Routine change?

[Phil]

I'm new here and also new to pretty serious bodybuilding so I have a few questions.

 

I've decided I'm going to completely change my workout ever 6-8 weeks. My questions about this though is during that 6-8 week period do I want my workouts to be the EXACT same every time. For example:

 

I'll do my shoulders one day with 4 different exercises at 3 sets each. Would it be better just to do that same exact workout every time I do my shoulders for that 6-8 week period or would it be better to kind of rearrange things? Either do the workouts in a different order every time or maybe add one new exercise and not do one of them I did during the last workout.

 

Also, I was just doing low reps for a while. Now I've kind of switched it up. I do low reps for certain things and high reps for others. Would it be better to just stick to either high reps for everything or low reps for everything or does it not really matter?

 

Also, if anyone else has any other advice that would be cool too.

[xphilx]

when you say that you're "new to pretty serious bodybuilding" i guess that you mean that you're a beginner.

 

as a beginner you don't need to change your work out every 6-8 weeks and you defenitely don't need four different excercises for your shoulders. start with a whole body work out or a 2 way split routine and stick with for a while. and when i say a while i mean as long as you're making progress with it. that can vary from 6 to months to even a couple of years.

 

you cab handle the reps however you feel like you want to do them. but i wouldn't do less than 4 or more than 15.

[threeloaves]

Can you tell us a bit about your goals?

[Jeffrw]

You are more likely to adpat to REP RANGES than to exercises.

 

So what you can do is alternate 4-6 weeks of:

 

5x5

and

5x10

[Phil]

xphilx- I've been working out somewhat consistently for the last 3 years or so. I was pretty much just working out to maintain the shape I was in mainly. I would go through phases of working out harder than others but never got like super super into it. Just recently I decided to get more into it. I started hitting the gym hard at the end of December. Since then I've increased my max on the bench from a little less than 190 to 215. I went from weighing 155 pounds to 175 pounds.

 

I have a basic knowledge of how to workout but I don't know everything. But about a month and a half to two months after hitting the gym hard I noticed my gains going away so I switched it up.

 

threeloaves- I guess I'm still just trying to get big. I'll probably want to lean out at some point but I think I'm still just focused on bulking up.

 

Jeffrw- Ok that's good to know. I think I may try that out.

[xphilx]

ok, i still wouldn't recommend to switch up your whole work out completely. i would always stick with the basics and maybe change the isolation excercises. if you're not maling any progress anymore you could also try stuff like super sets, down sets, giant sets and so on.

[threeloaves]

If your gym has kettlebells I suggest checking them out. I've been doing them for a few weeks now. Not only do I think theyre great fun, but they're definitely strengthening my other lifts.

 

I've always kept my routine very basic. My main focus is on:

 

deads

squats

db bench

bent over rows

pullups

 

and like I said I've been doing a lot of kettlebell work.