Critique my workout plan

I just joined the gym and I'm looking on building muscle. I don't want to get overly big, but I'm expecting to jump from 145 pounds that I'm at now, to around 160. First off, I have a question. Would it be good to do 2 sets at the normal weight I lift, then the last set I jump up to something above the normal weight? For example, on the chest press, I normally do 100 lbs, on the last set, should I make the jump to like 135 or so?Or is that not recommended. Anyway, he's my workout plan.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday:
3 sets, 8 - 10 repetitions per workout.
- Lat Pulldown
- Chest Press
- Incline Chest Press
- (Another form, I don't quite remember the name, though another variation) Chest Press
- Leg Press
- Leg Curl
- Reverse Leg Curl
- Bicep Curl Machine
- Tricep Machine
- 2nd Tricep Machine
- Shoulder Press
Then with the free weights, I do:
- Dead Lifts
- Bicep Curls

Also, on Fridays, I do a jogging session for 10 minutes in the gym at a moderate speed.

I hear talk about variation of the workout sessions from day to day. What do you recommend I change? Am I over working? By the way, my diet is where it needs to be right now, I'm  pretty much only focused on finding a good workout plan at the moment.

try

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

4 sets of 4-6

Exercises:
Standing OH Press
Row
Bench Press
Squat
Deadlift
Chin Ups
Dips

That's your bread and butter.

Yes, ramp up the weight on each set. Warm up with the bar, then something kinda light for 10, and then begin working sets.

After each successful one working set, increase the weight by 5-10. Sometimes I go nuts and ramp up by 40lb, but don't do that. The weight can be suprising.

If you're doing all of those movements on the same day 3X per week I can imagine one exercise would get cheated more than the others.

Example: deadlifts and squats work similar muscle groups, squatting then deadlifting can cause your deadlift to plateau much quicker. They are ideally designed to be worked on different days.

I'd do a SQUAT / DEADLIFT / SQUAT / DEADLIFT

BENCH / OH PRESS / BENCH / OH PRESS

ROW / PULL-UP / ROW / PULL-UP

Alternating between Workout A and Workout B

Example:

• Workout A
• Squat | 4 X 6
• Bench Press | 4 X 6
• Barbell Row | 4 X 6
• Workout B
• Deadlift | 4 X 6
• OH Press | 4 X 6
• Pull-up | 4 X 6

Accessory movements like weighted dips, incline presses and other movements intended to bring up a lagging area could easily be added in.

On workout "a" you're working the squat and horizontal push and pull; then on workout "b" you're working the deadlift and vertical push and pull.

Personal Trainer/Nutrition Consultant

I don't quite understand. So lets say with the inverted Chest Press and regular Chest Press. I should do them on different days since they workout the same area?

No - what I'm saying is if you're overhead pressing and bench pressing in the same session, the bench  press can exhaust the anterior delts and cause you to plateau much faster than you would overhead pressing with fresh shoulders.

Incline presses and bench presses both specifically target the chest, therefore doing them on the same day is fine.

Deadlifts and squats are both very demanding exercises, squatting then deadlifting can and usually will cause a plateau in your deadlift before you would originally plateau had you worked it on the same day.

Personal Trainer/Nutrition Consultant

MVP


No - what I'm saying is if you're overhead pressing and bench pressing in the same session, the bench  press can exhaust the anterior delts and cause you to plateau much faster than you would overhead pressing with fresh shoulders.

Incline presses and bench presses both specifically target the chest, therefore doing them on the same day is fine.

Deadlifts and squats are both very demanding exercises, squatting then deadlifting can and usually will cause a plateau in your deadlift before you would originally plateau had you worked it on the same day.

Ahh, I understand, thanks a lot

To make what I'm saying just a little more clear.

Anytime you use a force of "pushing" your working primarily the chest, shoulders and triceps.

In a bench press - the chest is the directly targeted muscle, anterior deltoids at antagonists and triceps are synergists.

If you exhaust the antagonists during the horizontal push (bench press) and move to the vertical push (over head press) then it's likely the workout won't be as optimal due to just being hammered with bench presses.

Which is why the routine I set you up with might do you a little better. It has the horizontal push and pull on day 1, the vertical push and pull on day 2. That way, no movement gets cheated. 

Personal Trainer/Nutrition Consultant

Phunin


I just joined the gym and I'm looking on building muscle. I don't want to get overly big, but I'm expecting to jump from 145 pounds that I'm at now, to around 160. First off, I have a question. Would it be good to do 2 sets at the normal weight I lift, then the last set I jump up to something above the normal weight? For example, on the chest press, I normally do 100 lbs, on the last set, should I make the jump to like 135 or so?Or is that not recommended. Anyway, he's my workout plan.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday:
3 sets, 8 - 10 repetitions per workout.
- Lat Pulldown
- Chest Press
- Incline Chest Press
- (Another form, I don't quite remember the name, though another variation) Chest Press
- Leg Press
- Leg Curl
- Reverse Leg Curl
- Bicep Curl Machine
- Tricep Machine
- 2nd Tricep Machine
- Shoulder Press
Then with the free weights, I do:
- Dead Lifts
- Bicep Curls

Also, on Fridays, I do a jogging session for 10 minutes in the gym at a moderate speed.

I hear talk about variation of the workout sessions from day to day. What do you recommend I change? Am I over working? By the way, my diet is where it needs to be right now, I'm  pretty much only focused on finding a good workout plan at the moment.

 
Not to be a Smart-A$$ but I can't help but laugh everytime i read the above... " i don't want to get too big."....
 
I sincerely think that will be the least of your worrys... it's not easy getting Too Big.. Take s years of hard training and good nutrition...
 
Looks like your questions have been answered, again.. don't take what i said as being a smart-A$$... it's just a pet peeve.. :)

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing

 

I only said I don't want to get too big because my Bro from the navy puffed up pretty quickly, got quite large in like a year or less.

"Big" has no definite definition.

Four years ago I would consider myself at the current moment huge, I consider myself pretty average as of right now at 5'7" 185lbs @ 22% bodyfat.

I consider 12% bodyfat lean, but once (assuming I do) get there I'll probably still find myself overweight with a need to cut more.

Some people consider 14" arms big while others believe you have to contribute to about 18" arms huge.

People see Vin Diesel as a huge guy, others believe him to be small.

So again, define "big".

Personal Trainer/Nutrition Consultant

People call me huge, but I see semi anorexia in the mirror sometimes.

Guess I wouldn't be able to define big by text, thanks for the over head presses suggestion, I never knew about that workout. I'm gonna focus more on free weights now.

It doesn't only apply with the overhead presses.

Personal Trainer/Nutrition Consultant

Heh dont we all wish we could worry about getting too big too soon :P
Good luck with the workout, these guys know their stuff!

Not that this program would not put any mass on you if you trained with true intensity, but you are going about things all wrong.

First of all, you don't need to worry one bit about "getting overly big."  Putting on muscle is hard work that requires a great deal of time and dedication.  You are never, ever, EVER going to put on more muscle than you wanted on accident.  It doesn't matter if you're trying to gain 5 pounds or 50 - if you want to gain that muscle, you're going to need to put in some serious work in the gym and in the kitchen to make it happen.  By the time you reach that initial goal, though, you will probably want to gain more.

As far as training goes, get yourself on a solid upper body / lower body split.  Have days that focus on squat, bench press, deadlift, and overhead press.  Do heavy accessory lifts such as dips, pullups, and rows, and a few isolation exercises here and there.  Don't worry so much about variation as you do about getting stronger all the time.  You should not be making major changes to your routine until you've done it for a few months at least.

Pack on Muscle Quickly and Efficiently!