Offer input on my new routine
So, after breaking my foot and laying around for three months drinking and watching the Muppet show, I was pretty **** weak. My upper body, in particular (always a problem area) had deteriorated to pathetic levels. I went with a Westside style program, and made some okay gains. Then I cut from 208 to 182 in three weeks for NAGA, and promptly ****ed away most of my strength gains doing so.
So, NAGA being over, I'm bulking up and trying to get my strength back up. While I liked Westside, particularly the box squats and the overall emphasis on the posterior chain, it had a few problems for me:
1) Time. The Westside workouts, particularly the max effort days, took a lot of time, and between classes and everything else I don't have a lot to spare; a lot of the time I'm trying to fit my weight workouts in on my lunch hour. That was really tight with Westside, and that meant that a lot of the time I was skimping on my warmups, which was probably a contributing factor to problem 2 -
2) DOMS. Westside workouts left me sore, sore, sore, and that made grappling and muay thai class really, really annoying.
So, coming back, I'm not sure if I want to go back to Westside or not for the time being. I looked over my exercise stuff directory, yanked this routine out of storage, and modified it a little to fit my current needs.
Mon - Bench press 5X5, lat pulldowns 5X5
Tue - Deadlift 5X5, weighted crunches 5X5
Wed - Bench press 5X5, lat pulldowns 5X5
Thu - Box squat 5X5, weighted crunches 5X5
Fri - Bench press 5X5, lat pulldowns 5X5
Sat - Deadlift 5X5, weighted crunches 5X5
I'm using lat pulldowns because for some reason they seem to hit my lats much harder than bent over rows. I dunno why, but that's how it goes.
Figured on adding 5 pounds to each successive workout, until I can't make 5 reps, then either
A) keep lifting at that weight till I can, then up the weight and repeat (stubborn method)
B) Drop back 20 lbs and work up again (wave/neo-Pavel method)
C) Switch exercise to a similar one (bench to close grip or incline bench, Deadlift to Rumanian deadlift, etc) (neo-Westside method)
So, it's got big compound lifts, heavy weight, low reps, and a defined progression. And I'm hitting pretty much all the major muscle groups, and working the antagonists on the same day in succession.
So -
1) What do you guys think of the routine in general? Good idea, bad idea? Suggestions?
2) Suggestions for which of the three progression methods would seem best?
3) The muscle groups this /doesn't/ hit are calves, traps, and neck. The calves and traps I don't mind skimping on a bit, but I'd really like to do neckwork, as it seems to help my grappling a lot. There's a 4-way flexion neck machine at my gym that seems to work my neck really well. Any suggestions on sets, reps, or number of times per week? I was figuring maybe twice a week at 4X8, with the same five pound progression as the rest of them.
"hey pal, you wanna do the dance of destruction with the belle of the ball, just say the word." -apoweyn