Which split?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’m switching up my routine. Which of the following do you prefer: a) Day 1 - Chest,Back,Shoulders; Day 2 - Legs; Day 3 - Arms OR b) Day 1 - Chest,Shoulders,Tri’s; Day 2 - Back,Bi’s; Day 3 - Legs?

2

Those are both good, along with Day 1- Back and Tri; Day 2- Legs; Day 3- Chest, Sho, and Bi. I would recommend, and Ian King probably would too, that you use all of these, each for 4-5 weeks at a time. Just as long as you switch it regularly.
You would probably be able to work out more often using routine B because you’d only be working your arms once in the cycle.

3

I like the first option better but I would work shoulders and traps on arm day. It will work either way but I just don’t see justice to calling something a “workout” when all I’m doing is biceps +triceps.

4

I prefer 2 leg days. They would be workouts 1 and 3 if you were prioritizing legs. Or workouts 2 and 4 if you were on upper body priority. Since I have started Ian Kings 12 week limping series its really the first time I have been excited about training legs. Plus it gives you a chance to focus on quads one day and then hams the other. As far as upper body there are several ways I like with no particular preference. 1. Combine all pushing movements on the same day (chest-shoulders-triceps) and all pulling movements on another (mid back-lats-biceps) or 2. Do vertical pushing/pulling movements one day (shoulders-lats) and do horizontal pushing/pulling movements on another day (chest-mid back)
-Jason

5

I like to use a split similar to what Jason suggested. Day 1 - Legs (Quad), Day 2 - Horizontal Push/Pull, Day 3 - Leg (Ham/Hip), Day 4 - Vertical Push/Pull.

6

So, how do you propose to work chest/back/shoulders without working the arms, and having them on a separate day? If you’re making this split under the assumption that you only work a muscle group once per cycle (I assume this isn’t a MWF type split), then with the first set up you have overlap on arms.

7

Brider, I’ve settled on the b) split. The a) split is/was Frank Zane’s routine. What I have been doing is: Day 1 - Chest,Abs; Day 2 - Shoulders,Traps; Day 3 - Bi’s,Tri’s; Day 4 - Back,Abs; Day 5 - Legs. As you can see I was hitting Tri’s 3 days in a row. Everthing except arms have responded well. Arms seem to be falling behind so I’m switching up.