Hypertrophy only routine?
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Original post by BCcfc92
Skullcrushers or overhead tricep extensions are fine but stay away from machines!
Skullcrushers or overhead tricep extensions are fine but stay away from machines!
If you have no squat rack and your options are smith squat or leg press i.e. both machines, surely the smith squat is better? I presume he has no squat rack or there is no reason for squats not to be in his routine.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by WoodyMKC
In regards to hamstring work - they're used for explosive moment, fast-twitch dominant and should be trained with heavy sets. Same with the glutes. It's actually the hams that are used in explosive moments like jumping and sprinting - this is why you hear of sprinters and jumpers injuring their hamstrings, but don't hear of torn quads from practicing their sport. Whereas the quads are used for endurance activities that require slow-twitch fibers that'll hold out for extended periods of time; 26 mile cycling for example, no way anyone would be doing that stuff if powered by fast-twitch muscles 
As I suggested above though, I'd recommend he still do a 5x5 leg press to complement the high rep squat.
As I suggested above though, I'd recommend he still do a 5x5 leg press to complement the high rep squat.It isn't as black and white as that. It is a misconception that hamstring tears are caused by problems within the hamstrings. On the contrary, it is usually to do with the synergist structures - usually tight hip flexors, inhibited glutes not firing properly with the upper hammies taking over, a weak anti-extension anteiror core which is it's main function (too many crunches as opposed to ab roll outs) and a kyphotic shoulder girdle, which manefests itself to dysfunction. The prescription for all of these problems and knee problems also includes knee flexion work - ie glute-ham raises and sliding leg curls which is always done with a slow eccentric component, as well as strong abductors/flexible hip flexors - we strengthen the hip flexors too much as we are sitting all day, with weak glutes on the back. It is not really to do with the way we train hamstrings, but more the fact that we sit down slumped on a desk or couch for most of the day. Extended knees, extended hips and an upright shoulder girdle/neck = healthier bodies. This includes hamstring tears and ACLs tears... both can be caused by similar structural problems.
We should be talking about movement patterns as opposed to muscles. The hamstrings have two functions - hip extension, shared with glutes, which is always fast twitch, along with knee flexion - which is slow twitch and resists excessive knee extension. Quads only extend - can be fast twitch or slow twitch dependent on what you train them for. Look at Chris Hoy - purely fast twitch (massive quads) and a skinny Mark Cavendish or Bradley Wiggins (fairly big quads compared to average, but skinny everywhere else - the cycling argument doesn't work - they are only big because the volume is just ridiculous and they train for strength there for the hills - but they need muscle nowhere else). Glutes are also used for external rotation and resist the knee valgus (caving in) which is also slow twitch, so grouping muscles in such a manner isn't the right thing to do.
I've read up on this as I've recently torn my ACL - possibly because I stuck to lots of deadlifts, RDLs, squats and lunges with little emphasis of mobility (stretching, self-myofascial release, posture care) or rounded athletic programming - not enough hip thrusts, eccentric knee flexion work, hip abduction/glute activation work, unilateral leg work, too much sitting and slouching - and it makes senses... people glutes are very inhibited and taking over by the upper hamstring. I can deadlift and RDL a ton but I'm not so good at hip thrusts. Back squats are strong too but it's hard for me to do a perfect front squat without rounding my back and keeping my knees out due to mobility but because of practice, it is better than most... along with a lordotic/kyphotic posture. That, and a bit of bad luck.
We can agree that all lower body musculature can be trained with low and high reps to varying degrres - I've highlighted 4 functions.
In regards to OP, he is not an athlete so this is all pointless and geeky knowledge, given that I have never studied anything to do with this - all my own research! On the whole, for hip extension (deadlifts, rdls, hip thrusts, good mornings) and knee extension movements (squats, lunges, leg press) should be trained with a mixture of high intensity (1-5 reps, mainly for strength, but 5x5 is enough volume for hypertrophy) and mid intensity (8-15, 20 rep squats can have a place but probably not for a beginner). Knee flexion should be trained for 6-15 reps but with a 3 sec eccentric as should any direct hip abduction work, but they are better to be trained with lateral lunges, single leg work, lateral band walks etc with maybe a few clams/abductions.
I have no right to know all of that
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by illusionz
If you have no squat rack and your options are smith squat or leg press i.e. both machines, surely the smith squat is better? I presume he has no squat rack or there is no reason for squats not to be in his routine.
A smith machine squat is not a squat. Leg press is less likely to screw up his body. Squats aren't always necessary for hypertrophy anyway... rear foot elevated split squats are shown to be just as effective anyway. Leg press is fine. OP, get started.
If I'm not hitting chest enough doing DB flat bench and DB incline bench 1.5 times a week should i add some flies as well on workout A? Or just scrap this routine and do a body-split?
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Original post by JimmyGatz
If I'm not hitting chest enough doing DB flat bench and DB incline bench 1.5 times a week should i add some flies as well on workout A? Or just scrap this routine and do a body-split?
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The problem is that it's not just that you need to add flies. You need to add more arm isolation, you're doing 0 shoulder work (wait while some noob comes and tells you that your shoulders are hit sufficiently by benching
), etc.The routine you're doing is basically ICF, right? It's pretty good for beginners who want to gain size and strength. I wouldn't say its the best for somebody who literally wants pure size and aesthetics though.
Above all, as has already been mentioned, effort and diet will play a bigger part in your success. If you work HARD, maintain progressive overload and nail your diet, you will see good results regardless.
Thanks for the help BCcfc92 btw!
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Original post by Arturo Bandini
The problem is that it's not just that you need to add flies. You need to add more arm isolation, you're doing 0 shoulder work (wait while some noob comes and tells you that your shoulders are hit sufficiently by benching ), etc.
The routine you're doing is basically ICF, right? It's pretty good for beginners who want to gain size and strength. I wouldn't say its the best for somebody who literally wants pure size and aesthetics though.
Above all, as has already been mentioned, effort and diet will play a bigger part in your success. If you work HARD, maintain progressive overload and nail your diet, you will see good results regardless.
), etc.The routine you're doing is basically ICF, right? It's pretty good for beginners who want to gain size and strength. I wouldn't say its the best for somebody who literally wants pure size and aesthetics though.
Above all, as has already been mentioned, effort and diet will play a bigger part in your success. If you work HARD, maintain progressive overload and nail your diet, you will see good results regardless.
The shoulder work is lacking, I agree, but I'm doing 5x5 overhead presses 1.5 times a week so it's not 0 shoulder work. I could add some lateral/front raises to workout B? It's kinda ICF, but not really. I would do ICF if my gym wasn't so **** so I have to make do with what I have.
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Original post by BCcfc92
.
Well I've certainly gained some more knowledge on leg muscle-makeup today
You're right about the size of quads vs cycling being redundant, I mean someone like Chris Hoy also did a lot of leg training in the gym to build power hence the big quads, whereas long distance cyclists tend to not do resistance training and don't develop significant quad size - in short, cycling shouldn't be used as an example of what builds mass, and in my example I was pointing out that quads are designed to endure lengthy but moderate work. I'm definitely with you on varying your rep range for legs - I think I mentioned to you in another thread about my knee joint issues, so I use light weight and high reps for squats, whereas I go heavy on other quad movements. Likewise, heavy SLDLs, medium single leg curls and light leg curls are all in my routine. I always use 2-3 second negative/eccentric reps on every exercise tbh - when it comes to bodybuilding/gaining mass/whatever you wanna call it, the negative phase of the lift is often grossly overlooked in terms of a method to increase time under tension and cause a greater degree of microtrauma on each rep.(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by JimmyGatz
The shoulder work is lacking, I agree, but I'm doing 5x5 overhead presses 1.5 times a week so it's not 0 shoulder work. I could add some lateral/front raises to workout B? It's kinda ICF, but not really. I would do ICF if my gym wasn't so **** so I have to make do with what I have.
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Oh yeah I didn't see the OHP. Just do it then. Switch the curls in workout B for lateral raises, and add more arm work and flies when and if you have time.
The thing is OP, aiming to get "aesthetic" by a certain date is gonna hinder you if you worry about that deadline too much. The main thing with training is that in time you are gonna learn for yourself what works for you and what doesn't, what you need to train more and what you don't, what you need to eat, etc. So the best thing is to pick something half decent and get started and accept that you will make mistakes and improvements along the way.
Original post by Arturo Bandini
The thing is OP, aiming to get "aesthetic" by a certain date is gonna hinder you if you worry about that deadline too much. The main thing with training is that in time you are gonna learn for yourself what works for you and what doesn't, what you need to train more and what you don't, what you need to eat, etc. So the best thing is to pick something half decent and get started and accept that you will make mistakes and improvements along the way.
That's good advice mate. Im not really setting myself a deadline haha I know that becoming "aesthetic" is a very long process. I'm just trying to best results possible with the equipment I have .
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Original post by BCcfc92
Sorry, bad advice. 2-3 times a week is optimal and DOMS is usually an indication that you are working out too infrequently. You should feel a little weaker for 1-2 days generally but that's it after the initial stage of being sore for the first week on a new programme.
Sorry, bad advice. 2-3 times a week is optimal and DOMS is usually an indication that you are working out too infrequently. You should feel a little weaker for 1-2 days generally but that's it after the initial stage of being sore for the first week on a new programme.
I didn't say anything about DOMS.
You can't train chest three times a week, and train shoulders one-two times a week, plus whatever tricep work you're doing, if you're training hard, you simply don't have the recovery. There are exceptions to that, and I consider myself to be one of the exceptions, however the OP most certainly is not.
You may well be able to hit chest three times a week and shoulders one-two times a week if you're training in an ABA rotation, that is pointless to the OP, as;
A) he has no access to equipment required for it to be beneficial (it's pointless unless you can do heavy squats, deads and bench). And;
B) OP only really cares about hypertrophy, therefore a he needs to tear the muscle fibres, rest and repeat. That isn't possible when you're training the same muscles near enough every day (by the time you're hit chest a few times, shoulders a few times and you've hit triceps, everything is getting worked near enough everyday). It's possible when you are only doing a few heavy working sets, and not training to failure/close to it, however that isn't particularly conducive to hypertrophy.
OP, like I recommended a few weeks-a month ago, stop trying to recreate your own version of ICF, as it just isn't going to happen. For example, leg press is not a valid substitute for heavy squats.
If you want hypertrophy, get yourself on a hypertrophy oriented body part split. How you split it is somewhat up to you, as people prefer different things. Although start with something like:
Chest + tricep volume
Back/traps + bicep volume
Day off
Legs
Shoulders + arms(heavy)
Then either two days off and run it as a seven day rotation, or one day off and run it as a six day rotation. I would start with a seven day rotation, at least until you get into the groove of things, and then you can increase the frequency.
The key to hypertrophy is stretch/contraction of the muscle, along with volume and intensity. Volume/intensity is a balancing act, as too much volume results in low intensity, and too much intensity results in low volume, as you simply burn out.
Set wise, everybody is different, a general starting point to remember... Legs get the most, then back, then chest, then shoulders, and then arms.
Perhaps start with something like:
Legs: 15 sets
Back: 12 sets
Chest: 10 sets
Shoulders: 8
Arms: 6 sets
Exercise wise, you can get a lot out of only a few exercises, it's all in the variables and how you tweak them (weight, rep range, tempo). Take my blog for example, I don't do many exercises at all, I do lots of the same but with different variables. For example, I do 12-15 sets for chest, and it's literally just flat/incline bench, with different variables.
Original post by Scoobiedoobiedo
I didn't say anything about DOMS.
You can't train chest three times a week, and train shoulders one-two times a week, plus whatever tricep work you're doing, if you're training hard, you simply don't have the recovery. There are exceptions to that, and I consider myself to be one of the exceptions, however the OP most certainly is not.
You may well be able to hit chest three times a week and shoulders one-two times a week if you're training in an ABA rotation, that is pointless to the OP, as;
A) he has no access to equipment required for it to be beneficial (it's pointless unless you can do heavy squats, deads and bench). And;
B) OP only really cares about hypertrophy, therefore a he needs to tear the muscle fibres, rest and repeat. That isn't possible when you're training the same muscles near enough every day (by the time you're hit chest a few times, shoulders a few times and you've hit triceps, everything is getting worked near enough everyday). It's possible when you are only doing a few heavy working sets, and not training to failure/close to it, however that isn't particularly conducive to hypertrophy.
OP, like I recommended a few weeks-a month ago, stop trying to recreate your own version of ICF, as it just isn't going to happen. For example, leg press is not a valid substitute for heavy squats.
If you want hypertrophy, get yourself on a hypertrophy oriented body part split. How you split it is somewhat up to you, as people prefer different things. Although start with something like:
Chest + tricep volume
Back/traps + bicep volume
Day off
Legs
Shoulders + arms(heavy)
Then either two days off and run it as a seven day rotation, or one day off and run it as a six day rotation. I would start with a seven day rotation, at least until you get into the groove of things, and then you can increase the frequency.
The key to hypertrophy is stretch/contraction of the muscle, along with volume and intensity. Volume/intensity is a balancing act, as too much volume results in low intensity, and too much intensity results in low volume, as you simply burn out.
Set wise, everybody is different, a general starting point to remember... Legs get the most, then back, then chest, then shoulders, and then arms.
Perhaps start with something like:
Legs: 15 sets
Back: 12 sets
Chest: 10 sets
Shoulders: 8
Arms: 6 sets
Exercise wise, you can get a lot out of only a few exercises, it's all in the variables and how you tweak them (weight, rep range, tempo). Take my blog for example, I don't do many exercises at all, I do lots of the same but with different variables. For example, I do 12-15 sets for chest, and it's literally just flat/incline bench, with different variables.
You can't train chest three times a week, and train shoulders one-two times a week, plus whatever tricep work you're doing, if you're training hard, you simply don't have the recovery. There are exceptions to that, and I consider myself to be one of the exceptions, however the OP most certainly is not.
You may well be able to hit chest three times a week and shoulders one-two times a week if you're training in an ABA rotation, that is pointless to the OP, as;
A) he has no access to equipment required for it to be beneficial (it's pointless unless you can do heavy squats, deads and bench). And;
B) OP only really cares about hypertrophy, therefore a he needs to tear the muscle fibres, rest and repeat. That isn't possible when you're training the same muscles near enough every day (by the time you're hit chest a few times, shoulders a few times and you've hit triceps, everything is getting worked near enough everyday). It's possible when you are only doing a few heavy working sets, and not training to failure/close to it, however that isn't particularly conducive to hypertrophy.
OP, like I recommended a few weeks-a month ago, stop trying to recreate your own version of ICF, as it just isn't going to happen. For example, leg press is not a valid substitute for heavy squats.
If you want hypertrophy, get yourself on a hypertrophy oriented body part split. How you split it is somewhat up to you, as people prefer different things. Although start with something like:
Chest + tricep volume
Back/traps + bicep volume
Day off
Legs
Shoulders + arms(heavy)
Then either two days off and run it as a seven day rotation, or one day off and run it as a six day rotation. I would start with a seven day rotation, at least until you get into the groove of things, and then you can increase the frequency.
The key to hypertrophy is stretch/contraction of the muscle, along with volume and intensity. Volume/intensity is a balancing act, as too much volume results in low intensity, and too much intensity results in low volume, as you simply burn out.
Set wise, everybody is different, a general starting point to remember... Legs get the most, then back, then chest, then shoulders, and then arms.
Perhaps start with something like:
Legs: 15 sets
Back: 12 sets
Chest: 10 sets
Shoulders: 8
Arms: 6 sets
Exercise wise, you can get a lot out of only a few exercises, it's all in the variables and how you tweak them (weight, rep range, tempo). Take my blog for example, I don't do many exercises at all, I do lots of the same but with different variables. For example, I do 12-15 sets for chest, and it's literally just flat/incline bench, with different variables.
Wow, thanks. You've clearly taken a lot of time and thought to reply to me (annoying) questions. Appreciated. So just to confirm, take chest for example: it's better to have one day a week focused on 4/5 different chest exercises than 2/3 chest exercises 1.5 times a week?
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Original post by JimmyGatz
Wow, thanks. You've clearly taken a lot of time and thought to reply to me (annoying) questions. Appreciated. So just to confirm, take chest for example: it's better to have one day a week focused on 4/5 different chest exercises than 2/3 chest exercises 1.5 times a week?
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When I say you can only train chest once a week, that is a fairly inaccurate blanket statement, to an extent, as you could easily hit it every 5 days or so, but when you factor in shoulders/triceps, that's what really stops you doing it more than once a week. The only way around that, is what I do, which is train chest/shoulders/triceps in the same workout, so that I can hit them all every 3-4 days, I wouldn't recommend that as you won't get a lot out of it, you'll just burn out.
How many exercises you do depends on what works for you. For example, I get nothing out of flyes/chest dips, so I don't do them and simply stick with incline/flat bench. Lots of people, and you may well be one of them, get a real great chest workout from them, in which case incorporate them.
If I were you I would destroy your chest one a week, with some tricep isolation thrown in at the end (slow and controlled skull crushers and cable work, focusing on getting a stretch and contraction) - Then on your shoulder day, go heavier on triceps, such as close grip bench press and dips.
Original post by Scoobiedoobiedo
When I say you can only train chest once a week, that is a fairly inaccurate blanket statement, to an extent, as you could easily hit it every 5 days or so, but when you factor in shoulders/triceps, that's what really stops you doing it more than once a week. The only way around that, is what I do, which is train chest/shoulders/triceps in the same workout, so that I can hit them all every 3-4 days, I wouldn't recommend that as you won't get a lot out of it, you'll just burn out.
How many exercises you do depends on what works for you. For example, I get nothing out of flyes/chest dips, so I don't do them and simply stick with incline/flat bench. Lots of people, and you may well be one of them, get a real great chest workout from them, in which case incorporate them.
If I were you I would destroy your chest one a week, with some tricep isolation thrown in at the end (slow and controlled skull crushers and cable work, focusing on getting a stretch and contraction) - Then on your shoulder day, go heavier on triceps, such as close grip bench press and dips.
How many exercises you do depends on what works for you. For example, I get nothing out of flyes/chest dips, so I don't do them and simply stick with incline/flat bench. Lots of people, and you may well be one of them, get a real great chest workout from them, in which case incorporate them.
If I were you I would destroy your chest one a week, with some tricep isolation thrown in at the end (slow and controlled skull crushers and cable work, focusing on getting a stretch and contraction) - Then on your shoulder day, go heavier on triceps, such as close grip bench press and dips.
I could add a cheeky wee incline bench on the shoulders day? :P sounds good mate, think I'll give this a go
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Original post by Scoobiedoobiedo
When I say you can only train chest once a week, that is a fairly inaccurate blanket statement, to an extent, as you could easily hit it every 5 days or so, but when you factor in shoulders/triceps, that's what really stops you doing it more than once a week. The only way around that, is what I do, which is train chest/shoulders/triceps in the same workout, so that I can hit them all every 3-4 days, I wouldn't recommend that as you won't get a lot out of it, you'll just burn out.
How many exercises you do depends on what works for you. For example, I get nothing out of flyes/chest dips, so I don't do them and simply stick with incline/flat bench. Lots of people, and you may well be one of them, get a real great chest workout from them, in which case incorporate them.
If I were you I would destroy your chest one a week, with some tricep isolation thrown in at the end (slow and controlled skull crushers and cable work, focusing on getting a stretch and contraction) - Then on your shoulder day, go heavier on triceps, such as close grip bench press and dips.
How many exercises you do depends on what works for you. For example, I get nothing out of flyes/chest dips, so I don't do them and simply stick with incline/flat bench. Lots of people, and you may well be one of them, get a real great chest workout from them, in which case incorporate them.
If I were you I would destroy your chest one a week, with some tricep isolation thrown in at the end (slow and controlled skull crushers and cable work, focusing on getting a stretch and contraction) - Then on your shoulder day, go heavier on triceps, such as close grip bench press and dips.
What are the back exercises I should do on the Tuesday. Bent over rows, chin-ups, seated cable rows (?) and lat pulldowns? I'm not very knowledgable of back exercises.
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Original post by Arturo Bandini
But even if he just does 1 work set of deadlifts, for a hypertrophy routine there isn't much need for more lower back work given all his warm up sets too.
That's because you don't really hit your chest all that much. A split would enable you to do your 5x5, plus your incline 3x8, plus some decline work, and a bunch of cable flies too.
I just think for BB stuff, you need more volume for each muscle group than you're giving right now. The guy above who thinks benching and chins are better than curls and pushdowns is wrong. The guy who thinks you should do skullcrushers instead is also wrong. What you should do is bench, pushdowns AND skullcrushers. And kickbacks too. And for biceps you'd be better off doing chins and about 10 sets of different types of curls. How are you gonna do all that on a full body ABA routine?
That's because you don't really hit your chest all that much. A split would enable you to do your 5x5, plus your incline 3x8, plus some decline work, and a bunch of cable flies too.
I just think for BB stuff, you need more volume for each muscle group than you're giving right now. The guy above who thinks benching and chins are better than curls and pushdowns is wrong. The guy who thinks you should do skullcrushers instead is also wrong. What you should do is bench, pushdowns AND skullcrushers. And kickbacks too. And for biceps you'd be better off doing chins and about 10 sets of different types of curls. How are you gonna do all that on a full body ABA routine?
Original post by Old School
lol. Don't be ridiculous.
Everything else you said was valid though.
OP effort trumps a good routine any day of the week. Just work reeeeel hard and eat properly and you should see some improvement.
Everything else you said was valid though.
OP effort trumps a good routine any day of the week. Just work reeeeel hard and eat properly and you should see some improvement.
Fair enough your both right tbh
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Seems highly inefficient. You haven't mentioned warm up sets and I doubt you'd be able to keep up the intensity.
Plus, 3 sets of leg press is simply not enough for legs.
Plus, 3 sets of leg press is simply not enough for legs.
Original post by WoodyMKC
Decent, but I'm not a fan of this A B alternating stuff. With this workout for example, if you alternate and work 3 days a week, then every other week you'll only be hitting the chest with 2 exercises, one day a week, for less than 50 reps total - not nearly enough volume tbh mate. Even dedicated HIT enthusiasts like Yates and Mentzer did more volume than that I'd say aim for about 100 reps per main group per week (chest, back, shoulders, arms, quads, hams - calves, abs and forearms should be given 1 or 2 exercises a week as well if you're going to train them). A bit more volume if you're more experienced but 120 should be enough for most. That's not to say do 4 sets of 30 and you'll grow haha, you obviously need to stick to appropriate rep ranges.
I also see no fatigue-based stuff to add that extra bit of "fluff" weight to your frame, which really should be in there if you want some hypertrophy. Maybe adding a 50% dropset to the last set of each exercise will not only be sufficient fatigue training, but might also help correct some volume issues.
I'm also a fan of squatting for sets of 20. Most people can likely get a better response from their quads by doing high-rep work as opposed to sets of 5, due to the fact that quads are generally predominantly made up of slow-twitch fibers. So if you don't have access to a squat rack, go for high reps and save the heavy sets for the leg press. Most people should have no trouble getting the bar onto and off of their shoulders for a back-squat if it's a weight that's something like 50-60% of their 1RM for squats.
I'd say aim for about 100 reps per main group per week (chest, back, shoulders, arms, quads, hams - calves, abs and forearms should be given 1 or 2 exercises a week as well if you're going to train them). A bit more volume if you're more experienced but 120 should be enough for most. That's not to say do 4 sets of 30 and you'll grow haha, you obviously need to stick to appropriate rep ranges.I also see no fatigue-based stuff to add that extra bit of "fluff" weight to your frame, which really should be in there if you want some hypertrophy. Maybe adding a 50% dropset to the last set of each exercise will not only be sufficient fatigue training, but might also help correct some volume issues.
I'm also a fan of squatting for sets of 20. Most people can likely get a better response from their quads by doing high-rep work as opposed to sets of 5, due to the fact that quads are generally predominantly made up of slow-twitch fibers. So if you don't have access to a squat rack, go for high reps and save the heavy sets for the leg press. Most people should have no trouble getting the bar onto and off of their shoulders for a back-squat if it's a weight that's something like 50-60% of their 1RM for squats.
What does your muscle split look like mate?
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Original post by JimmyGatz
I'm always changing up tbh mate, stops me getting bored
What I generally do is 10 weeks of a program, then do a deload week to make sure I recover 100%. Then start another program for another 10 weeks. If I liked the gains, I'll put the routine in safe-keeping to use again in the future. I always stick to the paramaters in my first post though whatever the routine i.e. a cumulative 100-120 reps per group each week and a mixture of both tension-based and fatigue-based training. Some of the programs are a bit unorthodox, but it's the weird ones that I've had good results from and that's what it's all about; doing what works for you.My last split was basically a 2 day split, 30-35 sets per workout. I've got decent stamina, but my recovery abilities aren't great so I figured I'd toy with the idea of training every 3-4 days whilst still keeping the volume up. It was a chest/shoulders/arms split on Mondays and a back/legs/forearms (tryna bring them up) split.
I'll definitely use this split again, made some decent gains and it was good to go into every workout feeling completely recovered, rather than my bis still feeling sore from my last workout or whatever.
Doing advanced GVT atm, did the original GVT before and loved it. Liking the advanced version just as much. I'm starting to think GVT is best incorporated as a technique in other programs rather than doing it as a program itself though. For example, doing GVT on your chest workouts and normal training on your back.
Next I'm looking at my own tweaked version of Heavy-Light-Medium training, which is a 3 day full-body split consisting of different rep/set ranges on each day. Interested to see how this one goes - people are quick to shun full-body workouts for more advanced lifters, but the truth is these were the norm before steroids were introduced and people could recover a lot quicker so they started playing with splits. The guys in those days had some incredible physiques.
The main tweak I've made is on 2x15 day - since the other 2 days are tension-based training, I figured I'd get some fatigue training in on the light day and instead of 2 sets of 15 I'll do 1 set with a dropset. Same volume, much more intense and fatigue/pump inducing.
(edited 10 years ago)
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is it possible to go from a size 16 [L] to a size 12 [M] in five months?Trending
Last reply 1 week ago
is it possible to go from a size 16 [L] to a size 12 [M] in five months?
