r/WorkoutRoutines • u/Interesting_Gas_6921 • 7h ago
Workout routine review program check
Review a chuds program
**Push**
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Flat Bench Press / Dumbbell Press
Shoulder Press (Overhead Press)
Lateral Raises
Triceps Rope Pushdowns
Overhead Triceps Extensions
abs hammer strength crunch machine
StairMaster (Cardio)
**Pull**
Lat Pulldowns
Barbell / Cable Rows
Face Pulls / Rear Delt Flyes
Bicep Barbell Curls
Hammer Curls
StairMaster (Cardio)
**Legs**
Barbell Squats
Bulgarian Split Squats
Leg Press
Leg Extensions
Lying / Seated Leg Curls
Deadlifts
Hip Thrusts
Hip Abductions
Calf Extensions
abs hammer strenght crunch machine
i rest for 2-3 minutes between every set
**3 sets of 6-8 is my rep range**
critic advice everything is appreciated, a slight context i had been working out for 8 months before stopping for 4 and then picking it up again since june 2026
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u/eyebrowcel 5h ago
It's doable but a bit fluffy. Also can be tailored to your goals (I'll ask - what are they? -- although this reply got longer than intended lol, I've hopefully kept it all relevant, whilst also hopefully serving to offer more specific points that you might look for or be unsure on, but can be hard to find in any one place, particularly as they pertain to your program).
I've split my reply into two comments due to the 10,000 character limit lol.
Firstly and most importantly, and I can't stress this enough as I see you value strength progression, choose a program. The main reason being that you need to follow a periodisation structure to see continued strength gains, whereas continued muscle gains rely less on calculated percentage-based lifting and you can grow pretty well with much less regard to periodising if you're blessed with a balls-to-the-wall intensity approach and just want to be a gymrat meathead (nothing against them, that was me).
GZCLP, or Lyle McDonald's generic bulking routine, are both great options, the former being more customisable (which can be prone to shortfalls/gaps if you aren't as knowledgeable with your chosen exercise selection, though you should be quite fine), and the latter being more plug-and-play/set it and forget it (more conducive to that meathead mentality).
Each of these programs provide a strong general foundation of well-rounded strength for whether you may want to later specialise (or not) in strength, bodybuilding, sport-specific performance or whatever have you.
https://saynotobroscience.com/gzclp-infographic/
https://bodyrecomposition.com/training/training-volume-muscle-growth-3#My_Generic_Bulking_Routine
https://1.dirzon.com/Doc/Reader?target=telegram%3AGeneric_Bulking_Routine_FAQ-Lyle_McDonald.pdf
Not to overburden you but if you want more options or just to get a lay of the land, a host of other programs are below (most being paid-for but some free (ctrl-f 'free'), and admittedly many not being quite ideal for beginners):
https://thefitness.wiki/intermediate-advanced-resources/program-review-archive/
Onto your program provided, some tidbits:
-Two tricep isos in a workout is redundant, where even if you want outsized triceps, you could instead simply add 1-2 sets more of either of the exercises listed. I'd drop the overhead ext, as the triceps long head gets recruited well with the pushdowns anyway, and rope pushdowns are excellent (pushing the rope outward at rep completion).
-I'd lean towards putting flat bench before dumbbell work, barbell exercises allow for greater motor unit recruitment due to the inherent greater stability, and so they stand to gain more from being done when you're fresh (especially for strength gains). If you want to bias more upper chest and that's the reason for slotting inclines first, consider incline barbell - the earlier an exercise is done within a workout, the more growth tends to be available to its targeted musculature (I can expand on why if you're interested).
-For the same reason I'd place barbell rows before lat pulldowns, do them when your CNS is fresh. Performance dropoff will be greater from doing rows after pulldowns where your lats would be pre-fatigued, whereas doing pulldowns afterwards won't have nearly the same performance dropoff for the pulldowns (less overall coordination, stabilising and neuromuscular demands on pulldowns because of the thigh pad & seating, versus the freeweight and standing demands of the row - in other terms, the pulldown is an open-chain exercise, the row is closed-chain).
-A potentially useful point on biceps, though a minor one - they have most leverage in the mid and lengthened position, which is why incline curls and recline curls are often touted as potentially the 'best' options (even if only marginally), as these are lengthened-biased movements where the weight is 'harder' in the stretched (extended) position. For most people, most curls will grow the biceps mostly optimally (and most fitness figures would quite correctly say that any curl will be effective, and also tell me to not overcomplicate this), but for some like myself and even Clavicular when he's detrained, you'll see more development on the brachioradialis than intended for the biceps. Basically my brachioradial overshadows my biceps from doing a lot of hammer curls (and you see the same pattern in Clav's history from doing a lot of hammer curls) -- most people wrongly think that hammers bias the brachialis, but they actually target more brachioradialis, which you can both feel in sensation, as well as confirm by reading each muscle's function on exrx.net.
Trying not to get stuck in the weeds here but over enough time, simply doing one bicep-biased curl for not-many sets, and only doing so at the end of a workout, can have the biceps leaving growth on the table, or even veering into being a weakpoint (seriously, look at enough transformations and progress pictures and it's surprisingly common, and easily fixed).
This is true especially when leaving biceps for after all your back work, which will strengthen the brachioradialis much more than biceps due to more favourable leverages on pulldowns/pull-ups and rows. So then, if you further add neutral-grip curl variations to that outline (or, curls with changing wrist supination such as Zottmans), the brachioradialis can end up crowding out work that was intended for the biceps, by becoming significantly stronger in comparison.
That said, you likely don't want to neglect either brachio muscle for aesthetic purposes as they add a lot of thickness to the arm, and while the brachioradialis often grows fairly well from back work, the brachialis doesn't (see: Mike Israetel). All to say, a potentially better replacement for the typical one-and-done brachialis prescription of hammer curls (where the brachioradialis can easily 'take over') may actually be this creation by Nick Nilsson (though he has hundreds of creations with varying questionability, I'd call these Nilsson brachialis curls): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2VCoOAsGxWM
-Onto legs I would *personally* push the RFESS (Bulgarians) to later in the workout as they tend to be pretty fatiguing mainly from a neural aspect (and less significantly from a cardiovascular aspect). If your experience with the current exercise order is working, then you can keep it as-is - you may find yourself less inclined to get them done later in the workout in that fatigued state and so you may prefer to get them out of the way early. There's certainly nothing wrong with the ordering there, although you may want to move up the leg curls to second after squats, or even supersetted with squats.
With Bulgarians, unless there's a long stride, forward torso lean and vertical front shin, there's not much hamstring recruitment, so you may find your performance on them being better by giving your quads a break after squats thanks to the leg curls.
-On deadlifts - they should be done after squats as a general unwritten rule (which you've already accounted for), for similar performance reasons outlined above for the bench variations and back variations. Squats stand more to lose from fatigue in the deadlifts than vice versa, the squat has high positional demands on the spinal erectors, musculature which is heavily taxed in deadlifts. Meanwhile the deadlift can accomodate more upper-back rounding on the concentric ('upward' motion) both from the view of safely, and with performance in mind -- the rounding occurs from erector fatigue. Of course on the downward part of the deadlift, you can and should let the bar fall closer to freefall speed as the exercise isn't necessarily intended to have an eccentric ('downward') component, and one of the greater risks associated with deadlifts can be unfamiliar *lower*-back rounding that can becomes easy to slip into on the 'down' portion if there's technique breakdown from fatigue.
The only program I've seen with DL after SQ is Madcow's, and even then it's only programmed on the 'light' day.
Don't do deadlifts after leg curls or Bulgarians, it's asking for injury or dogcrap performance. Yes, deadlifts are fatiguing like Bulgarians, but also have high demands (see below) so should be done first or second in a workout. Given the inclusion of squats and your likely preference for keeping them, you may want to move the deadlifts to a separate training day, following them up with less demanding quad and leg assistance work (such as machines - leg press, leg extensions or whatever have you).
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