Critique my routine

**Sakmongkol** · Posted On: 6/19/2008 8:41am

Ok so I'm back for the summer from uni and this has greatly increased my free time so I decided to incorporate some resistance training. I'm working out at home with the following equipment avaible: mat, resistance bands, pull up bar, barbell and clips with weight plates going up to 60k. When I go back to uni I intend to join the uni gym which has excellent facilities.

My routine:

Day 1-
5x3 minute rounds on the bag
Mobility Drills (x band walks, scapular wall slides etc plus dynamic stretching)
Deadlift 5x5
Bent over barbell row 5x5
Floor Press/Weighted Push ups 3x5
Ab work and other supplementary work such as pistols, this is to be of reduced volume and will vary every couple of weeks.
Static stretching

Day 2-
5x3 minute rounds on the bag
Mobility drills
Hack Squat 5x5
Pullups 5x5
Dips 3x5
Ab and other Supp. work
Stretching

The rest of the week consists of 1 day a week of MT and 1 day a week of Shootfighting.

I'm 6ft 1, very lean weighing 11 and a half stone, previous lower back problems but am now pain free, had some shoulder problems which remedied by improving posture, increasing pullups and reduced volume of push ups per week and stretching however they can still occasionally bother me. My diet is pretty good now I'm home, and my sleep is in general fairly good although I work as a waiter at a hotel so my hours are very varied and can include late nights and early mornings, sometimes back to back which can result in reduced rest. I work about 25 hours a week but it can vary from 15-35. In terms of supplements I take about 1-3 fish oils a day and am looking to procure some protein powder.

I'm looking to increase max strength and remedy muscular imbalances, weight gain would be good but is only a secondary target.

Thoughts?

**PirateJon** · Posted On: 6/19/2008 8:44am

Drink your milk.

**Sakmongkol** · Posted On: 6/19/2008 8:48am

Originally Posted by PirateJon

Drink your milk.

I'm on 2 litres a day since I got home. I know its not quite a gallon...

**Emevas** · Posted On: 6/19/2008 8:58am

How come all over your upper body pulling is 5x5, but your pushing is 3x5? That'll develop muscular imbalances as far as I'm aware, which is counter to your current goal.

**PirateJon** · Posted On: 6/19/2008 8:58am

Hah, well dang. I'd probably lift before cardio so you can lift heavier.

**Sakmongkol** · Posted On: 6/19/2008 9:10am

Originally Posted by Emevas

How come all over your upper body pulling is 5x5, but your pushing is 3x5? That'll develop muscular imbalances as far as I'm aware, which is counter to your current goal.

My lower back problem (along with other things) was due to the fact that I had a freaky caveman posture due to about 2 years of thai boxing which heavily stressed pushing with very little pulling and is also the reason my shoulders later fucked up. I'm trying to recover those muscular inbalances so that in 3 months when i go back to uni my push and pulling upper body routine can be even.

For about 6 months I was basically doing about 3000 push ups a week with no pull ups etc.

**Sakmongkol** · Posted On: 6/29/2008 2:40pm

So I've been doing this a couple of weeks and I've found that hack squats suck. They're awkward as hell and they're too easy to cheat on and turn into a hack lift (inverted deadlift).

I was considering changing my routine to include front squats with me cleaning the weight up. The only problem is I suck at power cleans. Can I learn this movement by resources off the net or is it too dangerous and should I just stick to hack squatting for my legs?

I still do single leg work, such as one legged squats off a box, pistols, weighted lunges and bulgarian split squats etc (only one of these movements per workout, I just like to mix it up) but I'd still really like a big compound leg movement that hits the quads hard. Thoughts?

**Kentucky Fried Chokin** · Posted On: 6/29/2008 2:51pm

Only once a week of MT and once a week of shootboxing? If I were you I'd try to cut out some weightlifiting and do more technique.

**Sakmongkol** · Posted On: 6/29/2008 3:00pm

Originally Posted by Razamataz

Only once a week of MT and once a week of shootboxing? If I were you I'd try to cut out some weightlifiting and do more technique.

Only classes available to me in my home town of kettering. In manchester I was training MT 4/5 a week.

Plus I'm placing greater priority on getting strong in these next couple of months and remedying a few niggling injuries, particularly with my shoulders.

**Emevas** · Posted On: 6/29/2008 3:33pm

Originally Posted by Sakmongkol

So I've been doing this a couple of weeks and I've found that hack squats suck. They're awkward as hell and they're too easy to cheat on and turn into a hack lift (inverted deadlift).

I was considering changing my routine to include front squats with me cleaning the weight up. The only problem is I suck at power cleans. Can I learn this movement by resources off the net or is it too dangerous and should I just stick to hack squatting for my legs?

I still do single leg work, such as one legged squats off a box, pistols, weighted lunges and bulgarian split squats etc (only one of these movements per workout, I just like to mix it up) but I'd still really like a big compound leg movement that hits the quads hard. Thoughts?

As far as I'm aware, there is no difference between the hack squat and the hack deadlift, just different names for the same movement. I woulldn't really concern yourself too much with "cheating" and in turn using more efficient body mechanics, as that should actually be ideal for what you are training.

Have you considered perhaps getting cinder blocks and stacking them on top of each other to make squat stands?