Rate my Routine please

[Wilycoyote88]

Monday, wed, fri schedule.
Goal is overall muscle gain and to hit 160 lbs. Im at 145 lbs. I started at 135 about a month ago.
Current plan i do every time:

Bench. 3-4 sets. 155/165/175/max out
Squat. 3-4 sets. 165/175/185
Curved bar bell curl. 3 sets 70/70/max out
Decline sit up bench. 3 sets 20/20/20
Pull ups. 10/10/max out.

This enough as long as i keep going hard?
Maybe tricep pull downs or something? My schedule is tough so trying to keep from going every day. Thanks!

[EliKoehn]

Monday, wed, fri schedule.
Goal is overall muscle gain and to hit 160 lbs. Im at 145 lbs. I started at 135 about a month ago.
Current plan i do every time:

Bench. 3-4 sets. 155/165/175/max out
Squat. 3-4 sets. 165/175/185
Curved bar bell curl. 3 sets 70/70/max out
Decline sit up bench. 3 sets 20/20/20
Pull ups. 10/10/max out.

This enough as long as i keep going hard?
Maybe tricep pull downs or something? My schedule is tough so trying to keep from going every day. Thanks!

I'd say do it. If you find that you're stalling out or unable to complete it as written, post back.

It seems almost everyone on this board gets off on denouncing newcomers' written out intentions to actually perform major, full-body stimulating exercises with regularity and seriousness, which is going to get you a long ways from square one pretty much no matter what, and makes up the majority of your progress at an early stage, anyway.

If you actually do that OP, and then you stall out and find you're consistently not making progress, then it's a good time to find a way to optimize your training and go with something else. Could you make faster progress with Fierce 5 or another pre-written program by someone experienced? Probably yes.

Is that perfect or the only thing you'll ever need? Not even close. Just because some guy wrote a program that got stickied years ago and it became the circle-jerk of this forum doesn't mean that nothing else works, or that you're wrong to try things yourself. The newer you are, the less that's advisable, but the point stands.

Good luck!

[EiFit91]

Monday, wed, fri schedule.
Goal is overall muscle gain and to hit 160 lbs. Im at 145 lbs. I started at 135 about a month ago.
Current plan i do every time:

Bench. 3-4 sets. 155/165/175/max out
Squat. 3-4 sets. 165/175/185
Curved bar bell curl. 3 sets 70/70/max out
Decline sit up bench. 3 sets 20/20/20
Pull ups. 10/10/max out.

This enough as long as i keep going hard?
Maybe tricep pull downs or something? My schedule is tough so trying to keep from going every day. Thanks!

You could run this as long as you’re making consistent progress. I would personally add rows and facepulls to insure against long run shoulder issues as I think your above routine is likely to lead to muscle imbalances.

And something for the posterior chain. Same problem.

Fierce 5 takes care of these issues for you.

I have some imbalance issues that would probably not have been as pronounced had I just run Fierce 5 from the start. These can develop very slowly and you only notice it when it’s too late.

[Wilycoyote88]

I'd say do it.

It seems almost everyone on this board gets off on denouncing newcomers' written out intentions to actually perform major, full-body stimulating exercises with regularity and seriousness, which is going to get you a long ways from square one pretty much no matter what, and makes up the majority of your progress at an early stage, anyway.

If you actually do that OP, and then you stall out and find you're consistently not making progress, then it's a good time to find a way to optimize your training and go with something else. Could you make faster progress with Fierce 5 or another pre-written program by someone experienced? Probably yes.

Is that perfect or the only thing you'll ever need? Not even close. Just because some guy wrote a program that got stickied years ago and it became the circle-jerk of this forum doesn't mean that nothing else works, or that you're wrong to try things yourself. The newer you are, the less that's advisable, but the point stands.

Good luck!

Yes i actually do it. Ppl lie about that here i guess?? I noticed after the month im not as sore even though i go hard. Except for my legs. Squats always kick my ass the nxt day. Instead of adding diff exercises, maybe layer in burn out sets? That wont inhibit my goals right.

[Wilycoyote88]

You could run this as long as you’re making consistent progress. I would personally add rows and facepulls to insure against long run shoulder issues as I think your above routine is likely to lead to muscle imbalances.

And something for the posterior chain. Same problem.

Ya good point i need that. Face pulls especially. Years of sitting at desk job needs correction

[TolerantLactose]

What do mean by max out? Amrap or a top weight attempt?

[EliKoehn]

Yes i actually do it. Ppl lie about that here i guess?? I noticed after the month im not as sore even though i go hard. Except for my legs. Squats always kick my ass the nxt day. Instead of adding diff exercises, maybe layer in burn out sets? That wont inhibit my goals right.

No, I don't think they lie per se, but a lot of the replies here are simply cart blanche "Your program sucks" with zero effort to address what's wrong or try to help in any meaningful way.

To clarify for the record, I don't think Fierce 5 is a bad program, but it's sworn upon like it's a canonical holy text with everything else being apocryphal anathema. I too would recommend adding in some kind of horizontal pull (and personally, I'd not leave out deadlifts either) but it seems that you cover most of your bases with that and even just doing those exercises you listed for 3 or 4 months is not going to dig you into some kind of hole in addressing some missing points of emphasis later.

FWIW IMHO, the deadlift is probably the single best exercise you could do for posture correction, regarding the effects of sitting at the desk job.

[Wilycoyote88]

What do mean by max out? Amrap or a top weight attempt?

Bench for example. I did my 3 sets but if i hit my 6 reps ill add 10 lbs, grab a spot and squeeze out as many as i can. Yesterday i did 4 reps only on my last set. So it was actually 155 6 reps. 165/6, 175/4

[Wilycoyote88]

No, I don't think they lie per se, but a lot of the replies here are simply cart blanche "Your program sucks" with zero effort to address what's wrong or try to help in any meaningful way.

To clarify for the record, I don't think Fierce 5 is a bad program, but it's sworn upon like it's a canonical holy text with everything else being apocryphal anathema. I too would recommend adding in some kind of horizontal pull (and personally, I'd not leave out deadlifts either) but it seems that you cover most of your bases with that and even just doing those exercises you listed for 3 or 4 months is not going to dig you into some kind of hole in addressing some missing points of emphasis later.

FWIW IMHO, the deadlift is probably the single best exercise you could do for posture correction, regarding the effects of sitting at the desk job.

Ok thnks a lot. Ill layer something in for that. Deadlifts i did last yr and liked them but always afraid of mucking up my lower back w em. Lower weight on them still help with posture?

[TolerantLactose]

Bench for example. I did my 3 sets but if i hit my 6 reps ill add 10 lbs, grab a spot and squeeze out as many as i can. Yesterday i did 4 reps only on my last set. So it was actually 155 6 reps. 165/6, 175/4

Carry on then. If it was a max weight for a set number of reps, I would put that ahead of the other with sets, ie. do the volume work after.

[EliKoehn]

Ok thnks a lot. Ill layer something in for that. Deadlifts i did last yr and liked them but always afraid of mucking up my lower back w em. Lower weight on them still help with posture?

I'd definitely start with something well within the range of what you can do, and hone good form as you slowly increase weight. Certainly don't "grip and rip," especially when you're not used to doing them regularly. Pulling explosively with a tight setup and the slack out of the bar should go by another name, I think.

If you want to just focus on squats for now as a lower body exercise, it probably wouldn't hurt, since they share so much of the same musculature (even though the movement pattern vis a vis the loading is quite a bit different) and they tend to be neglected even by lifters who are generally proficient otherwise, but deadlifts are just my favorite exercise so I personally wouldn't omit them. You do what you prefer, however.

[Wilycoyote88]

I'd definitely start with something well within the range of what you can do, and hone good form as you slowly increase weight. Certainly don't "grip and rip," especially when you're not used to doing them regularly. Pulling explosively with a tight setup and the slack out of the bar should go by another name, I think.

If you want to just focus on squats for now as a lower body exercise, it probably wouldn't hurt, since they share so much of the same musculature (even though the movement pattern vis a vis the loading is quite a bit different) and they tend to be neglected even by lifters who are generally proficient otherwise, but deadlifts are just my favorite exercise so I personally wouldn't omit them. You do what you prefer, however.

Thnks everyone.

[air2fakie]

Looks great! Rows & hip hinges are highly overrated.