Hey,

I'm training for muscle building(and some strenght) for almost a year, right now I'm on A/B routine for 4 months, began cutting 2 weeks ago.
It takes me about 1 hour and 40 minutes to finish a workout, not warm up and stretches included, I know it's pretty long but I got good results and I could handle it.

But now my schedule has changed cuz of new job and it's hard to do these long workout, I prefer training for about 5-6 times a week but for shorter time.

I guess ABC routine would be classic choice, but still thinking on some more routines that maybe I should try...
I used to do once a month an ABCD weekly routine to change a bit, guess it can fit perfect into my schedule and the high intensity workout felt great, but is it good for a begginer to hit any muscle group just once a week?
another programs that I was thinking on is the Atlean-X one, Jeff look like someone who REALLY know what he's talking about, but I'm not sure if it's fit for building bigger muscle and if it has enough compound classic movements such as deadlift, squat... Anyone has experice with this routine?
Another workout is the P.H.A.T by Layne Norton, the combination of Strenght and Bodybuilding look great, someone tried it?

Just thinking about which routine should I choose between these... Would like to hear your recomendations.
Oh yea, I do belive in FBW and did it for most of the time I'm training but right now I want to try other routines, so don't offer it.

Tbh, it all comes down to trial and error. You need to try to see what works best for you. However, dont keep flip flopping your programs or else its gonna be hard to gauage your improvments. You said that ABCD works best for you so keep on that.

Hey man.

@Rishi_Ramsamooj is right, it's about finding what works for you. To do that, sometimes you have to stick with a routine for a while. How long did you do your ABCD workout for, and what did that contain? (What muscle groups were you working each day, sets, reps?)

And how did your AB routine go? How often were you using that in a week? Don't worry too much about the amount of time in the gym, worry about how you are using that time. If you're training multiple body parts, it's normal to take longer for a workout.

What are your new time constraints? Can you still workout 5-6 times a week, or do you have to reduce your time in the gym and the frequency of your training?

I haven't tried any of the workouts you suggested, but you can always try them each for 4-6 weeks and see what result you get.

Anyway, aside from your training, how is your MEAL PLAN? Have you calculated your macros so you know how much protein, carbs and fat you are getting each day? THat is paramount to building muscle.

Hope this helps! A bit more info and you can help us, help you

Jordan

If you are short on time, check out the holiday workout series I did. All the workouts can be done in under 45minutes. They are intense but will build some serious muscle if you really push yourself.

I will link to them below.

HOLIDAY WORKOUT SERIES

If you sign-up as a platinum member you can view all these routines in the ROUTINE section of the site and download the printable PDFs to take to the gym too

I'm not changing my routines that much...

Training 11 months, was on FBW and now AB for 4 months.

The ABCD was was just for changing a bit, did it for 2 weeks(seperatly, every 2 moths of the AB I did that routine).

I still can do 5-6 workout per week, but not of almost two hours, something about and hour or even a bit more would be fine.

About the ABCD, that work great for my schedule but I don't know if the low frecuancy would be a problem(especially for not advanced)

@ericsabag12 there is nothing wrong with an ABCD workout for someone who is not advanced, because it depends on how that person responds to training. When you are just starting out, it can be good to give your muscles more rest because they aren't used to training. It really depends on what fits your schedule as well.

In saying that, if you can still workout 5-6 times a week, you can still hit muscle groups twice a week. An hour is a long time when you think about it, and if you minimise your rest periods and maximise your working time, you will get great results.

Did you check out @Scott_Herman's link to his holiday workout series? Less than 45 minutes in the gym, and you are generally working more than one body part.

Check out this for example, it explains how you can get the most out of a workout in just an hour: http://muscularstrength.com/forums.php?pageAction=POSTS&subForumID=32&threadID=2137

So you could do an ABC workout, because the more often you train a muscle, the less sets you generally have to do in one session. If you do 10 sets of chest on your first workout, along with 6 sets of triceps, that is only 16 sets. You can accomplish that in an hour easily. Then, if you do that same workout again later in the week, you end up doing 20 sets for chest and 12 for triceps, which could be enough.

But again, if ABCD is working for you, there is nothing wrong with keeping at it.

Does that help you out?

Jordan

I know Scott's holiday routine, already tried some of the ideas there.

Doesn't abc more recommended than abcd for a begginner?

Leaving what fit the schedule...

Here is a good example for a beginner: http://muscularstrength.com/article/Beginners-Hypertrophy-Program-muscle-gain

So yes, ABC is one of the best regimes for someone who is somewhat new to training.

It really comes down to experimentation. Now that you are nearly a year into your fitness journey, you might decide to try and ABCD workout and take a look at how your body responds. Stay on it for 4-6 weeks, then try doing an ABC type workout for 4-6 weeks as well.

See how you feel, how your body looks, whether or not you have made more gains with one routine than the other, and then you should have your answer as to which one works best for you.

Also, if you did do an ABCD for 5-6 days, there are plenty of options to fill in the extra two days you have. You could dedicate one of those days to a full body workout, which in a way means you still work every muscle group twice a week. Then on the other day, you could dedicate that to cardio - maybe something quick like HIIT would be best to fit your schedule, or you could go for a steady 30-45 minute minute run.

But you could also take two rest days, which would only leave you with one extra day to do something with. You might even decide there is a particular body part that is lagging which you want to hit twice a week.

Does that help?

Jordan

Thanks man! You really help me.

Guess I'll try ABCD routine, what do you think about this split?

A: Back and Trapz

B: Chest and Calves

C: Bicep, Tricep and Forearm

D: Leg and Calves

Abs 4 times a week.

And one day for some bodyweight exercises cuz Im really suck at them.

Glad I can help!

That routine looks good, but where is you shoulder work? You should definitely work on your shoulders at some point. Maybe add them to your back and traps day.

I like your frequency of training abs...great stuff.

And doing body weight exercises is a great idea too. You can easily get a full body workout with things like push ups, pull ups, air squats, crunches etc.

Looks like you are on track man! #HTH

Jordan

Forgot writing avout the shoulders, they're on the legs day.

Began writing the rotine, I'll post it soon.

Forgot writing avout the shoulders, they're on the legs day.

Began writing the rotine, I'll post it soon.

Awesome stuff man!

Look forward to seeing it!

Here is the routine:

Sunday-

Back:

Pull Ups- 3xF

Deadlift/Rack Pulls- 3x4-6

Dumbbell Bent-Over Row 3x8-10

Face Pulls 3x10-12

One Arm Lat Pulldown- 3x8-10

Cable Seated Row 3x10-12

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown 2x40

Trapz:

Dumbbell Shrugs 4x10-12

Cable Shrugs 1x30

Monday-

Chest:

Barbell Bench Press 3x4-6

Dips 4xF

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3x8-10

High to Low Cable Fly 3x10-12

One Arm Cable Crossover 3x10-12

Dumbbell Bench Press 2x40

Calves:

Standing Calves Rises On Smith 3x10-12

Sitted Calves Rises 3x40

Tuesday-

Bicep:

Straight Bar Barbell Curls 3x6-8

Hammer Curls 3x8-10

Overhead Cable Curls 3x10-12

Dumbbell Stretch Incline Curls 3x10-12

Tricep:

Overhead Tricep Extension 3x6-8

Dumbbell Tricep Press 3x8-10

Rope Tricep Pushdown 3x10-12

Kickback 3x10-12

Forearm:

Tubing Wrist Curls 3x10-12

Tubing Reverse Wrist Curls 3x10-12

Wendsday-

Legs:

Squat 3x4-6

Leg Press 3x8-10

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift 3x8-10

Lunges 3x8-10

Leg Curls 3x10-12

Harm-Rises 3xF

Shoulders:

Arnold Press/Barbell Military Press 3x6-8

Cable Reverse Fly 3x10-12

Incline Dumbbell Front Raises 3x10-12

Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3x10-12

Cable Lateral Raises 2x30

Calves:

Sitted Calves Rises 3x40

Standing Calves Rises On Smith 3x10-12

I'm adding a lot of super sets to save time, on back training I'm super set Dumbbell Rows/Face Pulls and OM Lat Pulldown/Cable Seated Row.

On Tuesday supersating The Bicep and Tricep exercies, and wendsday the legs and shoulders.

What do you think about it?

and about the back workout, I'm really looking to work on the whole back equally for both width and thickness, did I built it right?

Honestly, I think that routine is great.

You target all aspects of the chest, you have exercises for quads, glutes and hamstrings, and you have the major compound lifts like bench press, deadlift, squat and military press.

For you biceps, are you doing exercises with both wide grip and close grip to work on both bicep heads?

As for your back routine, normally to target width you want to work with a wide grip (like your lat pulldown). So how many of those exercises are you using a wide grip for? I'd also add that one of the best exercises to build muscle AND strengthen the back is the T-Bar row. It's up to you though whether or not you add that in there. You will find the face pull is good for both the back and traps.

What are you doing for ab work?

I suppose one of the most important questions is...what results have you seen with this routine?

And don't forget, a programme is nothing without a meal plan!

Jordan

Glad to hear that :D

As I knew, the bicep's head is targeted by hammer or suppinated grip, no?

What would you change to close grip(for now I'm doing the barbell curl wide)? the only option is the barbell curl I guess, but on what does the other exercises work?

I mean... the overhead curl for example, does it count as close grip or wide grip?

As for the back, the pull up is wide grip too.

The T-Bar row is a great exercise that I was doing from the day I began training, so I just decided to change a bit.

For the abs I'm doing 6 sets for rectus abdominis, and 4 for oblique.

2 times a week doing weighted exericises for abdominis(like cable crunches), and body weight for oblique(lateral hanging leg raises, russian twist...).

and 2 times body weight for abdominis(leg raises, plank...) and weighted exersices for oblique(woodchoopers for example).

Really love to change a lot and burn it.

And of curse, counting my macros, and dont eat garbege(no white bread, sucar, fast food...).

Nmm... 200 gram proteins, 90 gram fats, 95 carbs. I'm 95 kg(and 192cm).