Hi forum. Current routine is like so:
Sat- ‘push’ weights
Sun- rowing HIIT/anaerobic intervals
Mon- ‘legs’ weights
Tue- cycling HIIT/anaerobic intervals
Wed- ‘push’ weights
Thu- sprint HIIT/intervals
Fri- REST
The thing is, I’m not sure what to include on the ‘pull’ weights day. Deadlifts in there, or on legs day? I currently do squats, sumo DL, leg press, extensions and hamstring curls on legs day, and combined with the rowing HIIT the previous day my lower back feels pretty tired. So would I be ok not doing deads on back day? Maybe something like Chins, Db BOR, Upright Rows, bb BOR, biceps curls?
Any advice welcome!
Do you do any back and bicep work now besides deadlifts?
Well up until recently I’d been on an upper/lower split, so I’d be sumo deadlifting on lower days and doing chins and BOR on upper days.
put the deads on your pull days, b/c your PULLING the weight.
add in some row variations and some pull/chin ups and your back should be good.
squatting and dead lifting on the same day won’t give AS good of results as separating them. that way you can put more energy/effort into each and hopefully yield more size/strength.
Well that was my thinking, the big 3 can be divided perfectly to fit a push (bench), pull (dead), legs (squats) split. But that leaves a void on legs day… normally I’d be sumo DL’ing to get the hammies and glutes going, but what would you recommend for a legs day now then? Bear in mind I have a HIIT cycling day the next day!
Do “Rack” deads on your pull days. Basically set the pins in a power rack at right around knee level (slightly lower would be ideal IMO) and pull off of that.
It’s basically a top half deadlift. Much easier on your lower back, but allows you to lift some very heavy weights and is a great upper back builder.
I’d also suggest doing at least one direct biceps exercise (maybe something like alternating DB curls) and a forearm exercise (either an elbow dominant movement like “Pinwheel curls”, or a wrist dominant movement like wrist curls).
So your Pull day might look something like this:
Alternating DB curls
Wrist curls
Chins
Rack deads
Your Legs day could look something like:
Leg press calf raise
Sumo DL
Leg curls
Squats
Or, if your quads need more attention than your hammies:
Leg press calf raise
Leg curls
Leg press
Squats