Critique my routine/nutrition please! (tl;dr)

[ElPhoenix]

What's up guys,

Been lurking this forum deciding if I wanted to post or not, guess I thought I'd give it a shot.

My Background - I'm a 19 year old college student going to UCSB. I'm 6'3" and I weigh 200 pounds. I don't have any pictures to post right now, but will post later if necessary. I'm in pretty good physical shape, but have kind of been on a mission to perfect my routine and nutrition to give me more optimal results. I have never studied nutrition/exercise formally, just read www.bodybuilding.com articles, lol.

Nutrition:

MEAL STRUCTURE:

1: Carbs + Protein + Fruit
2: Carbs + Protein + Fruit
3: Post Workout: (Whey + Oats/Dex + Fruit)
4: Post-Post Workout: Carbs + Protein + Veggies
5: Protein/Veggies/1 Tbsp Fat
6: Protein/Veggies/1 Tbsp Fat
7: Protein/2 Tbsp fat


Workout - I keep this in an excel file, put it up on my wall and write in the weights/changes I did/made for each day:

Chest/Triceps:

Flat Bench 4x(10,8,8,6)
Incline Bench 3x(8,6,6)
Decline Bench 3x(8,8,6)
Flys 2x(8,8)
Pullovers 1x10
Tricep Pushdowns 4x(10,8,8,6)
Weighted Dips 2x10
Bench Dips 3x (10,10,8)

Back Biceps

Chinups 1x8
One Arm Rows 1x8 each arm
Wide Grip Seated Rows 1x8
Close Grip Seated rows 1x8
Pulldowns 3x(10,10,8)
Barbell Curls 3x(8,8,6)
Ez Bar Preacher Curls 3x(8,8,6)
Incline Curls 1x14
Concentration Curls 1x10

Shoulders/Forearms

Front Machine Press 1x10
Incline Rear Laterals 1x10
Arnold Presses 1x10
Lying Side Laterals 1x10
Shrugs 2x(10,8)
Upright Rows 1x10
Front Wrist Curl 1x10
Back Wrist Curl 1x10

Legs (hate doing it, but has to be done [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img])

Squats 4x(10,8,8,6)
Leg Extensions 4x(10,8,8,6)
Leg Curls 4x(10,8,8,6)
One Leg Calf Raises 4x(10,8,8,6)
Calf Raises 4x(10,8,8,6)

Abs (I do this twice a week)

Cable Crunches 3x8
Cable Crunch Twists 3x10 (each side)
Hanging Leg Raises 2x12
Decline Crunches 3x10
Decline Reverse Crunch 3x10

NOTE: This is a new program I'm trying out, but I just wanted some feedback, as I think it's weird that on shoulder day I'd only be doing one set per exercise, and certain other things seem weird, I just don't know enough to know for sure.

[Rearden]

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1


You have a split that is pretty standard for body building mags, etc.

Most posters on this board and among other boards disagree with said split in favor of a full body breakdown based on compound lifts.

www.t-nation.com

Other links and comments will follow. Dont worry, we all make the mistake of reading routines written in mags by/for people on juice/people with little real quals/experience... the "light" to this darkside is found in a lot of programs that can and will be mentioned in this thread/throughout the board. Not to say that bodypart splits are the devil. Just that for a casual lifter often better can be found.

As for nutrition... the specifics matter. Also I have to ask about supplements? you take any vitamins? etc

[Rearden]

I made an error...

You mention optimal results.... what are you looking for? to be stronger in the big lifts? Bigger? lower bodyfat%? more "athletic"? etc.... these goals arent totally exclusive but the path to each varies... a powerlifter doesnt eat or train like someone trying to lose weight... both may hit the weights hard but its totally different.

The more info you give us the more we can give you back.

Also because I love it and mention it all the time in this forum....
WHY THE [censored] ARENT YOU DEADLIFTING?!?? Olympic lifts?!?! where are they??!!! Youre doing like 10 sets of curls and doing so so very little to build overal strength and power (you do squat though... below parallel?? I hope so) /end rant and joking tone/serious comments

[anklebreaker]

Yea, what are your goals?
Also, what is your caloric intake with that diet (total and split)?

[diddle]

Why do you do so many excersises? For example, on your back day you could simply do pullups and deadlifts and this would get you much stronger. For shoulders you could just do military presses. For chest just do bench and dips. the best workouts are simple and hard.

[theblackkeys]

How much can you lift in the following exercises?
-Squats
-Deadlifts
-Bench press

I'm not qualified to critique your routine, but if you are looking to add muscle you should be squatting more often and doing deadlifts for sure. Just drop some of the isolation movements.

[Rootabager]

You need to do more Presses in your shoulder routine. Try to not use a machine if you can. Do standing presses or military or something as the bulk of your shoulder workout.

Do lunges instead of leg extensions and curls on leg day.

On back day try to incorporate more pull ups when you get stronger. I dont know if that is why you are only doing one set of 8. But as you get stronger you should do more and more.

[Rearden]

ok.. lets give the OP a chance to answer the questions before we give more responses and pose more questions lol

OP,
I'd glad youre enthusiastic about this and you sound dedicated and eager to learn. People here genuinely want to point you in the right direction and I dont think anyone is trying to put you down in any sense. Youre beginning. Everyone has been where you are now. Give us some feedback and we'll continue to fire away ideas/links/more questions

[ElPhoenix]

Ok I'm gonna try to respond to everyone at once in this post. In the OP I did forget to mention that I swim for 45 minutes 3x a week, and surf at least 2x a week.

Rearden - thanks for the replies. Nutritionwise, I only take Optimum Whey protein (mint chocolate ftw?!), along with a multivitamin and fish oil. Any suggestions there?

My overall goals are to add 7-10 pounds of mass, and cut down on the bodyfat. Although I am not exactly sure what percent I'm at it can definitely be improved upon. I realize it's vv tough to accomplish both of these goals at the same time.

Anklebreaker - I'm not sure about my caloric intake, I've never actually counted out the calories, just tried to keep it a little simpler for me. I'll do a count tomorrow and let you guys know [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

diddle - All I did when figuring this routine out was search bodybuilding.com's workout database, and tweak it some. I really don't know much about physiology and what set/rep/weight/exercise/bodypart combos are best for someone with my goals.

theblackkeys - I've never done deadlifts, so I'm not sure there. When I bench I typically warm up with 10 reps of 100lbs, then kind of pyramid it down 10 reps of 145, 8 of 145, 8 of 145, and 6 of 155. For squats I do 4x8 of 225.

roota - I SUCK at pullups, but I am going to try to improve on them.

Is the overall consensus that I should simplify the workout? Maybe cut down on some exercises, train harder on less exercises, and fix the split?

*EDIT* - the nutrition plan I outlined is more of a general guideline, one of my friends follows the same sort of plan and along with his routine is just insanely ripped (too 'big' for me, I'm kind of going for the laird hamilton look, as close as I can get to it). I should add that I have been working out for a while, but even when I thought I was doing it seriously, I really wasn't. So, I decided that I'd structure my time better and really get seriously serious, lol.

[theblackkeys]

You should definitely learn and use deadlifts.