That’s a good point and I have considered that. I just think there should still be a minimum threshold that my grip needs to be up to par with, as I found it pretty disappointing that I have found myself struggling with back work because my forearms started to hurt before my back did.
Also, from a hypertrophy standpoint my forearms are lagging and not working them directly hasn’t made then grow much, so I might have to at least change that.
What’s your non-diet calorie intake at to get a sense of how deep you are starting your deficit at?
Around 3k daily (lately it was probably a little closer fo 3.5k)
How did you arrive at these specific exercises for your grip work?
Have you considered (and decided to not pursue),
? From a training economy standpoint I’d prefer those. Or pull-ups off of a door frame.
When it comes to direct grip work, the following comes to mind, and had the added benefit of not requiring a gym,
But if you are happy to do all of your training in the gym then,
I don’t know much about splits, but I believe robstein had visited your log in the past. Maybe @ him. Are you planning to take anything to failure? Rest-periods? Are you doing double progression on everything?
Gaining or maintaining at that?
To be honest, I literally randomly picked two exercises. I’m no expert on forearm training, never done it, and thought that something would be better than nothing. So thanks for the suggestions, I’ll look into them.
Allberg:
I don’t know much about splits, but I believe robstein had visited your log in the past. Maybe @ him. Are you planning to take anything to failure? Rest-periods? Are you doing double progression on everything?
Right! @robstein what do you think of the split that I laid out a couple posts back? Is it a sensible plan for the goals I stated?
Allberg:
Are you planning to take anything to failure? Rest-periods? Are you doing double progression on everything?
I don’t think rest periods are all that important, but I generally keep them at 2-3 minutes. I go as soon as I feel ready.
The plan is to begin with a couple of reps in the tank for my sets, then adding weight over the weeks and also up the effort (more weight for more reps). Eventually I’ll be taking some of the sets to failure, probably the second to last and last sets of each exercise. I might also add intensity techniques on the smaller exercises but I haven’t decided on that yet. So I’m open to suggestions.
Allberg:
Gaining or maintaining at that?
Getting fat 
I can’t say for sure how many calories I was eating. I had estimated 3k-3.2k but I was very relaxed with my eating (i.e. a pig) so I’m not sure how much I ended up eating, possibly upwards of 4k calories on a few days. Let’s call 3.5k calories a day the average, and I was gaining weight on that intake
Maybe steal this split, A Tried and True Bodybuilding Program Template and view grip work as something extra.
I don’t think three exercises necessarily is too little. Pick decent exercises for your goals and it’ll be enough. Flat DB bench, Incline (whatever kind), Dips. Four sets of each. Or,
Barbell bench (strength), 5 sets
Incline (higher reps), 4 sets
Dips 3 sets
(just spitballing)
If the goal for your arms is hypertrophy then this doesn’t really matter, your aim should be isolating well and pushing to failure. Yes you may use more weight or get more reps with fresh arms but that’s not really the main objective. I take it as a positive as I can reach failure faster with a lighter weight and have the benefit of my joints already being warm. I wouldn’t sweat it, do it what ever way you will enjoy most.
It depends on your recovery too, if I have a dedicated arm day it can damage my pressing and pulling, meaning the target muscles are not being pushed to failure as much as they could.
@samul thanks for the tag! Awesome to see your continued progress my friend. Given your goals, I think the above split is certainly a good way to go about it. I’ve found success personally and with clients with increasing frequency to improve the desired areas. Leading into my 3rd and 4th shows, I realized my arms, and hamstrings needed to come up quite a bit, and hit them hard twice a week all year in a similar fashion. My split was:
Chest and hams
Back and bis
Shoulders and tris
HIIT
Hams and quads
Arms
HIIT
So, I hit them on their own after back and shoulders respectively, and Saturday was an arms-only day. When I did biceps after back, I would do 3 exercises, 4 sets each, same as tris after shoulders. Saturday’s arms-only day would be different exercises as well.
Could be splitting hairs here, my .02 is if your arms are a primary focus, hit them as you’re doing now in a secondary manner, and then give them their own day. Your current split was you hitting them after chest, back, and shoulders, so they’re never going to be the very first thing you work.
Is there a reason you’re on a 4 day split, and not 5? If possible, adding a 5th day would allow you to give arms their own day, and after shoulders you can do some abs, calves, or even just shoulders and maybe a little cardio after.
I am a huge fan of this program, it is a marvelous foundation that can be used indefinitely with enough rotating of exercises, sets and reps, and making adjustments as you need to as we’re discussing for bringing up certain muscle groups.
Hope this helps, please tag me anytime!
Following your log on and off - this is great progress! Congratulations on 2019 and looking forward to seeing your accomplishments this yea!
Thank you for the advice!
Yeah, 4 days a week works best with my schedule, which as of lately is pretty busy due to university and constant traveling by train. I’m still doing cardio on the off days but I can do that outside and not having to get to the gym on those three days makes it much easier for me.
Anyway, I like the split that was linked and I plan on trying it eventually. For now, I’ll give the one I posted a shot.
I’m excited to try out a slightly different kind of training than what I’ve been doing for the past year.
Thank you man, much appreciated and glad to have you aboard
Bench 72 kg x 8,9,11
Incline db press 26 kg x 10, 8, 22 kg x 9
Dips x 9, 8, 5
V bar pushdown 3 sets at 45 kg
Db skullcrusher 2 sets at 8 kg
First session of the year. A little disappointed by the weights and reps, but it’s just my starting point. I’ll increase the effort and intensity over the next two weeks. In two weeks, my mini cut will also be over, meaning that the increase in effort at the gym will coincide with increased food intake, so an ideal scenario.
I think I completely lost any affinity I had with dumbbell pressing. It used to be the opposite–a year ago I would never do barbell bench presses as the movement didn’t feel right, yet I felt a good mind muscle connection with Incline db presses.
Now I’ve gotten better at barbell presses and I haven’t done much dumbbell pressing over the last year. As a result, the incline dumbbell press now feels weird and I can’t really feel much of my chest working during the movement. My strength on the movement has also gone down.
Dips used to be good for me, and I could do 15+, but now they hurt my hands like hell and my shoulders feel weird. I don’t know what happened to my body, haha
Mmc with my chest has always been a little troublesome. I only feel it when I do high rep sets of barbell bench, and when I use the chest press machine at my gym. I should probably add that machine back in, maybe in place of Dips, and work on getting better and stronger with dumbbells.
But the dip is such a good exercise, so I’m not sure I want to give up on it just yet.
Have you ever found yourselves in a situation similar with mine when it came to training the chest?
I’ll be honest, MMC or not, any physique picture’s you’ve posted have shown that chest is not a problem for you. I’m pretty sure you’re a naturally chest dominant person anyway.
But mostly, flat bench press never did shit for my chest. I just use shoulders and arms on it. On incline DB, you just need to let your shoulders come forward at the top of the movement. If you’re locking them back like a powerlifter bench, you’re not letting your chest activate. Really though, on any chest exercise, I’m just looking for a stretch at the bottom, squeeze at top. Which means opening your chest up as you go down, and squeezing your pecs together as you go up.
What would be your go to chest exercise out of interest?
I really do like incline (30 degree) dumbbell presses, especially with the hands starting pronated at the bottom and ending up supinated at the top.
Oddly, this would probably be my least favourite of the exercises I’ve tried.