mountain biking.
I am starting to get into an advanced level, which means I do lots of detailed drills to improve weak points, which for me is weight transfer in climbing and loose pack climbing.
When I started out I just rode, I hit everything equally on the trail. If I would have wanted to start hitting drills then there would have been problems.
1, I would not have known what my weak spots were, so I would have to do drills day and night to cover everything and been to tired to hit the later ones well.
2, Doing all those drills would mean I would have lost out on the fast first year growth in trail riding skill, as I was never applying them to the trail, where the really matter.
The same thing applies here. If you try now to hit everybody part from lots of angles, weak points, blah, blah, blah. You will seriously lose out during those first few years where everything needs to mesh. Plus you will lose out in the fact that just training will make you better at those things than drills in the beginning.
What I mean there is movement patterns are much more important in the beginning than isolating the medial head of the deltoids.USMC 1999-2007
Bobbed when I should have weaved
I build a better sniper rifle than you.
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08-18-2013, 04:02 PM #11
- Join Date: Jul 2013
- Location: New Jersey, United States
- Posts: 3,573
- Rep Power: 1663
Thanks for the advice Jaw2Jab! I just get really excited about learning all kinds of new exercises. I guess what I could do is do the same basic exercises every time I exercise, and then just add in a couple of extra ones sometimes if I want to do extra work on a certain muscle group. Is that advisable?
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08-18-2013, 04:28 PM #12
- Join Date: Feb 2007
- Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States
- Age: 42
- Posts: 191
- Rep Power: 1760
The basics are basics for a reason. Stick with them until you have them very well understood. This is not done in weeks, more like many months or even years. If you want to add in all of the other things, consider a "full body split." One of my clients was the same way, and as his trainer I knew he would have a hard time sticking to just the basics, so I set up a "split" for him. Monday was a power day; Squats, one set of deads, and bench. Tuesday was a GPP. Turkish get ups, box jumps, farmers walks, etc. Wednesday was cardio. Thursday was an "hypertrophy day", (vary similiar to all pros), Friday was cardio (mountain biking with me) and Saturday was Olympic lifting.
His workout ADD handled it well and he made great gains. But it took me along time to develop that program for him and it was specific to him. This is not a good idea for someone to guess at. You need to talk to a GOOD trainer and figure it out if you want to go this route. If they talk to you for 15 min and then give you a program and a diet you may as well throw it in the trash. If you decide to go that route and have questions PM me.USMC 1999-2007
Bobbed when I should have weaved
I build a better sniper rifle than you.
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08-18-2013, 04:44 PM #13
• All Pros (the program to which IW directed you) is the only program on these forums that's been through 4 iterations as a sticky—one might infer that it's built a lot of muscle over the course of 6yrs since its inception.
• You can add exercises to it, after you've been through a few 5-week cycles to accommodate the workload. AP has a suggested list.
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08-18-2013, 05:00 PM #14
It is simple for a reason. It is full of compound exercises that will give you good gains and prepare you for more volume when you move onto intermediate status. Also it is set up for progression so you can judge your gains over time. If you are constantly changing exercises you will slow your progression and hence your gains.
View my progress at http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=154724503
Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." - George Sheehan
Low aim is the biggest crime a man can commit. -- Bruce Lee
"Why do I lift? I have many things left that I want to do in my life and I cannot think of a single one that I can do from a scooter" - me
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