Please critique my current routine

Hello everyone. I was hoping you could all critique my current routine as harshly as possible, that I might continue improving it. I've been on this routine for a little over 2 months now. The purpose of this routine is to improve my strength, not my power or speed. As such it is lacking in any real power generation exercises, save the Switch Leg Leaps. I'm trying to pay attention to every muscle system, and balance the work each system does with an equal amount of work to the opposing system (posterior chain to anterior chain, ect). I always start with a warmup consisting of 5 minutes of limbering up with basic dipping and swinging motions, 5 minutes of mild cardio to get the blood moving, and 5-10 minutes of dynamic stretching. I also end each session with a cooldown consisting of 5-10 minutes of intense aerobics, and then 5-10 minutes of static stretches. tell me what you guys think, and thank you in advance for any and all information and advice.

UPPER BODY PULL

Front Lever Progression- 60 seconds total

Weighted Pullups- 3x5

Unilateral DB Rows- 3x3

UPPER BODY PUSH

Planche Progression- 60 seconds total

Push Press- 3x5 @ 80% 1RM to start

Weighted Chest Dips- 3x5

CORE / TORSO

Hanging Leg Hold- 20 seconds total

Hanging Leg Raises- 3x3

Ab Wheel Rollouts- 5x5

LEGS 1

Conventional Deadlifts- 4x2 @ 90% 1RM to start

Switch Leg Leaps- 2x20

LEGS 2

Full Back Squat- 4x2 @ 90% 1RM to start

Switch Leg Leaps- 2x20

SUNDAY- rest

MONDAY- pull, legs 2, core

TUESDAY- push, legs 1

WEDNESDAY- rest

THURSDAY- pull, legs 2

FRIDAY- push, legs 1, core

SATURDAY- rest

Well, here's my thoughts:

1. I don't see any goals listed which are of primary importance in designing a workout routine. Without them they are fairly aimless. Now, I can deduce a few like front lever and planche obviously, but the rest I am having some trouble deciphering.

2. Again, this is another thing dealing with making up workout routines for others that are fairly hard to do because you don't know the conditioning level of the person you're trying to critique. For all you know they could have the conditioning level of an elite gymnast and be able to handle 5 two-a-days or they could be a total beginner and be best on a linear progression 3x a week full body routine.

Anyway, getting down to the critique (what are your strength levels by the way?):

3. Add a lower back exercise to your core/torso day and probably cut one of the abs. The deadlifts and a bit of squats will help balance out the core some, but you should have at least one lower back exercise in there to really stimulate it. Something like back extensions is fairly easy to do even with makeshift equipment.

4. Push and pull seem fairly balanced which is good. I can't really tell if you have any other goals here besides planche and front lever so I can't critique much. Any particular reason you're going with 3x3 for the unilateral DB rows? Otherwise, looks fine.

5. For the DLs and back squats I hope you've trained with them extensively before. Starting with 4 sets of 2 reps is fairly intense. I hope you do warmup sets.

6. If one of your goals is to be explosive as possible, 2x20 switch leg leaps doesn't work well. Basically, with explosive movements as well as plyometrics you want to stop as soon as the movements are slowing down and fatiguing namely because of a couple of reasons which are:

A. Fast movements train your slow twitch fibers to act like fast twitch. As soon as you start slowing down, you're basically retraining the slow twitch fibers you made to act like fast twitch... back into slow twitch fibers. Yeah, counterproductive. Usually about 5-10 reps is used for a good amount of plyo/explosive movements (well, can be less depending on the movement like oly lifts are fairly <5 reps generally)... possibly up to about 15 or so depending on how explosive the movement is.

B. Training explosive movements puts stress on type II fast twitch fibers. Similarly, when you start to slow down you're engaging more of the type I slow twitch fibers which you don't want to train or hypertrophy much if you're aiming to be explosive. Basically since training is fairly cumulative, you're decreasing your maximum potential by going into more endurance type reps.

Most of my points aren't really major things since the routine is fairly well constructed... mainly just #3 and #6 are the major things I would change. The rest are just something to think about.

Thanks a lot for all the incredible feedback, you made a lot of valid points. My goals are admittedly very vague, as I dont have any specific things I feel I need to improve, I just wanted to upgrade my strength in basically every aspect of movement. I appriciate your advice on the SLL's, the setXrep I'm using currently is just something an old wushu sifu of mine suggested a few years back when I practiced the art. My explination for the 3x3 on the rows is really just because I was tired of doing 3x5 for everything, and because I do that for each arm, and not both arms togethor (as the name suggests). as for the problem with the lack of a solid back exercise, I did that purposly. The explination being that In my previous routine, I overly emphasized back exercises and strength, and began to develop a bit of an imbalance as I paid my abs a bit too little attention. This was my way of restoring balance between the two systems, as the exercises I've chosen are heavy on abdominal emphasis, but both include the back to some extent. I'm hoping to rectify the imbalance, and then switch to performing dragon flags and either hyperextensions or good mornings, probably the former. I'm not really sure what you want to know in regards to my strength level, but I can give you the basics...

These are some of my maxes:

Squat- 355 lbs

Bench Press- 230 lbs

Deadlift- 390 lbs

Bodyweight- 155 lbs, 5' 11''

I'm guessing on the bench press max, as I only ever use bench presses to test my strength levels, which I havent done since January 29th. So actually these are only a week or so old and still pretty relevant. I havent tested my vertical leap in a long time, but I can easily dunk on the occasions where I'm forced to play basketball.... hahaha sad.

Ah, ok. Makes sense with the abs/lower back then.

As for your maxes, that's pretty impressive especially at your height and weight (you're a bit underweight for your height like I am 5'8" 135 lbs).

Does that mean most of your mass is lower body or are you as strong with your upper body as with the lower? What [gymnastics] strength moves have you worked on/obtained before besides the front lever/planche progressions.

I glanced over the forums so [i think] you have the background of martial arts along with that wushu mention.. along with weight training too or just mostly bodyweight and then testing with weighted work?

I'm curious.

Might be easier/faster to discuss on AIM if you want.

Haha thanks. Yeah, I guess I am technically underweight, but I've never really cared about my weight all that much. I havent weighed myself since October, so by now I'm probably closer to 150 than 140. I think my strength is fairly balanced but it's definately more twoards the lower body side. For a long time increasing my vertical leap was an obsession for me haha. I have actually never pursued any othe holds besides the planche and front lever, in fact the only other hold I even know of is the iron cross, and that's what I was going to attempt once I could perform a full planche and front lever for at least 10 seconds (still a far off goal haha). Yes I am a martial artist. I've trained wushu and capoeira since I was 5 years old, but stopped when I was 16 to being pursuing muay thai, which I still currently train. As for my training methods, I use whatever I think is most effective. For my upper body, I almost exclusively use bodyweight exercises, though I've been using push presses in place of handstand pushups lately because I havent been able to find an effective way to perform weighted handstand pushups and they are just too easy now. For my lower body I use mostly heavy compound lifts like deadlifts and squats, and olympic lifts, especially snatches and good mornings. I've also used plyometrics throughout my training, and other bodyweight exercises like steve Terada's Russians and pistol jumps with kicks. I also do a lot of water training (leg lifts, kicks, basically tons of martial arts techniques while submerged under water). I'm curious to see how Coach Sommer trains his athlete's lower bodies, as I'm nowhere near the level of that JJ boy who allegedly pulled a triple bodyweight deadlift on his first try (God I envy him). Other than that I basically just eat as healthy a diet as I possibly can, use suppliments as I see fit, and excert as much force as I can possibly squeeze out of myself while avoiding injury when testing my 1 rep maxes. Hope that answers your questions. Also what would you suggest for the setXreps of my SLL's?

SLL:

Maximum effort probably about 3x10 (possibly lower if you start slowing down and more sets in that case) with regular strength rest times in between each set to allow full recovery of the fast twitch fibers.

I think your routine is well laid out and I agree with BraindX.

I found out all about slow and fast movement in my own training recently. Having done nothing but "grinding" squats, pistols, and deadlifts for the winter. I came back to do Pk to realize that ever jump I was doing last year is now scary because I can't move my legs fast enough. Now, according to what I know, all I have to do is retrain my CNS in the fast twitch mode.

UPDATION!!!

I actually finished with the routine below around the same time I posted it. Currently I'm working full time while also going to school full time, and by way of genius scheduling using all my other free time to pursue my interest in my latest martial arts endevour, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu! Occasionally I even manage to get out to go to a local show or something. As such my current routine is basically just training various strength holds (planche, front lever, now working on iron cross) in my dorm room during my free-time with the gymnastics rings I recently acquired, as well as other random leg training drills like pistols with dumbells and such. It's a rather undisciplined schedule... but it does yield some results.... I suppose... :?