Wow, I need some help

[Jason11]

damn my training sucks these days! my physical recovery time sucks, just to say that starting out but I am starting to cycle again in a couple weeks(starting law school has killed my old physique in a matter of months)

anyway, I need help devising a program, some of you might know me as PatBateman from Elite. Anyway, what I am thinking of doing right now is this, basically to get baseline results started again and also because I gain better of less sets and reps. Might be crazy, but here goes:


M, W, F: Lift + Light Cardio(20min)
T, Th, Sat: Cardio(40-60min)



My lifting program I am thinking of is an all out program of HIT repeated three days a week:

Day one would be Monday and would be:

Chest(2 exercises, 3 sets each, Incline and Flat BB)
shoulders(3 exercises, 7 total sets, 3 for Arnold Press, 2 lat raises, 2 behind neck presses)
triceps(1 exercise, 3 sets, rope pushdown)
quads(2 exercises, 4 sets each, Free Motion squat and leg press)

Day two would be Wednesday and would be

biceps(2 exercises, 6 sets, 3 for incline DB with arms angled as wide out as possible, and 3 for straight bar preacher)
forearms(2 exercises, 1 set each, rotations)
hams(2 exercise, 6 sets each, 4 for deadlift, 2 for reverse leg curls machine)
back(3 exercises, lat pulldown 3 sets, cable row pull 3 sets, tbar row 3 sets)

Day three would be Friday and would be the same as day one but with different exercises

chest
shoulders
triceps
back width
back thickness

(sat+sun off)

Day four would be the following Monday and would be the same as day two but with different exercises

biceps
forearms
calves
hams
quads

and so on Wenesday, Friday, Monday, Wenesday etc.



QUESTION: AM I DOING TOO MUCH?

QUESTION: WILL MY RECOVERY BE ADEQUATE FOR SOMEONE WHO IS A SLOW GROWER AND TAKES TIME TO RECOVER??

ANY OTHER OPINIONS PLEASE!!! THANKS!!!!

[Thor]

Only lifting 3 days out of a week seems to infrequent to me if you want to grow but you are still hitting each muscle twice a week. I think you are cramming too much into your lifting days. Try switching to a plan that hits each muscle only once per week and hit it hard. I have had the most success with the following split:

M: Chest
T: Back / Forearms
W: Quads / Calves / Cardio
TH: Bis / Tris / Forearms
F: Shoulders
SA: Hams / Calves / Cardio
SU: Cardio

Puts me in the gym 7 days a week but the split works well for recovery.

By the way, I love the Am. Psycho referance in your elite name... Thor

[Jason11]

thanks for the post!

American Psycho is one of my top 5 favorite movies

[Stonecold54]

you say you have horrible recovery problems and then you say you are in the gym everyday. doesn't that answer the question for you. if you need more recovery time than use some time, just because you are doing cardio doesn't mean it doesn't count against recovery time as a whole. I work a muscle group once every two weeks. If you lose strength or muscle while working out or within a month of stopping working out you are most likely overtrained. you are saying that you are so you need to take a few weeks off and relax.

[Jason11]

very interesting post. So you truly think that cardio counts against lifting recovery time?

What if it is verly light cardio on the "off" lifitng days??

I def. trust you judgement, but I am curious as to other thoughts so I am going to start another post on this question

thanks for your post

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by Jason11
very interesting post. So you truly think that cardio counts against lifting recovery time?

What if it is verly light cardio on the "off" lifitng days??

I def. trust you judgement, but I am curious as to other thoughts so I am going to start another post on this question

thanks for your post

yes your body reacts to stress as a whole. just becaue you are not lifting weights does not mean that it won't affect your recovery time. you would actually be better off doing cardio on the days you lift that way you would at least get two full days of recovery in.

[psyko1]

i like my current routine:
1-chest
2-back
3-tri's
4-bi's/forearms
5-shoulders
6-legs/calves
7-rest
abs every other day
cardio whenever i get around to it:(
i only workout for 45-60 minutes (usually 45) but like this i really get the most out of each muscle group. (i don't count the time it takes to do abs) i go as heavy as i can with strict form.