Two day a week weightlifting routine

[Jake LaMotta]

I have been very busy lately dealing with a lot of things and am looking to do a two day a week routine on Monday and Thursday.
OK, how about this:

Two days a week weightlifting workout to be done on Mondays and Thursdays (pick either exercise 'a' or 'b' to do). I will be doing all exercises 3x8-10 keeping the same weight each set. I will progress the weights when I can do all 3 sets with 10 reps.

Day 1 Mon.

1. a) Flat dumbbell bench press 3x8-10
b) Incline dumbbell bench press 3x8-10

2. Seated cable rows 3x8-10

3. a) Seated overhead dumbbell press 3x8-10
b) Seated dumbbell lateral raises 3x8-10

4. a) Wide grip lat pulldowns to the front 3x8-10
b) Close grip lat pulldowns 3x8-10

5. Tricep pushdowns 3x8-10

6. a) Seated dumbbell curls 3x8-10
b) Seated dumbbell hammer curls 3x8-10

*I will never do incline dumbbell bench press and seated overhead dumbbell press in the same workout. I will either do incline dumbbell bench press/seated dumbbell lateral raises, flat dumbbell bench press/seated overhead dumbbell press, or flat dumbbell bench press/seated dumbbell lateral raises.

Day 2 Thurs.

1. Sled hack squat machine 3x8-10

2. Lying leg curls 3x8-10

3. Standing calve raises 3x8-10

4. Seated crunch machine 3x8-10

5. 4 way neck machine (front, left, right, back) 3x8-10

I can't do deadlifts and squats because of old injuries. In fact, anything bent over is out of the question (ex. bent over barbell rows). I also can't do pullups because of an old injury (but pulldowns are OK).

How does this look?

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Also, I'm neither cutting or bulking. Just looking to build an overall quality physique.

 

[Athlete]

I can't tell you if your routine looks good or not, you'll have to be the judge of that for your own goals.
But I thought I'd chime in as I'm also doing a 2 split right now, and gaining quite nicely.

This is how it looks:

Day 1: Quads, hams, calves
Day 2: Chest+back, Shoulders+Biceps+Triceps, Forearms+Trapz.

The + means I do the exercises back to back.. I go directly from my chest exercise to my back exercise.. and I keep doing this until all my sets are done. Then I move on to the next "grouping" and repeat.

This way I manage to do the entire upper body in about 90 minutes.

Edit: oh, and to refuel glycogen in the already trained muscles, I eat some carbs after every grouping. This way they all gain equally good.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Thanks Athlete. Anybody else?

 

[doug1]

the smaller muscles need direct work too. if u want to see a good split, look up the DC two way split.

 

[neverfail]

I used a program similar to this last summer for about three months due to a very busy sch. I found it to work great! But I think it's important to always switch things up or you'll level off.

Regards...........nf

 

[ridge11]

HIT total body twice a week. Saw my best gains ever that way. I was also 16 years old though.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Thanks fellas. Anyone else?

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Anyone?

 

[cooper250]

As of right now im laid off,but when working construction 50-70hr. a week i try to hit sat. sun. with upper body 1 day and lower body the nex.I use dc. split but sometimes instead of doing 1 set restpause ect. ill just do 3 working set of each exercise.But when ever theres a day off from holiday or weather ill just keep training upper lower upper lower ect.
For example now that im outta work i train 6days a week.a split like this makes it very easy to aleast work whole body atleast once every week.
ive tried the whole body thing but doesnt work if weekends r ur only days u can make the gym.unless of courese u work real long day sat. and leaves u with only sun. then ill blast whole body.This routine is not optimal for bodybuilding standards but for the ones that have no choice its great.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

Any other suggestions?

 

[Athlete]

The reason I don't do shoulders grouped with chest in my workout is because I feel it takes away from the weight I can use (in both cases).

I do chest with back because it's push/pull. One muscle rests while the other works.

I do shoulders right before biceps, which means I can't cheat as much on my curls (when you're swinging you use your delts more, but they're already fried so biceps does the work), and triceps right after bicep 'cause it seems to help growth.

Finishing with forearms and trapz simply because they're small groups, already been worked while training back and biceps, so I can just "cool down" with them before I go home.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

OK, how about this:

Two days a week weightlifting workout to be done on Mondays and Thursdays (pick either exercise 'a' or 'b' to do). I will be doing all exercises 3x8-10 keeping the same weight each set. I will progress the weights when I can do all 3 sets with 10 reps.

Day 1 Mon.

1. a) Flat dumbbell bench press 3x8-10
b) Incline dumbbell bench press 3x8-10

2. Seated cable rows 3x8-10

3. a) Seated overhead dumbbell press 3x8-10
b) Seated dumbbell lateral raises 3x8-10

4. a) Wide grip lat pulldowns to the front 3x8-10
b) Close grip lat pulldowns 3x8-10

5. Tricep pushdowns 3x8-10

6. a) Seated dumbbell curls 3x8-10
b) Seated dumbbell hammer curls 3x8-10

*I will never do incline dumbbell bench press and seated overhead dumbbell press in the same workout. I will either do incline dumbbell bench press/seated dumbbell lateral raises, flat dumbbell bench press/seated overhead dumbbell press, or flat dumbbell bench press/seated dumbbell lateral raises.

Day 2 Thurs.

1. Sled hack squat machine 3x8-10

2. Lying leg curls 3x8-10

3. Standing calve raises 3x8-10

4. Seated crunch machine 3x8-10

5. 4 way neck machine (front, left, right, back) 3x8-10

How does this look?

 

[RazorCuts]

If you are going to do a routine like this were you are not working full body you should use an every other day split. You need to hit the muscle group every 5th day to increase growth. Look at my UHT routine and just fit it in a every other day rotation.
http://www.professionalmuscle.com/forums/articles-forum/17408-ultimate-hypertrophy-training.html

If you want to workout 2x a wk do a full body routine having a A/B workout and hit it Mon and Thurs.

 

[Athlete]

How does this look?

Looks pretty good to me. I sometimes like doing 3 rest-pause sets instead of 3 rotated sets.
Usually I switch it up for one of two reasons: 1) rest-pause requires less time, or 2) i stagnate, and switch between them to kick start growth again.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

So far this rooutine has been working for me. I guess I'll know in a few weeks if it provides results in size/strength.