I’ve been training three times a week for half a year now with decent progress. My main focus has been on the powerlifts but I want to introduce some hypertrophy training. Currently, this is how I train.
Monday:
Squat
Bench
Weighted chin ups
Wednesday:
Deadlift
Romanian deadlift
Overhead press
Dumbbell row
Weighted dips
Friday:
Squat
Bench
BB row
Ab work
Grip work
I also do face pulls, reverse hypers and zraw’s lateral delt exercise on each of the days for high reps (20+). Squats, deads, bench and ohp are done for low reps while the rest are done for 8 - 10 reps.
I want to add another day or two but I’m having difficulties in deciding what to add so I was hoping you folks could help me out.
I do not know how much I would like that split, but if it works for you then keep with it.
When adding extra days you have multiple options.
On Saturday do full body hypertrophy work. On Friday just reduce the work to the main 3 moves. You will still have Sunday to rest, so recovery will still be efficient.
Keep everything the same, but on Saturday just focus on 3 muscles to work on. So maybe Triceps, Hamstrings, and Lats are lagging, bring them up this day.
Reduce the 3 days to the main lifts and use Saturday and one other day easiest to workout with one day upper and the other lower body hypertrophy work.
Finally, keep everything the same, but every month or 2 weeks choose a different muscle that is lagging and blast it, so maybe quads. Work it every single day. Super light on the non-main 3 days and medium on the 3 days.
For example here is the extra work for quads:
Monday- 3 sets of 8 hack squat last rep should be right before a grinder. Tuesday- Leg extensions 3 sets of 10, no where near failure. Wednesday- Leg press- 4 sets of 6, last rep right before a grinder. Thursday- single leg extensions- 5 sets of 10 each leg, no where near failure. Friday- Front Squats 5 sets of 5, last rep right before a grinder. Saturday- single leg extensions 3 sets of 20 each leg no where near failure. Sunday- Leg extensions 2 sets of 50 no where near failure.
As you can see I am excited about option 4 the most. On main days it is a compound movement and on “rest” days it is an isolation movement to promote hypertrophy by pumping nutrients into the muscle and something with receptors in the muscles that I can not remember off of the top of my head. Another great thing is that it will optimize growth hormone activity in the area.
[quote]Casio wrote:
I’ve been training three times a week for half a year now with decent progress.[/quote]
Height, weight, general fat level (not percentage, but a 1 or 2 word description), strength PRs on the basic lifts?
What’s your specific goal?
No disrespect to zraw, but I think you mean the John Meadows delt exercise. High-rep partial lateral raises? Also, those aren’t something you do 3 days a week. They’re something you do on the day you train shoulders.
Again, set a specific goal to shoot for in the next few months and that’ll make it easier to figure out a plan. There are tons of splits and programs out there.
I assume you want to add hypertrophic training because you want to get bigger. If so, just make sure your diet and your sleep match the volume and intensity of your training. More training means more calories, and more rest need to grow. I know you asked about training frequency, but it took me a long time to learn that diet is 80% of this game we play. Learn from my mistakes!