Hey all, how goes? Wondering what anyone else might think of this plan. It would be for a late 30s male, 5’7", 145lbs, fit and experienced enough in gym, no commitment/burnout issues
Training for general hypertrophy/strength, typically 2 RIR, occasional 1 / F. Total direct working sets per week for chest, back and shoulders are 14 each. Biceps and triceps 4 each directly. Lower body is like 15 - 18 each per workout, 30 - 36 for the week. 60 - 90 sec rest between sets. 3 days, rest, 3 days. Is this all too much? Anything youd ditch or add?
Any tips or insights would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
What are you trying to accomplish with this plan? More muscle mass, more strength, or like the general goal of improving your working weights in the lifts you do.
How long have you been training like this?
How much progress have you made over that time?
I ask because it looks like a Friggin Ton of sets. If you’ve been making progress and gaining weight, it’s awesome.
But if you’ve been doing this much work and you’ve been stuck at 147 for awhile, you know it’s way too much.
That was my first thought too. No way I could do that much chest work and it be productive. If I did the first 2 exercises properly no way I have anything left for the others. or I would need to go easy for the first 2 exercises to make the 4th one productive. That’s a whole lot of junk reps.
@glavinator “Training for general hypertrophy/strength” is stated goal.
Suggestions: Less volume, more food. Example for lifts: Pick a primary horizontal and vertical “push” on upper day (like incline and overhead press) maybe 1 acessory for each (like laterals for delts, chest dips for well, chest) then only 1 triceps accessory. Rinse and repeat with that idea for the other days.
Way too much volume. Unless you are in newby zone, your progress will short lived. In fact, I’d hazard the planned 2 RIR would be more like 5 RIR to get through a session like you laid out and now you would just NOT be getting many effective reps just unnecessary volume.
That kind of volume, for the last few months probably. This plan in particular, will be week 3 tomorrow so I’ll see if I’m still progressing. That said, I’ve mostly always done 3 or 4 exercises per muscle group, twice per week.
I listen to Andy galpin a fair bit and he says when training in hypertrophy to aim for upwards of 20 sets per week per muscle group, and the pic I’ve attached is directly out of a personal training text book says you should be doing 30 - 45 sets per workout (whole workout not each muscle group obviously) But then lately I listen to Mike Isratel or Jeff nippard and these guys are talking 8 sets per week, so idk lol.
As far as growing, i don’t really. But mostly cause I’m not trying to pack on a bunch of weight. Just make the best of what I have. Genetically , I’m 150lbs and to be outside of that I have to eat wayyyyy too much. I burn an outrageous number of calories at work every day so being in a caloric surplus is very hard. As soon as I stop work for a week or so, I usually move up a little closer to 160. I am currently though, in close to the best shape I’ve ever been in, both from what I can see, and from what people keep telling me.
I guess I’ll see what happens at my next workout and go from there, maybe take a couple exercises out.
I believe the average gym-goer rarely needs more than 9-15 sets per muscle group a week, and that is dependent on intensity. I’d actually go as far as to say (which some people might not like), that no more than 12 sets a week for most people is going to be enough. The returns become so diminishing that it may not even be worth trying to figure out how to do more volume for a long, long time… if you ever reach a point where you’d need to experiment anyway. Especially when you’re talking to someone who’s only 147lbs. You struggle to get in enough calories to profit from the workouts already, why would doing more volume ever be a smart move? Less volume with enough calories will trump the perfect high-volume training plan with not enough calories 100% of the time.
I think you should just do a conventional workout with moderate volume and see how you recover. If you are progressing CHANGE NOTHING. If you stop progressing there are a myriad of things you can do before you think of changing your volume. If you feel a movement or muscle could handle a bit more, experiment whilst changing nothing else and see how you get on. You’ll find it easier to keep track of when you keep other variables the same. Finding the right amount of volume for you is an ever-evolving thing that will likely change over time as you go through different periods and advance. Right now the best thing for you would be focusing on your nutrtion and sticking to a plan that motivates you. If less volume gives you more time to cook high-calorie meals then that would be your first win.
I hate when all you smart guys get on here and I have nothing to add - quit that!
…But we all know I’m adding something anyway. Just to jump on the train, I’ll point out in particular: there is no way you’re hitting your max potential on either movement if you’re doing 3 sets of squats followed by 3 sets of deads that close to failure. That’s just a specific observation driving home the “it’s too much stuff” consensus above.
This site is full of free programs and we love making recommendations.
As far as the volume I get that from listening to dr Andy galpin who says to get upwards of 20 to 25 sets per week per muscle group, and then per the pic attached, directly out of a personal training book it says to do 8 to 12 exercises for a total of 30 to 45 sets per workout, up to 6 times a week.
All that said, I’ve trained high volume like that forever so perhaps I’ll heed the advice of everyone on here and try lowering the volume a bit. Especially since I work such a physical job
Thats the thing, none of them are junk reps, I don’t think. I use full ROM, use proper cadence, don’t bounce anything, and focus on mind muscle connection and breathing.
For as long as I can remember Ive done 3 to 5 exercises per muscle group, 2x per week. Idk maybe I’m too acclimated to that much volume. I work an extremely physical job where it’s not uncommon to handle 10,000lbs + of materials in the run of a 12 hour shift, in addition to my workout, which is usually before shift.
Yesterday I was listening to Mike Isratel talk about being too acclimated to that kind of volume and how to reset, so perhaps I’ll give that a go sooner than later here
