I’ve been at it about 3 months total when I first started I was doing fullbody workouts but it was at planet fitness so you get smith machines there so no real squats. About 4-5 weeks ago I joined a real gym with a squat bar and everything I need. Since I joined this new gym I was doing 1 body part per day but I’ve decided to go back to fullbody exercises for awhile but this time doing legitimate squats, deadlifts and bench press each time with a few things like shoulder presses added on. I did this this morning and really enjoyed it. I just want to work the big compound exercises in more often to get better at them without neglecting smaller muscle groups. Here is what I’m thinking.
Day 1: full body compound exercises (squats, deadlifts, chest, shoulder presses some back work)
Day 2: working on things like arms abs hamstrings things that day 1 miss, no major compound exercises
Day 3: same as day 1
Day 4: same as day 2
Day 5: same as day 1
Day 6: same as day 2
I’ll be adding in cardio too.
Was thinking of doing this for 8 weeks then going back to 1 body part per day.
You haven’t given us much to go on here. No mention of volume, intensity, progression models, goals or current stats.
That being said, my thoughts are:
Doing Squat/Bench/Deadlift plus some other stuff 3 days a week sounds really hard to recover from, it certainly was when I did it. You’ll need to manage intensity/volume and recovery appropriately.
You haven’t mentioned any conditioning. I don’t know what your goals are, but I’m pretty sure from a previous thread you plan to do some. It’s important information to include, as it will have an impact on your recovery ability.
I don’t think you need a whole 3 days a week dedicated to the stuff the big compounds miss, because there won’t be that many.
I’m going to sound like a broken record but just pick a template or program from a trusted author and run it. Better yet, pick several that use different approaches and try them all one after the other. Figure out which parts of which work for you and your goals.
You’d have better luck doing maybe 3 full-body workouts and 1 (one) “gap”-workout (arms, abs, hamstrings, things that full-body day misses). Fortunately, Christian Thibaudeau has written a complete program on how to do that - Jacked Athlete 31.
Well I read about stronglift 5x5 a long time ago but it’s been years and I’m not following it closely or anything. I’ve been watching Jeff Nippard and he’s been doing a similar program but said only focusing on the big 3 will leave lats, biceps, rear/side delts, calves and abs untrained.
I’m trying to understand about recovery today I did squats/deadlifts/bench/shoulders/back and was tired after doing deadlifts and squats but after I left I felt good very little soreness. I don’t think it was an issue of going too lite for what I’m comfortable with either. But can you leave the gym feeling ok and still have a problem with recovery?
I think so, but like I said today was my first day doing this new routine. I plan to try it for 8 weeks but I’m not going to do the gaps 3 times a week.
Find a way to know so. Then, when you have your results, don’t let anyone tell you they’re wrong. If you got consistently stronger over 8 weeks: congratulations, you did it right. If you didn’t: congratulations, you found a way to do it wrong, try a different way next time.
It seems simple enough to judge recovery if I am weaker the next time I go (due to still being beat up from last time) instead of stronger, the plan not working. No?
Big lifts one day, small lifts the next day can be cool.
There is a special name for that split, maybe Double Stimulation or something?
6 days with the weights and 4 cardio sessions every week would be a lot for me personally. I think 4 days would be more my speed.
But you’re basically right about recovery, if you feel good and ready to train, and you’re getting stronger, It’s Good. If you feel like Hell, you can’t sleep and the weights aren’t going up, you need to do less.
I think switching up the format every 8 weeks is pretty good too. Going from a split to full body then back again should work well.
It is way too much work. I have done a proper 5x5 twice with added intensity every workout. The longest I was able to run it was 3 months.
I actually do not recommend any assistance, nor HIIT. Low intensity cardio after workout should be fine. Keep in mind the programme gets very taxing once you reach your maxes and these squats with the warm up sets alone can take up to 30 mins alone
