Please let me know what you think of this work out.

[ThomasJ]

I would like to know from more experienced people what they think of this routine and what I can or should do to make it better. I am 5'11 and 235lbs. I am 26 years old. Ive been working with this routine for about two weeks now. I always warm up for 5 minutes or so on the elliptical.

Monday Legs, deep squats- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
leg extension- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
leg curl- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
calf raise 3 sets 15/15/12 reps
heel raise 3 sets of 15

Tuesday upper, Flat BB benchpress- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
Incline DB press- 3 sets 12/10/8
Overhead DB press 3 sets 12/10/8
Cable flys- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
Tricep push down or tricep extension 12/10/8 reps

Wednesday cardio 45 total minutes one treadmill, elliptical, and bike.

Thursday upper, Seated cable rows or DB rows- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
Lat pull down- 12/10/8 reps
DB bicep curls- 12/10/8 reps
hammer curls12/10/8 reps
DB shruggs 12/10/8
DB forearm curls 12/12/10 reps (wrist curls)

Friday cardio and abdominals, Crunches, seated twist machine, oblique crunches, back extension, 25 minutes cardio.

Saturday off.
Sunday ill do some cardio if I didnt get too crazy saturday night

Let me know anything I should do to make my workout more effective. For my diet im pretty much following the "Adam's Diet"

The supplements I use are a normal multi vitamin, ON 100% whey, and Prolab Creatine Monohydrate.

My goal is to be 190-200lbs with BF less than 15%

Some questions I have are should I be working legs more than once a week and should be going to failure on my last set?

[ThomasJ]

I assume no reply means there is nothing wrong with it???

[AJbuilder]

I would like to know from more experienced people what they think of this routine and what I can or should do to make it better. I am 5'11 and 235lbs. I am 26 years old. Ive been working with this routine for about two weeks now. I always warm up for 5 minutes or so on the elliptical.

Monday Legs, deep squats- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
leg extension- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
leg curl- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
calf raise 3 sets 15/15/12 reps
heel raise 3 sets of 15

Tuesday upper, Flat BB benchpress- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
Incline DB press- 3 sets 12/10/8
Overhead DB press 3 sets 12/10/8
Cable flys- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
Tricep push down or tricep extension 12/10/8 reps

Wednesday cardio 45 total minutes one treadmill, elliptical, and bike.

Thursday upper, Seated cable rows or DB rows- 3 sets 12/10/8 reps
Lat pull down- 12/10/8 reps
DB bicep curls- 12/10/8 reps
hammer curls12/10/8 reps
DB shruggs 12/10/8
DB forearm curls 12/12/10 reps (wrist curls)

Friday cardio and abdominals, Crunches, seated twist machine, oblique crunches, back extension, 25 minutes cardio.

Saturday off.
Sunday ill do some cardio if I didnt get too crazy saturday night

Let me know anything I should do to make my workout more effective. For my diet im pretty much following the "Adam's Diet"

The supplements I use are a normal multi vitamin, ON 100% whey, and Prolab Creatine Monohydrate.

My goal is to be 190-200lbs with BF less than 15%

Some questions I have are should I be working legs more than once a week and should be going to failure on my last set?

The routine could need some tweaking. But still keep in mind that there is no such thing as a perfect routine. Goal should always be to optimize.

I would suggest you split up your training through training the planes of motion. In other words, don't think in terms of leg day or chest day. Think in terms of upper body and lower body days. I see you've got it set similar but take it a step further and think in terms of vertical push/pull and horizontal push/pull movements. Examples of vertical push would be dips, standing db or military shoulder press, squats or any exercise involving you to stand up and push away. Vertical pull would be deadlifts, stiff legged deads or any of its variations, db curls, chinups/pullups, pulldowns. Horizontal push would be flat, low incline, decline db or bench presses. Horizontal pull would be bb or db rows. You are trying to train with the movements for increased strength(even when dieting) and this is a great way to do it. Your body also becomes more efficient at firing those neurons for strength output since you are training in a very specific manner in the separate lifts.

Since you have one leg/lower body day and two upper body days I would group it into the same scheme but with the addition I outline above: one leg/lower body day, one upper body day with only vertical pushing/pulling upper body exercises, another upper body day with only horizontal pushing/pulling exercises and finally another leg day comprised of a different variation of squats( db squats, split squats, bulgarian squats or my fav. front squats ) . Now if you're just feeling that this is too much then reserve the second leg day to sprints.

I don't like the fact that you threw in a lot of isolation exercises. The logic is that if you're going to do the isolations, you might as well add in a few extra sets of compounds. Take away some of the leg extensions, heel raises , lat pulldowns, and the likes and throw in chinups/pullups, stiff legged deads, front squats . You don't necessarily have to work with the same rep scheme for more than four weeks but you can do so if you continue to make progress. You can periodize simply by using your pyramiding down rep schemes for two weeks, then switch over to 5x5, or 10x2, or 4x12, or 10x3. Be flexible and always strive for strength increases since it preserves and even promotes mass after the dieting phase.

One important reminder: strength can be gained on dieting and cutting. This is accomplished only if you avoid failure on most of your sets. Lift close to failure but never to failure on all the sets. That is how powerlifters and strongmen and oly lifters train 90 percent of the time. And so should regular bodybuilders. You can do a search on this site and others like dragondoor.com and t-nation warning against training to failure. Certainly, it's a fact that most athletes don't train to failure most of the time. It'll be 89 whole pages to explain so I recommend you do some good reading on this issue yourself: self educate!

Weight training is priority when dieting so if you're feeling flushed from all the work, limit cardio or do sprints but refrain from doing too much. In lifting, always work the core, functional muscles first before deciding on throwing in isolation exercises.

Try the captains of crush grippers at ironmind.com and squeeze with your whole body contracting. You'll work more muscles , especially isometrically, from than simple db curls.

You also get tons of stimulation on your abs, biceps, forearms, neck, traps if you train the compound lifts like deads, squats, bb/db rows, dips, presses religiously. The exercises that involve lots of muscle stimulation are always the best.

pay good attention to diet as well and start off with about 300-500 below maintenance intake in calories. Measure bf% once every 1-2 weeks to monitor loss of fat ratio. Have a high intake of protein with at least one gram of protein per lb. of lean body weight. That should be the bare minimum. Don't neglect the good efa fats like omega 3s and 6s which you can get from salmon, fish in general, and flax oil/seeds. Make the bulk of your carb intake complex and low GI. A good strategy is to eat up to maintenance for a few days after 6 weeks of straight dieting and remember to adjust down accordingly as you lose fat. Drink at least 1 gallon of water per day. It's more important than you think and will make a huge difference in the long run. It has for me.

Just take my advice on a holistic approach and adjust accordingly. Hope this helped.