Critique My Full Body Workout Routine

Your Questions

I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.

Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.

The category, Your Health Questions is a more proactive approach to answering your questions so that everyone can benefit from the Q & A.

Raina wrote:

“Thanks for your guidance and insight. I recently joined Gold’s Gym and they have a lot of cable and other kind of machines.

Why do u recommend free weights vs using cable machines?

For example, a machine to do tricep extension or seated dips or even seated barbell curls does focus on the particular muscle group and i feel the burn.

So why are they not effective?

Also, can you please comment on my routine: (Mon, Wed and Fri)

1. Bench, Dumbbell Press and Incline/decline press for chest
2. Military press, Barbell upright rows and dumbbell side raise for shoulders
3. Bent over barbell, pull ups and seated rows for back
4. Barbell curls, Dumbbell curls and close grip chin up for biceps
5. Skull crusher, Dips and Push down cable machine for triceps
6. dumbbell wrist curl, reverse curl and wrist curl again for forearms
7. Hanging leg raises, floor crunches and crunches on exercise ball for abs
8. Machine leg press, squats and leg press for quad
9. standing calf raise, donkey calf and seated calf extension for calf
10. Stiff leg deadlifts and back extension (based on energy level left)

I do about 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps and i try to take less then a minute break. Is there something you would like to correct/add?”

Response:

I recommend free weights versus cables, and so do most good personal trainers, because they target a more complete set of muscles. I am not saying cables and machines are not effective, they are just not as efficient as free weights and odd objects.

Sure, cable and machines are sometimes good for bodybuilding because you can do 15 strict reps of hypertrophy-inducing isolation exercise without worrying about balance or tiring out ancillary muscles first. But if you are looking to really build strength, size, power, and density in your whole body, you are much better off using free weights or odd objects in order to tax your whole body, or at least all the muscles in and around the target area.

This sort of training also helps you discover and bring up weak points, rather than working around them by isolating just the strongest muscles by using a single plain of motion, which is a typical limitation of cables and machines.

The free weights vs. machines argument applies more to larger, rather than smaller, muscle groups. As a personal trainer, I would be much angrier if you chose leg extensions over squats, than I would be if you chose cable curls over dumbbell curls.

Remember, your goal is not to “feel the burn”. That is just lactic acid build-up.

Your goal is also not to “feel the pump”. It feels great to be pumped, but you want to be pumped for the right reason: not because the tissue is just filled with blood, but because you did some seriously intense training with the intention of forcing your entire body to adapt to the trauma.

Isolation = cables & machines.

Full body = free weights, odd objects, and moving your body through space.

Your Workout Routine

Your program looks OK, except for legs being buried at #8 and #10, with #10 being labeled as optional. Other than that, I would make a few smaller changes based on my own experience and preference.

• I would take the first three spots and alternate them between the big three muscle groups: chest, back and legs, unless you are prioritizing any of those three. In that case I would keep the priorized muscle group at #1 and rotate #2 and #3 between the remaining two muscle groups. Does that make sense?
• I would move legs (#8 and #10) up to the top 3.
• I would add full deadlifts and weighted lunges because they are so good for your posterior chain, legs, and balance.
• I would work the smaller muscle groups into supersets in order to save time.
• I would use more effective exercises in a couple places.

This would be your new routine (Mon, Weds, Fri):

1. Barbell Bench, Bent Over Rows, Squats
2. Pull Ups, Weighted Lunges, Dumbbell Press
3. Deadlifts, Incline/Decline Press for Chest, Seated Rows for Back
4. Military Press, Side Raise/Front Raise for Shoulders, Upright Rows
5. Leg Press for Quads, Good Mornings, Stiff Leg Deadlifts
6. Superset #1a: Tris – Skull Crusher, Dips, Close Grip Bench for Triceps
7. Superset #1b: Bis – Barbell Curls, Dumbbell Curls, Close Grip Chin Up for Biceps
8. Superset #2a: Abs – Captains Chair, The Bicycle, Full Vertical Crunch
9. Superset #2b: Calves – Standing Calves, Donkey Calves, Seated Calves

That is actually a pretty good routine that I might suggest to any experienced weight lifter.

Some of the changes I’ve made are to incorporate regular deadlifts in slot #3 for day 1. I replaced some exercises with more effective alternatives such as abs, good mornings instead of back extensions, and close grip bench instead of tricep push downs.

The supersets will also help you get more work in at the end of your routine and will elevate your heart rate in order to burn more fat.

Also, try to keep your workout under 1 hour if you are not already.

Three sets of 8-10 reps should be fine, unless you wish to focus on strength gains, in which case I would do three sets of 5 reps instead.

So Raina, there’s your workout critique and answers to some of your questions. I hope I could be of some help. Please send feedback if you have any.

Tags: free weights, full body, Workout Routines, Your Questions

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