My new routine
 

I've been doing a 5 x 5 program for as long as I can remember and am also trying to lose weight at the same time, so need to eat at a deficit. These past couple of weeks I've decided to get my shite together and sort my diet out. This is NOT easy to do when you have a lot of drinking sessions lined up let me assure you but I digress!

To go with it I've shaken up my weights routine a little bit to be more cardio focussed and get me out of breath. I plan on doing it twice per week.

Part One: Big Lifts

5 Squats immediately followed by 5 Pull Ups (4 sets)
5 Deadlifts immediately followed by 20 Press Ups (4 Sets)
5 Hang Cleans + Military Press (4 Sets)

I added weight to each set of Squats and Deads so they became progressively harder. I started Squatting 70kg and added 5kg per set, ending at 90kg. I started Deadlifting 80kg and did the same ending at 100kg. I don't plan on increasing the weight week on week, since my goal is to lose weight. I will add more reps though, especially of the body weight exercises.

I did this part yesterday. It was brutal.

Part 2: Assisstance

Assistance lifts / routines: Planks, Bench Press, Medicine Ball, Kettlebells, Hang Snatches, Lunges, Dips, More Press/Pull Ups, Weight Machines etc.

Basically something different each time to keep my body guessing and I'll likely do 3 x 5-10 reps of each at a slower pace than Part One.. Note that I didn't include any exercise that included the words 'Tricep' or 'Bicep'.

Part 3: Cardio

10 - 20 minutes on cardio machines (Ellipictal, Treadmill, Rower)

Aim is to stay out of breath and keep my heart rate up.

Other Stuff

Alongside this I'm planning to do at least 2 x barbell complex routines a week (basically where you do a set of 6 barbell exercises for 10 reps non stop, rest for 2 minutes and then do it again and again and again etc. - like a barbell circuit) and also running 15 miles. Aim is to do 2 days of exercise and then take a day off.

Thoughts, comments and questions welcome :-)

ok im going to throw in my 10 cents here.
I am brutally efficient with weight training

Apart from a couple of warmup sets to get your body ready for the lifts Pyramiding your weight from 70 to 90 is a complete waste of time and is impeding your muscular development massively.
instead using squats as en example:

warmup set of 10 reps with 40kg
warmup set of 5 reps with 70kg
Your body is now ready for a maximal effort of 2 sets of 10 with 90kg

5 reps in my experience is a bad range--yes i know its touted as the 6 rep strength range but the weight you are able to use for a maximal effort of 5 reps doesnt allow you to get a good feel for the exercise, puts you closer to injury and usually instigates crap form

Take notes on your iphone, paper of exactly what you do for each exercise and next week you hit it-- aim to better it-- i cannot emphasis how awesome this is for progressing, i will make double the progress of anyone else at the gym by doing this because no effort at all is wasted-plus if i cannot make the improvment for 2 weeks in a row its a good sign to me that my diet isnt in check and/or i am over training.
keeping notes ==massive

2 sets of maximal squats will totally burn me out and leave me lieing on the floor for 5 minutes after each set feeling like ive just lost 2 years off my life. -- HIT to the max!

so you wanna lose weight:
Compund lifts = very good! yay multiple muscular involvment = maximal calorie burning both during the exercise and afterwards-- the more muscle you carry the more calories you burn AT REST--muscle is highly metabolically active, fat is not active
so in a nutshell the more muscle you carry the easier you will find it to burn fat while lieing in bed!

If you need to shift a serious amount of fat keep up with the compounds, but the real action is in your diet and getting some low intensity cardio every day first thing on an empty stomach

but there is nothing wrong with what you are doing, any exercise is good, it just depends on what your goals are and wether you want to cut all the crap out and get there sooner rather than later

Careful with the energy deficit model, it is not seen as credible in many circles now and is often not sustainable/dangerous in the long term alongside ambitious exercise. Eat as much as you like, just keep it to plants, animals and water.

PS

Refl3x - when you say low intensity cardio on empty stomach, how low intense you talkin?

I been wantin to do some cardio in morning before work without a shower afterwards cos its so time consuming and i start work early..

Really? I find the total opposite! I used to sets of 10 but after 6 or so, my form broke down. I have worked very hard on my DL and clean form in particular and have it nailed.

Also building strength isn't my goal - not losing strength whilst dropping some fat is but it's good to hear other perspectives and such. I'll see how it goes and maybe switch to some sets of 10.

This is something I have tried and I can't say I'm a fan. I find I run faster and longer if I've had something to eat or drink.

you cant beat a 2 mile walk on an empty stomach first thing every morning for burning fat

I live 3 miles from work. Perhaps I should walk it!!!

Haha! I do that on days I'm not running!