splinterhands, currently for the past 5 months been doing the 3 day a week (mon,wed,fri) full body workout, changing up the exercises each month. currently i'm doing the following:
3 sets of smith machine squats 3 x10
3 sets of stiff leg deadlifts 3 x 10
3 sets of dumbbell flat bench 3 x 10
3 sets of dumbbell incline bench 3 x 10
3 sets of smith machine bent over rows 3 x 10
3 sets of dumbbell upright rows 3 x 10
3 sets of tricep pulldowns 3 x 10
3 sets of tricep kickbacks
3 sets of standing calf raises with around 20 reps ( toes pointed straight, out and in)
end up usually doing a couple of sets of barbell wrist exercises for forearms
before any lifting do 5 minutes of stationary bike cardio to warm up, 5 to 10 minutes of stretching, and then 5 minutes of doing very light (5 pounds dumbbell) rotator cuff exercises since i had a rotator cuff problem about 2 year ago that lasted until this past january when cortisone shots were necessary (knock on wood no problems yet with the shoulder/rotator cuff)
0n tuesday, thursday and friday: i do my cardio usually 30 minutes each time and usually starting out with 10 minutes on the stair climber followed by the remaining 20 minutes on either incline walking the treadmill, riding the bike or ellipitical. sometimes if i feel i have the energy i do 20 minutes on the stair climber (trenched in sweat!) and then the last 10 minutes do the above mentioned other exercises (bike,treadmill, elliptical)
do have to admit i'm not day and day in consistent with my diet, although i find myself more strict with my supplements intake.
ready to lose the bodyfat like i mentioned by not lose bodyweight?! want to maintain my 225 pounds but get that bodyfat down to around 10 percent? then i go bulk up a bit of weight but keep an eye on the bodyfat %.
although were coming into fall and winter and this is notorious "bulking up" in sweats time of the year until spring. yeah, i would love to get past my 225 pounds right now, but i'm 18 to 20 percent bodyfat? wouldn't want to get to 235 to 240 by spring and yet still have the bodyfat at the same mark, with a roll for my abs!
thinking i should hit the cardio just a tad more? perhaps after my workouts like 20 minutes instead of my slow 10 minute warm up ahead of time, perhaps i should do both, and then of course the days i'm not lifting, do the usually 30 minutes so instead of doing cardio for real only 3 times a week for 30 minutes i would actually be doing it for 30 minutes 5 to 6 days a week, and if keep the diet strict, but still eat alot, i can lose this bodyfat and maintain and perhaps even gain some muscle?
of course i also ready to move to a more tougher lifting weight program. thinking about doing a 3 day a week routine still, but this time split the bodyparts. do this for a month or two, then go to a 4 day a week, (mon,tues,thurs,fri) program for a few months, and so on.
previously others have said that if i go to a 4 day a week program (mon,tues,thurs,fri) i should only work each bodypart 1 time a week? granted i think someone who has been lifting for years can get away with this, but i'm a newbie at 5 months, trust me no way in hell if i did for instance chest on monday would i need to wait until the following monday to work the chest again? some have said, "then your not working your chest hard enough", so what i do 20 sets for chest only? even if i could do this, i don't think i SHOULD do this!
currently i still believe i should do a 4 day a week program like i mentioned (mon,thurs, chest shoulders, triceps, and tues, friday back, biceps, legs) maybe the second time of the week that i do the bodyparts i'll do one less exercise or cut back on the sets to see how i feel.
at my age i have to be smart! dont' want to waste time doing a routine that one hand will kill me but on the otherhand perhaps dont' challenge me enough and after 5 months or a year later, i'm not seeing improvements and i'll think "damn, all that time down the drain wasted!" of course, i guess as long as you do SOMETHING it's not wasted time, right?!
thanks in advance for the expert advice!
