Looking for good Upper/Lower program

[chainsaw1]

I have been doing the traditional bodybuilding program 4 days per week, Back,Chest,Shoulders,Legs

Gains have gone stagnant or just feeling the same. What can you recommend

 

[zazen5]

Here's my routine, it may work for you: Monday/Friday: Sidebends on floor 37 reps each side in morning, followed by 25 lb plate on chest for 50-60 rep crunches on floor. Barbell rows: 225x20, 255x13x2(morning routine done). After work: 5 gm walmart creatine. Bench press: 135x15, 225x10, 255x6, 274x3-4. 2 minute rests inbetween each set. During resting I work on chess games from books. Shoulder press(jerk) from squat rack: 185x6x2 sets. Lateral raises with dbs: 80x10-12x3 sets. Lat pulldowns on bowflex: 415x12-12x3 sets. Done. That evening after supper I hold two 15 lb dbs in hands while doing 30 reps knees flopped to left and then right, total 60 reps.

Tuesday: Sidebends and crunches in morning. Deadlifts: 395x8-10, 395x6x2. Work on snatch olympic lifting form with 75 lbsx4 sets, 4 reps. Not very much weight, but need to learn technique. Worked on snatches 2 months now, started with just the bar, 45 lb. Doing the chess during 2 minute rest intervals. Crunches again with dbs after supper.

Wednesday: Sidebends and crunches in morning. Barbell curls: 155x8, 155x6x2 sets. DB tricep extensions: 45x4 reps, 45x3 repsx2 sets. Chess inbetween.

Thursday/saturday: Sidebends and crunches in morning. Barbell back squats: 135x15, 225x8-10, 275x6, 295x6. Pause at the bottom of each rep. Use belt on deadlifts, rows, squats. Follow the squats with the 4 sets of snatch practice. Crunches again after supper with dbs.

Sunday off.

Other: The only day I do the weights in the morning is the bench press days, other than the sidebends and crunches. I drink my morning mate tea(teavana) and black tea in between sets. I also walk/run 0.4 mile to work at hospital from where I park and do 9 flights of stairs(that's it for cardio-and my bodyfat is low).

For supplements I use the walmart creatine before workouts, whey protein on the cereal in the morning, fish oil, vit d3 5000 units, multi, msm(methylsulfonyl methane to keep away colds and protect joints). Protein bar with lunch of 2 sandwiches and yogurt. I eat eggs scrambled when I feel like if I am hungry at work. Take 50 mg zinc after supper and eat oatmeal in morning to balance the extra zinc intake with magnesium from the oats.

Not a lot of volume on this routine, but I make each rep count, no wasted time or sets. I do all the training at home cause $50/month is the rule if you can find it for gyms in Calgary and I dont want hassles of people telling me not to deadlift/work on olympic lifts or commenting on this that and the other.

 

[nawab.saab]

my wrkout
Monday - chest and lil bit tricps
tuesday - legs
wed - back and lil bit bicps
thus - shoulder
friday - legs
sat - biceps tricps

if u nt getting gains may be the reason could be low protein or calories .. try to bump up calories

 

[zazen5]

Cant say I agree with you about doing back if it involves row movements on wednesday and then shoulders on thursday, they both use the shoulders so you compromise your strength.

I am getting gains, I just dont feel like force feeding myself in the aim to drive more calories into cells. Im a naturally lean person, so I refuse to take time and energy to force feed more than I want to eat. If I dont feel hungry, why should I eat? In the mistaken assumption that somehow by eating more I will grow more? I have already done that, and the gains are really minimal compared to the feelings of being off. I remember in 1991 when I would eat 20 egg whites and about 10 potatoes a day on top of the mega mass protein shakes, no creatine available, and the clenbuterol plus from strength systems usa(bovine brain extract). The eggs I would cook all at once and then put them in the fridge and eat them cold later with zero seasonings(very tasty and watery) and the potatoes with zero seasonings and cold(after having been cooked). I was nauseated all the time. Nevertheless at a weight of 250 lbs I was repping 500 for sets of 5 easily and squatting 500 for reps also. But mentally it felt like doom and the sky was falling. I dont see the point of going down that road of all that forced eating. Im actually stronger now on my upper body than I was then, and I weigh 40 lbs less(thank you walmart creatine)-go figure. So this thinking that eating is somehow linked to superior strength-thats a distant association maybe correlation at best. You cannot drive more protein into the cell beyond a certain point unless you are on roids(and I am not). I figure repping 305 on squats, 395 on deadlifts, 295 on barbell rows, and 265 on bench press isnt bad considering I am around 205 lbs and not fat like I was when I weighed 250 lbs. Look at my credentials next time please: MSc in physical education, CSCS from NSCA, I worked as a trainer for 10 years. Its funny how anyone reading this blog thinks that if you write on here you are an uneducated idiot, which I am anything but.