Why Wouldn't This Work?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Alright, so the way I am I love high frequency training, love short workouts and am a PR junkie. I’ve tried regular splits (Chest one day, back another) and could never get into them simply for the fact that it would mean doing 4 or more exercises a day and having to wait a week before I trained a bodypart again. So what I’ve thought of is this:

Push: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Pull: Back Width, Back Thickness, Biceps
Legs: Hamstrings, Quads (I hate training calves lol, can just never get myself to care about them.)

Each bodypart gets one exercise. Current split is:

Push: Decline Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Press, Floor Press
Pull: Chin Up, Rack Pull, Incline Dumbbell Curl
Legs: Lying Leg Curl, Front Squat

Each exercise is ramped and done for one main set where I try to PR by either reps or weights. The plan is to keep on getting stronger on an exercise until it stalls out–whether that be one month or one year–afterwhich I replace it. So for Decline Dumbbell Press for example, I would replace it with Incline Dumbbell Press, Rack Pulls would be replaced with a row, Inc. Dumb. Curls would be replaced with Preacher Hammers (more Brachialis focused), Leg Curls would be replaced with RDL’s, Front Squats would be replaced with legpress, etc.

So is there any reason this wouldn’t work? For me, this literally is the PERFECT split, as there’s only 3 exercises per session, frequency would be more than 1x a week and the whole system is based around getting stronger for reps. The only problem might be that for example my upper chest would shrink when my chest exercise is declines and my lower chest shrinks when it’s incline. What do you all think?

2

[quote]deadliftgoal500 wrote:
Alright, so the way I am I love high frequency training, love short workouts and am a PR junkie. I’ve tried regular splits (Chest one day, back another) and could never get into them simply for the fact that it would mean doing 4 or more exercises a day and having to wait a week before I trained a bodypart again. So what I’ve thought of is this:

Push: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Pull: Back Width, Back Thickness, Biceps
Legs: Hamstrings, Quads (I hate training calves lol, can just never get myself to care about them.)

Each bodypart gets one exercise. Current split is:

Push: Decline Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Press, Floor Press
Pull: Chin Up, Rack Pull, Incline Dumbbell Curl
Legs: Lying Leg Curl, Front Squat

Each exercise is ramped and done for one main set where I try to PR by either reps or weights. The plan is to keep on getting stronger on an exercise until it stalls out–whether that be one month or one year–afterwhich I replace it. So for Decline Dumbbell Press for example, I would replace it with Incline Dumbbell Press, Rack Pulls would be replaced with a row, Inc. Dumb. Curls would be replaced with Preacher Hammers (more Brachialis focused), Leg Curls would be replaced with RDL’s, Front Squats would be replaced with legpress, etc.

So is there any reason this wouldn’t work? For me, this literally is the PERFECT split, as there’s only 3 exercises per session, frequency would be more than 1x a week and the whole system is based around getting stronger for reps. The only problem might be that for example my upper chest would shrink when my chest exercise is declines and my lower chest shrinks when it’s incline. What do you all think?[/quote]

reminds me of DC training… I like the idea of higher frequency training, im working on increasing my work capacity (squatting 2x a week now and training calves 3x a week)

it’s impossible to answer your question however…as no one will know your work capacity, ability to recover, sleep pattern, diet, supplements, “assistance”… etc…

id suggest you give it a shot and judge for yourself. be sure to stretch and foam roll a lot

one last thing… there’s no “upper” or “lower” chest

3

well not upper/lower but clavicular and sternal yes

4

[quote]Matias A. wrote:
well not upper/lower but clavicular and sternal yes[/quote]

indeed

5

[quote]deadliftgoal500 wrote:
Alright, so the way I am I love high frequency training, love short workouts and am a PR junkie. I’ve tried regular splits (Chest one day, back another) and could never get into them simply for the fact that it would mean doing 4 or more exercises a day and having to wait a week before I trained a bodypart again. So what I’ve thought of is this:

Push: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Pull: Back Width, Back Thickness, Biceps
Legs: Hamstrings, Quads (I hate training calves lol, can just never get myself to care about them.)

Each bodypart gets one exercise. Current split is:

Push: Decline Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Press, Floor Press
Pull: Chin Up, Rack Pull, Incline Dumbbell Curl
Legs: Lying Leg Curl, Front Squat

Each exercise is ramped and done for one main set where I try to PR by either reps or weights. The plan is to keep on getting stronger on an exercise until it stalls out–whether that be one month or one year–afterwhich I replace it. So for Decline Dumbbell Press for example, I would replace it with Incline Dumbbell Press, Rack Pulls would be replaced with a row, Inc. Dumb. Curls would be replaced with Preacher Hammers (more Brachialis focused), Leg Curls would be replaced with RDL’s, Front Squats would be replaced with legpress, etc.

So is there any reason this wouldn’t work? For me, this literally is the PERFECT split, as there’s only 3 exercises per session, frequency would be more than 1x a week and the whole system is based around getting stronger for reps. The only problem might be that for example my upper chest would shrink when my chest exercise is declines and my lower chest shrinks when it’s incline. What do you all think?[/quote]

i am on similar setup for past 1 yr or so… reason i got on was ‘lack of time’ and then to an extent it feed to my mindset of staying pump through out the week…lol.

in seriousness though, it will work,… u will get strong and gain size…of course u will have to eat and rest for it.

One thing i would highlight would be include a bit of accessory movements here and there to keep things in balance… i added side laterals / up right rows to keep my lateral delts in check plus the usual DB/BB millitery pressing.

Also as some one mentioned… this concept is one of the corner stones of DC training and then BossHogg… and i am sure many more.

6

[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:

[quote]Matias A. wrote:
well not upper/lower but clavicular and sternal yes[/quote]

indeed[/quote]

Haha my bad.

7

I’m doing something very similar, and have been for awhile, and it’s worked really well.

You need to be aware of your ego though. If getting another rep means you had to throw form out the window and you don’t feel the muscle even working, can you really call that ‘progress’?

Not saying you have to do super controlled, light weight shit. But look at how John Meadows, Dave Tate, AV, when they train together, do their reps. The don’t lockout, keep tension on the muscle, and stay in the middle 80% of the ROM.

They also do the reps in a ‘piston’ style fashion, not widowmakering everything with like 8 breathes between each rep lol (which I had a tendency to do when my only sole goal was to 'beat the log book).

You’ll be able to train hard and heavy, WITH increased frequency for longer doing that, at least in my experience.

8

I’ve been doing that split for a year or so, it’s my favorite. Check it out in my log if you want ideas, but I don’t have a good answer about what type of volume you should go with.

I have recently switched it to be legs/push/pull because I want my squat to stop sucking. It’s a great template to work around IMO. A push day would like like this for me
5/3/1 bench
heavy 2nd movement i.e. incline bench 6, 6, 6
lighter 3rd movement ie. dips 3x10 or 5x10 depending how I’m feeling
bunch of different tricep extensions
bunch of different lateral and front raises

I think the main thing for me is just to emphasize what you need to emphasize, and split things up properly…lower back for me gets hit with legs, while traps/rear delt get hit on pull day

9

A lot of this will come down to you learning what works for you over time. Just my experience, but as my strength level has increased I’ve had to change things up significantly. When I was a noob (first two years), I was hitting everything 3x/week, first six months with a made-up split (bad idea), then for roughly 1.5yrs with the Big Beyond Belief program.

To use my squat as the reference point, that got me to the low-to-mid 300s for my high rep sets.

I started stalling significantly around the time I got to 350 for my highest rep set. Then I knew after a couple of months that I would need to change things. Went to push-pull-legs like you are describing, which got my squat to the 400 range.

Right now, my work sets are in the low-to-mid 400s (for fewer reps), and I’ve found that now I’m doing push-pull-legs but with one heavy and one ‘moderate’ day for the pull and legs days. And that’s where I’m at now. At some point, I may end up needing to either go to a body part split or do a heavy and light day instead of heavy/moderate.

Which is all just a longer way of saying not to be afraid to experiment–try what you’ve outlined and listen to your body. It’s your journey–no one else’s–so make sure you believe in and like what you’re doing.

10

[quote]deadliftgoal500 wrote:

[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:

[quote]Matias A. wrote:
well not upper/lower but clavicular and sternal yes[/quote]

indeed[/quote]

Haha my bad. [/quote]

Walkway’s playing semantics and I have no idea why.

11

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

[quote]deadliftgoal500 wrote:

[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:

[quote]Matias A. wrote:
well not upper/lower but clavicular and sternal yes[/quote]

indeed[/quote]

Haha my bad. [/quote]

Walkway’s playing semantics and I have no idea why. [/quote]

i feel like noobies get too caught up in the minutia when it comes to training… upper/lower/inner/outer etc. creating muscles that dont even exist, and ways to “work” them… doing all sorts of bizarre angles etc.

idk maybe its just me… but weight dipsed with a good stretch and wide grip have filled out my chest (to its genetic potential) better than any sort of incline/other press.

12

[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
i feel like noobies get too caught up in the minutia when it comes to training… upper/lower/inner/outer etc. creating muscles that dont even exist, and ways to “work” them…
[/quote]

I think this is mostly true, but not fully so. Looking back at me when I was a noob, I think I was fine focusing on mostly compound movements, but there were certain ‘angles’ (which can effectively translate to ‘muscles’) that I inadvertently neglected. Not doing lateral raises for the first year or so stands out in my head as an example.