[coastbeats]

Basically, I've been going to the gym for 6 months now and I haven't seen the changes that I've wanted. I'm a 17 year old boy with a body fat percentage of around 17% and I weigh approximately 81 kgs (I'm 181 cms/5'11 tall).

With the start of the school year, I will be going to the gym everyday. I have made a plan, including a six meal diet plan, which I will follow. It includes working out a specific muscle(s) e.g. chest and triceps on a particular day followed by a day of high intensity cardio and abs. I won't be overworking a muscle and I will also have the HIIT cardio to lose that extra fat. I've also got my protein whey ready too.

If I stick to it I know I will see results but while I was making the workout programme, I started to wonder if Isolation is actually the most effective way of gaining muscle. I want to ask if an 8 day programme with specific muscles worked every other day is actually effective. Or should I just do the squats, deads and bench every other day?

I would really appreciate your thoughts and past experiences. Thank you

Here's what my 8 day split looks like:

Day 1 Legs
Day 2 Cardio and Abs
Day 3 Shoulders and Traps
Day 4 Cardio
Day 5 Back, Biceps and Forearms
Day 6 Cardio and Abs
Day 7 Chest and Triceps
Day 8 Rest

[RawJoh1]

(Original post by coastbeats)
Basically, I've been going to the gym for 6 months now and I haven't seen the changes that I've wanted. I'm a 17 year old boy with a body fat percentage of around 17% and I weigh approximately 81 kgs (I'm 181 cms/5'11 tall).

With the start of the school year, I will be going to the gym everyday. I have made a plan, including a six meal diet plan, which I will follow. It includes working out a specific muscle(s) e.g. chest and triceps on a particular day followed by a day of high intensity cardio and abs. I won't be overworking a muscle and I will also have the HIIT cardio to lose that extra fat. I've also got my protein whey ready too.

If I stick to it I know I will see results but while I was making the workout programme, I started to wonder if Isolation is actually the most effective way of gaining muscle. I want to ask if an 8 day programme with specific muscles worked every other day is actually effective. Or should I just do the squats, deads and bench every other day?

I would really appreciate your thoughts and past experiences. Thank you

Here's what my 8 day split looks like:

Day 1 Legs
Day 2 Cardio and Abs
Day 3 Shoulders and Traps
Day 4 Cardio
Day 5 Back, Biceps and Forearms
Day 6 Cardio and Abs
Day 7 Chest and Triceps
Day 8 Rest

I think you're confusing the isolation vs compound issue with the full-body vs split issue.

A bodypart split should still have lots of compound work.

So 'chest/tris' day might look like

Bench press (compound)
Incline DB press (compound)
Flyes (isolation)
Tricep pushdowns (isolation)

Any decent routine will have lots of focus on the big compound lifts.

As to whether you will get bigger on full body routines, sure - if you eat right and work hard. Will it be optimal as opposed to a bodypart split? Dunno.

[Illidan_Stormrage]

There are muscles which need to be isolated if you want to get the best growth out of them. These would include but aren't limited to biceps, calves, rear and side delts. You don't have to choose between compound and isolation as you can do both with no consequence. You can't get rid of the fat with HIIT as long as you are gaining weight as you are still in calorie surplus. If you are worried about fat gains then limit the amount of weight you are gaining each week to 0.5 pounds. A full body split would be optimal but you also have to consider whether or not you enjoy the routine. I would not recommend a bro split like the one you are doing as your muscles would go through a lot of dead time before they are worked again.

[Old School]

(Original post by coastbeats)
x

OP, wrt training do something like stronglifts or an upper/lower split. You'll get better results at your level.

[HFerguson]

Do a beginner's routine, starting strength (as clichéd as it is), strong lifts, maybe WestSide 4 skinny bastards; do a high intensity low volume routine. Stick to the compounds as the CORE of your workout, with a few isolations if needed or appropriate. Eat ENOUGH i.e. a 500kcal surplus. Get strong for 6 months, then consider a muscle-building specific routine. As a beginner and being weak as piss, getting strong WILL put muscle on you. If you haven't seen any changes, you probably haven't eaten enough.

Don't try to gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time - if you don't compromise, you won't make anywhere near decent-progress in either goal. Your problem is that you probably tried to do both.

[Illidan_Stormrage]

You don't need a level of strength before you being hypertrophy. You just need to get stronger on whatever exercises you choose.

[ceris]

(Original post by coastbeats)
Basically, I've been going to the gym for 6 months now and I haven't seen the changes that I've wanted. I'm a 17 year old boy with a body fat percentage of around 17% and I weigh approximately 81 kgs (I'm 181 cms/5'11 tall).

With the start of the school year, I will be going to the gym everyday. I have made a plan, including a six meal diet plan, which I will follow. It includes working out a specific muscle(s) e.g. chest and triceps on a particular day followed by a day of high intensity cardio and abs. I won't be overworking a muscle and I will also have the HIIT cardio to lose that extra fat. I've also got my protein whey ready too.

If I stick to it I know I will see results but while I was making the workout programme, I started to wonder if Isolation is actually the most effective way of gaining muscle. I want to ask if an 8 day programme with specific muscles worked every other day is actually effective. Or should I just do the squats, deads and bench every other day?

I would really appreciate your thoughts and past experiences. Thank you

Here's what my 8 day split looks like:

Day 1 Legs
Day 2 Cardio and Abs
Day 3 Shoulders and Traps
Day 4 Cardio
Day 5 Back, Biceps and Forearms
Day 6 Cardio and Abs
Day 7 Chest and Triceps
Day 8 Rest

If you want to do a bodypart split that's fine, I made great gains on a 5 day split.

But as a beginner you really dont need much isolation, you should be focusing on the big lifts and getting strong as hell in them. By all means do some bicep curls or some calf raises on the relevant days but if you start substituting the effort or volume you put into compounds with isos, you're gonna have a bad time...