Help me fix my workout plan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jvon2011]

Let me begin by saying that I put together all of the following parts of my workout plan. I know this is not advised and that I should leave this to a trained personal trainer and a dietician. Unfortunately, I am a freshman in college and I am BROKE! Therefore, I can not afford to hire a personal trainer and dietician, however, I have read up on different types of workouts and exercises to build muscles to I have tried to make a legit workout, so please spare me the criticism and look beyond that fact. On the other hand, I do ask that when critiquing the workout plan I have constructed for myself, feel free to be very critical of everything I have laid out. Be harsh when correcting it so I can fix the problems listed below.

Anyway, I have been lifting regularly since about mid October of 2011. I played sports all through high school, so I've always been in pretty good shape but I needed to stay in shape. After deciding to begin lifting, I wanted to work towards an athletic physique, more specifically the Abercrombie look (please spare any negative comments). In order to work towards the physique I want, I need put on between 10 and 15 pounds of muscle. Unfortunately I have not been able to put on any weight, but I have put on a little muscle mass but that is it. Following this is everything I am doing right now.

WORKOUT
Once again, I planned this myself.

Monday - Chest and Back

I stick to around 4 to 5 different exercises consisting of 3 to 4 sets of anywhere from 8-12 reps each time I work chest. I try to keep the muscles guessing by switching up exercises every week by choosing from Flat Dumbbell Press, Incline Dumbbell Press, Flat Dumbell Flies, Incline Dumbell Flies, Flat Neutral Grip Dumbbell Press, Incline Neutral Grip Dumbell Press, Flat Narrow Grip Barbell Press, and Incline Narrow Grip Barbell Press. I alway try to vary the level on incline too.

For my back, I stick to 3 to 4 exercises consisting of 3 to 4 sets of anywhere from 8-12 reps as well. I switch up the exercises just like those for my chest. I usually choose between Bent-Over Dumbbell Rows, Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups with varying grips, Dumbell Shrugs and Lat Pull Downs.

Wednesday - Shoulders, Triceps and Biceps

For shoulders is usually do 4 to 5 different exercises with the same set and rep range as the chest. I also vary these workouts between Shoulder Press, Arnold Press, Reverse Flies, and many different Lateral Dumbbell Raises to work every muscle group within the deltoid.

For triceps, I stick with the same number of exercieses, sets, and reps as the soulders. I also vary the exercises from week to week between Dumbbell Skull Crushers, Barbell Skull Crushers, Sitting Behind the Head Tricep Extensions, Lying Behind the Head Tricep Extension, Tricep Cable Pushdowns, and Overhead Tricep Cable Extensions.

For biceps, I usually stick with 2 exercises at the same set and rep range as the previous exercises. Usually only using seated dumbbell curls, and standing barbell curls with varying grips. I stick to only two for the time being because I am trying to advance my chest, shoulders, and triceps to a proportional size before hittng them much harder since they are currently a little big in proportion to the rest of my muscles.

FRIDAY - Legs

Finally come legs on fridays. For these, I stick with squats, seated claf raises, leg extensions, and leg curls. I stay withing the same set and rep range here too begause I dont want to put too much size (still a little though) on my legs since the abercrombie physique doesn't go well with huge legs.


----------ABS-------------
In addition to the muscle groups trained on each day, I have been doing ab workouts too. I have been varying these week to week and generally work my abs to exhaustion. I stick with about 3 sets of 10-15 reps with anything that incorporates weighted resistance, and go to failure with anything that is my own body weight. The exercises I have been doing are hanging leg raises, captains chair leg raises, weighted leg lifts with a bench, weighted cable crunch, standard leg lifts, oblique rotations, oblique crunches (with variations), standard cruches (with variations), and situps. I'm sure that I am forgetting something here that I have been doing but I am not concerned about by abs as they have been advancing well.

CARDIO
My cardio at the present time consists of swimming between three and four times a week. This is because I am on the club swim team here at my school. I have read that for "hard gainers", laying off the cardio helps to put on weight and muscle mass, but that is not an option because competetive swimming is my life.

DIET
Since I'm in college, I'm stuck eating college food. But, I do try to eat the foods that are healtier for me. That is I am eating more grilled chicken, turkey, and occasionally salmon, while avoiding foods loaded with fat like hamburgers, and anything fried. Along with those, I'm trying to still get all the necessary food groups like fruits, vegetable, etc., so I believe I am eating about as healthy as I can given the options I have. Once again, I read an article talking about "hard gainers" and putting on mass, but this time it was centered more on the diet. It stated that being a "hard gainer" was just an excuse for not trying hard enough to put on mass and that the "hard gainer" wasn't eating enough to put on any muscle mass. Therefore, I bumped up my Calorie intake by about 500 calories a day. This has been going on for about a month now, but with no avail. I still haven't up on a single pound.

SUPPLEMENTS
Currently, I am taking several different supplements, consisting of whey protein, amino acids, and multivitamins. The whey protein is GNC's Wheybolic, which I take after each of my lifting workouts (3 scoops or 1 serving). As for the amino acids, I am taking USPlabs Modern BCAA (The Better BCAA). However, I will soon be switching over to BSNlabs Amino X because I am almost out of my other BCAAs. Finally, I have been taking two different vitamins. The first is GNC's Strength Vitapak. These, I take on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before my workouts. The second vitamin is GNC's standard multivitamin, and I take these the remaining four days of the week when I do not workout.

Once agian, I did plan this myself so please don't criticize me for that, but feel free to tear this workout plan to shreads and rebuild it so I can start making some process. Like I said, I want to put on 10 to 15 pounds of muscle while staying relatively lean. Also, I have put on a little muscle mass (more like size) without gaining any weight which confuses me. I may have also forgotten something I have been doing in here, but this still extremely close to what I have been doing if I did.

[groverdot]

If you're just starting out, splits aren't as efficient as full body routines or strength routines. Read the following:

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/showthread.php?t=115643271
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/showthread.php?t=113707701
/showthread.php?t=998224

Noobs like us get more optimum mass and muscle gains from full body than splits (typically, though everyone's different) Good luck!

[Marcusgs]

^^^^
stop reposting this **** in every thread and for god sake stop sucking the SS dick. 95% of the people who are telling you to do it never did it themselves.

[jamnajh]

^^^^
stop reposting this **** in every thread and for god sake stop sucking the SS dick. 95% of the people who are telling you to do it never did it themselves.

True but doesnt mean they shouldn't have. And some that did have never regretted it. Look no further than Peter gibbons.

[BurninGoo]

^^^^
stop reposting this **** in every thread and for god sake stop sucking the SS dick. 95% of the people who are telling you to do it never did it themselves.

SS is an excellent program. I have only completed 8 weeks so far and I have doubled my weight in 4 out of 5 exercises. OP, do SS and get strong.

Buy the book --> read the book --> learn.