# Critique my workout **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755 "2012-03-25T13:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/1 "2012-03-25T13:14:07Z")
Hey guys, am thinking of joining a gym soon and I’ve come up with a training program. I would be most appreciative if any of our SDMB gymrats could take a look and maybe give me a little feedback. My goals are to lose fat and firm up a little bit. Cheers. MONDAY: Push ups to failure 15 dumbbell leg squats Pull ups to failure 30 stomach crunches Two minutes rest between exercises, and as many circuits as I can manage in 30 mins. Over time, I aim to increase this to 45 mins, and drop the rests down to 1 minute. That will take time though. I’m a total beginner. After the resistance training, I intend to do 30 mins of cardio. WEDNESDAY: 3x10 Shoulder presses 3x10 bicep curls 3 sets of tricep dips to failure 3x15 dumbbell shrugs 2 mins rest between sets. Again, 30 mins cardio afterwards. FRIDAY 4x10 bench press 4x10 dumbbell squats 4x5 deadlifts (lower reps 'cos I want to go particularly heavy on these) 4x20 calf raises 4x10 dumbbell clean 'n press 30 mins cardio. This one is probably my toughest workout, so I might not do this cardio session for the first few weeks. I’ll see how it goes. Saturday - Same as Wednesday. DIET: I’m crap at sticking to diets. I’m going to keep this a little loose. My target is 2200 calories a day. No junk food, lots of vegetables, some fruit (not a big fan of fruit, but I’ll try to wolf down an apple and a banana a day), lean meat for dinner, and plenty of water. When I start, I’m only going to be working out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll bring the Saturday workout in after a few months once I’ve built up some stamina. So, what do you reckon? ---
**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/2 "2012-03-26T00:57:12Z")
Nobody? After 244 views? ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/3 "2012-03-27T20:05:47Z")
I’ll bite. Looks reasonable, but a bit unbalanced (far more upper body than ab and legs, more chest and little back). At a minimum, I’d recommend: more abs/core: - planks - leg raises (incline board if you have access to one) - crunches on exercise ball - If your gym has cable machines of some sort: chops - Russian twists (I think that’s what they’re called): sitting on your butt, legs up (body in a “V”), then twisting with a medicine ball - touching the medicine ball on each side. more back: - rows (bar and dumb bells), sitting, bent-over, one arm/both arm - reverse flys - lat pulldowns more legs: - leg press - hamstring curls - jump onto boxes - lunges (in place/across the room, with/without weight) You’ll also want to mix things up a bit. Instead of doing bench press all the time, do some chest press (dumbbells), etc… You want to keep changing the exercises you do for each muscle group. ---
**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/4 "2012-03-30T16:03:34Z")
That’s great feedback. Thanks **cormac262**! I’ll add some lat pulldowns and some planks into Wednesday & Saturday’s workouts, and I’ll be sure to do Monday’s crunches on an exercise ball. Also, I’ll add some hamstring curls to Friday’s workout, and alternate squats/lunges & bench press/chest press on a weekly basis. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/5 "2012-03-30T16:26:20Z")
Why is this better than [Starting Strength](http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs)? ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/6 "2012-03-30T16:39:34Z")
I agree with **cormac** ’s assessments, basically more legs, core, and back. I see you’re putting in pulldowns, so that’s good. You should also consider some form of rows so you get good work on the rhomboids as well. You need more core. You’ll get some lower back from squat movements and deadlifts; I still like isolating it but you can judge depending on how you feel you’re getting incidentally. You should defintely consider something for obliques as well, like he suggests with chops or the like. Don’t forget lower abs either, jackknives, leg lifts, etc. For legs, you have the complex movements covered, but if you’re going to do any isolations, you should do them in legs because the muscles are so much larger, so consider some leg extensions and leg curls. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/7 "2012-03-30T18:05:13Z")
Your goal is to lose weight, so you have to understand that you will physically lose the weight by exhaling. Sure, some will be lost to heat and water, but the heat’s not that much and the water will and should be replaced. So to roughly gauge when you’re losing weight, you have to be breathing hard. That said, you want to spend the entire gym time doing things that make you exhale. I therefore recommend spreading out your 30 minutes of cardio into six 5-minute blocks. Use that as your upper-body rest period. If your goal were to build muscle or maintain cardiac health, I’d tell you differently, but since you want to lose weight, an elevated heart rate and respiratory rate is the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critique-my-workout/616755/8 "2012-03-30T18:19:31Z")
Personally, I’d skip the cardio and lift more weights. If you’re taking in less calories than you’re expending, the weight should come off (everybody’s body is different). The overall theory is also that muscle burns faster, the more muscle you have, the more calories it takes. Keeping the same caloric intake while increasing muscle mass will reduce physical weight. Or so the theory goes. I still love my push/pull days workout routine and have been using this since a beginner Here are my full routines. Once you discover your 1RM (one rep max), fill in the rest of the numbers for each exercise. These hit all the major muscle groups. \*\*If you’re unsure how to properly do any of these, ask a trainer for help as form is so much more important than weight. \*\* Monday 80% 1RM Back and Bis 300 Squats 3 x 8 x 240 300 Deadlifts 3 x 8 x 240 165 Leg Curls 3 x 8 x 132 500 Calf Raises 3 x 8 x 400 260 Seated Rows 3 x 8 x 208 150 Lat Pull Downs 3 x 8 x 120 200 Shrugs 3 x 8 x 160 95 Crumple Bar Curls 3 x 8 x 76 40 Incline Dumbbell Curls 3 x 8 x 32 Tuesday 65% 1RM Chest and Tris 220 Flat Bench Press 3 x 12 x 143 220 Incline Bench Press 3 x 12 x 143 285 Machines Flyes 3 x 12 x 185.25 180 Military Press 3 x 12 x 117 40 Lateral Raises 3 x 12 x 26 250 Reverse Flyes 3 x 12 x 162.5 190 Pushdown 3 x 12 x 123.5 100 Lying French Press 3 x 12 x 65 50 Kickbacks 3 x 12 x 32.5 Abs 3 x 12 x 0 Thursday 65% 1RM Back and Bis 300 Squats 3 x 12 x 195 300 Deadlifts 3 x 12 x 195 165 Leg Curls 3 x 12 x 107.25 500 Calf Raises 3 x 12 x 325 260 Seated Rows 3 x 12 x 169 150 Lat Pull Downs 3 x 12 x 97.5 200 Shrugs 3 x 12 x 130 95 Crumple Bar Curls 3 x 12 x 61.75 40 Incline Dumbbell Curls 3 x 12 x 26 Friday 80% 1RM Chest and Tris 220 Flat Bench Press 3 x 8 x 176 220 Incline Bench Press 3 x 8 x 176 285 Machines Flyes 3 x 8 x 228 180 Military Press 3 x 8 x 144 40 Lateral Raises 3 x 8 x 32 250 Reverse Flyes 3 x 8 x 200 190 Pushdown 3 x 8 x 152 100 Lying French Press 3 x 8 x 80 50 Kickbacks 3 x 8 x 40 Abs 3 x 8 x 0 I do that for 8 weeks take a week off and then do this for two weeks: Superset workout Sunday-Chest 4 sets of each: Flat bench 8_135 then Flyes 8_25 Dips 8_70 then Pullovers 8_40 Incline Dumbbell press 8_35 then decline pushups 8_body 1 set of each: Cable crossovers arms at 90 degrees 8_60 palms neutral 8_60 palms up 8_60 palms down Arms at 45 degrees 8_60 lifts Monday-Back 4 sets of each: Lat pulldowns 8_120 then seated rows 8_120 Deadlifts 8_130 then hyperextensions 8_25(plate) Shrugs 8_120 then reverse flyes 8_130 1 set of each: Assisted pullups 8 Tuesday-Arms 4 sets of each: Hail caesars 8_25 then concentration curls 8_30 Push downs 8_80 then twisting curls 8_30 21s_65 then French press_65 Wednesday-Legs 4 sets of each: Squats 8_135 then Calf raises 8_285 Leg extensions 8_110 then leg curls 8_110 Lunges 8_100 then side lunges 8_100 Hack and stiff leg deadlift Thursday-Shoulders 4 sets of each: Military Press 8_80 then lateral raises 8_25 Front raise 8_25 then Arnold presses 8_25 Internal rotator cuff 8\*30 then external rotator cuff (Ego note: the numbers below are from a post from last year, I haven’t plateaued, just lazy to type in new ones)