Feedback for Workout Appreciated!

[ChrisJ1989NYC]

Hello all.

First time here in the forums of ExRx, but have been using this site for several years now as a reference point on how to do exercises correctly and what to do for when I need to freshen up the routine.

Background:
I'm 26, 6'2", weigh 175 lbs, with a body fat of 17%. For the past 7 years, I've been weight lifting on and off (more off than on unfortunately). The reason for this has been my schedule has been super busy, and I tend to focus more on my job than my personal health. However, now that I'm a teacher, I now have a set schedule, and I can fit in actual slots for the gym (Planet Fitness is where I go now, but I might switch to Crunch or Blink Fitness in the future). But, keep in mind, I teach 5 middle-school classes per day and I'm on my feet all the time.

My body tends to be more on the skinny side, with most of my body fat stored around my thighs, and some around my torso. That said, my legs are stronger than my upper body, and thus, my work outs tend to focus on my upper body rather than my lower body. For weights:

• curl about 25# with little difficulty, but 40# I struggle with.
• triceps: 25 to 35#
• bench press about 90#
• shoulder press about 25#
• depending on the back exercise, lift 110# (lateral pulldown) or 60# (bentover row with barbell)

Lastly, I have been using three resources as my main guides: this website; The New Rules of Lifting by Schuler and Cosgrove; and a Men's Health article about increasing chest size.

Goals:
Ideally, I would like to increase my upper body strength and get a little bit bigger in terms of size. I know that due to my body, it would be an uphill battle to get big pecs and what not, so I'm fine with that. Besides that, I also want to decrease my body fat percentage to about 12%.

Now for the workout:

Chest and Back would be the same day, FYI

Chest:
Barbell Bench Press: 4 sets, 8 reps
Dumbbell Flye: 4 sets, 15 reps
Lateral Raise (DB): 4 sets, 15 reps
Bent Over Lateral Raise: 4 sets, 15 reps

Back:
Lateral Pull Down: 4 sets, 10 reps
(Barbell) Bent Over Row with Romanian Deadlift: 4 sets, 8-10 reps
(Dumbbell) Bent over row: 4 sets, 8-10 reps

Shoulder/Arms:
DB Shoulder Press: 4 sets, 8-10 reps
DB Upright Row: 4 sets, 8-10 reps
BB Rear Delt Row: 4 sets, 8-10 reps
Triceps Extension (sitting): 4 sets, 8-10 reps
BB Curl: 4 sets, 8-10 reps

Legs:
BB Squats: 5 sets, 10-15 reps
DB Straight Leg Deadlifts: 5 sets, 10-15 reps
Box Jump: 6 sets, 3-4 jumps
DB Lunge: 5 sets, 12 reps

Cardio:
Jog @ 45 minutes OR HIIT for 20 minutes, both on treadmill

Reflecting on what I've done, I know I'm very much a noob at this, but I'm willing to learn - just expect a lot of questions from me! And thank you in advance for your guidance!!

[Crow]

...bench press about 90#...

Just to be sure: the numbers are in lbs.? How are your calc. 1RM for Squats and Deadlifts?

...Reflecting on what I've done, I know I'm very much a noob at this...

Instead of doing your Split-Plan I would advise to pick a proven programme. Something rather simple like Greyskull LP (or Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5x5) 3x/week or perhaps an Upper/Lower-Split 4x/week. The Upper/Lower-Splits I would suggest to look at are Canditos Linear Programme or Lyle Mc Donalds GBR.

Another important point to achieve your goals (loose fat, gain muscle) will be your diet...

[ChrisJ1989NYC]

...bench press about 90#...

Just to be sure: the numbers are in lbs.? How are your calc. 1RM for Squats and Deadlifts?

Yes! My apologies - I come from a science background and use the hashtag as an abbreviation for pounds. According to the fitness calculator here on the website, My 1RM for Squats (using what I did yesterday: 50 @ 10 reps) is 64#... As for deadlifts: 59#.

However, I know I've done more than that in the past. Yesterday's workout with this new regime is to break me back into the gym routine, so I don't think these are accurate.

...Reflecting on what I've done, I know I'm very much a noob at this...

Instead of doing your Split-Plan I would advise to pick a proven programme. Something rather simple like Greyskull LP (or Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5x5) 3x/week or perhaps an Upper/Lower-Split 4x/week. The Upper/Lower-Splits I would suggest to look at are Canditos Linear Programme or Lyle Mc Donalds GBR.

Another important point to achieve your goals (loose fat, gain muscle) will be your diet...

I'll look into those programs. As for the diet, that is another thing I'm having trouble with: what is the proportion of protein:fats:carbs that I should do and is there a calculator or something to help with that?

[Crow]

I`m not an expert for diet, I`d rather not go too much into details and leave that to the other members...

Do you track what you eat at the moment? This would be helpful to determine your caloric intake to be able to track your progression together with your bodyweight and with some measurements of your waist, upper arms, legs and so on (the scale alone is not trustworthy because loosing fat and gaining muscle is going to change your bodycomposition but the numbers on the scale may go up).

A general recommendation for the macros would be to aim for 2g/kg bodyweight protein, 1g/kg bodyweight fat and the rest carbs... but you will have to test if you are doing better with low carb or low fat... normally the only "fixed" number would be for protein.

[superman]

You are pretty much like me, only younger and slightly heavier.

From my experience, I'd recommend you this:
1) Don't forget your legs, your legs have the biggest muscles and will produce the most growth harmones
2) Try to do more of compound exercises which predominantly hit the upper body
3) Start every workout day with BB Squats - do a few higher weight reps or more lower weight reps, but I'd keep the number of sets to three
4) Do more of Chest Dips instead of Bench Press, since it tends to be safer and lets us do a full range of motion as opposed to Bench Press
5) Try Cuban Press, it will really work out your shoulders and nearby muscles
6) Do pull ups, but not to failure