My new routine!!

1 min rest, and its going to take you an hour!?!

What you have been given is fine, but even with the warm up included, if you take more than 35 mins to complete this workout, your intensity is a joke.

I can only presume that the alternating between muscle building and pure strength work has been agreed based on your goals as told to him. Many want to consider aesthetic goals as well as perfromance- nothing wrong with that.

The upper/lower split is fine, though from a personal perspective, I would have complimented overhead press with shrugs, not lateral raise. Keeps the posterior/anterior mix in balance, and keeps one eye on functional strength.
Oh yeah, I would also do the overhead press whilst standing- better core engagement and power generation.

Given the number of horrors you could have been prescribed, this programme is OK. It would appear that your instructor is not a complete idiot. I will reserve final judgement until I see what he does for your sptrength cycle

Yer i dont realy like lateral raises all that much, i prefer shrugs as it works the grip abit aswell, i was also thinnking about standing and not sitting, i didnt come to the gym to sit on my ass!! I really dont care much for aesthetic goals but APPARENTLY i need 2 months of base hypertrophy before i can start strength training.....

I think he may of said dont take MORE then an hour, not that it should take an hour. Should i do shrugs with barbell or dumbell or doesnt it really matter?

I asked the instructor for his qualifications and all he has is a certificate 4 in personal training/fitness (not sure which one) Which made me pause a little bit as my freind has this certifiate aswell which is sumtin like a 2 month course u have to do...

Anyway as much as i dont even really want to be big and bulky for aesthitic reasons i will go with it, may be a nice change of pace. its just going to be hard as sometimes i will have to go to the gym in the day then go to TKD training at night.

Thnx for your help Cord and i will keep you posted as to how i am going. And the cardio work he gave me was 20mins on bike with 30/30 sec interals, he said i can do this any time.

WHAT!!! so he is imposing a goal of mass gain on you, based on the fact that he thinks you 'need' a bit more muscle!?!?

i retract everything- the man is an idiot. Why on earth do weight lifters and boxers, who rely on hitting specific bodyweight, strength train if it is no good without additional mass?!?

Go back. Explain clearly that you do not, in any way, consider muscle mass a priority, and dont see why you should spend 1/6th of a year at a time, working for what you dont want to achieve. Tell him you are competetive at TKD and have to make weight. Then ask him to prescribe a workout that will help you achieve what you want to achieve

If I want to buy a stereo, no matter how good the salesman says the TV is, i aint buyin'

Yes it did sound a little funny to me, i was talking about strength training and he was talking about always needing a spotter with strength training, but even though you are using heavier weights you dont work to burnout so it is probably safer then hypertrophy....

He said strength/power training should only go for 2 weeks, his reasoing behind this was that your body adapts to strength training then the results go down. This also kinda made me go 'HUH?' if you increase weight then you dont always have to 'mix it up' to acheive goals. I will go in tomorrow and make another appointment to see him, depending on what he says i may ask for another trainer. I dont think he even knows wat TKD is. He said sumtin like 'i guess you want to work on your upper body more then your legs for your TKD', then i said 'no TKD has alot of kicking...'

So what your saying is that i DO NOT NEED BASE HYPERROPHY TRAINING BEFORE STARTING A STRENGTH/POWER ROUTINE?

Again Cord, much appreciated.

Cheers Mate, ill report back soon

Ok i rung up today and i have to wait till thursday to have an appointment with him!!!! its f&*$#%!ing bull$h1t that i am paying for this stupid gym when i am not even going because i dont have a suitable routine, there is no point me starting this hypertrophy routine as i am not looking for muscle mass, i am looking for pure functional strength and i'm pretty sure i told him that i used to do strength training 5x5 routines with big compound lifts for my martial arts! This sucks so much that i now have to wait a week to talk to him again when i could be working out, and he'll probably just gimme sum stupid routine again!!!!!

It's good to let out my frustrations, but as a poor university student i cant afford to be paying for a gym that i cant use because of the incompetance of the instructor!

Does this instructor have to be with you when you work out there? I'm not sure how these places work, but can't you just go and do something similar to your old routine there until you can see him again to sort the rest out?

Just start training. You have had your health check, and your induction, so now just go and do your thing. If he comes up with something on thursday, then great, if not dont worry, we can work it out on here. No reason you cant go do some 5x5 in the meantime though.

So true my freinds so true. No the instructor doesnt have to be there when i train so ill just revert back to my 5x5 till wednesday

Ok guys heres the moment of truth! I went back to the personal trainer today re-told my goals to him so he fully understood that i wanted explosive strength not hypertrophy and made another routine based on these goals. I still think i know more then half the people in the gym though as at first he wanted to give me 4 exercises 5x5 with 3 minute recovery breaks and i had to step in and say, that would take like 1.5hours or so to complete...

So here it is anyway, not sure if i like it much but its all i could get out of him.

Workout 1- 3mins recovery between sets

Flat Bench press 5x5
Squats 5x5
Military Press 5x5

Workout 2- 2-3mins recovery

Chin-ups 4x6
Stiff leg deadlift 4x6
Box jumps 4x6

So routine goes like this.

Week 1
Mon-workout 1
Tue-workout 2
Wed-rest
Thur-rest
Fri-workout 1
Sat-workout 2
Sun-rest

Week 2
Mon-rest
Tue-rest
Wed-workout 1
Thur-workout 2
Fri-rest
Sat-rest
Sun-rest
mon-workout 1
tues-workout 2

Week 4
sun-Clap pushups 3x8-12 Squat jumps 3x8-12
mon-rest
tue-rest
wed-Clap pushups 3x8-12 Squat jumps 3x8-12
thur-rest
fri-rest
sat-Clap pushups 3x8-12 Squat jumps 3x8-12
sun-rest

Ok the way he designed it he says i need 72hours between my 2 workouts. The workout regime is 2 weeks on 1 week off, he says your joints wernt built to take that much heavy weight so if you do strength work for more then 2 weeks in a row then it will become detrimental. workout1 and 2 are done after each other then 72 hours rest then workout 1 and 2 etc for 2 weeks, week 2 actually stretches into week 3 to allow for 72 hours rest so the rest of week 3 is rest and week for is some plyo in my off week.

All input encouraged ( especially from Cord and Wiggy )

Hmmm. I can see where he is coming from, but its not quite all it could be. Again, I dont hate it, I just dont love it. If it were my daughter's boyfriend I would be OK with him coming to the house, but if he asked for her hand in marriage, I would refuse- that make sense?
The main problem is that he approaching strength training with a bodybuilders mindset- the volume is too high, and there is not enough complimentary work for the basic lifts.

Also, this 'you cant train for more than 2 weeks' thing- I dont know where he got it from, but he is wrong. Strength training has been shown to strengthen, not weaken, tendons and joint function.

Here Is what i would prescribe based on you wanting to train 4 days a week (if that is a number he came up with, and you want to do less/more days per week, then let me know)

Workout 1.
Squat 5x5
Back extensions (weighted) 5x5

Workout 2.
Bench 5x5
Hamstring curl 5x5 (if you had a glute/ham raise, then that would be ideal, but most mainstream gyms wont touch them)

Workout 3.
Deadlift 5x5
Chins 5x5 (any grip. weighted if necessary)

Workout 4.- (a) and (b). Alternate each week.
(a):
Box Jumps x5
Plyo push ups x5
Hip Pop-ups or full bridges if possible x5
(b):
Hang clean and press 5x10
Hanging leg raise x5
Weighted twists (hold a plate) on 45 degree sit up bench 5x10

there you go, she can marry that one, he's a keeper

I'd love to do a 6 day routine but with work and university my time is very limited. I would in all reality probably be able to commit to a 2 or 3 day week. Maybe on holidays i can return to your delightful 4 day routine and ask for its hand in marriage?

So i can probably fit in a 2 day week or a 3 day week. But it really just depends on my workload so some weeks i may be able to go for 4 days others only 2 days.

Just a few questions on some of the exercises, are these

back extensions?
http://bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Hyperextensions+(Back+Extensions) i hope my gym has a hyperextension machine.

Bridges? http://bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Butt+Lift+(Bridge)

hangin leg raise?
http://bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Hanging+Leg+Raise

Weighted twists?
http://bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Plate+Twist Same idea but on a bench set at 45degrees i assume?

Hang clean and press. Should i be doing clean and press without prior proffesional technique training? or is this sumtin different

With workout 4 when u say box jumps x5 does this simply mean 1 set of 5 box jumps?

and 5x10 obviously is 5 sets where u can get 10 reps on each set. I will ask if they have a glute/ham raise(technical name?) but if they dont i know they have a leg curl machine.

Thankyou heaps for helping me through this mate its really appreciated. Just sucks that i cant start working out yet as i am still letting my corked leg heal, i think its getting better but because i stupidly took so long to act it is taking a while to heal!

OK, if you want a two day routine, I will have a think and post an alternative for you- no problem

The links you posted are all correct except the bridges. What that site shows is Hip pop-ups. Full bridges are similar, except you either come up all the way onto your head, or place the hands down and come up into what kids in school used to call the 'crab' position.

As for the plyo work, the '5' refers to the number of sets. The reps is dependant on what you can do. remember with plyo work, you are not aiming to 'burn out'. You stop as soon as you have lost your maximum 'explosivity'. You see so many people just grinding to a halt, full of lactic acid on this stuff, when you should stop and rest. Its all about training the body to react with explosive power, not making it unable to move.

Stand by for the 2 day split.

thanks i will be waiting anxiously!! and just to clarify, 3min breaks in between plyo work? and wat is hang clean and press. cheers

Yep, 3 min breaks- it is just another form of power training, so its not about muscle fatigue, its about developing explosivity.

Scratch the hang cleans, if you dont know them, you wont be doing them

2 day split- not consecutive days.

Day 1.
Squat 5x5
Bench 5x5
Hyper extensions 5x5

Day 2.
Deadlift 5x5
Military press 5x5
Leg Curl 5x5

If you have the time or inclination you can do a plyo session as a third workout, but keep the volume low, and remember plyometric work is nothing to do with grinding to a lactic acid induced halt.

thanks Cord you've been a real help, and just an update on my leg, i cant feel that it is getting any better so i enquired about a physio and theres a guy i can go to who apparently specialises in leg and knee things. So wish me luck

I do wish you luck. It is probably what we in the UK call a 'dead leg', which is effectively deep tissue bruising/damage. Remember that it usualy takes a muscle longer to repair after 'proper' injury (ie. not an 'owie'), than bone.
I definately think a trip to a registered physio would be a good idea though