What do you think of this routine?

[welshlad]

I have joined a gym mate is at, as early morning runs is becoming cold. mate has a routine, and he suggested I have one too and the bloke who works there can do one for me, here it is what he has for weights and cardio.

goal is general fitness/lose some body fat, current stats are:
current stats:
Height - 5'6"
Weight - 145 ib
Body Fat - 21.7%
Muscle - 74%
BMI - 25%


PUSH DAY
Shoulder Press 8x3 reps
Incline Bench Press 8x3 reps
Bench Press 8x3 reps
Flys 1 x max reps
Press up 1 x max reps


PULL DAY
Pull Ups 4x10 reps
Upright Rows 4x8 reps
Lat Pull Downs 4x10 reps


LEG DAY
Front Squats 8x3 reps
Back Squats 8x3 reps
Leg Press 8x reps

For the above weights, up the weight for each set.

I'm concerned about squats in terms of balance, it's not great, and the weight resting on your front and back, I ain't strong enough to hold the weights I can do on leg press e.g. 80kg, I never done it before, should I do leg extension and leg curl instead?

CARDIO - 3 options:

Option 1 - Treadmill
40 secs on, 20 secs off
x 10 at 11mph


Option 2 - Treadmill
30 secs on, 30 secs off
x 10 at 11mph


Option 3 - Circuit

20 secs arm bike
10 medicine ball
10 press ups
10 swing with dumbbell

x 6


The planned days are up to me and I was thinking

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Push Day/Treadmill
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Pull Day/Treadmill
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Circuit
Sunday - Leg workout

I feel I'm missing out on working on the Biceps, Triceps and Calves though, would the above cover this?

[T.P.W.]

everyone will have been the exactly the same when first doing squats. Very wobbly at the knees! I know I was, but you will build up your strength the more you do them. Take it slowly to start with so that you develop the technique before piling on the weights. Don't expect you'll be able to lift the same weight with squats as you do with the leg press. With a squat you're lifting the weight on the bar plus your own body weight, where as with the leg press your sat down, taking your body weight out of the equation.

Not sure whether doing a front squat followed by a back squat will differ that much (this is where someone with more knowledge than me would step in with the info ) might be worth considering doing a front or back squat followed by a wide stance squat to hit your leg muscles in a different range.

If you're looking to burn off fat then it's also worth considering double or tripple setting exercises, as it helps increase the intensity of your work, therefore expending more calories.
So for example you could do this for chest:
bench press, 10 second rest, incline flys, 10 second rest, flat flys, 2 min rest then restart.

This can be applied for all muscle groups as well.

Hope there's some useful info for you, good luck!