Newbie lookin for advice

[Pauly420]

Right now my workouts are as follows,

Monday/Thursdays - Bench press, seated rows, incline press, chinups, dumbbell pullovers, deadlift

Wed. - Squats, Leg press, Leg curls

Tuesdays/Fridays - DB Curls, Close grip bench press, barbell curls, triceps extension, cable curls and pulldowns, Wrist curls (forearms)

Saturday/Sunday light cardio/rest.

Kinda been sticking with this routine for a few months now, mostly 3 sets 8-10 reps each. Pyramid my bench press most of the time. Looking mainly to build lean muscle mass. Im going to switch it up soon, any advice on a new workout scheme?

[amivan]

what's a seated row?

[pdellorto]

what's a seated row?

Probably this:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Bac ... edRow.html

or this:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Bac ... edRow.html

[Stephen Johnson]

@Pauly420:

With the caveat that the following are just my opinions, not the pronouncements of Zeus from Mount Olympus:

1 - I'm not a fan of arm-only workout days. Two arm workout days a week is gross overkill. Better to do bicep work after back and tricep work after chest. Also, there isn't any advantage to doing three different types of bicep curls. And the triceps get fried pretty good with benches - more than one exercise might be overkill as well.

2 - The lateral deltoid isn't getting much training in your routine. The chest and back exercises will hit the anterior and posterior deltoids, but not the lateral. Upright rows or lateral raises would fix that.

3 - Doing squats on Wednesday then deadlifts on Thursday doesn't give your lower back and legs much time to recover. You should put the deadlifts on your leg day. Leg presses could be dropped - they develop the quads, but leave the glutes and hamstrings behind. Deadlifts don't.

Just my 2 cents.

[amivan]

what's a seated row?

Probably this:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Bac ... edRow.html

or this:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Bac ... edRow.html

Oh yeah I forgot about those. You're better off doing Barbell or Dumbbell bent-over rows, more bang for your buck.

[pdellorto]

First, welcome.

I'd recommend looking at the "basic routines" sticky at the top of this forum. Some of them are aimed at beginners, but many of them are useful for intermediate lifters as well. They are worth reading through even if you've got a good routine, you can see a lot of other ways to organize your workout.

Monday/Thursdays - Bench press, seated rows, incline press, chinups, dumbbell pullovers, deadlift

Wed. - Squats, Leg press, Leg curls

Tuesdays/Fridays - DB Curls, Close grip bench press, barbell curls, triceps extension, cable curls and pulldowns, Wrist curls (forearms)

Saturday/Sunday light cardio/rest.

It looks like you're doing chest/back, legs, arms as a split. One option to change is to do a legs/push/pull split, full body, and simply vary up the exercises from day to day. Another is to change your split to one day Push, one day Pull, one day Legs, or and Upper/Lower split. You can make two routines, A and B, and do them ABA one week and BAB the next.

You're working out 5 days in a row. While you might be able to do that, generally, if you're working out hard and lifting heavy weights, you won't be able to sustain it long. You could do the same routine 3 days a week, simply dropping out the doubled up days. Do Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and change the sets and reps. Instead of doing 3 x 8-10, do 3 sets of 5 (sets across, meaning 3 x 5 reps at your 5 rep max, AFTER warmup sets) for the main compound exercises each day (Bench Press on Monday, Squats on Wednesday, Friday doesn't have any except close grip bench and that might be overkill) and then do 3 x 8-12 for the other work afterwards.

As for building lean body mass, you'll need to eat and lift heavy. Post your diet over on the Nutrition board and you'll get lots of feedback.

Hope that helps.

Peter

[Pauly420]

Im kinda torn into going to a Mon/Wed/Friday schedule. Monday - Chest/Tricep, Wed - Legs, Friday - Back/Bicep.

I kinda ripped off my previous workout plan from an arnold article on general mass building routines.

Thanks for the helpful advice/replies.