How many sets??

[Steveski]

I just resumed resistance training with a home gym and some dumbells. Years ago I would do a whole body workout 3-4 times a week but have read about splits and "recovery" and have followed the "body part once per week" thing and would like some feedback as to whether I'm overdoing it, even though each muscle group is being trained (directly) on a weekly basis. This is what I've been following for the past 7 weeks:

Shoulders (once per week)
Machine press---3 sets 8-10 reps
Lateral raises---3 sets 10 reps
Upright cable rows---3 x 10 reps
Front cable raises---3 x 10 reps
Rear delt cable rows---3 x 10 reps
Arnold dumbell press---3 x 10 reps

Back/Biceps (once per week)
Lat pull downs---1 x 20 (alternating to chest and neck to warm up)
2 x 10 reps to chest
2 x 10 reps to neck
2 x 10 reps using close grip underhand position
Seated cable rows---3 x 10 reps
Bent cable rows---3 x 10 reps
Straight arm cable push downs---3 x 10 reps
Cable preachers---3 x 10 reps
EZ curl---3 x 10 reps
Inclined Zottman curls---3 x 8-10 reps
Reverse EZ curls---3 x 10 reps
Hammer curls---3 x 8 reps
Drop set concentration curls

Chest/Triceps (once per week)
Machine press---4-5 sets x 10 reps (2 of high and 2 of low press positions)
Machine flys---3 x 10 reps
Incline dumbell fly---1 x 15 reps
Decline dumbell fly ---1 x 15 reps
Incline dumbell press---1 x 15 reps
Decline dumbell press---1 x 15 reps
Triceps pushdowns---3 x 10 reps
Reverse pushdowns---3 x 10 reps
Skull crushers---3 x 8-10 reps
Dumbell kickbacks---2 x 8 reps

Legs (I really need to start training legs regularly!!!)
I occasionally do extensions, curls, and cable kickbacks on machine and hope to fit this in weekly as well...

routine varies from week to week as does work schedule, but I NEVER do resistence training on consecutive days...It usually follows a Sunday Tuesday Friday or Tuesday Thursday Saturday thing...I also do 20 minutes of HIIT on an elliptical or recumbent on mornings I work (three days a week) and if I am off with no weights scheduled, I do a longer, steady 40 minutes of cardio. I know Back/Biceps and Chest/Triceps routines run a bit long (1.5 to 2 hours) but feel committed to it since I started this way. Let me know what you think and keep in mind...I'm doing the muscle groups only once per week. Thanks and looking forward to your input!

[swanso5]

you couldn't have read that much and stay with full body stuff or at the very least lower / upper splits

let's look at balance;

internal rotation - 27 total sets / 270 total reps

external rotation - 20 / 200 total reps

a shoulder problem waiting to happen

33 sets for arms and 0 sets for legs...should be the other way round

full body x 3 week...mon, wed, fri or tue, thu, sat

or

lower / upper body split x 4/week...mon, tue, thu, sat or tue, wed, fri, sun

compound exercises only



routine varies from week to week as does work schedule, but I NEVER do resistence training on consecutive days...It usually follows a Sunday Tuesday Friday or Tuesday Thursday Saturday thing...I also do 20 minutes of HIIT on an elliptical or recumbent on mornings I work (three days a week) and if I am off with no weights scheduled, I do a longer, steady 40 minutes of cardio. I know Back/Biceps and Chest/Triceps routines run a bit long (1.5 to 2 hours) but feel committed to it since I started this way. Let me know what you think and keep in mind...I'm doing the muscle groups only once per week. Thanks and looking forward to your input!

[Steveski]

Thanks for the reply, Swanso. Here is where I got most of the info on what I'm doing now: http://www.intense-workout.com/workout_routines.html I just used the first sample split as guide. The author of this site also pushes the "once per week" training of individual muscle groups and I was swayed. I'm just starting out after a long break and am looking for new ideas. Thanks again.
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[swanso5]

the bloke doesn't even say his name so he might not even know what he is on about (not that i caould find anyway)...full body all the way