I'm doing a total body thing every other day as prescribed for beginners/intermediates. I feel good after doing the workouts and am seeing a slight improvement each time I go. Still, I might be doing something wrong or something can be better, so I'll post my routine and also some questions I have and hopefully you guys have some input for me.

First off, I do every exercise as 3 warm up sets(12,8,3 reps respectively) and then three working sets to failure aiming to go between 6-8 (Though, 4 or 5 is also acceptable for the last sets. Over 8 is too much, and I'll increase the weight next time)

I do in this order:

*Bench Press
*Barbell Shrugs (warm up with lower weight dumbells)
*Standing Lateral Raises
*Standing dumbell curls
*One arm dumbell rows

I have this: http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3313/picture001dx3.jpg

So for legs I use that attached leg dealie. Seated I raise my legs up to 180 degrees, then back to the normal seated position. (Sorry, I don't know the terminology)

Now some issues:

1. My workout time runs from no less than 60 mins to no more than 90 mins. Is that to much? I've heard in some places it is, but I don't know how to whittle it down any more. I already take out hitting the triceps because I figure I'm hitting them with the bench press. Also, I don't work out stuff like calves/forearms for now because That would push the workout time much longer.

2. Do you guys rest between warmup sets? Or between warm up and working sets? I do, but not as long as rests between working sets. I'll rest 30 secs or so between warm ups and 60-90 secs or so between working sets. Good?

3. I like to work out in the mornings. I've heard that you shouldn't work out on an empty stomach, so I eat a little something before hand. (Fat free cream cheese with wheat bread or a couple hard boiled eggs or something) I don't like how I feel when I work out right after I eat. And I rather not wait a while to digest. Do I need to, what do you recommend.

4. The only barbell exercise I do besides bench is the shrugs. I'm a little worried that my back isn't strong enough. (I lift from the legs, but there is some weight supported by the back) so I'm waiting to I'm more used to it before incorporating other exercises that I'm worried about (Barbell rows, squats, etc) Am I right to hold off until I have more strength, better form in other exercises, or should I try to implement them now? (keep in mind my workout time is running long as it is)


Sorry for the Tolstoy-esqe questions. I normally forget what my issues are, so I had a notebook with me the last time I went through my routine so these are pretty much ALL the questions I have right now.

Thanks in advance.

Hi

I think your routine could do with some work. There is too much upper body, and not enough emphasis on lower body and posterior chain.

As you are finding, trying to squeeze everything into one workout is difficult. Most people spread the exercises they want to do, and have different workouts on different days of the week. I think thats what you should do here: have two different workouts that you rotate, one on, one off.

My workout time runs from no less than 60 mins to no more than 90 mins. Is that to much? I've heard in some places it is, but I don't know how to whittle it down any more.

I think a good rule of thumb is to keep your workouts to 60 minutes or under. You could whittle it down by dropping the warm up sets for most of your exercises. They're simply unnecessary.

At the start of your routine, do ten minutes of dynamic stretching, light running, star jumps, burpees etc to warm your body up. Then pick a big compound exercise as your first of the day (squats, deadlifts, clean and press) and do warm up sets for it, but after that for the remainder of the exercises you should usually be fine to go straight into your working sets.

I'll rest 30 secs or so between warm ups and 60-90 secs or so between working sets. Good?Sounds good to me!

I like to work out in the mornings. I've heard that you shouldn't work out on an empty stomach, so I eat a little something before hand. (Fat free cream cheese with wheat bread or a couple hard boiled eggs or something) I don't like how I feel when I work out right after I eat. And I rather not wait a while to digest. Do I need to, what do you recommend.Yes, it's a good idea to eat before, but not immediately before, you work out. Here's a quote from Glaive in this recent thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=464935)

"I'll also add that virtually no one believes that you should engage in any sort of intense exercise, whether it's HIIT or any sort of weightlifting, without eating. Doing any intense exercise on an empty stomach is a recipe for muscle loss, and the lack of food in your system will most likely also compromise your energy level and negatively affect the intensity (and thus the results) of your workout."

My advice would be to get a good breakfast with protein and lots of low GI carbs, wait 90 minutes, then workout. Or find a way to shift your workouts to the evening time instead.

The only barbell exercise I do besides bench is the shrugs. I'm a little worried that my back isn't strong enough. (I lift from the legs, but there is some weight supported by the back) so I'm waiting to I'm more used to it before incorporating other exercises that I'm worried about (Barbell rows, squats, etc) Am I right to hold off until I have more strength, better form in other exercises, or should I try to implement them now? (keep in mind my workout time is running long as it is)Is there any reason for your weak back? Like an accident or something? If there is, then you're right to be cautious and should probably seek proper advice first.

Otherwise, I would say yes, definatley include deadlifts, rows, and possibly chin-ups for your back. If your back is not strong enough to lift heavy weight yet, or you want to get the form down, then just start with light weight instead. Start just using the empty bar if you have too, and increase the weight gradually.

Hope that helps you. Perhaps try designing a routine with different exercises over two or three days, with more lower body work, and post it up. :tucool:

First off, thanks for responding. I was beginning to think I might as well have signed up to a brick wall forum. :)

I like the advice you give, and am going to incorporate some of it. Some bits I'm a little hesitant to. But it did give me something to think about. I'll go through it point by point:

As you are finding, trying to squeeze everything into one workout is difficult. Most people spread the exercises they want to do, and have different workouts on different days of the week. I think thats what you should do here: have two different workouts that you rotate, one on, one off.I've read that for beginners, it's a good idea to keep it Total body for the first few weeks(well months, but I was going for weeks) until you get not only form down, but can put enough intensity into your workouts that a split is really needed.

As far as timing goes. I know people say that 60-90 mins is too long, and it might be so. But what about things you hear (like in pumping Iron) when they're talking about working out 5+ hours a day. Is that part fabricated like much of the movie? If not, they're obviously doing something right.

I think a good rule of thumb is to keep your workouts to 60 minutes or under. You could whittle it down by dropping the warm up sets for most of your exercises. They're simply unnecessary.

At the start of your routine, do ten minutes of dynamic stretching, light running, star jumps, burpees etc to warm your body up. Then pick a big compound exercise as your first of the day (squats, deadlifts, clean and press) and do warm up sets for it, but after that for the remainder of the exercises you should usually be fine to go straight into your working sets.I like the idea of the compound warmup hitting everything, then being ready to go for all working sets. But say you're doing upper body one day. Bench will be good at hitting chest and tri's, but what about back and bi's? Do you do two main warm ups, right before each muscle set?(corresponding muscles) Squats seem to hit the legs quiet well.

Also, I don't like the concept of stretching cold. I've heard you should stretch AFTER at least warming up the muscle. Stretching cold can lead to injuries. (Or so I've heard) So I think I'm going to leave that out.

My advice would be to get a good breakfast with protein and lots of low GI carbs, wait 90 minutes, then workout. Or find a way to shift your workouts to the evening time instead.That makes sense. I'm going to have to get up a bit earlier in order to have breakfast , time to digest and then work out. That's totally doable though.

I could switch to working out at the evenings, but a)I like working out in the morning, because it sets the tone for the rest of the day. and b)I like to be winding down in the evenings, not getting high intensity. (Unless it's a Friday/Saturday, but that's a different type of intensity.)

Is there any reason for your weak back? Like an accident or something? If there is, then you're right to be cautious and should probably seek proper advice first.No, completely healthy. But I've heard most lifting injuries come from the back. I've lifted weights before in the past, so I'm comfortable with other exercises. I just never really but much stress on the back. (And I'm talking about lower back here. One arm rows and chin ups are no problem) I guess I need to start incorporating squats and dead lifts. (I don't like the sound of that exersize.)

Hope that helps you. Perhaps try designing a routine with different exercises over two or three days, with more lower body work, and post it up. Thanks for your input dude. You really helped out a lot. I'm going to ride out my current routine until the end of the week, (I'm going out of town this weekend, and it would be nice to have a solid two weeks of my intro routine under my belt) But next week, I'll come up with a improved routine and post it here.

I guess my main issues now are:

1. Is total body workouts REALLY that bad?
2. Is going over 60 (but under 90 mins) REALLY that bad?

I think you should review need for warmup sets or stretching, you will find little justification for either. You are wearing yourself out on warmups. While there is a very strong fad going for split workouts, there are many who feel they are like sleeping with one eye open. Both styles are effective and produce good results.

Your sources of knowledge on workouts needs reviewing. You definitely need a book on form.

I think you should review need for warmup sets or streaching, you will find little justification for either. You are wearing yourself out on warmups

Really? I just started warming up recently, and I feel a lot better about lifting. I find myself more psyched to tackle my working sets. I'm not doing warmups to failure, obviously, just something to get the muscle warmed up and the blood flowing.

You've been around these boards much longer than I have, and have been lifting a lot longer than I have, but dropping warmups altogether doesn't sound right. (I'm probably way off here though.)

Your sources of knowledge on workouts needs reviewing. You definely need a book on form.

What am I getting wrong? Anything in particular, or should I just have a better base knowladge of some things. (I didn't think I was way off in my understanding of things)

Can you recommend anything in particular?

Really? I just started warming up recently, and I feel a lot better about lifting. I find myself more psyched to tackle my working sets. I'm not doing warmups to failure, obviously, just something to get the muscle warmed up and the blood flowing.

You've been around these boards much longer than I have, and have been lifting a lot longer than I have, but dropping warmups altogether doesn't sound right. (I'm probably way off here though.)



What am I getting wrong? Anything in particular, or should I just have a better base knowledge of some things. (I didn't think I was way off in my understanding of things)

Can you recommend anything in particular?

I can only give my opinion based on what I have studied or experienced. Why not search the forums here for warmups and stretching.

A better base knowledge to base decisions on. You are limiting your results before starting. Good Form is all important, you shouldn't restrict yourself. I have lifted for 50 years, I have never suffered an injury while lifting. I hope I never do.

You have restricted yourself to these exercises:

*Bench Press
*Barbell Shrugs (warm up with lower weight dumbells)
*Standing Lateral Raises
*Standing dumbell curls
*One arm dumbell rows
And you do only leg extensions for legs.

Are you using heavy weights in your last sets? How did you choose your set/rep plan? What are you trying to achieve?

I might add we all differ on many things dealing with exercise, there is no one way to do things.

I can only give my opinion based on what I have studied or experienced.

Definitely. And I thank you for it. If I wasn't going to consider things that I haven't heard of before, it was useless for me to sign up to this site in the first place. I need to look in to the warm up sets in more depth. It has seemed that in addition to several people on the boards mentioning warm up sets, the sticky on bulking also outlines it when it was describing designing a work out. As well as Mike Furci, who was the first place I started looking for advice on lifting, and he seems to know what he's talking about. (You can find an archive of his writings here. (http://www.bullz-eye.com/furci/archive.htm))

A better base knowledge to base decisions on. You are limiting your results before starting. Good Form is all important, you shouldn't restrict yourself. I have lifted for 50 years, I have never suffered an injury while lifting. I hope I never do.

You have restricted yourself to these exercises:

*Bench Press
*Barbell Shrugs (warm up with lower weight dumbells)
*Standing Lateral Raises
*Standing dumbell curls
*One arm dumbell rows
And you do only leg extensions for legs.


Yes. I started with an idea to do a total body work out. I went to sites such as www.freetrainers.com (http://www.freetrainers.com) and another site that was linked to from a sticky to find exercises I could do with my Dumbells/barbell/bench. I'm glad I came and posted my routine here, because I thought I was doing at least a mediocre routine, but I've learned that while I'm doing a solid (I hope) upper body routine, I'm neglecting my legs big time. (Back to the drawing board)

Are you using heavy weights in your last sets? How did you choose your set/rep plan? What are you trying to achieve?

Yes, my working sets are all done to failure. [Though, I try so my first working sets fail more around 8 or so, and my last sets fail more around 6] I've chosen my plan by bringing together two different sources, one being the sticky on bulking in this section, and the other being Mr. Furci's guide to designing workouts. (Part one (http://www.bullz-eye.com/furci/2000/060101.htm), Part two (http://www.bullz-eye.com/furci/2000/070401.htm), Part three (http://www.bullz-eye.com/furci/2000/072401.htm))

At this point, I'm trying to put on muscle mass. I believe the set/rep plan I have right now will help achieve that. I've read almost everywhere that whatever you plan, (especially in the beginning) just do it, see what works and what doesn't and change accordingly. So far, I'm almost two weeks into this, with 4 or 5 workouts under my belt and already I'm starting to see some improvement. My big thing now is to add more lower body exercises, as well as thinking about ways to cut down my work out time. (Possibly not warming up EVERY muscle group, but finding an exercise that hits a group of them, and warming with that for all of them instead)

I might add we all differ on many things dealing with exercise, there is no one way to do things.

Indeed. And I appreciate your input, it's making me rethink my stance on things, and that's exactly what I wanted.

I'm glad I came and posted my routine here, because I thought I was doing at least a mediocre routine, but I've learned that while I'm doing a solid (I hope) upper body routine, I'm neglecting my legs big time. (Back to the drawing board)

At this point, I'm trying to put on muscle mass. I believe the set/rep plan I have right now will help achieve that. I've read almost everywhere that whatever you plan, (especially in the beginning) just do it, see what works and what doesn't and change accordingly. So far, I'm almost two weeks into this, with 4 or 5 workouts under my belt and already I'm starting to see some improvement. My big thing now is to add more lower body exercises, as well as thinking about ways to cut down my work out time. (Possibly not warming up EVERY muscle group, but finding an exercise that hits a group of them, and warming with that for all of them instead)

Indeed. And I appreciate your input, it's making me rethink my stance on things, and that's exactly what I wanted.

I am glad you are reviewing things. I hope your workouts provide you a starting point towards your goals. And as you say, if they don't - you can change them. You have come to the best overall site on the net. You can obtain some very good advice here. I suggest you spend some time reading back posts and use the search tool for a wealth of knowledge. :gl:

I like your idea of using a full body plan. I think you can do well with that for quite some time. IMO more people should consider well thought out full body plans instead of just assuming they need a split.

I think you've gotten good advice about reevaluating your plan. You need to up the leg volume as has been noted.

With your equipment, you've got more options for leg exercises than you've probably thought about. Look into:

lunges BB or DB
step ups BB or DB
deadlifts and variants (stiff legged deadlift, romanian deadlift, dumbbell single legged stiff legged deadlift)
Hack squats (basically like a deadlift, but you put the bar behind you and stand up)
Split Squats
Bulgarian Split Squats
Good Mornings

Balance is important as well. If you train a bench press, try to offset it with a similar volume of rows for instance. That way you will avoid imbalances that can cause injuries later. In the lower body, if you do a quad dominant exercise like a squat, try to do a posterior chain exercise like a deadlift variant.

I generally do some light warmup work and some dynamic mobility work before working out, but I don't do more than a set or two, and I don't do it for every exercise. So if I warm up on bench, I probably would just go straight into working weights on the row, or at most do one light set to get the muscles attuned to the movement before loading up.

Setting up full body routines and doing the exact same exercises every day make it a bit harder to get all the muscle groups in. I'd recommend you devise two different days and do an A/B type of routine, where you just rotate plans. So one week you'd do a A/B/A plan, the next a B/A/B plan. (Or just set up 3 different sets of exercises).

Make sure most of your exercises are compound movements (more than one joint involved..., like a press or a row or a squat). The rest of the workout can be isolation movements (curls for instance).

Maybe 5-7 exercises per workout.

:bb:

I like your idea of using a full body plan. I think you can do well with that for quite some time. IMO more people should consider well thought out full body plans instead of just assuming they need a split.

Thanks for the input. Though like always, I have some questions for you.

I think you've gotten good advice about reevaluating your plan. You need to up the leg volume as has been noted.

With your equipment, you've got more options for leg exercises than you've probably thought about. Look into:

lunges BB or DB
step ups BB or DB
deadlifts and variants (stiff legged deadlift, romanian deadlift, dumbbell single legged stiff legged deadlift)
Hack squats (basically like a deadlift, but you put the bar behind you and stand up)
Split Squats
Bulgarian Split Squats
Good Mornings

Balance is important as well. If you train a bench press, try to offset it with a similar volume of rows for instance. That way you will avoid imbalances that can cause injuries later. In the lower body, if you do a quad dominant exercise like a squat, try to do a posterior chain exercise like a deadlift variant.

All good stuff that I need to incorporate. Also, I think I need to either a)Start doing barbell rows and ween myself off of one arm dumbell rows or b) get heavier dumbells, because I've been kidding myself and I'm pretty sure I'm well past my heaviest dumbell I can use for rows.

I'm going to ride out my current routine until the end of the week. Once more thursday. Then I'm out of town. But I'm going to be helping a friend move and I'm going to some some cardio on saturday.(Normally, I'm not a fan of cardio, but it's the only real exerices I can get. And I figure I'd had enough rest where I could get some good cardio in without effecting muscle mass)

Monday, I'll get back with a new routine, and I'll post it for consideration.

I generally do some light warmup work and some dynamic mobility work before working out, but I don't do more than a set or two, and I don't do it for every exercise. So if I warm up on bench, I probably would just go straight into working weights on the row, or at most do one light set to get the muscles attuned to the movement before loading up.

I think I'll do 3 light sets of a compound exercise at the beginning, then into the working sets of said compound group. Followed by one quick light set of whatever else I'm hitting(if it wasn't covered by the compound exercise), then into the working sets of that. That sounds okay for now.

Setting up full body routines and doing the exact same exercises every day make it a bit harder to get all the muscle groups in. I'd recommend you devise two different days and do an A/B type of routine, where you just rotate plans. So one week you'd do a A/B/A plan, the next a B/A/B plan. (Or just set up 3 different sets of exercises).

Make sure most of your exercises are compound movements (more than one joint involved..., like a press or a row or a squat). The rest of the workout can be isolation movements (curls for instance).

Maybe 5-7 exercises per workout.

:bb:

Now I'm confused. It sounds like you're talking about a split now. I really wanted to stick to the Total body workout for now. Can you please expand on this. Also, what of your thoughts of 90 minute work outs? I am totally comfortable doing 90 mins of total body every other day.

Thanks for your input again. It's all points to ponder.

Alright guys. With your advice, and taking all your points into consideration, I already came up with a new routine I want to try out as soon as I can. (Also, I'm pulling an all nighter to get some work done, and I'm just looking for a reason to procrastinate :))

Anyhow, here's what I'm thinking. Please let me know what you think.

*Bench (For Chest, tri's and shoulders)
*Shrugs(Traps)
*Two arm longbar row aka T-bar rows(The one where you load up one side of the barbell, right? - Back, Biceps, Lats)
*Squats(Quad, Hams, Calves, Glutes) Sheesh, it's a like a wonder exercise
*Palms down wrist curl(sitting, over my knee - forearms)

I'm going to keep the same sets-reps for now(3x6-8) and see how that goes.

As far as warming up, I'm planning on warming up on everything but the forearms for now and seeing how I go timewise. If need be, I'll drop the trap warm up as well.

As you can see, I made some changes in the design(longbar row instead of dumbell row, squat instead of extention) and I dropped the standing lateral raises (shoulders covered in bench) and dumbell curls (longbar row)

I'm going to time it to see how long this one takes, as well as how I feel afterwards. I'm pretty happy with it so far, if I'm as happy with it when I'm done (and barring any objections from you guys) I'm going to stick with this for a couple weeks and see how that goes.

Once I get the routine down, I'm going to analyze my diet more in depth. Thanks again for all your help.

Now I'm confused. It sounds like you're talking about a split now. I really wanted to stick to the Total body workout for now. Can you please expand on this. Also, what of your thoughts of 90 minute work outs? I am totally comfortable doing 90 mins of total body every other day.

Thanks for your input again. It's all points to ponder.

A "split" means you are breaking up the body into parts and working different parts like shoulders and biceps on different days from legs.

What I'm talking about is a full body plan where you just use different exercises on different days to make sure you've got good variety and get the different planes of movement in. It's hard to get a set of exercises that hit everything in a reasonably timed workout or before you start to tire too much, so you can set up different exercises for different days of the week.

I personally like to do three different style days myself, and do exercises on different set/rep schemes on the different days so as to train different strength and endurance qualities.

You might want to read this (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=35678) thread where I posted more of my thoughts and a sample of how a guy could still get a bunch of exercises in by doing them on different days of the week in an "A/B" type setup.

Also, here (http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=04-073-training) is a great article that will give you the background on why total body training is good and why it's nice to keep exercises changing up. The plan may be a bit more advanced that you are looking for right now (he's got some simpler to implement plans where your set/rep schemes aren't always jumping around), but this one gives a lot of good info as to why full body is good.

That plan is what I actually used to learn how to efficiently plan full body workouts when I started.

Originally Posted by Persepolis http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/plasma/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=469010#post469010)
Now I'm confused. It sounds like you're talking about a split now. I really wanted to stick to the Total body workout for now. Can you please expand on this. Also, what of your thoughts of 90 minute work outs? I am totally comfortable doing 90 mins of total body every other day.
I think Mannish has explained it quite well, but just to clarify further:

A total body or full body workout is one that works the major muscle groups (think legs, back and chest) in one sitting. You can have different workouts, doing different exercises on different days of the week, and it will still be a full-body routine. As long as each time you go to the gym you work your legs, back and chest in some way, I think you can consider what you do to be a total-body routine.

To give you an example of a total-body routine:

Workout A
Deadlifts
BB Bench
Bulgarian Split Squats
Bent over Row
Shrugs

Workout B
Squats
Chin ups
Good Mornings
Weighted dips
Shoulder press

Monday: Workout A
Tuesday: Rest
Weds: Workout B
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Workout A
Sat: Rest
Sun: Rest
Monday: Workout B
Tuesday: Rest
Weds: Workout A
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Workout B
Sat: Rest
Sun: Rest

The above is actually an example of the A/B (one on, one off) format that Mannish and I both wrote about.

Conversely, a split routine is one that breaks up the body into parts, and you concentrate only on those that day. For example

Mon: Chest and Triceps
Tue: Quads and Hams
Wed: rest
Thurs: Back and Biceps
Fri: Shoulders and Calves
Sat: rest
Sun: rest

You're never working all your major muscles groups on the same day, they are split up - hence a split routine.

Well I started my new routine:

* Bench
* Shrugs
* T-bar rows
* Squat
* Wrist curl

And there were somethings I liked, somethings I didn't like, definitely stuff you guys mentioned that I was skeptical at first(Mainly the two routine dealie) but now I'm starting to get sold on the idea.

First of all, the bench and the shrugs were nothing new. I had them in my old routine and saw a slight improvement, but nothing crazy.

The T-bar rows are my new favorite exercise. I used to do the one armed dumbbell rows, but my dumbbells only went up to 30, so I wouldn't do the sets to failure. I was afraid of doing exercises like this because I thought they might be bad for the back, but as of right now, I have no problems.

Squats were another wonder exercise. In fact, I never did a proper squat before, so I could only do two working sets before I was "spent." I will do more in the future, but I didn't want to force the issue the first time out, I just wanted to get the form down and "feel out" what the exercise was all about.

I found out I need a squat rack though. Like, I was barely using much weight, but I imagine it won't be fun maneuvering the barbell will real weight on it from the ground, over my head, on my back, then in reverse, but once I'm tired.

Well, I have a $150 gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket on amazon. (Anyone know if I can redeem that at the JSF amazon thing? I don't see why not, it's the same site) Anyhow, I think I'm looking at this, it's a cheapest at $129.97:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000LDNHA6.01-A1V1Z4BJNVFJUK._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS500_.jpg
Body-Solid® PowerLine Squat Rack

It seems to be what I need without being out of control pricey. I mean similar stuff is at least 20-50 dollars more. And thats for VERY similar racks. the racks that do the exact same thing, but look like this:

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0000BYSM8.01-A12J7Z25BKBAUQ._SCLZZZZZZZ_V44844485_AA250_.jpghtt p://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00066XU50.01-A2PN8SEJXGYNIK._SCLZZZZZZZ_V44524329_AA280_.jpg

Run a couple hundred dollars more expensive. (wtf?) You guys think I'm making a good decision?

Back to the routine :bb:

Obviously, since I dropped some upper body work and focused also on my legs, my top half feels neglected, and my bottom half feels sore. (and the wrist curls felt misplaced in this routine, I need to drop them and think of something else)

This is now why I understand the whole A/B body mentality. I used to hit chest, shoulders, traps and biceps in a row, so my top half would feel/look pumped right after exercise. I didn't have that this time, but it did feel weird walking around or sitting/standing afterwards, so that's good.

I'm going to need to come up with a variant to this work out. I'll think about it over the weekend, and come back to you guys for critique. I might even go for a top/bottom split, but keep the every other day work out schedule. Again, I need to think, read and plan before I set anything in stone.

And again, I can't thank you enough for your input so far, In a relatively short amount of time, I already drastically changed my ideas about weight training. Hopefully, you'll bear with me the next couple days until I polish my routine. I really benefited from your help.