New Training Style...your thoughts

[Backfrominjury]

For the past 30 years I worked out M-F one bodypart per day and taking the weekend off.
Monday- Chest 20 sets
Tue- Legs 20 sets
Wed-Back- 20 sets
Thur-Shoulders 24 sets including traps
Fri- Bis and Tris 10-12 sets ea

Now that I am up in age (45), I thought I'd cut back on the volume and train each body part more frequently. I started training every bodypart 6 days straight only doing 2 sets per bodypart. Each day a different exercise for that bodypart. It looked like this:
Calf raises 2 sets
leg curls 2 sets
leg ext 2 sets
leg press 2 sets
Bench press 2 sets
lateral raises 2 sets
shrugs 2 sets
curls 2 sets
pushdowns 2 sets
barbell rows 2 sets

My thinking was it might cut back on some inflammation, tendonitis type pain, and maybe keep me looking fuller all around as each muscle will continuously be filled with blood. However, what I've found is 1) its much more taxing cardiovascularly, 2) I feel and look flat, 3) I've lost 6 lbs in the first 14 days.

Currently on Prop 50 mg ED

I want to give it a little more time before I jump ship...Thoughts on this type of training? Your experiences?

 

[Dens228]

Tons of thoughts on this in the "One set per bodypart" thread that should be somewhere on the first page here.

 

[FrancisK]

I used to train a single body part a day, just beating that body part to death on its day but i switched to a lower volume routine and got much better results to my surprise even though I was older and using less gear.

I warm up with pull ups/dips/pushups and stretch then I do the following:

-Back 9 sets bi’s 6 sets
-Chest 9 sets tri’s 6 sets
-Off or something active
-Legs 9 sets shoulders 9 sets
-Off or something active
-Full body 3 sets each part with extra sets/emphasis on whatever I feel is lagging
-Off

I also do pull ups/dips/push ups at the end of each with a couple sets of abs to top if off.

I’m doing considerably less sets per week and putting much less strain on my body but I’ve actually gotten discernibly better results from it.

 

[buck]

I found similar results when doing 1 set per part per day. I lost a few pounds to start then leveled out. If I was accruing less damage then I figured I would have less inflammation which would mean less swelling/water retention and weight. And possibly a greater calorie burn per day for me. But with the number or sets you are doing that might not hold true for you.

 

[maldorf]

Anyone try the one set per bodypart per day workout?

Wondering if anyone gave this workout a shot. Do one set all out to failure for each bodypart, so each day is whole body. Workout each day until you feel like you need a break. Phil Hernon put this idea out there years ago and said it works great for him. I am going to try this soon and want...

www.professionalmuscle.com

This might help you some, I started that a bit ago.

 

[Backfrominjury]

Anyone try the one set per bodypart per day workout?

Wondering if anyone gave this workout a shot. Do one set all out to failure for each bodypart, so each day is whole body. Workout each day until you feel like you need a break. Phil Hernon put this idea out there years ago and said it works great for him. I am going to try this soon and want...

www.professionalmuscle.com

This might help you some, I started that a bit ago.

Thanks! There is a lot of information there. Very similar to what I am trying.

 

[Biggerp73]

It seems different people get different results from different routines. You probably just need to stick with this for a little while and gauge your progress (strength, weight, bodyfat, measurements, etc) to find out if it works for you. There's really only one constant that every program needs, and that is some form of progressive overload (whether intensity, volume, or weight). Cyclic patterns, de-load days, etc, can help foster that progress. Good luck.

 

[qbkilla]

my thoughts,,,your original routine was pretty simple and optimal,,and I hate the change you Made, not surprised you regressed. id personally stick to your old routine, maybe deload more, or play with rep scheme or exercise selection to tweak it a bit

 

[Elvia1023]

A few thoughts...

You dropped weight but no wonder if you are doing all of that 6 days per week.

There are 1001 alternatives but if you want to do something similar I would suggest lowering to 1 working set per exercise/bodypart.

Perhaps add in another rest day so something like 3 on 1 off 3 on 1 off etc. Take 2 days rest if you ever need it.

There are so many factors that contribute to the success of a training split for everyone. Frequency and volume are major ones. The intensity of your working sets and overall training is another vital factor. Then comes age, health, sleep, daily schedule, drugs etc etc etc.

I would need to know more but from what you have posted perhaps a middleground routine would suit you better. Something that enables you to train each bodypart twice weekly (or every 8-9 days) but with no more than 10 working sets per day. Something like push, pull, legs could work. You could do 3 days on 1 off or do what I do and simply take days off when your body needs them but you try to do 2 rotations every 8 or so days. Perhaps splitting everything up into 4 days would be better for you and repeating that every 10 days (so 2 days rest every 2 rotations). The routine you pick all depends upon your exact goals and all of the above.

 

[IronLion2]

All quantitative and no qualitative analysis makes for a sub par athlete.

 

[Backfrominjury]

I made the change really out of curiosity. I've been doing the same thing for 30 years, with slight changes such as 6-8 rep range one week and may 12-15 the next and cycling different exercises, but the basic program remained.

I work from home, so there isn't a lot of physical exertion outside of my workouts, and ability to recover is optimal. Sleep, food, etc all good.

I've always been on the thicker side with not as much detail, abs as I'd like. Definitely a diet problem that I was trying to fix with training lol