I have been training for about a year and a half i am 20 years old currently doing a lean bulk at about a 200 cal surplus, i was wondering what you guys thinks about doing chest/back, legs, arms and shoulders off and repeat.as a natural trainer would this be a good split
Seems strange to do chest and back (two major muscle groups) together, while giving arms and shoulders separate days. But if it works for you and you feel that chest and back are getting enough work, or want to prioritize arms and shoulders, then there’s nothing wrong with that.
How you split things up is a matter of your personal preference and convenience. The deciding factors training-wise are going to be getting stronger and performing the exercises through muscle action rather than jerking or momentum. Past that it’s rest and nutrition. In a nutshell.
would legs push pull off repeat, be a better split my main goal is to hit everything twice a week. but at the same time have enough volume in each work out, for example i think its dumb when some routines only give 2 shoulder exercises a week.
Exercises? Sets? Reps?
Your caloric expenditure can vary by more than 200 calories on any given day. Are you tracking your food down to the calorie? Weighing it? What are you doing to get that extra 200 cals? That’s like a chicken breast…
[quote]colej226 wrote:
would legs push pull off repeat, be a better split my main goal is to hit everything twice a week. but at the same time have enough volume in each work out, for example i think its dumb when some routines only give 2 shoulder exercises a week.[/quote]
Oh, 2x/week. Yeah, it would be better. For volume, I would take about 1.5x of your typical once-per-week routine and divide it by 2 workouts. So, if you normally did 6 sets for bis once a week, you’ll be doing 4 sets twice a week. That way you’re not doubling it, which would be too much, imo.
Also, as the above poster mentioned, upping your training volume will mean a greater surplus in calories. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then it’s much better to err on the side of surplus.
A 200 calorie surplus is fine if it is a legitimate 200 calorie surplus.
[quote]gregron wrote:
A 200 calorie surplus is fine if it is a legitimate 200 calorie surplus.[/quote]
This. But I am curious if you realize how little room for error 200 calories leaves?? If you are weighing and measuring that’s great and I am not trying to discourage just give you a heads up there.
[quote]jbpick86 wrote:
[quote]gregron wrote:
A 200 calorie surplus is fine if it is a legitimate 200 calorie surplus.[/quote]
This. But I am curious if you realize how little room for error 200 calories leaves?? If you are weighing and measuring that’s great and I am not trying to discourage just give you a heads up there.[/quote]
jbpick has it right.
If you aren’t accurately measuring out all your food then you have no idea if you are actually eating a 200 calorie surplus. A 200 calorie guesstimation is VASTLY different than an actual 200 calorie surplus.
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]jbpick86 wrote:
[quote]gregron wrote:
A 200 calorie surplus is fine if it is a legitimate 200 calorie surplus.[/quote]
This. But I am curious if you realize how little room for error 200 calories leaves?? If you are weighing and measuring that’s great and I am not trying to discourage just give you a heads up there.[/quote]
jbpick has it right.
If you aren’t accurately measuring out all your food then you have no idea if you are actually eating a 200 calorie surplus. A 200 calorie guesstimation is VASTLY different than an actual 200 calorie surplus.[/quote]
Absolute truth. However, even with weighing and measuring your energy expenditures can vary more than 200 calories from day without noticing any difference. Differences I. stress levels or sleep quantity (or quality) could mean the difference between surplus and deficit. This is why the best friend is the scale and tape measure. If you aren’t gaining about 0.5 lbs a week or more, you aren’t eating enough even if the math says otherwise. Likewise if the tape measure is changing but your weight stayi.g the same you are still making progress.
Oh, and it’s also why most people stick to about a 400-500 calorie surplus. it leaves more room for error.