Ok, heres my problem: I need to work my chest twice a week or else I see no gains with it. I also decided to work my thighs twice a week to get rid of my chicken legs.
Now, however, I realize I should probably work my lats twice a week, too. But I’m already working out 4 days a week. I could incorporate a 5th day, but Im hesitant to do that. I have too many muscle groups to work and not enough time. Has anyone else ever had this problem??
it sounds like you need to bring up everything. i’d focus on having a good split. once you’ve added some size all over, you can start figuring out what body parts are lagging and what you need to focus on.
Er, so basically you’re a beginner? Sounds like EVERYTHING is a weak spot. Just work a 4-way split and progress, I think you’ll be fine. Alternatively, do the following split:
Horizontal upper push-pull
Squat-centered leg workout
Vertical upper push-pull
Deadlift-centered leg workout
And you can hit everything twice.
[quote]Bwick wrote:
Ok, heres my problem: I need to work my chest twice a week or else I see no gains with it. I also decided to work my thighs twice a week to get rid of my chicken legs. Now, however, I realize I should probably work my lats twice a week, too. But I’m already working out 4 days a week. I could incorporate a 5th day, but Im hesitant to do that. I have too many muscle groups to work and not enough time. Has anyone else ever had this problem?[/quote]
Perhaps you shouldn’t be hesitant?
It looks like an upper/lower split may work well, considering everything gets worked twice a week. You can add in a 5th day to work what you feel is lagging. Thats what I do right now. My 5th day I dedicated completely to arms because I don’t have time to work them during the week, so I pound them hard on that 5th day.
You could try using a normal 4 day split plus an extra day for one lagging body part for 6 weeks, then switch to the next lagging body part for 6 weeks, etc.
i have 3 rotational days: arms+chest, back, legs
i rotate them over a 2 on 1 off scheme
that way im able to everything ~2x a week (2x 8 days) and still have recovery time.
i also use A & B days with only one lower back taxing lift per A or B cycle
so for example in my A leg day i do RDLs
my B back day i do rack pulls
they have enough seperation so that im able to train legs after back.
i also only train 2 sets per muscle group. so i hit everything hard and often.
thing is though, you need to post more information. height+weight, current workout, food intake, etc.
I’m kind of on the same boat but mainly for upper chest and arms. I do light and heavy days for both.
You could try doing push/pull 2 days on 2days off.
Push: Squat, Bench, Military press + other shoulder and tricep work
Pull: Deadlift, Row, Pullups etc.
As many compound lifts as you can manage on each day, which is what you should be concentrating if you are a beginner/novice.
I did that for about 8 weeks at the start of the year and had fairly decent results. After 8 weeks I hit a plateau on strength gains on my squat and deadlift though and went back to a 3 day split.
yup!
I just started a push-pull the last couple weeks
I am liking it and i have found no problem with recovery times.
monday/thursday-pull
Some form of deadlift
rows: barbell/hammer strength/DB rows/t-bar rows
pull-ups
lat pulls
variations of bicep curl
Tuesday/Friday- Push
Incline BB bench
flat DB bench
decline skullcrushers
DB flies
overhead tricep rope extention
front squats
leg press
DB military press
lunges
it’s good, just make sure you eat/sleep enough.
[quote]JaX Un wrote:
yup!
I just started a push-pull the last couple weeks
I am liking it and i have found no problem with recovery times.
monday/thursday-pull
Some form of deadlift
rows: barbell/hammer strength/DB rows/t-bar rows
pull-ups
lat pulls
variations of bicep curl
Tuesday/Friday- Push
Incline BB bench
flat DB bench
decline skullcrushers
DB flies
overhead tricep rope extention
front squats
leg press
DB military press
lunges
it’s good, just make sure you eat/sleep enough.
[/quote]
Just wondering, but why does your push day have 4 more exercises than your pull day?
[quote]ErnestoHemingway wrote:
You could try doing push/pull 2 days on 2days off.
Push: Squat, Bench, Military press + other shoulder and tricep work
Pull: Deadlift, Row, Pullups etc.
As many compound lifts as you can manage on each day, which is what you should be concentrating if you are a beginner/novice.
I did that for about 8 weeks at the start of the year and had fairly decent results. After 8 weeks I hit a plateau on strength gains on my squat and deadlift though and went back to a 3 day split.[/quote]
^^^ This… You shouldn’t really be focusing on any type of isolation movements until you’ve reached your size/weight goal. Heavy compound lifts, olympic lifts, and also incorporate different types of pull ups into your workout i.e, wide pulls, close grip pulls, reverse grip chins, etc… You shouldn’t have to worry about focusing on your biceps/triceps directly if you are doing heavy push/pull excersises twice a week. If you aren’t sore and gaining, then you aren’t lifting heavy enough, eathing enough, or you aren’t doing it properly… Good luck
So I thought about it and figure maybe I’ll give the following split a try:
Day 1) legs and back
Day 2) off
Day 3) chest and biceps
Day 4) off
Day 5) back and hamstrings
Day 6) Triceps and shoulders
Day 7) off
Day 8) chest
Additional information: 6’4, 205 lbs., 300 grams of protein a day, which is probably about 4000-4500 calories a day…
Any thoughts or input in regards to my new split routine?
[quote]Bwick wrote:
So I thought about it and figure maybe I’ll give the following split a try:
Day 1) legs and back
Day 2) off
Day 3) chest and biceps
Day 4) off
Day 5) back and hamstrings
Day 6) Triceps and shoulders
Day 7) off
Day 8) chest
Additional information: 6’4, 205 lbs., 300 grams of protein a day, which is probably about 4000-4500 calories a day…
Any thoughts or input in regards to my new split routine?[/quote]
At 6ft 4 and 205 you must be pretty thin, no offence intended here. Hitting your chest twice a week seems pointless to me. You’d be far better off with a split where you squat and deadlift twice a week in my opinion, thats what’ll really add the meat to your frame.
lol@ 6’4 205
dude seriously, youre nowhere near the line of development to need any kind of advanced training
dont lift like a pussy and get bacon and bbq sauce on your cheeseburgers.
[quote]zohan2020 wrote:
ErnestoHemingway wrote:
You could try doing push/pull 2 days on 2days off.
Push: Squat, Bench, Military press + other shoulder and tricep work
Pull: Deadlift, Row, Pullups etc.
As many compound lifts as you can manage on each day, which is what you should be concentrating if you are a beginner/novice.
I did that for about 8 weeks at the start of the year and had fairly decent results. After 8 weeks I hit a plateau on strength gains on my squat and deadlift though and went back to a 3 day split.
^^^ This… You shouldn’t really be focusing on any type of isolation movements until you’ve reached your size/weight goal. Heavy compound lifts, olympic lifts, and also incorporate different types of pull ups into your workout i.e, wide pulls, close grip pulls, reverse grip chins, etc… You shouldn’t have to worry about focusing on your biceps/triceps directly if you are doing heavy push/pull excersises twice a week. If you aren’t sore and gaining, then you aren’t lifting heavy enough, eathing enough, or you aren’t doing it properly… Good luck
[/quote]
Though I believe a push/pull type split would work well for an individual, I don’t know why your telling him not to do any isolation movements?
Look, no one ever told him to FOCUS on them, but adding a few movements in at this period is critical. If he doesn’t, he’ll build a body thats not proportionate.
Likewise, adding isolation movements help to develop the mind muscle connection early on, which is IMHO, VERY important.
OP, a basic routine, like a push/pull split, upper/lower, whatever…will all work fine. Add in some isolation movements, as they are important.
Progression, consistency and effort are what you truly have to be worried about
ya…the reason i’m only 205 is because of my legs…i have long legs, so i need to put a lot of mass on them to make them look muscular (as opposed to a short guy)…if my lower body were proportionate to my upper body, i would weigh a good deal more…
double post…
ok so if i were to try a push/pull routine, I would do this 4 days a week and center around compound movements, correct?
So on push days I would focus on bench and squat, pull days focus on deadlift…someone wanna point me in the right direction, here? Which compound movements should I focus on during these sessions to add the most mass?
[quote]Bwick wrote:
ya…the reason i’m only 205 is because of my legs…i have long legs, so i need to put a lot of mass on them to make them look muscular (as opposed to a short guy)…if my lower body were proportionate to my upper body, i would weigh a good deal more…
[/quote]
so then why are you so worried about training your upper body twice a week?
see what you did there?
[quote]Bwick wrote:
double post…
ok so if i were to try a push/pull routine, I would do this 4 days a week and center around compound movements, correct?
So on push days I would focus on bench and squat, pull days focus on deadlift…someone wanna point me in the right direction, here? Which compound movements should I focus on during these sessions to add the most mass?[/quote]
On push days, yes, focus on bench, squats, shoulder presses, a triceps movement and a calve movement.
On Pull day, focus on deadlift, a row variation, a pullup/latpulldown variation (basically a pulling exercise in the vertical plane), a biceps and perhaps an ab movement.
This should serve you well in the long run. With these guidelines, you can stay on the push’pull split system for a while (making sure to change things every so often, but not too often).
Now, get to it!
I will start this push/pull split, but i really dont see how this is much different than what I have been doing as of late. The only real difference is that i will be doing deadlifts twice a week (I was only doing deadlifts once). Since I was working my chest and thighs twice a week, I was benching and squatting twice a week…