Suggestions for a M-W-F routine?

[eltigre]

Hi Tim and the rest of the board,

I found this board from the Ironage forum, 34 years old, been lifting for a while off and on.

I have come to realize that I do much better when training everything just once per week. It's been very hard to wrap my head around the idea that I can wipe out a muscle group and then not have to work it again for an entire 7-8 days.

However, it does feel best and I do come back stronger. I also need a day of rest after each hard session.

So that leaves me with a Monday, Wed, Friday schedule that would do just great.

Could I get some suggestions how some if you vets would set up your split on those days?

I was thinking of Chest & Back on Monday, Legs on Wed, then Shoulders & Arms on Friday. But then again Monday's Chest/Back workout is only 72 hours after hitting my shoulders & Arms so that may prevent full recovery.

Anyways, just my thoughts and would greatly appreciate the input from others.

Regards,

John

[Tim Wescott]

Hi John,welcome to the board......great to have you with us!

I would try a similar approach as the one you suggested............Chest & Back on Mondays,Legs on Wednesday,and Shoulders & Arms on Saturday......rest on Sunday & Monday,and start it over again on Tuesday, and just keep repeating this pattern.

This means that at times you would have to train on Sundays if that`s a possibilty,as the training days will vary.

Days are not uniform like a M,W,F,or T,Th,Sat, regimen, but you`ll get more recouperating time between chest/back and shoulders/arms.

[eltigre]

Thank you for the quick reply Tim.

I am ok with training any day of the week, especially with my gym 3 blocks from my house.

About your suggested set up, is it intended to have 2 days of rest after legs too?

Your suggested set up:

Monday: Chest, Back
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Legs
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Shoulders/Arms
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Rest
Tuesday........... Repeat with Chest/Back

[Tim Wescott]

OK,week # 1:
Mon.-Chest & Back
Tues.-REST
Wed.-Legs
Thurs.-REST
Fri.-REST
Sat.-Shoulders & Arms
Sun.-REST
Mon.-REST
Tues.-Chest & Back
Wed.-REST
Thurs.-Legs
Fri.-REST
Sat.-REST
Sun.-Shoulders & Arms
Mon.-REST
Tues.-REST
Wed.-Chest & Back
Thurs.-REST
Fri.-Legs
Sat.-REST
Sun.-REST
Mon.-Chrst & Back and so on.

Now I`m confused!! LOL #smileygrouplaugh5js#

[Tim Wescott]

At least this way you can recover and we only progress if and when we recover.

[eltigre]

Much thanks for the guidance Tim.

John

[Tim Wescott]

No problem John,I hope it`s a viable plan for you.

[RUBICON19]

DC training may be good avenue to try

[eltigre]

Or I could just keep it very simple with: Push/Legs/Pull

Also, Rubicon - I'll read up on DC training.

Thanks for the input,

John

[Intensity]

Hi and welcome John!

Since there is a lot of good possibilities… I would suggest you to set up your split in fonction of the muscles you need to priorize!

What are your strong and weak points?

Mo

[eltigre]

intensity said:

Hi and welcome John!
Since there is a lot of good possibilities… I would suggest you to set up your split in function of the muscles you need to prioritize!
What are your strong and weak points?
Mo

Thanks for chiming in Intensity. I look forward to your input.

As far as my strong and week points, I'd say that it may be a little too early to really know for sure. In other words, I could probably use an entire steady year of training with full dedication to see what is growing and what is not.

However, that being said, I can definitely tell you that my chest and arms are not as full as I would like them to be.

Even though I have a naturally lanky build - 6' 190 - about 12% BF which seems to be mostly covering my abs, my legs grow fast, my traps too, shoulders are naturally "capped", and my back thickens well with proper deadlifting.

So yeah, chest and arms are what I would love to see kicked up a notch.

Ps. I also know for a fact that my entire physique would look much more muscular if I was to loose the stomach fat.

Regards,

John

[beckie]

This is the split that I am doing currently:

Legs and shoulders
Back and triceps
Chest and biceps

I used to train chest with triceps and found the triceps took over too much so I swapped tem round and it made a huge difference

[mrky03]

I trained 3 days a week for years. This was one of my favorite splits:
mon. chest
shoulders
triceps

wed. thighs
hamstrings
calves

fri. back
traps
biceps

The push pull seems to facillitate recovery, but some people don't like training chest and shoulders together.

[RUBICON19]

I agree with Joel here (Surprise)...

Alot of people doent like that, but its all relative..

[Intensity]

From what you said, the 3 days split could look like this:

Chest - Back - Traps

Bis - Tris - Shoulders

Legs - Calves - Abs

In my opinion, when you train each muscle once a week, you should not worry about the recovery period because you have enough rest between each workouts to fully recover (even if some muscles are involved in more than one workout Ex: biceps or triceps)!

Mo

[eltigre]

Thanks Mo,

I was awaiting your reply and I appreciate the info. Today is Monday so I will start this split.

I do admit being overly concerned about getting enough recovery. Years ago I unfortunately got on the "Hardgainer" bandwagon and brainwashed myself into being a little paranoid about overtraining.

Regards,

John

[RUBICON19]

eltigre said:

Thanks Mo,

I was awaiting your reply and I appreciate the info. Today is Monday so I will start this split.

I do admit being overly concerned about getting enough recovery. Years ago I unfortunately got on the "Hardgainer" bandwagon and brainwashed myself into being a little paranoid about overtraining.

Regards,

John

Dont worry about overtraining. Training 3 days per week will be fine. Use abbreviated routines that are focused on weight progression.

[Intensity]

John, I believe Undereating is more frequent than Overtraining

Seriously, there is no one way to succed, but personnaly, I would rarely advise a natural athlete to work directly a muscle more often than every 4-5 days. If you like MAXIMAL intensity as I do (and recommand)… I would say that every 6-7 day is a good frequency. Again, i'm telling you, there is a lot of factors to consider (nutrition, intensity, volume, bodytype, your job, etc) so that's not the only way to train! I would also advise you not to stay with the same program, exercise, reps range, etc, for too long… I believe in the concept of variety!

In conclusion, even if muscles like triceps are worked inderectly during the week when doing chest, dont worry, it wont result in overtraining

Good luck, and feel free if you have any questions!

Mo

[intenceman]

Monday chest back. Wed delts arms. Fri legs abs. I did this for my first 4 contests and off season too. Worked pretty well.

[eltigre]

Well Yesterday was Chest & Back and since my training is more intense and with more volume, I think I would prefer to work these two muscle groups separately.

I am not stranger to the gym so I can generate a lot of intensity and take a good beating, so I may just add one more day to the routine.

To give you guys a better idea of what type of training that I have been doing over the last few years, or rather what type of "undertraining" that I have been doing, I was heavily influenced by the 2-3 total sets per bodypart training.

I am sure some guys can go into the gym and do a few sets of benches, rows, and squats - and grow, but not me.

Anyways... I am going to work the following routine:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Wed: Off
Thursday: Shoulders/Arms
Friday: Legs
Sat: Off
Sun: Off

Regards,

John