5 Day Split & Other Advice Requested

Training Beginners
1

I posted a while back asking a number of questions about suppliments. I’ll give a little background. At the moment I’ve been keeping up a solid gym presence 5 days a week for 7 weeks. Started at 265lb with 26.1% body fat and I’m 5’10". I’m down to 240lbs right now, but won’t be doing a body fat measurement until I’ve been at this for 3 months.

As I’m sure is obvious my goals are in fat loss right now, not bulking up in any way. Though as weight lifting from what I understand is far better than straight cardio for fat loss, I’m likely slowly killing two birds with one stone here.

I’m set on a clean diet (half my food budget is green, and of course plenty of olive oil) right now running just over 1900 calories a day. Seemingly standard heavy meal before workouts and protein shake after. Just using the cheapo protein powder right now as it’s already a big enough change from how I used to eat. Certainly not against changing that up as well, but I figured I’d leave a few surprises for my body as I start to plateau. I’ve not started on any other suppliments either as yet though I certainly have noticed the weight loss slowing way down.

Right now I’m adjusting my workouts to stop a number of bad habits that I’ve caught myself doing. For the 7 weeks I’ve been doing weights though without much rhyme or reason with lots of cardio 5 days a week. I’ve been experimenting this week with a new 5 day split that I want to officially start on sunday and hoped that someone more knowledgeable than I could throw a few pointers my way.

Sunday Chest
Monday Shoulders
Tuesday Back
Wednesday Rest
Thursday Legs
Friday Arms
Saturday Rest

Each preceeded by a 10 minute warm up on the treadmill or elliptical. I’ll likely be spending 30-40 minutes on the weights each day, though time isn’t a constraint. It’s just that this week of testing out this type of workout schedule I’ve found that I just can’t physically do longer than that before I’m wiped. Each also is 2-3 exercises per muscle group at 3 sets 10 reps a piece. I’m doing the weight selection so that the 10th rep is a teeth grinder.

So far I’m really happy with the results I’ve seen in the weeks I’ve been doing this. I wish I had a better method for measuring progress and I only started keeping a workout journal for sets/reps/weight etc. But admittedly I’ve begun to plateau so quickly that there is definately some disappointment that the good results weren’t going to continue as quickly. I believe I’m doing most things right, enough so that if I keep it up I can get rid of much of my excess body fat and maybe make the shift in future to actively building mass.

Any suggestions would be fantastic.

2

An “arms day” is the exact opposite of a fat-loss program.

A 5-day split is pretty much the opposite of a program on which a beginner or intermediate will make optimal progress.

Do either TBW or (if you train 4+ days per week) some sort of push/pull or upper/lower split plus some sort of cardio (HIIT preferred) on off days.

3

concerning the split, your shoulders are going to be shot on monday after your chest and shoulder days, so it would probably be better to leave a rest day between shoulders and back.

or

chest
back
rest
shoulders
legs
arms
rest

petrichor: i see no reason a 5-day split cannot be used for fat loss purposes

4

FWIW, i tried a split much like that for my fat loss, needless to say I didnt do it long, I think it just hindered my progress. Better progress was made the more compounds i used, regardless of how much cardio i did. Weight loss was easy, and seemingly so is weight gain.

5

To be honest, the main reason I intended to go with a 5 day split was because my TBW plans ended up being so adhoc. With a set muscle group each day, I hope to be more organized knowing exactly what exercises I’m doing.

Also supposedly with very little rest time between muscle groups to keep the heart rate up, doing weights is as effective for weight loss as cardio. At least that’s what I’ve been reading.

Now to be fair right now I’m doing most of my work on the machines rather than free weights. I haven’t developed a plan for switching to the free weights just yet, trying to get organized first.

Thanks for the input so far guys. :slight_smile:

6

FWIW, I am completly OCD when it comes to food logs (not anymore but was when i was dieting) and training logs. I could never remember from one day to the next what to do with the weights…
Starting Strenght, so easy even I can do it!!!
ok ok so i cant remember the weights from one day to the next, but I can actually remember the lifts I do.

Plus, you will be huffin and puffin way more with free weights and compound lifts. Superset them, decrease your rest, you can kick your butt plenty.