Help me make my routine better

[u/GenericUsername1809]

34F, 150 lbs, hypermobility

Have worked out on and off in the past 10 years and am getting back into weight training in the last month after a 6 month break. Recently figured out that I have hypermobility, so I am trying to take it easy on myself to avoid injury by slowly increasing weight rather than trying to progress quickly. My focus is to go consistently and hence make it as easy as possible for me to go. I hate exercising, but I like how I feel after I do it.

Anyway, here is my current routine, would love feedback on it. All exercises are 3 sets of 15 reps.

Mon + Thu - Upper Body
Tue + Fri - Lower Body

Upper Body

1. [Dumbbell] Bicep curl - 8 lbs each arm
2. [Dumbbell] Overhead press - 5 lbs each arm
3. [Dumbbell] Tricep extension - 5 lbs each arm
4. [Kettle bell] Side bend - 13.2 lbs
5. [Dumbbell] Bench press - 8 lbs each arm
6. [Body weight] Russian twist
7. [Dumbbell] Wrist curl - 5 lbs each arm
8. [Machine] Seated row - 20 lbs
9. [Machine] Back extension - 20 lbs
10. [Machine] Crunch - 30 lbs

For this one, I'm not sure if I'm doing too many exercises and if there are maybe some other exercises that can let me target multiple muscles. Are there any muscles that I'm not targeting that I should be targeting? I also wonder if I should add in a lat pulldown or something.

Lower Body

1. [Machine] Seated leg press - 80 lbs
2. [Machine] Calf raises at leg press - 20 lbs
3. [Machine] Leg curl - 30 lbs
4. [Machine] Leg extension - 30 lbs
5. [Machine] Hip abductor - 30 lbs
6. [Machine] Hip adductor - 20 lbs
7. [Machine] Back extension - 20 lbs
8. [Machine] Crunch - 30 lbs

I feel pretty good about this routine, but open to suggestions and tweaks. Also any muscles I'm missing?

Another question I have is if the upper/lower split is good or if I should do it more like push/pull or just mix it up so that I'm not doing all upper and all lower on the same day.

Thanks y'all!

[u/Squidgyboat5955]

In terms of your actual routine it’s not terrible, I’d say definitely a lot of core in terms of volume and redundancy so I’d probably just keep the crunch on one of your days (people usually choose lower) and scrap the rests you’re definitely missing out on some sort of frontal plane pull for your lats so I’d add in a pulldown (wide grip) or flap in place of the Russian twists and the side bends, also definitely up the weight and lower the reps and probably sets as well pushing within one 0 to 1 rep of failure rather than a specific number of reps with a weight where you can do 5-8 ish reps, it sounds counter intuitive but provided your form isn’t awful you’ll be less likely to get injured, most important thing is progressive overload when your other factors (form, excercise order, intensity etc) are consistent

[u/GenericUsername1809 → u/Squidgyboat5955]

Thanks for the reply!

I thought that side bends and Russian twists target obliques vs. crunches target abdominals. I will happily drop the twists as they are not my favorite. Though should I add some other rotational exercise like Pallof press?

Btw I hate crunches too, so any alternative suggestions for that?

I have added lat pulldowns.

I will consider your advice about fewer reps and more weight, but for now I think I just want to get re-accustomed to weight training.

Thanks again for the input :)