Not the best numbers given how long i have been training, but i have made a lot of mistakes. Anyways I am at a point where im not enjoying training at the moment and sick of chasing numbers and following complex programs. My main goal is to look good shirtless and still be decently strong and i really have not seen much aesthetic results from getting stronger. Right now im focusing on losing fat slowly. My problem is im constantly program hopping. Whats a good place to start program wise? Im lost as to how much volume and frequency is optimal for me as well. My last program had me benching 3x per week, squat amd deadlift 2x per week and the volume was pretty high on those lifts. I was debating switching to a 5 day split, but im not sure if that will cause me to regress somehow because the frequency is low and as a natural lifter i would benefit more hitting every muscle 2x per week minimum. On the other hand i can train a muscle harder with less frequency and really go at it. I would be grateful for any advice. Thanks
I am a big time fan of the basic principles, applied over time without over thinking things. Bodybuilding is a long term sport, so while you do want to have some variety at the right time of exercise selection, volume, frequency, etc., constant hopping around will certainly slow things down. Start here. Read the two preceding articles mentioned in the opening, put a plan together, develop a fantastic mind-muscle connection and do this program for a year, you’ll certainly look more like a bodybuilders. Obviously getting leaner helps the look also!
Awesome. I love the simplicity in that article as well as the template. Looks very flexible and can be adjusted overtime (volume,intensity,exercise selection). I will run it as written for now and make adjustments to it when i see fit.
Really just mean that you’re too fat to look good.
Strip away some of the chub (you’ll amaze yourself at how quickly you can do it if you’re disciplined) and you’ll look schmexy.
I mean, you’re not going to be jacked but you’ll look good, and if you dress well you’ll look like you lift. Athletic, rather than huge, but it’s a good look.
Question for you guys. Just an observation I’ve made. Is there a reason a lot of BB templates (at least the ones I’ve seen) have you only working out your legs once a week but upper body 3x a week.
I’m assuming because the legs don’t need as much compared to the upper body to grow? Just curious on your thoughts on this.
The idea of variable-split training has been around for a while. The premise is that different muscle groups require different amounts of recovery time. A thorough TN article on the subject, replete with a proposed split:
Except in rare instances I don’t see many competitors who train legs less than their upper bodies… not if they’re doing reasonably well anyway. It’s really the very unique individuals (@BrickHead ) whose legs are light years ahead of everything else from doing a steady amount of work all across their muscle groups.
This is probably a number of muscles in upper body vs lower body thing. Lower body is primarily quads, hamstrings, glutes (though lots of people don’t do much focused on glutes), calves (which aren’t really included in “leg” training but kind of there own thing) where upper body has pecs, delts, traps, biceps, triceps, back (lats and mid back) and maybe forearms if you wanted.
So to give “equal” volume to upper body and lower body, you’re going to have more upper body focused days compared to lower body focused days. If you tried to do 3-4 exercises for 3-4 sets for each of the upper body muscle groups on one day, you’re going to be there for a long time. Where as you can do that for legs since that’s 6-7 exercises for quads/hams.
Doesn’t mean the upper body muscle groups are getting more volume, but it takes more days to give them all the same volume you can give legs in 1 (or maybe 2) days.
As said before, it appears this way because there are more muscle groups in the upper body and the split routines have these spread out just as much as hamstrings and legs are in the four-to-five-way splits.