Opinion on my program

[Jahmez]

Hey Guys

I have seen there are lots of beginner programs and stuff to follow on this site and just wanted to put up what I am currently doing and any input you could have would be greatly appreciated.

I am currently 6'2, 21 years old and 97kg with a fair amount of body fat (not sure how high but id say it would be in the 20-25% range) . My goals are basically to increase muscle mass and cut fat like most but I really am just trying to get into a good habit at the moment with regards to training and diet.

My diet generally goes something like this:
Meal 1: Natural yoghurt, protein powder + oats
Meal 2: Tuna with some vegies
Meal 3: same as meal 2, might mix it up with some chicken or beef
Meal 4: Generally watever mum cooks, some sorta meat and veg
Meal 5 protein shake
Meal 6: little bit of cottage cheese before bed but i skip this sometimes as its not my favourite

My program is currently a 2 day split and setup as follows...all excercises are 3 x 8. I do my training at home and so have dummbells, an adjustable bench, an adjustable squat rack and a multi gym unit that i really just use for lat pulldown and tricep pulldowns.

Day 1:
Barbell Bench Press
Decline Bench Press
Dummbell Fly's
Dips
Tricep pulldowns

Day 2:
Squats
Deadlifts
Barbell Rows
Shrugs
Lat Pulldowns
Barbell Bicep Curls
Hammer Curls

Day 3:
Military Press
Side Dumbbell Raises
Rear Dumbbell Raises
Wrist curls
Palm Curls

On days off i normally try to do some sort of core work or cardio such as skipping or cycling.

Again, any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
James

 

[Shrek]

I do not like your program.

You have a plethora of exercises for chest and shoulders yet only squats for quads.
What makes you think smaller muscles need more work?

 

[Jahmez]

Thanks for the input Shrek.

This program was created with another friend who has been doing gym for about 5 years and has a quite impressive upper body, yet little mass in the lower body. I guess if he has trained that way, it could go little way to explaining this?

I genuinely feel like I personally prefer a solid upper body without the massive lower bodys, i guess somewhat similar to what you might see on some of the thicker AFL players.

But would it be right to say that targeting my upper body muscles moreso than my lower body ones would inhibit my overall ability to achieve maximum amounts of muscle gains? and is there any specific advice you or anyone else could offer?

 

[dave]

But would it be right to say that targeting my upper body muscles moreso than my lower body ones would inhibit my overall ability to achieve maximum amounts of muscle gains?

Good to see you picked that up. Also most of your strength and power comes from your hips so a big upper body and small lower body makes your training useless for sports and normal human functional needs.

Go back to the beginners threads and follow a program till it does not work for you anymore and then see where you are. Starting Strength is a good choice, or get yourself a coach/trainer.

 

[sookie]

Did your mate start off with this program?

 

[Bench Polkov]

Bad. Just bad.

You're just starting off in the gym? Look at the beginner thread.

 

[Goosey]

This is what every beginner should follow and some seasoned trainees revisit occasionally

follow basic program of exercises – every day for five consecutive days:
1. Full squats 1 set, 20 repetitions
2. Standing press with barbell 1 set, 10 repetitions
3. Regular grip chinning on bar 1 set, 5 repetitions
4. Bench presses with barbell 1 set, 10 repetitions
5. Regular grip curls with barbell 1 set, 10 repetitions
6. Stiff-legged deadlifts 1 set, 15 repetitions
7. Calf raises on one leg 1 set, 10 repetitions
8. Sit-ups with bent knees 1 set, 10 repetitions

The actual resistance employed should be light enough to permit the designated number of repetitions without exhausting the working muscles

During the second week of break-in training, the same basic exercises should be employed in the same order – but only three workouts should be performed, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. And two sets of each exercise should be performed during each workout; the first set of each exercise should be performed exactly as that exercise was performed during the first week of training – with the resistance previously used – and the second set should employ approximately ten percent (10%) more resistance, and should be carried almost to the point of momentary exhaustion.

 

[Jahmez]

Hey thanks for all the replies

no idea if my friend started off with this, will have to ask him next time i talk to him (lives in germany)

Thanks for the tips, I have been over and checked out the beginners thread and will probably take on one of those programs but I did just want to ask a couple of questions

Dave - With regards to the strength coming from hips and big upper body small lower body being useless for sports, how is it that alot of AFL players have such small legs but relatively large upper bodys by comparison (think Brett Moloney)? What you said makes alot of sense to me, im just wondering how that is

And just more generally, what is it about what I have been doing that makes it so bad? after doing this for about 9 weeks, I feel like i have made some significant improvements, but is it that I could have had better results on a different program? Am I simply overtraining different muscles and this will lead to poor growth later on?

I thought with this program I was tackling the majority of the muscle groups, with more focus on the particular groups that I desire the most improvement in.

And just with regards to the amount of shoulder and back excercises, I do a lot of those as recommended by my Physio as I had some rotator cuff problems last year.

Thanks once again!

 

[The Hamburgler]

It's because AFL players spent too much time working on the gun show and not enough time on their hips/ass/hamstrings.

Rugby players imo have a much better balance between upper/lower size/strength.

Unless of cause you want to look like Johnny Bravo:

 

[dave]

AFL players have had the most useless strength and conditioning of most sports. Have a look at collingwood for a team that finally has a good S&C coach.