Thanks a lot for all your replies and the help!
When I started working out at home initially with resistance bands/bodyweight I always did 6 days per week with one rest day. But in the gym I can really go a lot harder which probably puts to much load on myself as you said. I already had the plan to do a 4 day split a while ago but then I didn’t do it because I still saw good progress with my usual program. I will try the 4 day split now and see how it goes.
I just love the feeling when going to failure because I thought that it maximizes the microtears in the muscles. But if science says it doesn’t really increase the gains I also don’t see the point anymore, I will experiment what happens if I go a little easier.
For me going with 5hr of sleep is fine for around 1 week, but then it really starts to take a toll on my strength and mental state. I get weaker and I can’t really focus on the exercises anymore. I also noticed that I mostly only get DOMS after a workout if I do not get proper sleep, it impairs my recovery a lot. I read that the natural HGH peak is also the highest during sleep, so I think sleeping as long as possible is the best for a natural lifter.
I posted my progress 3 months ago here in this thread and described my routine a bit: 10 Month Bulk - Cut Now or Continue?
I am still gaining weight at a steady pace of around 1.5kg/month. I know its really a lot of weight to put on in 1 year, but this is mostly due to the fact that I was severly underweight before I started lifting. I gained like 10kg within 2 months of lifting when I started working out at home and eating a lot more. If I started from a more normal weight I would have gained a lot less in the same timespan.
Here is a description of my current workout days:
Chest/Triceps/Delts day:
DB shoulder press 4×10
DB chest press 4×10
DB lateral raises 4×15
Machine chest press 5×10
Cable triceps pushdown 4×10
Machine reverse fly 4×10
Weighted dips 4×10
Back/biceps/traps day:
Lat pulldown 5×10
Reverse grip Lat pulldown 5×10
Cable rows 5×10
Machine biceps preacher curls 5×10
BB shrugs 5×10
Hammer curls 5×10
Leg day:
Leg press 5×10
Hack squat 5×10
BB Hip thrusts 5×10
Leg extension machine 5×10
Adductor/Abductor machine 5×10
Initially, i tried to do the typical PPL program with 1 rest day per week using this setup, but I think this is getting too much for a natural lifter where the recovery rate is reduced.
For me I noticed that it doesn’t really help my sleep issues when I work out earlier in the morning, but I also avoid exercise 3h before sleep as my resting heart rate takes some time to reduce.