Help Setting Up Split

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

First off, I would like to say thanks to this site for all the free training advice both from authors like CT and veteran posters. I have been training seriously for about a year and have gone from 135-140 to 170-175 lbs at a low BF , I know I still have a long way to go. I started with and upper/lower split and then switched over to a push/pull. However do to my new school schedule and transit I will have to cut back on the time I spend in the gym. It because of this that I would like to switchh to a body part split. I would usually spend 1 1/2-2 hours training but, will now have 45 min-1hr. I have never followed this type of split so, I could really use some help setting it up. I would prefer a 5 day split training: mon, tues, thur, fri, and sat.

If any additional info, is needed please ask.

2

Chest/Tri

Back/Bis

OFF

Legs

Shoulders/traps

OFF

Repeat

Don’t think of it as a 7 day week or be confined by that. Some weeks legs may fall on Thursday, sometimes Wednesday. Just train as often as you can. Some people pair chest/bis and back/tris, but i like working chest then “finishing off” tris since they are already being worked with chest. Just personal preference.

A couple of other options:

Chest/Back

Legs

Shoulders/Arms

If you broke apart chest/back and shoulders/arms you would have 5 days, but at your stage I think you would be better off keeping them combined so you can hit the groups more often.

Rest as needed.

3

[quote]trextacy wrote:
Chest/Tri

Back/Bis

OFF

Legs

Shoulders/traps

OFF

Repeat

Don’t think of it as a 7 day week or be confined by that. Some weeks legs may fall on Thursday, sometimes Wednesday. Just train as often as you can. Some people pair chest/bis and back/tris, but i like working chest then “finishing off” tris since they are already being worked with chest. Just personal preference.

A couple of other options:

Chest/Back

Legs

Shoulders/Arms

If you broke apart chest/back and shoulders/arms you would have 5 days, but at your stage I think you would be better off keeping them combined so you can hit the groups more often.

Rest as needed.[/quote]

Thanks for the response. However, the reason I had adjusted the 5 day split the way I did is because sundays my gym is closed. Also would pairing BP allow me to finish under 1 hr and hit the muscle hard enough for it to be necessary for days of recovery?

I have never followed a split so part of me is worried about not hitting the muscle hard enough and only training it once a week.

4

[quote]xAPOLLOx wrote:

Thanks for the response. However, the reason I had adjusted the 5 day split the way I did is because sundays my gym is closed. Also would pairing BP allow me to finish under 1 hr and hit the muscle hard enough for it to be necessary for days of recovery?

I have never followed a split so part of me is worried about not hitting the muscle hard enough and only training it once a week.[/quote]

My opinion on that question is NO. But it is ultimately going to come down to how you train and how developed you already are. An easy way to cut down training time is to reduce the volume. But some people need more volume based on how advanced they are.

Your best bet is to try something out for 3 months and track the progress. If your happy with it keep going.

Exercise selection is more important than which bodyparts you train on each day. Too many people don’t realize this and just do things because they think theyre ‘supposed’ to do them.

5

[quote]xAPOLLOx wrote:

[quote]trextacy wrote:
Chest/Tri

Back/Bis

OFF

Legs

Shoulders/traps

OFF

Repeat

Don’t think of it as a 7 day week or be confined by that. Some weeks legs may fall on Thursday, sometimes Wednesday. Just train as often as you can. Some people pair chest/bis and back/tris, but i like working chest then “finishing off” tris since they are already being worked with chest. Just personal preference.

A couple of other options:

Chest/Back

Legs

Shoulders/Arms

If you broke apart chest/back and shoulders/arms you would have 5 days, but at your stage I think you would be better off keeping them combined so you can hit the groups more often.

Rest as needed.[/quote]

Thanks for the response. However, the reason I had adjusted the 5 day split the way I did is because sundays my gym is closed. Also would pairing BP allow me to finish under 1 hr and hit the muscle hard enough for it to be necessary for days of recovery?

I have never followed a split so part of me is worried about not hitting the muscle hard enough and only training it once a week.[/quote]

Some people have success with once per week, but most like to hit a bodypart twice every 6-9 days…there are all sorts of approaches. Like I said, if you do chest/tris on Monday, then you may hit chest/tris again on Saturday, then back/bis on Monday, etc.

You should definitely be able to hit everything hard in less than an hour.

I highly recommend checking out the stickies in the Beginners forum and searching for CT’s “how to design a damn good program” article. But basically, pick 2-3 exercises per bodypart and work on increasing the weight you are working with over time, caloric surplus (w/ a focus around your workouts) and get plenty of rest and you will find yourself growing and learning about your body. Then, you can increase the frequency, using intensity techniques, split things up further (or consolidate), switch out exercises that don’t work for you, play with supplements, etc. But, focus on the basics for now.

6

I like trextacy’s approach and use it currently, but i have plenty of time to rest and put in a good session. However, for someone in a time crunch i would use an antagonistic approach (example: vertical push/vertical pull). You can cut down on your rest between sets with this approach and not compromise your sets due to energy levels. Matching up chin ups and military press and then lat pull downs with shoulder press is a very efficient way to train. I prefer chest with tri’s for the same reason trextacy explained, but the time you need to rest between sets adds up quick. Let us know how it works for ya.

7

everything you need to know has already been said, as trextacy, bonez, and dnlcdstn have said, the only thing i see is that you want to gain more muscle while keeping your bf% low, to which i think antagonistic training would be nice for, and at the same time it might also give you a new stimulus, but if your main goal is strength then i would think that not doing antagonistic sets would be the way, though i would help but i just dont think you might be that far along in your for that type of training to be used as a new stimulus for gaining strength, if we just knew what your goals where, ei muscle mass, strength, explosive power, etc