Trying a different aproach

[Braven]

Been away from the gym for almost 2 months now due to certain stresses and strains in my life. My meal schedule has been poor at best and I cant believe just how my body has deteriated so much in such a short space of time. Looks like i've lost alot of muscle, which im sure is just water and overall look quite soft and flabby. Been getting my eating sorted working back up to 6 meals a day carb cycling, low days are non training, medium on training, and 1 high day on sunday to replenish ready for start of training week.
The different aproach will be with my training...something I havn't tried but im gonna go with a four day split training every bodypart twice a week. Large bodyparts with 2 exercises, smaller bodyparts with 1 exercise. Exercises will alternate i.e between squats and leg presses for quads. One Heavy day for each bodypart with 2 sets per ex, reps between 6-10 and one medium/light day with 2 sets of 15-20 reps.

Was wondering what people's experiences with this kinda training are and if im on the right track.

example day:

Chest
Incline Bench 6-10
flat fly 6-10

shoulders
Military press 6-10
rear delts 6-10

back
BB row 15-20
chins 15-20

hanging leg raises 25

Cheers lads and lasses

 

[oldfella]

Why not try this:

Squats, deadlifts, bench presses 3x's a week. Don't worry about anything else.

So go one on two off. This will allow for good recovery, growth and strength.

 

[thebrick]

Why not try this:

Squats, deadlifts, bench presses 3x's a week. Don't worry about anything else.

So go one on two off. This will allow for good recovery, growth and strength.

Bingo. Nothing like simple compound movements + a quality diet to do the job and pack on real quality mass. Plus you'll have time for a life too

 

[Braven]

Oldfella: I'd love to try the basic powerlifting movements only but, i just find it difficult to believe the concept that doing only three exercises will help grow a great symetrical physique with all bodyparts gelling together and although im under no illusions that i'll ever be a top class bodybuilder I do still aim for an aesthetic look. But allthough i am sceptical I will try it... One question though. What about rep ranges do I just go for 8-12 or mix it up and have a heavy, medium and light day?

 

[oldfella]

Oldfella: I'd love to try the basic powerlifting movements only but, i just find it difficult to believe the concept that doing only three exercises will help grow a great symetrical physique with all bodyparts gelling together and although im under no illusions that i'll ever be a top class bodybuilder I do still aim for an aesthetic look. But allthough i am sceptical I will try it... One question though. What about rep ranges do I just go for 8-12 or mix it up and have a heavy, medium and light day?

With a one on two off routine you can go pretty heavy most of the time. Some of the world's best physiques were built with simple heavy routines like powerlifting. On the heavy sets try to go for five reps. This is 5 ball tearing reps. Because your rep range will be higher than a powerlifters this is the key for growth. powerlifters generally do 3's, singles or full max's. So you will be doing mulitple sets with rep ranges from 12 down to 5. I knew a guy that did nothing but this type of training. he never trained his arms and I have to say he used to piss me off. Cause his arms looked fantastic! He had legs like trees and shoulders you could use for bowling balls. Very thick, very powerful. Do this for a good period of time and then maybe switch things up. Do some cardio 3 x's a week for 30 minutes.

 

[healthfreak79]

Dont think power lifting builds muscle check this out

before https://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/haggy0927/DaveGulledge.jpg

After https://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/haggy0927/DaveGulledge1.jpg

You tell me

 

[thebrick]

squat, deadlift, and bench and tell me which muscle you have not worked!

 

[6.8SPC]

Why not try this:

Squats, deadlifts, bench presses 3x's a week. Don't worry about anything else.

So go one on two off. This will allow for good recovery, growth and strength.

Just curious what kind of frequency you are talking about here when you say one on two off, do all 3 exercises (squat, dead, bench) in one day then take two days off? Or one exercise ex. squats then take two days off and choose another ex. deads, and so on? I am considering trying this approach as well.

 

[Braven]

Im not disputing powerlifting builds muscle just that I find it difficult to accept that it builds great physiques just doing the 3 movements only. Not saying your wrong its just im still young and find the less volume aproach hard to believe. Only way to truly prove to myself is to do it and see the results. Im willing to try it tho as I do want it to work for me just worries me that I my stregnth is poor at the moment in these lifts, but guess that's all the more reason to do them more.

What number of sets do you think would best work?

warm ups then
3 sets of 12,8,5 with a weight that I struggle for the last rep
also are you trying to raise the bar weight every workout or just for 2 workouts then a light day then continue(heavy,2 rest days, heavy, 2 rest, light...)

Thanks

 

[flexmaster]

i would rotate your rep schemes something like 12-10-8-6. so if you are doing 1 on 2 off your first day is all 12's, next workout is all 10's, next all 8's next all 6's, then repeat. ive read some studies suggesting better results from changing volume and intensity from workout to workout rather than within a workout. i'll try to find them

edit: i would stick with 3 sets per exercise after warmups, this will keep your volume changing workout to workout. if you were to increase the number of sets on say the lower rep days your volume would stay pretty close to the same. if you do squats, bench, then deads then you wont need that much of a warmup for the deads. maybe just one warmup set and then hit it.

 

[RawkHard]

i would rotate your rep schemes something like 12-10-8-6. so if you are doing 1 on 2 off your first day is all 12's, next workout is all 10's, next all 8's next all 6's, then repeat. ive read some studies suggesting better results from changing volume and intensity from workout to workout rather than within a workout. i'll try to find them

edit: i would stick with 3 sets per exercise after warmups, this will keep your volume changing workout to workout. if you were to increase the number of sets on say the lower rep days your volume would stay pretty close to the same. if you do squats, bench, then deads then you wont need that much of a warmup for the deads. maybe just one warmup set and then hit it.

What about weight? Do you just try to do as much as possible for that given days' sets/reps?

 

[oldfella]

Just curious what kind of frequency you are talking about here when you say one on two off, do all 3 exercises (squat, dead, bench) in one day then take two days off? Or one exercise ex. squats then take two days off and choose another ex. deads, and so on? I am considering trying this approach as well.

Yes all three in one day. Then take two off and repeat!

 

[oldfella]

Im not disputing powerlifting builds muscle just that I find it difficult to accept that it builds great physiques just doing the 3 movements only. Not saying your wrong its just im still young and find the less volume aproach hard to believe. Only way to truly prove to myself is to do it and see the results. Im willing to try it tho as I do want it to work for me just worries me that I my stregnth is poor at the moment in these lifts, but guess that's all the more reason to do them more.

What number of sets do you think would best work?

warm ups then
3 sets of 12,8,5 with a weight that I struggle for the last rep
also are you trying to raise the bar weight every workout or just for 2 workouts then a light day then continue(heavy,2 rest days, heavy, 2 rest, light...)

Thanks

AHHHHHHAHAHA! WHo said anything about less volume? Do all three of these movements in one workout and 5 sets of each, excluding warmups! Then come talk to me about low volume!!! AS far as your strength goes, you have to start somewhere. These three lifts will make you strong! When I train I usually try to increase weight each session. You should be able to increase each week! Even if only a small amout an increase is still more than you were lifting previously!

 

[Braven]

AHHHHHHAHAHA! WHo said anything about less volume? Do all three of these movements in one workout and 5 sets of each, excluding warmups! Then come talk to me about low volume!!! AS far as your strength goes, you have to start somewhere. These three lifts will make you strong! When I train I usually try to increase weight each session. You should be able to increase each week! Even if only a small amout an increase is still more than you were lifting previously!

with no mention of sets numbers i thought you meant to do alot of warm ups then only one heavy working set ala BigA's training routine. My mistake

 

[Braven]

What about adding in clean & press, bent rows and other compounds and rotating exercises or do you think just the big three will do enough for the whole body to grow equaly?

e.g

w/o 1:
Bench press
Squat
Deadlift

2 days rest

w/o 2:
Clean & press
Leg press
Bent rows

2 days rest; repeat

 

[oldfella]

Now you're thinking along the same lines. This would work fine. At least it has now opened up a new way of thinking about your training. As long as you think of the biggest movements for the largest amount of muscle then you are on the right track.

 

[6.8SPC]

Yes all three in one day. Then take two off and repeat!

Thanks OF, I'm gonna try this while 'off' and see how it works for me.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Are you saying hit deads and squats twice a week each? Yikes!

I think OF may be drinking or just mis-worded that...

 

[flexmaster]

What about adding in clean & press, bent rows and other compounds and rotating exercises or do you think just the big three will do enough for the whole body to grow equaly?

e.g

w/o 1:
Bench press
Squat
Deadlift

2 days rest

w/o 2:
Clean & press
Leg press
Bent rows

2 days rest; repeat

i would rather see you do front squats for the squat exercise and RDL for the back in w/o 2. i feel the leg press is only good for rehab and women. (that part about women was only a joke, i know some women on here could kick some of the men's asses...not mine of course!LOL )

 

[oldfella]

Are you saying hit deads and squats twice a week each? Yikes!

I think OF may be drinking or just mis-worded that...

Nope not drunk, yet!!!! No mis wording........with this kind of split you can get away with it. it will take two weeks for your body to adjust to the heavy loads and then it's on. You would only do this for 10-12 weeks. Then change up to a more traditional approach. The key to this is in the diet, tons of protein and get your rest in the off days. I used this method to train a disabled athlete for power lifting. he went on to his first meet and took out his weight class and DA classification. Also set a national record in the bench. Get ready for it....................................he had cerebral palsy down the entire right side of is body. He weighed in at 65 kg's and hit a bench of 82.5kgs. Now to able bodied liftersthis mat not seem so great a feat, but try this with his disorder and it shed a whole new light on things. Ashley is an amazing ahtlete and a great kid. I never once treated him like he had a disability. I was his strength and conditioning coach for 4 years. I was very honored to be a part of his athletic career. During this time he had national records for the long jump, discus, shotput, 100m and 200m sprints.