ExRx.net

I started lifting and exercising regularly a while ago. Up until recently my primary diet/workout goals have been fat loss (I was about 160 with circa 25% fat when I started). I think I've finally got myself to a good place there (135 with circa 10% fat now), my primary interest now is to put on some muscle (not to be huge, just adding like 5-10 pounds for now) along with helping where I can with my tennis game. I've been lifting more and more to this point but not putting on much muscle, and my progress with lifting has been slowing recently. In order to hopefully add some weight I've been taking in more calories and drinking 1-2 protein shakes a day.

My current workout schedule is 5 days, my lifting exercises consist of 1 warmup set with 1 set to failure (usually ending with 10-12 reps). I also do related stretches between the warmup and full set with most exercises. On lifting days I do 5 minutes of cardio before and after the set on either stair climber, bike, or elliptical cross trainer.

Day 1: Chest/Back includes Dumbbell Bench (flat and incline), Chest Dips, Seated Row, Pull Ups (can only do 4-5), Pulldowns, Shrugs, Deadlifts.

Day 2: Legs includes Squats, Leg Presses, Leg Curls, Calf Extensions, Leg Raises, Incline Situps (regular and twisting)

Day 3: Arms includes Military Press, Lateral Raises, Rear Delt Row, One Arm Triceps Extension, Bicep Barbell Curl, Reverse Curl, Wrist Curl, Reverse Wrist Curl

Day 4: Running 3 miles on treadmill (might not help with gaining weight but it's helped my endurance a lot for tennis).

Day 5: I do jumpropes and a little sprinting along with some plyometric exercises including Vertical Jumps, Lateral Jumps, Long Jumps, Clap Pushups. This is a recent addition and like the previous day I'm doing these exercises to hopefully help with my tennis game.


Okay so I don't *think* I'm missing anything but I want to make sure I'm not doing anything that will work against my interests, either focusing on the wrong type of exercises or doing things in the wrong order.

If anybody has any comments like you should be doing this exercise or shouldn't be doing this or you should switch this order, or if anyone has any tips for putting on a little weight, I'd appreciate the help.

Thanks for any comments.

P.S. This is a fantastic site btw and the information presentation here has been extremely valuable to me the last several months.

I would put deadlift on your legs day since meshes very well with squats. But I think what you've designed looks really good. Minor question: is this a 5-day rotation? or do you just workout 5-times per week and take weekends off? You should have some days off too... (if you don't already have them, it's unclear)

Thanks for the comments.

That's something I've been wondering about. I've been debating about scheduling an off day between legs and arms. Right now I don't have any scheduled off days but don't workout when I have a tennis match and take a true rest day when I'm especially busy or especially sore, which averages about once a week.

You don't say how long you've been lifting ("started awhile ago".) Once you've been lifting for a year or two you'll be able to lift so much weight that you won't need to work out as much and will actually need a rest. As a beginner I worked out constantly and it worked for me but now that I've been doing it for awhile I find that I need to take much more time off.

About 5 months. Whenever I need to take a day off (based on what my body tells me) I am doing so already. I don't feel like I *need* to take more days off, but I also don't want to workout too much and prevent my muscles from growing optimally.

You might want to substitute either Standard or Romanian Deadlifts for Leg Presses after Squatting. It's been my experience that the 45 degree Leg Presses is pretty worthless.