ok thinking about doing a new routine starting monday the program ive been using last three months ive got great results however i felt i need a change im thinking of doing this routine monday back and biceps tuesday chest and triceps legs wednesday back shoulders thrusday friday triceps and biceps i be throwing in abs twice a week as well what you guys think about the routine

Hey man!

I hate 5 day splits. They are just inferior to all other splits in terms of building muscle and strength. Full body workouts or upper body/lower body split or even push/pull/legs split are most beneficial and you will build muscle faster. If you choose to go for a 5 day split you will either build muscle much slower than you could, or you wont build any more muscle. As a beginner, everything can work for you but up until a certain point. You wont go far with a 5 day split. And thats because you are training each muscle group once a week and you are hammering it to death. So it will grow for the next 48 hours and then nothing for the rest of the week. If you train it 3 times a week though, it practically grows the whole week.

Most people who are not extremely advanced, see the most amount of results by just doing big compound movements for the whole body 3 times a week. Movements like the squat, deadlift, bench press, chinups, barbell row, dips, overhead press. Thats it. You dont need too much isolation work to build muscle.

All of the above is invalid if you are not natural of course.

#HTH!
Kostas

hey Sir Kostas, Thinking of changing my sessions from splits to compounds. Am i reading it right that say Monday, Wednesday and Friday I would repeat squat, deadlift, bench press, chinups, barbell row, dips, overhead press each day. Then on Tuesday and Friday CV work and work on abs?

People just think that high volume will build muscle. It will build no muscle if you are not progressing. And whats the best way to progress? Doing splits? Hell no. If you want to seriously progress with an exercise you have to do the exercise or a similar exercise at least 2 times a week, 3 would be best.

You would indeed go Monday, Wedneday and Friday but with some changes. For example you cant do deadlifts 3 times a week, you will probably fry yourself out. I would recommend something like this.

Monday : Squat, bench press, barbell row, dips. + accessory movements ( possibly lateral raises, bicep curls, calf raises..) + core work

Wednesday : Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press, Chinups, Close grip bench press + accessory movements + core work

Friday : Repeat Monday etc etc..

Accessory movements are not required if you are lazy one day and want to skip them. Just go ahead and skip them. Core work is best done on those 3 days and not in-between. Thats because if you "destroy" your core on Tuesday you wont be able to perform on squats and deadlifts the next day. Unless you are just doing some casual sets and you are recovering well, then I guess it ok. CV work can be done any time, just make sure you are not burning too many calories ( or at least you are eating accordinly) to build muscle and strength.

You can definitely alter the workout according to your preferences. For example if you dont like squats you can do front squats, and it wont change your results. Instead of bench press you can do incline press. Pullups instead of chinups etc etc.

Thanks for that Kostas, that's cleared it up up perfect for me. Will sort out a program from what you have suggested now.

I have made some gains from doing splits but think I need to change now so gunna go ahead and do compounds as you have suggested.

Thanks again for your help man!!

No problem man. To make things as clear as possible, I m not saying that splits will do nothing to you. A beginner will build muscle doing almost anything in the gym ( noob gains). After that, the gains will stop or they will come with a very slow rate. So the results you have been getting are not even close to the maximum you could have gotten with full body workouts. Btw, not that it matters too much, but 5 rep sets are best for your biggest exercises and 8 rep sets are best for the smaller ones like dips or bent over rows. Squats and deadlifts can be done with 5 reps, 3 reps or even 1-2 reps.

Yea exactly. You dont want to be reaching failure though, and of course forced reps are out of the question. When you reach the 5th rep you will stop, even though you can possibly get a 6th.

Hey man!

I hate 5 day splits. They are just inferior to all other splits in terms of building muscle and strength. Full body workouts or upper body/lower body split or even push/pull/legs split are most beneficial and you will build muscle faster. If you choose to go for a 5 day split you will either build muscle much slower than you could, or you wont build any more muscle. As a beginner, everything can work for you but up until a certain point. You wont go far with a 5 day split. And thats because you are training each muscle group once a week and you are hammering it to death. So it will grow for the next 48 hours and then nothing for the rest of the week. If you train it 3 times a week though, it practically grows the whole week.

Most people who are not extremely advanced, see the most amount of results by just doing big compound movements for the whole body 3 times a week. Movements like the squat, deadlift, bench press, chinups, barbell row, dips, overhead press. Thats it. You dont need too much isolation work to build muscle.

All of the above is invalid if you are not natural of course.

#HTH!
Kostas

This is not true, i do a 5 split but im still able to train most muscles 2-3 times a week some even 5 times a week.

 

I train 6 times a week and 1 of them is cardio, rest focus on strength.

Thats a cool story but our friend Ian (Gymdude) doesnt inject 700milligrams of tren and 1500milligrams of test every week so he probably wont be able to recover from such high volume+frequency.

Btw, I bet I know which muscles you train 5 times a week. I bet its the forearm muscles, if you know what I mean :D

Thats a cool story but our friend Ian (Gymdude) doesnt inject 700milligrams of tren and 1500milligrams of test every week so he probably wont be able to recover from such high volume+frequency.

Btw, I bet I know which muscles you train 5 times a week. I bet its the forearm muscles, if you know what I mean :D

Every human can train 6 times a week without injecting stuff, just that people don't know how to train properly. Yes acutally i train my forearms 5 times a week but not in the fashion u wish i did.