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I am focusing mostly on mass. I am 6'4 and weigh about 195 pounds. I'm doing push/pull/legs + rest day, and am trying to increase my weight by about 5lbs every week.

Push

  • Pushups: 3 sets to failure (currently at 22 per set)
  • Bench: 5x5 (currently at 135lbs)
  • Shoulder press: 3x8 (currently at 30lbs)
  • Tricep pushdown: 3x8 (currently at 160lbs)
  • Shoulder lateral raises: 3x8 (currently at 20lbs)

Pull

  • Pullups: 4 sets to failure (currently at 11 per set)
  • Chinups: 4 sets to failure (currently at 7 per set)
  • Dumbbell rows: 3x8 (currently at 60lbs)
  • Lat pulldown: 3x8 (currently at 130lbs)
  • Bicep curls: 3x8 (currently at 30lbs)

Legs

  • Squats: 3x8 (currently at 120lbs)
  • Leg extension: 3x8 (currently at 100lbs)
  • Leg press: 3x8 (currently at 130lbs)

Please let me know how this program can be improved. I've been at it for a few months (I started legs much more recently though), and I've seen a lot of improvement. Shoulder press, bicep curls, and lateral raises have been harder to increase regularly, but I increase when I can.

Furthermore, when is it necessary to switch up my routine?

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You have an alright balance of push to pull exercises, but there are some changes you can make. Big compounds are useful.

Drop the tricep pushdowns and the bicep curls. You're hitting those muscles fine in other push/pull exercises.

Replace chinups (they're extremely similar to pullups) with deadlifts(3x5), and add them to the beginning of pull day. Your workout doesn't really have any posterior chain exercises (lower back->butt->hamstrings), and you'll end up with unbalanced legs.

Replace lat pulldowns with face pulls. They'll balance your front and make sure a bunch of bench pressing doesn't pull your shoulders in and hurt your rotator cuff.

Drop leg press on leg day, move squats to 5x5, and focus on adding weight. They're a good strength foundation, and you can get a lot of mileage out of them by doing them heavy.

Add bridges and abs at 3x15 to leg day. This will round off your posterior chain and core strength is essential to lifting safety. Don't do crunches, they can hurt your back - use an ab wheel (technique!) or leg raises.

Your workout now looks like:

Push

  • Pushups: 3 sets to failure (currently at 22 per set)
  • Bench: 5x5 (currently at 135lbs)
  • Shoulder press: 3x8 (currently at 30lbs)
  • Shoulder lateral raises: 3x8 (currently at 20lbs)

Pull

  • Deadlift : 3x5 (start at 95)
  • Pullups: 4 sets to failure (currently at 11 per set)
  • Dumbbell rows: 3x8 (currently at 60lbs)
  • Face pulls: 3x8 (start light)

Legs

  • Squats: 5x5 (stay at your current weight progression, it's same rep #)
  • Leg extension: 3x8 (currently at 100lbs)
  • Glute bridge: 3x8 (no bar to start)
  • Abs: 3x15 (your pick)

Basically you already have the idea of symmetry in your workout, what's left is to make sure your legs are getting a good portion of the training.

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  • Only change I'd like to see besides this is to swap out the leg extensions for a more hamstring focused exercise, glute ham raise would be ideal, and maybe a single leg exercise to work on unilateral strength along with bilateral.
    – Dark Hippo
    Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 13:47
  • Now I'm doing squats, leg extensions, leg curls, and Romanian deadlifts. Thoughts?
    – Someone
    Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 2:48
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You have to determine if you want to work for hypertrophy or strenght or something in between.To answer your question about changing the routine i'd say that you change it only when you stop seeing progress.You never want to change something that makes you progress.I suggest to start doing deadlifts just once a week because it is an exercise that is very stressful to your body especially when combined with squats.

For minor improvements in your program i would suggest a couple of things:

1)On the pushing days dont do push ups till failure.You waste a lot of energy that you will be needing in the next exercises.You can do 3 set to 15 at your current level and add 1 rep each week.I also believe that you should start doing dips since i can see you like bodyweight exercises pretty much.If you get good at dips you can start doing weighted dips at a 8-12 repitition range.

2)Same as the pushups the pullups dont need to be to failure.You can do 4 sets of 8 and try to add one rep each week.When you manage to do 4 sets of 15 with perfect form you can start doing weighted pulls ups.Same thing with chinups.

3)For leg day i'd prefer the squats at lower repititions at around 5.Same number of working sets though but again that depends on your goals.Also before or after leg extensions you must have an exercise for your hamstrings in order to preserve the balance.

I could go on and on for hours about it but that's the main points i think.

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