Question about my routine

[AcegMan]

Workouts consist of

chest/biceps
tri's/back
shoulder/legs/calves
abs everyday..
cardio every other day...
usually 3 excercises per body part
6'0 192 bf% about 12 last time i checked which was a couple months ago.
anything I can change? I see alot of people focusing on 1 bodypart eachday, am I over training?.. doing 3 days on 3 off. usually 3 weeks of heavy and 2 weeks of light weights. I was about 165 2 years ago so Ive defnetly made gains. would like to lose some more bodyfat but continue to gain muscle, more cardio? I still think I could use more defnition. I do mostly negative training and superset.

I dont have any set workouts I do, i vary it up though so im not doing the same excercise every time i work that specifi muscle group

[Ritch]

About to go to bed here, will make this quick. Don`t train triceps and back together, back on it`s own is plenty. I wouldn`t train back after having trained biceps the day before. I also don`t see how you can train shoulders and legs on the same day. I like the idea you have of intensity cycling with the 3 weeks heavy then 2 weeks light. Gaining muscle while losing fat is something usually beginers can do or people on steroids. If you`re dieteing, don`t do heavy negatives, you`ll never recuperate from them.

Maybe do this if you like

chest/triceps/abs
Back/calves
off
Shoulder/biceps/abs
off
Legs/calves
off

There are so many variations you could do this is just one of them. You could do some low intensity cardio after your upper body workouts.

[BritishColumbian]

^^^This is what I have been doing. (what rich suggested) Its perfect!
I also believe that abs shouldnt be trained everyday, they should be treated like any other muscle group. I do 45 min intense cardio on the off days and 20 min low impact pwo on chest-back-shoulder days.

[VIPpits]

I was under the impression you should not exert yourself on days off Am I wrong?

[rickyboy36]

Workouts consist of

chest/biceps
tri's/back
shoulder/legs/calves
abs everyday..
cardio every other day...
usually 3 excercises per body part
6'0 192 bf% about 12 last time i checked which was a couple months ago.
anything I can change? I see alot of people focusing on 1 bodypart eachday, am I over training?.. doing 3 days on 3 off. usually 3 weeks of heavy and 2 weeks of light weights. I was about 165 2 years ago so Ive defnetly made gains. would like to lose some more bodyfat but continue to gain muscle, more cardio? I still think I could use more defnition. I do mostly negative training and superset.

I dont have any set workouts I do, i vary it up though so im not doing the same excercise every time i work that specifi muscle group

What Ritch proposed is good.But i have a question:If you say you are making good gains..why change?Alos,people are going to have to accept that gaining muscle and losing fat are almost impossible doing at the same time,unless on very high doses of certain compounds..or are some kind of genetic freak.

[AcegMan]

Well yes I have got good gains before, but the last month has been really bad for me. I go to the gym not focused/tired/no energy and leaving early because of it. I am workin on getting to bed early since I wake up at 230am for work and prolly dont get to sleep by 10pm. I also have got 2 samples of NO shotgun to give me some boost. we will see how that works out.
As for ritch, Ill start your suggestion next week when i go back to heavy. although i will probably stick with the 3 days on 1 off since i have not had a problem with it and I like to be busy on my days off from work.(if you disagree plz let me knw)
Also I have no real diet. I eat pretty healthy when I can though. usually chicken/pork...rice, salad, aspargus, some veggies... id say its not too bad, but I could defiently eat more often..work kinda takes me away from that.

Ritch, will your routine mabye help my muscle's recover more?
Also, is it possible to cut out those 2 weeks of light weights and just do alot of supersetting?

any other ideas/comments write em down! thanks

[Ritch]

It sure seems like you`re not getting enough sleep, although some can get away with less, I have a hard time beleiving 4.5 hours is optimal. The other thing is your nutrition which is so important to have a very close idea to what is being eaten, when and why. As always I suggest reading what John Berardi has to say on his website. Google his name and you will find it. If work takes you away from eating well, I strongly suggest grinding up some oatmeal (start with one cup) putting it in a shaker and adding protein powder for about 40 grams worth. This will give you 60 grams of carbs and 40 grams of protein. You could always add an apple or a individual yogurt cup adding more cals.

So 3 days on 1 day off when not sleeping much and not paying attention to nutrition detail is just not going to translate into good gains. I`d say train each body part once a week. If you want to add cardio I guess then do so, just not the day before or after leg training which only leaves one day. And pick a goal for now. Are you gaining or maintaining or trying to loose fat, then eat accordingly. Forget about fat loss programs although some like circuit training for that purpose, but that type of training just does not attract me at all. Plus then you become one of those pricks you takes up 4 ****ing machines at once...

I wouldn`t do supersets on the weeks you are trying to recover, just some lighter training with no forced reps or negatives. Leave 2 reps in the hole if you can resist. I would do this protocol is you decide to continue training 3 days on 1 day off.

As far as intensity cycling here is something you could do. Every 8 weeks or so you take a whole week off. The first week is light leaving 2 reps in the hole for every set you do. The second week you go a little harder, then the third week you go all out, then the fourth week you go very light doing sets of 20 with about 30% of your lifts and train lighting fast. you also cut the volume of you sets by 50%. Basically it almost feels like your whole workout is a warm up set. Then the next 3 weeks you go all out, taking the 4th week off and restarting the cycle. I will adimit the week of light training takes restraint not to do more, but it will only give you better results for the following 3 weeks. Give that a try. I never was a fan of super sets.

[AcegMan]

Plain Oatmeal or any kind is fine?
I will follow your plan see how I do, and I will only do light cardio after working out my upper body. I guess ill just stick with the 3 weeks heavy 2 weeks light. the only reason im a little ansy to get to the heavy is because I have this Shotgun samples to take and rather take it while doing heavy..im usually pretty good with doing my light weights .
they give a good pump. <- does that translate into good gains?
Is it beneficial if I do mabye 1 superset for every 3 excercises?

[Gib]

Just curious, what do you do for work with those hours you listed??

[VIPpits]

Not to take away from this thread but I am very interested in the answer to my question should I be doing cardio on my days off?

[BritishColumbian]

Not to take away from this thread but I am very interested in the answer to my question should I be doing cardio on my days off?

it all depends on your goals, If you were bulking and your a hard gainer I wouldnt recomend it. I am doing it because my goals are to drop my bf% and I am on a cutting diet.

[PJD]

It seems as though there a couple of different goals you have amongst your post.....and yes just as the guys said it will be important to outline them and separate them from each other. In order to achieve them successfully!

As far as the routine goes.....if you're making gains then you're not overtraining by any means. But it is important IMO to change the workouts up .... in order to keep your body thinking and adapting. As far as the training one body part a day....That all depends on your goals again....So i think the best plan of attack would be to focus on bulking then into a cutting phase.....Then from there maintaining the both with a good clean diet!!!! Or you could slowly do the both at the same time just as long as your diet is in order to do so.....It will just take time..... And lastly try and research around in the threads for workout ideas and different approaches once you've got some goals in mind! And just give them all a try to see how your body responds!

Enjoy....Stay Strong!

[AcegMan]

I think it depends on wether or not u wanna be at the gym everyday... or what your goals are. doing cardio will most likely make you lose weight so u decide. Ritch reccomended i do cardio when i do upper body workouts. Im only doing a light jog of like 10 mins when i go chest and back so 2 times a week

[Ritch]

Plain Oatmeal or any kind is fine?
I will follow your plan see how I do, and I will only do light cardio after working out my upper body. I guess ill just stick with the 3 weeks heavy 2 weeks light. the only reason im a little ansy to get to the heavy is because I have this Shotgun samples to take and rather take it while doing heavy..im usually pretty good with doing my light weights .
they give a good pump. <- does that translate into good gains?
Is it beneficial if I do mabye 1 superset for every 3 excercises?

Sorry to get back so late. The oatmeal you want is the plain unflavored kind, that will simply say 100% rolled oats as the ingredients. Every muscle group I can make grow easily gets pumped easily, I`d say the pump is important. Again, I don`t favor supersets at anytime.

[Ritch]

When you say you will be doing 3 weeks heavy then 2 weeks light, does that mean you will be training 3 days on 1 day off. If so, I`d think about the following: Back and legs are important to space appart as far as possible because they are the most demanding groups. If you do 3 days on 1 day off you bring them closer together which just isn`t a good idea. Also this means you are training 6 days a week. I would keep the 4 day plan outlined and do some cardio after the weights and maybe go to the gym on an off day and do some cardio putting you to 5 days a week in the gym. Trust me, that`s plenty.

If you`re having a hard time deciding to cut or bulk think of the following. Do you at least see your 2 upper abs? If the answer is no then cut. However the answer is no but you`re a naturally skinny guy, maybe you could still bulk, but at this point in the year, the bulking you will do is not worth it because you will need to maintain yourself at that weight before cutting. You just don`t have the time now to bulk I`d say, so I recommend you cut.

[AcegMan]

No im going to with plan you recommended... cardio on the upper body workouts days. I think i might pick up some purple-K to go with my NO Shotgun, Ive used PK before and it was great

[Ritch]

No im going to with plan you recommended... cardio on the upper body workouts days. I think i might pick up some purple-K to go with my NO Shotgun, Ive used PK before and it was great

Have you ever used plain monohydrate?

[AcegMan]

Nope never, I had amazing results with PK... dont think id want to try anything else

[Ritch]

Nope never, I had amazing results with PK... dont think id want to try anything else

Well purple K is simply monohydrate with baking soda in it. You decide if it`s worth paying what 20x`s the amount than you would for monohydrate. Do a search here and see what the others have to say.

[AcegMan]

But PK doesnet cause bloating, i heard regular creatine does?

[Ritch]

But PK doesnet cause bloating, i heard regular creatine does?

that`s what the sales people will tell you. The profit margins are much, much higher from selling creatine monohydrate with baking soda in it (purple K)

[AcegMan]

also
what are some foods i can eat to help with cutting?

[Ritch]

also
what are some foods i can eat to help with cutting?

That`s a heavy question to tackle. Did you check out John Berardi`s site? Check that out come back with a game plan and we can make some adjustments bro!

[AcegMan]

yea ive looked it up... goos stuff

[Ritch]

yea ive looked it up... goos stuff

So what`s your plan?

[AcegMan]

Doing a stack of NO shotgun and Purple-K creatine, could I throw in some lipo 6 or any fat burner? to burn my fat at the same time or will that mess things up? mabye better to take after im done the Shotgun and PK?

[Ritch]

Doing a stack of NO shotgun and Purple-K creatine, could I throw in some lipo 6 or any fat burner? to burn my fat at the same time or will that mess things up? mabye better to take after im done the Shotgun and PK?

I wouldn`t take any fat burners at the same time dosing the shotgun, as there is red line ingredients in shotgun. You could take a fat burner later on in the day however. The ehphedrine free lipo 6 in my opinion blows. Species has good reviews on their fat burner called lypolyze I think. Again, why are you going to waste your money on purple K? I know it comes in fancy bottle with purple pills but at least give monohydrate a try first to see if it agrees with you.

[AcegMan]

Well my buddy is on mono right now and he said he hasn't noticed a difference at all, and yes not everything works for everyone but I have had PK before and thatshow i went from 165-190 so Im just gioing to stick with it

[Ritch]

Well my buddy is on mono right now and he said he hasn't noticed a difference at all, and yes not everything works for everyone but I have had PK before and thatshow i went from 165-190 so Im just gioing to stick with it

Fair enough.

[AcegMan]

ok so, i work at usually at 4pm-5pm... can i take a fat burner pill when i wake up? 3am?

to make it
fat burner @ 3am
Creatine and shotun 20 mins prior workout
creatine and protien post workout

[Ritch]

Sure you could take the fat burner when waking up, could even take another dose 6 hours later. Taking only protein after yor workout is mistake. There are 2 schools of thought on this. It would be protein+carbs or protein+fats. The shot gun I would take 40 minutes pre workout about a hour after having eaten.

[AcegMan]

i eat after my workout too lol....

[Ritch]

i eat after my workout too lol....

Alright, but that dosen`t tell me jack shit. You gotta write down everything you eat and at what time if you want me to help you out.

[AcegMan]

it varies i dont have a set meal plan..
i eat alot of chicken, salad, fruit with everymeal alot fo asparagus, ground beef... i eat healthy so I have no issues with that. I just dont wanna have a heart attack is i take all these pills each day, witht he fat burner help me lose body fat and not muscle?

[Ritch]

it varies i dont have a set meal plan..
i eat alot of chicken, salad, fruit with everymeal alot fo asparagus, ground beef... i eat healthy so I have no issues with that. I just dont wanna have a heart attack is i take all these pills each day, witht he fat burner help me lose body fat and not muscle?

No set meal plan? You`re leaving out THE MOST important aspect of muscle gain or fat loss. Good luck with that...