Upper / Lower or 3-5 Way Split for Strength Sports?

Training Powerlifting
1

My training has been very good this past cycle. Ive been doing a modified WS4SB program with complexes and some sled pulling. Basically its De upper, DE low, Me upper, ME lower, and one recovery day with the sled. The complexes have been on the upper days, and i have been finishing the DE lower day with some sled pulls.

Everything is fine and dandy, except for a few things.

  1. I want to drop overhead work and cleans and snatches for a while
  2. I want work in rack pulls some how
  3. I want to hit my arms and shoulders a bit more with assistance exercises

So ive been looking at different programs and logs, and cant really come up with an answer to the following question.

WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND, AN UPPER/LOWER SPLIT OR A 3,4, OR 5 WAY SPLIT?

The upper/lower would probably look like WS4SB or something like (bench+arms, squats, Upper back+shoulders, Deadlift)

A 3-way split might be (Bench, squat, assistance)
A 4-way might be (bench, squat, arms+shoulders, deadlift)
A 5-way might be (bench, squat, arms, shoulders+UB, deadlift)

I know there are a ton of options and almost anything CAN work. Basically im not competing in any way, but am trying to train like a PL’er or Strongman Competitor. Im really focusing on bringing up my bench and squat, as these are my weak links. Also, my arms, shoulders, and upper back are weak links as well.

***Also, im currently bulking, and have gone from 195-205 and have about 10-15 more to go.

So how should I start in setting this up?

2

5-3-1?

3

[quote]Kerley wrote:
5-3-1?[/quote]

LOL

4

Ok so I tried a few new things today. It was my “ME” bench day, and all that really mattered was I did some heavy singles on bench. Ive been looking at some training logs on elitefts and Krocs logs look pretty interesting.

Today:

Bench 4x1

DB Rows 5x8

Weighted pushups (As many sets as it takes to get 20reps) =5
Pullups (SAME) = 5

Plate front raises 40 reps

So this is where im kinda confused. Im not sure if I can get away with this much work in one session. Looking at Kroc’s logs, he would probably only have done the rows and pullups and thats it. But im not sure if that even matters, as he’s lifting over twice as much as me, so his sessions are way more intense.

So i may just have to go by trial and error, but I want to include the following exercises (maybe not every week but in rotation)

Bench (all variations)
Rack pull and/or deadlift (sumo, reg, rdl)
Front squat
Split squat
Leg extension
DB rows
Weighted pushups
Pullups
Tricep ext (skull crushers)
tricep pushdowns
facepulls
sled pulls/push
front raises, side raises
band pull aparts
pull throughs
ANYTHING ELSE I MISSED

Those would be all the exercises, but the focus would be at increasing my bench and front squat As for a split, im still not really sure.

It could be:

S: Bench + Arms
M: Sled work
T: Upper back + shoulders
W: OFF
Th: OFF
F: Lower (including squats and/or rack pulls)
S: OFF

I also like the way mentioned in Krocs bio. Basically:

Squat day

Bench day (including arms)

Deadlift day

Upper body assistance day (including arms)

So what would you guys do?

5

Monday: max effort squat/deadlift
Wednesday: max effort bench
Friday: dynamic or repeated effort squat/dead lift
Sunday: dynamic effort bench

rotate max effort lifts every 1-2 weeks rotate all other lifts every 4-6 weeks.

6

[quote]Kerley wrote:
Monday: max effort squat/deadlift
Wednesday: max effort bench
Friday: dynamic or repeated effort squat/dead lift
Sunday: dynamic effort bench

rotate max effort lifts every 1-2 weeks rotate all other lifts every 4-6 weeks.

[/quote]

x 2
This is a classic and extremely effective template for building some serious strength.

7

Alright, thats pretty much what ive been doing. I’ll have to make a little change though due to my scheduling.

Mon: ME lower
Wed: ME upper
Fri: DE lower + ARMS
Sat: Sled day
Sun: De upper

So essentially it would be the typical ME/DE split, but i’d cut down on the volume on DE lower days and add arms. I’d then work sled on next day. I would just do the sled on the DE day, but I do the sled at home and my weights at the gym, and cant fit them both in on the same day.

If this doesn’t work, i’ll try adding an extra day of rest at the end of the week (so the next ME lower would be Wed, instead of Tue) or i’ll drop the DE lower day and make that all sled work.

Thx for the help guys.

8

I do sled work as GPP/conditioning on Saturday, the day after DE upper. I think that you would be able to fit it in without being too sore for Monday which is ME lower.