New here, appreciate any advice on my routine

Fenton

Hey, have been training on and off for a while but started a proper routine about 2 months ago and its going well. My goal is to put on as much muscle as I can and get nice wide shoulders. I am eating 150g protein a day and have plenty of time for the gym and am currently doing this routine:

Day 1: Back & Bicep
Day 2: Upper Legs
Rest Day
Day 3: Chest & Triceps
Day 4: Shoulders & Calves
Rest Day

I do 3 sets of 8 reps on each muscle group, I don't do much cardio maybe the odd run and rarely train Abs.

I could go to the gym more often and was thinking of only having 1 rest day, but unsure if its worth it?

Any feedback appreciated.

Nath

Welcome mate,
Sure some more knowledgable bods will give u some more advise, but here is my tuppence worth,
On day 2, what are u doing for ur upper legs? How come u split ur leg training?
I would be aprehensive about doing shoulders the day after chest and tri's, my tri's are ussually knackered after chest day so I leave it a couple of days before training shoulders as if ur pressing, u will be engaging the triceps again.

Also, what are u doing when training ur back? I do alot of squats for my legs which to a degree engages the back which wouldn't be up to scratch if i'd hammered it the day before. Can u give us some more info about ur training? What exercises u are doing etc.

Fenton

No reason to really splitting leg training, I guess I thought the upper legs are a large group so if I'd dedicate a day to that, and then just do calves with shoulders it might help?

I see what your saying about Shoulders after chest and theres nothing stopping me switching the days around, maybe:

Chest - Triceps
Back - Biceps
Rest
Shoulders - Calves
Upper Legs

I have been doing dead lifts on Upper Legs day which seems to do the bottom of my back.

Here is roughly my routine:

Nath

And is that the order in which u do the exercises?

crazycal1

hello mate-
do you grow better on a 4 daY split compared to a 3 day split?

einsteins mind was the key to all things...to understand more than to know.

www.extremenutrition.co.uk

Youngster

yea I agree with cal. If you can grow with a 3 day split i would do that. Rest = growth. Also when doing your back/ bicep day and chest/tricep day I would do all your back or chest work first, then do your biceps or triceps after because doing this could effect your peformance on the larger muscle groups and more important compound exercises.

cellaratt

Unfortunately I have to disagree on the three day versus four day split. Reason being: If you Bench on Monday at noon and Thursday at noon you have given that muscle group 72 hrs. of rest . Back on Tuesday at noon and Friday at noon= 72 hours of rest. See where I'm going with this.

Quick artical review:
Getting enough rest is the weak link of the fitness triumvirate, far less considered than physical activity or eating healthfully but no less important. There are two facets, one is sleep and the other is rest as defined by time away from the health club or running/walking trail to allow for proper muscle recovery. Researchers believe muscles that are worked strenuously to exhaustion (weightlifting sets, intensive sprint workouts) need 36 to 48 hours to recover and rebuild.


On a lighter note I full agree with Youngster on your choices of which order you start your Routine. Stick to all of major muscle groups first and follow up with your assisting muscle group. ( Back-Bi's ) - ( Chest- Tri's ).

Fenton

Yes pretty much in that order.

But from what has been said I will now do Back and Chest first on those days and then get round to bicep and tricep.

I am a bit confused as to this 3 day or 4 day split, to be honest I don't know the difference, I'm guessing mine is a 4 day split then, and I may benefit from cramming everything in to 3 days?

At the moment each group has 6 days to recover, is that too long?

Thanks

crazycal1

you ve lost me bud-
a 3 day split (unless youre doing A B A) would still mean only training all body parts once a week.
whole point being that you get 4 days rest a week.

fenton-
its traditional to do back then bi`s and chest then tri`s.

einsteins mind was the key to all things...to understand more than to know.

www.extremenutrition.co.uk

FAT BOY

if your training hard enough then once awek for each bodypart is fine just split your body into three and train it over a seven day period.

eg.
mon legs
wed back and shoulders
fri chest and arms

keep it simple and train hard

FB