How Would You Set This Up?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Alright I read the bodybuilding Bible sticky and I’m wondering how you guys would set up a program following the general guidelines put forth in that post

*****> Frequency: 1 to 2 times per week per muscle group.

Body split up over 3 to 6 sessions, depending on frequency and number of muscles trainer per session.
2 to 3 muscles trained at each session.
Sets and reps: Warm up and ramp up to 1 to 2 all-out blast sets of 6 to 15 reps - depending on what you grow best from.
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group, including both compound and isolation exercises. Large muscles usually get 2 compound and 1 or 2 isolation exercises and small ones usually get 1 or 2 compound exercises and 1 or 2 isolation exercises*****

Using the following exercises:

Front Squats
Deadlifts
Bench
Overhead Press
Rows
Chins
Dips
curls/reverse curls (depending on how my elbows are feeling)

I’d prefer to get as much frequency as possible - If that means doing less sets per session I’m fine with that - As I find I enjoy lifting and am getting bored lifting 3 days a week

2

Those exercises are normal big exercises so u can look for any standard routine setup all over the internet, what are ur stats? numbers? training experience?

6days/wk/3xsplit??
legs/calves/abs
back/rear delts/traps/bis
front/side delts/chest/tris

4days/wk/4xsplit??
shoulders
legs
off
back/bis
chest/tris
off
off

bodypart splitx6days/wk??

who knows how ur body works? do some more research and sort it urself, or steal somebody elses split and adjust according to what YOUR body is like – flexibility,injuries etc.

read that thread some more also. all ur questions should be answered in that + look at the top sticky in this forum – should help answer everything u need to know.

GL

3

Pro-agression first off thanks for the response- I made this thread because I cant help but keep over-analyzing the situation. I’m use to training for strength and am completely lost when not doing so - For example. I hear that training a body part twice a week is good (and I would prefer to do that) So shoulder and chest are differfent body parts - bench would be the main exercise I’d be using for chest followed up by some dips…

As far as shoulders are concerned nothing really beats Overhead Pressing. So I’d be doing OHP… Training each of those twice a week and actually putting some effort into it would destroy my shoulders and tri’s would it not?

Same thing with back Deadlifting once or twice a week couple with squatting chinning and rowing twice a week each would be ridiculous would it not? I keep overthinking the situation and that is why I made this post

So How would you guys set up a 6 day a week split using the above exercises (any big compounds) (Its not that I’m oppose to isolation I just figure if I can sort out the compounds I can figure the smaller stuff from there)

As far as sets like the above post set 1 to 2 blast sets of 6-15 is what I’d prefer doing

Thanks

keep in mind boys if the above doesn’t make complete sense I may have had one to many pitchers with the boys tonight - It was my buddies birthday… yay one for working in 8 hours

4

[quote]Smith K wrote:
Pro-agression first off thanks for the response- I made this thread because I cant help but keep over-analyzing the situation. I’m use to training for strength and am completely lost when not doing so - For example. I hear that training a body part twice a week is good (and I would prefer to do that) So shoulder and chest are differfent body parts - bench would be the main exercise I’d be using for chest followed up by some dips…

As far as shoulders are concerned nothing really beats Overhead Pressing. So I’d be doing OHP… Training each of those twice a week and actually putting some effort into it would destroy my shoulders and tri’s would it not?

Same thing with back Deadlifting once or twice a week couple with squatting chinning and rowing twice a week each would be ridiculous would it not? I keep overthinking the situation and that is why I made this post

So How would you guys set up a 6 day a week split using the above exercises (any big compounds) (Its not that I’m oppose to isolation I just figure if I can sort out the compounds I can figure the smaller stuff from there)

As far as sets like the above post set 1 to 2 blast sets of 6-15 is what I’d prefer doing

Thanks

keep in mind boys if the above doesn’t make complete sense I may have had one to many pitchers with the boys tonight - It was my buddies birthday… yay one for working in 8 hours[/quote]

Training a bodypart once per week also works.

5

Deadlifting twice a week? May want to re-think that one. If you are going to pull heavy, chances are that you will not physically be able to do deads twice in the same week. Unless you have insane recovery. Even then…rough!

6

[quote]Smith K wrote:
Alright I read the bodybuilding Bible sticky and I’m wondering how you guys would set up a program following the general guidelines put forth in that post

*****> Frequency: 1 to 2 times per week per muscle group.

Body split up over 3 to 6 sessions, depending on frequency and number of muscles trainer per session.
2 to 3 muscles trained at each session.
Sets and reps: Warm up and ramp up to 1 to 2 all-out blast sets of 6 to 15 reps - depending on what you grow best from.
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group, including both compound and isolation exercises. Large muscles usually get 2 compound and 1 or 2 isolation exercises and small ones usually get 1 or 2 compound exercises and 1 or 2 isolation exercises*****

Using the following exercises:

Front Squats
Deadlifts
Bench
Overhead Press
Rows
Chins
Dips
curls/reverse curls (depending on how my elbows are feeling)

I’d prefer to get as much frequency as possible - If that means doing less sets per session I’m fine with that - As I find I enjoy lifting and am getting bored lifting 3 days a week [/quote]

I think it’s a very bad idea to limit the amount of exercises you use. If one muscle group starts to lag behind everything else then your progress will come to a stop very quickly.

If you want to get big and strong you should follow a bodybuilder’s mindset - every single muscle group gets the upmost of attention.

That being said, if you need a split to group your exercises with, i recommend this:

  1. Chest, Biceps (A)
  2. Quads, Hams (B)
  3. Shoulders, Triceps (C)
  4. Back (D)
  5. (A)
  6. (B)
    7 rest
  7. (C)
    …etc

Mind you, when you start to get strong i think you will find it difficult recovering from that frequency, in which case just add in another rest day.

7

You could just break it up into an A and B day

A could be:
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Rows
Dips

B:
Deadlifts
Bench Press
Chins
Curls

If I were JUST using those exercises listed, thats how I would set it up. You never know, you could make progress. Reg Parks routines were pretty much all compound movements, even his advanced routines, he did just fine.

8

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
You could just break it up into an A and B day

A could be:
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Rows
Dips

B:
Deadlifts
Bench Press
Chins
Curls

If I were JUST using those exercises listed, thats how I would set it up. You never know, you could make progress. Reg Parks routines were pretty much all compound movements, even his advanced routines, he did just fine. [/quote]

I agree with this.

9

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
You could just break it up into an A and B day

A could be:
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Rows
Dips

B:
Deadlifts
Bench Press
Chins
Curls

If I were JUST using those exercises listed, thats how I would set it up. You never know, you could make progress. Reg Parks routines were pretty much all compound movements, even his advanced routines, he did just fine. [/quote]

I like the look of that. How often would I train using that approach. three times a week a,b,a and switch it the next week. Sets being 1-2 all out sets?

10

I didn’t think about it too much, but how about a Upper/Lower Upper/Lower 4 day split?

MON: Upper body (bench focus) DB rows also
TUE: Lower body (squat focus) Romanian deadlifts also

THU: Upper body (overhead press focus) incline DB press also
FRI or SAT: Lower body (deadlift focus) front squats also

Take Wednesday, Sunday and either Friday or Saturday off.

11

[quote]Smith K wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
You could just break it up into an A and B day

A could be:
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Rows
Dips

B:
Deadlifts
Bench Press
Chins
Curls

If I were JUST using those exercises listed, thats how I would set it up. You never know, you could make progress. Reg Parks routines were pretty much all compound movements, even his advanced routines, he did just fine. [/quote]

I like the look of that. How often would I train using that approach. three times a week a,b,a and switch it the next week. Sets being 1-2 all out sets?
[/quote]

Why would you train three times a week? Also, why don’t you wan’t to train like everyone else who is big and strong?

12

Someone who is interested in powerlifting can typically get away with a 2-way split like that, because they only care about getting stronger in their bench press and squat (squat and deadlift usually trained in the same workout).

But bodybuilders care about making every muscle group stronger, and in my opinion your performance is going suffer if you don’t at least have your body split up 3 ways.

There is no way I could bench press at my best after doing deadlifts, or military press after front squats.

Although there are exceptions, some big guys do train with an upper/lower split or something similar, and we all know the oldschool bodybuilders usually did some sort of 2-way split, but the difference is they were hitting each muscle group a minimum of twice a week, usually 3, and the same is true for the guys that train this way today.

Find the “bodypart once weekly” thread link the the bodybuilding sticky, and you will find that a lot of guys on this site prefer the smaller split higher frequency training… but I don’t think any of them are doing this “ABA 3x a week lifting” nancy boy training.

13

[quote]mr popular wrote:
…but I don’t think any of them are doing this “ABA 3x a week lifting” nancy boy training.[/quote]

Careful now, let’s not summon THAT debate again lol

I think the ABA 3x a week is good for beginners but they quickly “outgrow” it and need to split it up eventually.

If anything, I’d rather someone do this basic ABA thing (get the strength right first) than have them start on something more “complicated” and distracting. There’s so many newbies out there that think the muscles need to be trained in EVERY possible angle and switch routines so often that they tend to forget that little important thing called progress lol…

14

Just a question, what do your lifts look like? Bench, Deadlift, Squat, OH Press?

I would most likely do one all out set of 4-8 reps for each while ramping up. Or you could take a 5x5 approach with 2 of those sets being warmup and 3x5 being work sets like Reg Park did.

I used to train this way a bit early on. It definitely got my compound lifts off the ground in the beginning.

15

[quote]Smith K wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
You could just break it up into an A and B day

A could be:
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Rows
Dips

B:
Deadlifts
Bench Press
Chins
Curls

If I were JUST using those exercises listed, thats how I would set it up. You never know, you could make progress. Reg Parks routines were pretty much all compound movements, even his advanced routines, he did just fine. [/quote]

I like the look of that. How often would I train using that approach. three times a week a,b,a and switch it the next week. Sets being 1-2 all out sets?
[/quote]

Do not like if you’re looking for frequency. It would work as a 3x/week split, as you describe, but with a 4x/week split, you’d have dips and OHP the day before bench, squat the day before deads - all no good. If it’s frequency you’re after, here’s the best split I’ve come up with.

Day 1: Chest & back (excluding deadlift) - so for you, bench + row + chins, + similar
Day 2: Legs & lower back (deadlift) - alternate heavy squats and heavy deads on this day, so front squat + deads
Day 3: Shoulders & arms - OHP + dips + curls
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Repeat.

The rest days can be played with too depending on a lot of factors, but that’s for later. A more advanced version (that is really a hybrid between 2 splits), with even more frequency, would go:

Days 1-5: same as above.
Day 6: Full upper body (chest, back, arms, shoulders)
Day 7: Full lower body (quads, hams, calves, NO deads)
Day 8: Rest
Day 9: TBT + deads, low volume, mostly lighter weights on quads/calves, no hams (get hit enough from deadlifting.
Day 10: Rest
Day 11: Repeat Days 1-5

So with this, you hit each body part 3 times every 10 days. Not bad, eh?

16

[quote]Smith K wrote:
Alright I read the bodybuilding Bible sticky and I’m wondering how you guys would set up a program following the general guidelines put forth in that post

*****> Frequency: 1 to 2 times per week per muscle group.

Body split up over 3 to 6 sessions, depending on frequency and number of muscles trainer per session.
2 to 3 muscles trained at each session.
Sets and reps: Warm up and ramp up to 1 to 2 all-out blast sets of 6 to 15 reps - depending on what you grow best from.
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group, including both compound and isolation exercises. Large muscles usually get 2 compound and 1 or 2 isolation exercises and small ones usually get 1 or 2 compound exercises and 1 or 2 isolation exercises*****

Using the following exercises:

Front Squats
Deadlifts
Bench
Overhead Press
Rows
Chins
Dips
curls/reverse curls (depending on how my elbows are feeling)

I’d prefer to get as much frequency as possible - If that means doing less sets per session I’m fine with that - As I find I enjoy lifting and am getting bored lifting 3 days a week [/quote]

You’ve listed one or two exercises per bodypart. The BBB specifies 2-3 exercises for small bodyparts and 3-5 for large bodyparts. Why would you try to use the BBB split? You’re trying to combine a bodybuilder split with an exercise selection based on a completely different philosophy. I don’t think that will turn out well.

If you’re going to use just those exercises, then a 2-way or 3-way split would work best. However, that is NOT the sort of training described in the BBB, and is NOT what any bodybuilders do (to my knowledge).

17

I’m posting what I do for exercises and split in here. I don’t use each of the exercises every time, I pick between the ones that I feel like doing in the gym that day. There’s a lot of overlap, so it’s been working for me. If I have more time on my hands, I’ll do all of them. I’m still relatively new to this, so I can get away with it. If you’re much stronger, it won’t work. Follow Brick’s advice for the exercise numbers, etc.

Chest/Bis
Bench, Incline Bench, Cable Flyes, Preacher curl, BB Curl, Incline DB Curl.

Off

Back/Tri
Pullups/chinups, 1 Arm DB rows, Lat Pulldown, Seated row, Dips, Skull Crushers, Tricep Pushdown, Deads.

Shoulders/abs
OHP, OH trap shrug, Behind back/front trap shrug, lateral raise, face pull, side bends, Ab machine crunches.

Off

Legs: I’m limited here because of a hip/back issue that makes it hard for me to do hamstring/quad curls.
Front Squat (you can sub back squat here), Stiff Legged Deads, Lunge, Standing calf raise, Seated calf raise, side lunges

Off

I try going to the gym and atleast doing cardio on the off days and sometimes I’ll add an ab workout to those days instead of doing it as part of the regular workout. At times I’ll do biceps and tris 2x a week or just biceps 2x a week because my bis are lagging. I just sub bis in for my rest in the leg workout.

It’s far from perfect, but it’s worked for me so far. Hope this helps.

18

I’m not big by bodybuilder standards (yet), but what has been working great for me and many others on this forum from what I have read is just a standard 5-way split

Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Shoulders
Day 4: Arms
Day 5: Legs

Then just repeat at day 6 if you feel like it, or have a day or two of rest. Listen to the body. This puts you in the gym 5-7 days/week.

Pick 2-4 exercises/bodypart that you can easily progress in and just try to lift more than you did the previous time.

Just keeping everything as simple as possible is what worked best for me.