I joined a gym last month, and have been lifting about 3-4 times a week, and then doing 30 minutes of cardio after. First I was on a full body workout, but then I split my routine into upper/lower body. Problem with my gym is that the free weights are very busy, but there are lots of machines that enable me to get my workout done in half the time.

Anyways, here is my routine. I'm doing 2 sets of 10 reps - when I can do 2 sets of 12 reps I increase the weight. Been getting some nice increases this month - but who knows if that's muscle gains or just body efficiency.

Lower Body
Hip Adductor
Hip Abductor
Leg Press
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Crunches

Kinda nervous about doing squats since my back is a bit wonky the last couple weeks. What's the one best free weight exersize I can do to replace one or more of my machine exersizes above.

Upper Body

Assisted Dips
Assisted Chinups
Seated Butterfly
Chest Press
Upper Back (Row)
Lat Pull Down (front of head)
Bicep Curls

I'm thinking of switching chest press with the bench press, and then taking bicep curls out and adding another day with a heavy bicep / tricep / crunch exersizes. This would allow me to do three or four sets of the above instead.

The idea is that I can go to the gym every other day. I want to keep my lifting time under 45 minutes.

Hack squat and i would start to do some back extensions to strengthen your back for back squats and deadlifts.

Okay, first, get some balance with your legs. You're doing way more push (quad) than pull (hip/hamstrings). I'd move hips/hamstrings before quads and then do as many exercises ... i.e. if you're doing a press AND an extension for quads, then you should do something like a dead-lift or stiff-legged dead-lift AND hamstring curls for your quads and do those first.

You can graduate from presses to squats and there are a million varieties of this to choose from. Probably don't need to keep the adducter/abducter as the squats will fully target those muscles.

Since you're doing crunches, you'll want to balance these with direct work for your back like supermans or hyperextensions.

What's your philosophy behind having a day for biceps/triceps? If you're looking to gain arm mass, you might want to strategize the entire program for that, and not just split out a day but truly prioritize them. The upper looks balanced and you can certainly swap dips for push-downs, chest press for any variety of incline press or decline press, curls for concentration curls, hammer curls, cable curls, etc, rows for underhand grip rows or T-bar rows or dumbbell rows, and lat pull-downs you can change the width of your grip (narrow or wide) and face palms in or out for variety.

Jeremy



I joined a gym last month, and have been lifting about 3-4 times a week, and then doing 30 minutes of cardio after. First I was on a full body workout, but then I split my routine into upper/lower body. Problem with my gym is that the free weights are very busy, but there are lots of machines that enable me to get my workout done in half the time.

Anyways, here is my routine. I'm doing 2 sets of 10 reps - when I can do 2 sets of 12 reps I increase the weight. Been getting some nice increases this month - but who knows if that's muscle gains or just body efficiency.

Lower Body
Hip Adductor
Hip Abductor
Leg Press
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Crunches

Kinda nervous about doing squats since my back is a bit wonky the last couple weeks. What's the one best free weight exersize I can do to replace one or more of my machine exersizes above.

Upper Body

Assisted Dips
Assisted Chinups
Seated Butterfly
Chest Press
Upper Back (Row)
Lat Pull Down (front of head)
Bicep Curls

I'm thinking of switching chest press with the bench press, and then taking bicep curls out and adding another day with a heavy bicep / tricep / crunch exersizes. This would allow me to do three or four sets of the above instead.

The idea is that I can go to the gym every other day. I want to keep my lifting time under 45 minutes.

What's your philosophy behind having a day for biceps/triceps? If you're looking to gain arm mass, you might want to strategize the entire program for that, and not just split out a day but truly prioritize them. Jeremy

Thanks for the info Jeremy, I'll have to do some research on those exersizes you mentioned.

The only reason I was having a day focusing on biceps, forearms and triceps was because I feel my arm strength sucks - and I think this affects my ability to do a lot of my upper body routine that are compound exersizes. Maybe I can stick one big muscle group in there while I"m doing triceps / biceps, but I have no idea how to break down my routine for that.

Then again, maybe it's normal to have the smaller muscles fatigue more during the compound exersizes than the large muscle groups.

Would this be good enough for a leg workout, or should I add / remove some exersizes?

3 sets of 8 reps
Hack Squat
Barbell Lunge
Hip Adductor
Hip Abbductor

followed by crunches, supermen, 35 minutes of ellipitical 75% HR

Would this be good enough for a leg workout, or should I add / remove some exersizes?

3 sets of 8 reps
Hack Squat
Barbell Lunge
Hip Adductor
Hip Abbductor

followed by crunches, supermen, 35 minutes of ellipitical 75% HR

I like squat and SLDL to replace the hip moves.

Maybe:

Squat
Lunges
Hack Squat (if you really need this, or replace with extensions but move to last)
SLDL
Calf Raises

Kinda nervous about doing squats since my back is a bit wonky the last couple weeks. What's the one best free weight exersize I can do to replace one or more of my machine exersizes above.

Do single leg work when you want to cut your back a break. Single leg loads up the legs and reduces loads on the back. Lunges, single leg dumbell deadlifts, single leg squats. You don't need much added weight.

Hack squats are easier on the back then front or back squats. Looking decent but you should try to get your back up to do back/front squats and deadlift variations.