Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

Could you make some suggestions on my workout routine? A typical week: 2 weight lifting sessions and three or four aerobic. I finish my routine with 200 crunches and then stretching. Here are my exercises:

1.  Flat bench 3 sets 8-10 reps
2.  Incline bench 3 sets 8-10 reps.
3.  Wide grip Lat pull down 2 sets 8-10 reps.
4. Cybex Seated row 2 sets 8-10.
5. Cybex Back extension machine  2 sets 10 reps.
6.  Cybex torso rotation seated    2 sets 10 reps.
7.  Cybex Hip Abduction Leg machine (outside)
8.  Cybex Hip Abduction Leg machine (Inside)
9   Abs - knees to chest - extend legs
10.  Cybex  Fly machine 2 sets 8-10 reps
11  Curls (Cybex pulley) 2 sets  8-10 reps
12  Dips  2 sets max
13  Dumbbell shoulder press (free weights) 2 sets 10 reps
14  Squats (Cybex Rack)  2 sets 10 reps
15  Wrist Curls barbell 2 sets max
16  Incline sit ups max 3 sets

Your collection of exercises is legitimate and worthy and will serve you well. Performing them in the prescribed sequence provides fitness and health, but can be tedious and lacking the creativity that excites one’s training. You might want to juggle and rearrange them to be more fulfilling, specific and effective.

You are currently doing some 35 sets of 8 to 10 reps, a workout of sufficient (some would say excessive) input. Maintaining the 30 to 35 set input, here’s a suggestion for a different workout approach. I have outlined two separate routines, Day 1 and Day 2, to be performed alternately (80-90% max on all lifts). Fewer sets, more focus and gradient muscle intensity.

Crunches and leg raises to warm up or to finish, your choice, but let me add that I’ve discontinued my excessive crunch workouts in favor of planks and other core training exercises.

Day 1) Upper Body
Flat bench press (3-4 sets x 12, 10, 8 reps) — don’t overload to point of risk — exercise muscle, forget excessive power — works front delt, tris and some chest
Dumbbell incline - 60 degree (3-4 x 10, 8, 6) — Go — safer movement, great for delts, upper chest, some tris

Widegrip pulldown (3-4 sets x 12, 10, 8 reps) Lats, upper back, some bis
Seated lat row (3-4 sets x 12, 10, 8 reps) Lats, back, some bis)

Standing, bentover lateral raise (3-4 sets x 8-10 reps) shoulders
Side arm lateral raise (3-4 sets x 8-10 reps) rear delts and upper back

Day 2) Arms and Legs
Wrist curls for warm-up (3×12-14)
Standing barbell curl supersetted with freehand or machine dips (3-4 sets x 8-10 reps bis, 12-15 tris)
Seated dumbbell alternate curls supersetted with pulley pushdowns (3-4 sets x 8-10 reps bis, 12-15 tris)
(Works bis and tris and related upper body muscle with vigorous non-cheating thrusting)

Leg extensions (3 x 10 -12)
Leg curls (3 x 8,10,12)
Leg press (or squat if able) (3 x 12-15)
Calf work of your choice

Light deadlifts (3×10) or hyperextensions (3×10-15) should be added once a week along the way — with midsection or on leg day

This is a good routine (to be amended by you if there are exercise preferences) for your next 8-week cycle. The outline can then be altered to suit your next goals or needs.

Lift with focus on muscle-exercise engagement, develop good form based on your freedom of muscular expression and muscle recruitment (not law) and choose a repetition pace that suits your personality (usually matches the speed you drive the freeways). I don’t dawdle.

This routine is musclebuilding specific. The extended sets enable and cause you to get more involved with the exercise and the muscle action and provide greater overload. This can become a neat training attitude modification (head trip), and it can cause you some nifty increased achyness. This is good unless you hate it or it’s an indication of injury. I don’t want you to injure yourself.

Fuel yourself prior to and feed yourself after your training.

Train hard and eat right and have fun and stay health, be strong and live long…

Go… Godspeed… Dave