Experience: 3+ years
Weight: 200lbs
Height: 6'2
Body Type: Meso
BF: 12-14%
Currently Cutting down to 8-10% (190lbs goal)

While I have changed up my routine to target different goals, I always feel better after getting reinforcement for my routine on these forums. My goals are cutting bf and increasing/maintaining strength and muscle mass. I fear overtraining/not training hard enough. My routine is as follows:

Day 1: Legs
Barbell Squats
Barbell Lunges
Calf Raises

Day 2: Chest/Triceps
Flat Bench
Weighted Dips
Cable Crossovers
Tricep Extension

Day 3: Rest/Cardio/Abs

Day 4: Shoulders/Traps
Clean and Jerk
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Shrugs
Delt Raises

Day 5: Back/Biceps
Lat Pulldowns
Lever Rows
Cable Rows
Alt. Dumbell Curls (w/ 2 sets of Preacher Curls)

Day 6: Rest/Cardio/Abs

Day 7: Legs
Leg Press
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Seated Calf Raises

Day 8: Chest/Triceps
Incline Barbell Bench
Weighted Dips
Dumbbell Flies
Skullcrushers

Day 9: Rest/Cardio/Abs

Day 10: Shoulders/Traps
Barbell Shoulder Press
Upright Rows
Shrugs
Rear Delt Raises

Day 11: Back/Biceps
Deadlift
Lever Rows
Bent Over Barbell Rows
EZ Bar Curls (w/ 2 sets of cable curls)

Day 12: Rest/Cardio/Abs

Then Repeat...

Note: Workouts last 45mins, significant rest between compound lifts (2-4mins), less rest between isolation exercises. The Rotation of 12 days consists of 2 different rep/set schemes. In the end, there are 8-10 working exercises done for larger muscle groups and 5 sets done for smaller muscle groups:

Rotation 1:
12-6 reps, 3 sets per exercise, with the exception of the 1st lift which consists of an additional heavy set (2-4 reps).

Rotation 2:
5x5 for base lifts (1st exercise on given day), high reps on the following exercises.

All coments are appreciated.

Nice post! I really like your choice of exercises and split. For your cutting goal, I'd say that nutrition is clearly the primary focus, so posting your eating plan would be beneficial to get complete advice.

From your workout alone, my only suggestion would be to shorten your rest periods to no more than 1 minute between sets. You may have to drop the amount of weight at first until your body and CNS are acclimated to the increased speed/intensity.

For cardio you may (if you're not already) want to incorporate HIIT once or twice a week.

Your stats and lifting routine show that you know what you're doing, so post your diet and you'll get more pointed feedback. :tu:

It looks like you're neglecting your hamstrings.

Day 1: Legs
Barbell Squats
Barbell Lunges
Calf Raises
No real hamstring work, two quad exercises.

Day 4: Shoulders/Traps
Clean and Jerk
The clean will get you some hamstring involvement, but I don't think it's enough.

Day 7: Legs
Leg Press
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Seated Calf Raises
One hamstring exercise versus two quadriceps exercises.

In total, you're getting 4 quad dominant exercises and only 2 hamstring ones and that's only if you count the clean as a hamstring movement. I would throw in some RDLs, Good Mornings, or Reverse Hypers. Even out the quad and hamstring work. :)

It looks like you're neglecting your hamstrings.


That was my first thought as well. He does also have deads on back day, but I think his posterior chain needs more work.

Yea, I was aware of the lack of hamstring involvment however I am yet to find an exercise that I actually believe does something. Goodmornings arent my favorite, straight leg deadlifts tend to mess with my back and dont really do much for my hams. Squats and deadlifts seem to be the only worth while exercise in my honest opinion.

As for my diet, I consume between 2300-2800 calorie per day with a 40% P, 40% C, 20% F breakdown. Because mainting strength/increasing it is so important to me, I am more weary of eating less than more.

Protein Sources: Chicken, Eggs, Turkey Breast, Whey, Beef, Pork, Milk, usually seafood although I recently eliminated that from my diet for various reasons.

Carbs: Fruits, Vegtables, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, dextrose PWO, some wheat/whole wheat bread.

Fats: Egg Yolk, Red Meat, usually nutts/PB/etc but I recently eliminated these as well. Thing is I can't eat omega3 fats so I am looking for some replacement options. Any ideas?

My diet is strict and always healthy, although I tend to over eat sometimes. So really its just up to me to moderate. Lastly, I was thinking of cycling carbs (1 high carb day, 2 low carb days) with the high carb days coming on days I work lagging bodyparts.

Finally here are some goals I hope to accomplish over the next two months.

-<10%bf for the summer
-12-14 x 225lbs Flat Bench (currently 11)
-1 x 300lbs Flat Bench Max which is a rather lofty goal (currently 285lbs)
-12-14 x 225lbs Squats (currently 10...I have bad knees)
-6 x 185lbs Barbell Seated Shoulder Press (currently 4)
-1 x 225lbs Clean and Jerk...will surprised if I get there (currently 1 x 205lbs)

So yes, ideally I hope to increase strength during this cut, however decreasing my bodyfat is far and away my biggest concern.

Yea, I was aware of the lack of hamstring involvment however I am yet to find an exercise that I actually believe does something. Goodmornings arent my favorite, straight leg deadlifts tend to mess with my back and dont really do much for my hams. Squats and deadlifts seem to be the only worth while exercise in my honest opinion.


RDLs and single legged stiff legged deadlifts IMO are superior to SLDLs if done correctly.

I've also had some suprising muscle fatigue come from single legged good morning...one leg up on a bench, barbell on back. I've only started these recently, but they seem to fry my hams and glutes. Harder to cheat than with bilateral GMs.

I have bad knees
What's the problem with them?

In a lot of cases, developing the hamstrings is one of the best things you can do to strengthen the knees. Over-dominance of the quads is a sure way to increase the chances of knee injury. Leg curls alone are not sufficient in correcting this.

Give romanian deadlifts a try. There have been quite a few threads about them that elucidate the differences from a SLDL and note the cues to performing them properly. The SLDL is an inferior movement and the way GMs are loaded often makes them a less than optimal choice for many body-types. A good technique to use in the beginning is to elevate your toes while performing any of these hip-dominant movements, which will help you better stress the posterior chain; you can just pop a plate under the front of your foot to do this.

You might also want to do some glute activation work as, since you haven't done much hip-dominant work, you may have trouble using the glutes properly in the movement, which will inhibit the effectiveness of the exercises. Check out:

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=04-053-training
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=04-057-training

Yea, I was aware of the lack of hamstring involvment however I am yet to find an exercise that I actually believe does something.

Natural glute ham raises

Natural glute ham raises

Also try Pull Throughs. Those will cook your hamstrings.

Also try Pull Throughs. Those will cook your hamstrings.

Agreed. This one quickly became one of my favourite exercises:tucool:

Thanks for the replies everyone. Im gonna try these out and see which works for me best. Hopefully some powerful hammies will help me achieve one of my goals, run faster and jump higher.

For my 5x5 routine on the bench I was looking at set/weights as follows.

5x185lbs
5x225lbs
5x235lbs
5x245lbs
5x255lbs

However I recently found a post suggesting

60% x 5RM
70% x 5RM
80% x 5RM
90% x 5RM
100% x 5RM

which would look more like

5 x 160lbs
5 x 185lbs
5 x 215lbs
5 x 240lbs
5 x 260-265lbs

I think the weights I originally intended to lift would work my chest more. Suggestions?

Thanks for the replies everyone. Im gonna try these out and see which works for me best. Hopefully some powerful hammies will help me achieve one of my goals, run faster and jump higher.

For my 5x5 routine on the bench I was looking at set/weights as follows.

5x185lbs
5x225lbs
5x235lbs
5x245lbs
5x255lbs

However I recently found a post suggesting

60% x 5RM
70% x 5RM
80% x 5RM
90% x 5RM
100% x 5RM

which would look more like

5 x 160lbs
5 x 185lbs
5 x 215lbs
5 x 240lbs
5 x 260-265lbs

I think the weights I originally intended to lift would work my chest more. Suggestions?
Besides just seeing that every set but the last one uses a significantly heavier weight in the first than the second, you could look at volume and average load per rep:

5 x (185 + 225 + 235 + 245 + 255) = 5725 lbs @ 229 lbs / rep

vs.

5 x (160 + 185 + 215 + 240 + 265) = 5325 lbs @ 213 lbs / rep

It's pretty obvious that the first one is "superior" for growth from a single session vs. session standpoint, but what you have to ask yourself is, in the first example, how long can you maintain a progression of that heavier workload and how does it compare with what you're currently doing. If progress has stalled, unless you choose to change some other variable, you will want to drop back on volume and/or intensity before building back up and over. For this, the second option becomes a very viable choice.

Thing is I can't eat omega3 fats so I am looking for some replacement options. Any ideas?


What does this mean? Are you allergic?

What does this mean? Are you allergic?

I am allergic to nutts and cannot stand/nor get my hands on seafood out in the Midwest. But, really I was just looking for foods other than nutts/fish with relatively healthy fats.

What about flaxseeds and flaxseed oils? They've got omega 3s.