Currently doing Push Pull Leg routine with 5 exercises each day.
Pull: Lat Pulldown, Seated Cable Rows, T Bar Rows, Biceps Curls (Cable) and Cable Crunches
Push: Push Ups, Chestpress (machine), Butterfly (machine), Shoulder Press with Dumbbells, Knee Raises (body weight), Triceps Push Down (Cable)
Legs: Leg Press, Leg Extensions (Machine), Leg Curls (Machine), Crunches (body weight), 30 minute stepper low intensity
Is this okay?
So I have a similar routine (push, pull, leg/ab), but different workouts
One of the cool things about the present is we no longer have to guess which exercises are most effective at stimulating muscle development.
By using a technique called Electromyography (EMG), which measures the electrical activity of muscles during exercise, we have a good proxy for how much of the muscle is being used.
Results are below, hopefully they help you in further refining your workout plan (all numbers are % of muscle stimulated)
Lower Chest
- Decline dumbbell bench press – 93
- Decline bench press (olympic bar) – 89
- Push-ups between benches – 88
- Flat dumbbell bench press – 87
- Flat bench press (olympic bar) – 85
- Flat dumbbell flyes – 84
Upper Chest
- Incline dumbbell bench press – 91
- Incline bench press (olympic bar) – 85
- Incline dumbbell flys – 83
- Incline bench press (Smith machine) – 81
Lats / Back
- Bent-over barbell rows – 93
- One-arm dumbbell rows – 91
- T-bar rows – 89
- Lat pulldowns to the front – 86
- Seated pulley rows – 83
Side Deltoid
- Incline dumbbell side laterals – 66
- Standing dumbbell side laterals – 63
- Seated dumbbell side laterals – 62
- Cable side laterals – 47
Rear Deltoid
- Standing dumbbell bent-over laterals – 85
- Seated dumbbell bent-over laterals – 83
- Standing cable bent-over laterals – 77
Front Deltoid
- Seated front dumbbell press – 79
- Standing front dumbbell raises – 73
- Seated front barbell press – 61
Biceps
- Biceps preacher curls (olympic bar) – 90
- Incline seated dumbbell curls (alternating) – 88
- Standing biceps curls (olympic bar/narrow grip) – 86
- Standing dumbbell curls (alternating) – 84
- Concentration dumbbell curls – 80
- Standing biceps curls (olympic bar/wide grip) – 63
- Standing E-Z biceps curls (wide grip) – 61
Triceps
- Decline triceps extensions (olympic bar) – 92
- Triceps pressdowns (angled bar) – 90
- Triceps dip between benches – 87
- One-arm cable triceps extensions (reverse grip) – 85
- Overhead rope triceps extensions – 84
- Seated one-arm dumbbell triceps extensions (neutral grip) – 82
- Close-grip bench press (olympic bar) – 72
Quadriceps
- Squats (parallel depth, shoulder-width stance) – 88
- Seated leg extensions (toes straight) – 86
- Hack Squats (90 degree angle, shoulder-width stance) – 78
- Leg press (110 degree angle) – 76
- Smith machine squats (90 degree angle, shoulder-width stance) – 60
Hamstrings
- Seated leg curls – 88
- Standing leg curls – 79
- Lying leg curls – 70
- Stiff Legged Deadlifts – 63
Calves
- Donkey calf raises – 80
- Standing one-leg calf raises – 79
- Standing two-leg calf raises – 68
- Seated calf raises – 61
RECTUS ABDOMINIS
Mean: Chin Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Ab Wheel
Peak: Chin Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Swiss Ball Crunch
INTERNAL OBLIQUE
Mean: Ab Wheel from Feet, Ab Wheel from Knees, Bodysaw
Peak: Ab Wheel from Feet, Bodysaw, Tornado Ball Slam
EXTERNAL OBLIQUE
Mean: Ab Wheel from Feet, Hanging Leg Raise, Bodysaw
Peak: Turkish Get Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Bodysaw
ERECTOR SPINAE
Mean: Kneeling Cable Lift, Landmine, Reverse Hyper
Peak: Kneeling Cable Lift, Tornado Ball Slam, Lumbar Extension
Hi, it depends on your goals. Do you practice for aesthetics (bodybuilding) ? Strength ? Fitness ? Improving sport performance ?
Just aesthetics and general fitness
5 exercises is amply sufficient. For aesthetics, frequency is more important than quantity : it’s better to have 2 exercises 2 times per week than 5 exercises 1 time per week (if your sets stay close to muscular failure of course).
Yeah I am doing Push Pull Leg Day, each of them twice a week.
So all of my exercises have 10 reps. The first two exercises 4 sets and the others ones currently 3 sets ( I am too exhausted for more) only abs I do 5 sets of 15
So for example Pull day: 4x10 Lat Pulldowns 4x10 Cable rows (seated) close grip 4x10 T Bar rows wide grip 5x15 Cable Crunches 3x10 Dumbbells curls
For Push Day: 4x10 Bench Press 4x10 Cable Flys 3x10 Shoulder Press (seated, dumbbells) 3x10 Triceps Pushdowns (cable) 5x15 Leg raises
Monday and Thursday are my Chest, Shoulder, Triceps Tuesday and Friday my Back, Lats, Biceps Wednesday and Saturday my Leg days.
It’s perfectly fine if you are beginner/intermediate. Remember to stay close to muscular failure (if your exercises form is safe), keep a progressive overload and take rest days/deload weeks. Don’t hesitate to do some variations in your training : more or less volume, more or less intensity…
Exercise selection for beginners isn’t all the complicated, you just need to cover your bases.
✅ Vertical pulling (Lat Pulldown)
✅ Horizontal pulling (Cable rows)
✅ Pressing (Chest press)
✅ Quad focused leg exercise (Leg Press)
❌ Hinge movement. You cover your hamstrings with leg curls, which is fine, but you’re may be missing out on glutes depending on your leg press style.
Extra spice:
✅ Biceps (Biceps curls)
✅ Triceps (Triceps pushdown)
✅ Abs (Crunches)
❌ Lateral shoulders
While you don’t need the big compound lifts if you don’t like them, you should consider including a hinge movement (RDL, deadlifts, good morning) in your exercise selection. It’s a fundamental human movement pattern.
All in all it’s a fine selection, but if you’re a beginner, why not pick an exercise program? What you’ve provided isn’t an exercise program, it’s just a selection of exercises. A proper program would included reps and sets, and a method for progression.
With that said, you can’t really go wrong with an exercise program for general health. Just doing something is infinitely better than doing nothing, good luck on your journey 🙂
I do 4 Sets of 10 in all exercises… once I can eadily do 15 I increase weight a bit
I’d probably try to focus on the larger compound lifts, if your gym has the equipment to allow it.
By doing Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press and Press, you will get more mileage out of each exercise.
It all depends on your goals, of course, but this is aligned with my goals - strength, maintaining health as I age, becoming faster on my bike, and looking good.
Here’s a resource that has been useful for me: https://thefitness.wiki/
It all depends on your goals. Are you looking to do a bodybuilding program? Those exercises are all good but lack compound movements which should be the core of your program if you are able.
How much training have you done? Are you just starting out?
Just starting out.
I want to do pull ups but I can’t do them yet and my gym doesn’t have assist machine. So I think general fitness first and in 10 weeks I’d like to start doing pull ups with assisted bands instead of lat pull downs
If just general fitness is what you’re going for then a solid program like starting strength is great to build a base and then go on from there. This is a more advanced program that is focused more on muscle size and you need to have a good mind/body connection to get the most out of it. Building a base first would help a lot.
For pull ups, what I did to go from 0-1 was doing a lot of negatives. So I’d jump up to the top position and hold it and then I’d slowly let myself down as controlled as possible. That worked for me better than lat pull downs.
Think I can integrate that into my current pull day?
Should I do those first or Lat Pulldowns?
I don’t see why not. I would do them after the lat pull downs.
Okay, but if I want to get better at pull ups, maybe other way around?
Can I do 1 week with lat pulldowns first and the next week the negatives first?
I was thinking of doing 3 pull ups and fill the rest of the sit with 7 negative pull ups for 3 total sets and then move on to lat pulldowns.
The next week start with lat pulldowns and only do negative pull ups?
Personally, I think you’re making things too complicated at this point. If you are just starting out you don’t need to add periodization. That’s for when you are really pushing heavy weights or doing things you cannot recover from quickly.
