2-Split Power and Growth Routine

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’m trying to develop my own 2-split Workout routine, that will increase my size and strength. But i wanna avoid overtraining and stuff like that, so i need some advise from professionals on how this 2-split looks like… Do you think it will work or not?

Day 1: Chest/Back/Hamstrings (Power)

4x6 Benchpress
4x6 Bent over rows
5x5 Deadlift
3x MAX chin ups â?? maybe with weights if possible

Day 2: Shoulders/quads/bis/tris (Power)

4x6 Military press
5x5 Squat
3x8 Upright row
4x6 Barbell bicep curls (Superset) â?? Close grip bench

Day 3: Rest

Day 4: Chest/Back/Hamstrings (Strength)

3x10-12 Wide grip pulldowns
3x10-12 Benchpress
3x10-12 Bent over rows
3x10-12 Deadlift

Day 5: Shoulders/quads/bis/tris (Strength)

3x10-12 Squat
3x10-12 Shoulder press (Dumbbells)
3x12-15 side lateral raises
3x10-12 Barbell Bicep Curls (Superset) Tricep pushdown 20-25 reps

Day 6: Rest

Then back to day 1.

Be gentle.

2

5x5 bench day one*

3

the concept isn’t bad (a 2-way, 4 times per week with different rep ranges) but i’m not sure 3x10 is different enough from 4x6 to make that big of a difference.

try 10x3 on your power day, and the 4x6 or 3x8-10 on the other (i would pick the 3x8-10).

4

The “developing” your workout comes from trial and error, that is, from trying it out and seeing if it works. Or even by making it up as you go along (i.e. train muscles that feel ready)

No need to worry too much about how something looks on paper.

As regards power and strength, do you even know why you are doing either and even making a distinction?

Bodybuilding is much simpler than you may think :slight_smile:

5

If you’re interested in a two way try to at least avoid overlap. Squatting yhe day after deadlifting ain’t a great idea.

An upper lower done monday off wednesday off friday, saturday off or similar is a better option, better than monday tuesday off thursday friday to avoid overtraining.

You could also try a split ala DC. 1- chest, shoulders, triceps, back 2- biceps, forearms, calves, hamstrings, quads.

6

So you recommend doing something like this?:

Monday - Upper body (chest,shoulders,tris,bis,back) POWER
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - lower body (Hamstrings,quads,abs,lower back?) POWER
Thursday - off
Friday - Upper body (another rep scheme)
Saturday - off
Sunday - lower body (another rep scheme)

Exercises?? help me out with this :stuck_out_tongue:

UPPER BODY
Benchpress
bent over row
shoulder press
chin ups
bis and tris

LOWER BODY
Squat
abs
deadlift
?

something like this?

7

How about:

4-days a week

A:
Chest
Shoulders
Tris
Back width
Back thickness

B:
Bis
forearms
calves
hamstrings
Quads

A1
Off
B1
Off
A2
Off
B2
Off
repeat

3 sets to failure each body part, rep range 5-10 for compound lifts and 10-15 for isolation and more dangerous lifts ect or whatever feels right. Pick a different exercise for the two A and B days, mostly compounds that you can make big poundage jumps on. Slow negatives, no cheat reps.

8

[quote]Flip91 wrote:
So you recommend doing something like this?:

Monday - Upper body (chest,shoulders,tris,bis,back) POWER
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - lower body (Hamstrings,quads,abs,lower back?) POWER
Thursday - off
Friday - Upper body (another rep scheme)
Saturday - off
Sunday - lower body (another rep scheme)

Exercises?? help me out with this :stuck_out_tongue:

UPPER BODY
Benchpress
bent over row
shoulder press
chin ups
bis and tris

LOWER BODY
Squat
abs
deadlift
?

something like this?[/quote]

I don’t like to to squats and deadlifts in the same session, but some people can take it. Listen I had some good gains with a split like the following:

UPPER 1

-Decline bench
-pullups or rack chins

-OH Press
-Bent over Row or T-Bar row or something

-Smith Machine Close Grip Press
-DB Curl

You can pair 2 exercises at a time if you wish, just make sure it doesn’t screw with your bench setup

LOWER 1

-BB Squat (Back, front, whatever)
-Glute Ham Raises or Pull-Throughs or sumo leg presses or something. Romanian deadlifts are also an option, but don’t go too heavy on these.
-Standing or seated calve raises

Then you can throw in some Bulgarian Split Squats or lunges, back raises… if you wish you can do like lateral raises and/or some rear delt exercise if you feel your shoulders aren’t getting enough work

UPPER 2

-BB or DB Bench or maybe chest dips
-Machine row or DB rows

-HS Bench Press or perhaps a high incline shoulder press on the smith
-Chins or pulldowns

-French Press
-BB Curl

Again, you can pair exercises if you want

LOWER 2

-Deadlift (conventional, sumo, whatever)
-Leg press, Hack Squat, Front squats, split squats, whatever. Use something that dosen’t stress the lower back too much here.
-Seated or standing calf raises

Again, throw in some back raises (reverse hypers would be better if you have the option) and whatever exercise you want for rear and medial delt if you wish. Don’t do them if you gonna work your upper body the next day though. Avoid overlap.

You can use different rep ranges for each day, light upper/heavy upper for example, or not. Up to you.

You can also make both deadlifts and squats heavy, and the succeeding exercises light (or medium, whatever)

9

[quote]knee-gro wrote:

[quote]Flip91 wrote:
So you recommend doing something like this?:

Monday - Upper body (chest,shoulders,tris,bis,back) POWER
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - lower body (Hamstrings,quads,abs,lower back?) POWER
Thursday - off
Friday - Upper body (another rep scheme)
Saturday - off
Sunday - lower body (another rep scheme)

Exercises?? help me out with this :stuck_out_tongue:

UPPER BODY
Benchpress
bent over row
shoulder press
chin ups
bis and tris

LOWER BODY
Squat
abs
deadlift
?

something like this?[/quote]

I don’t like to to squats and deadlifts in the same session, but some people can take it. Listen I had some good gains with a split like the following:

UPPER 1

-Decline bench
-pullups or rack chins

-OH Press
-Bent over Row or T-Bar row or something

-Smith Machine Close Grip Press
-DB Curl

You can pair 2 exercises at a time if you wish, just make sure it doesn’t screw with your bench setup

LOWER 1

-BB Squat (Back, front, whatever)
-Glute Ham Raises or Pull-Throughs or sumo leg presses or something. Romanian deadlifts are also an option, but don’t go too heavy on these.
-Standing or seated calve raises

Then you can throw in some Bulgarian Split Squats or lunges, back raises… if you wish you can do like lateral raises and/or some rear delt exercise if you feel your shoulders aren’t getting enough work

UPPER 2

-BB or DB Bench or maybe chest dips
-Machine row or DB rows

-HS Bench Press or perhaps a high incline shoulder press on the smith
-Chins or pulldowns

-French Press
-BB Curl

Again, you can pair exercises if you want

LOWER 2

-Deadlift (conventional, sumo, whatever)
-Leg press, Hack Squat, Front squats, split squats, whatever. Use something that dosen’t stress the lower back too much here.
-Seated or standing calf raises

Again, throw in some back raises (reverse hypers would be better if you have the option) and whatever exercise you want for rear and medial delt if you wish. Don’t do them if you gonna work your upper body the next day though. Avoid overlap.

You can use different rep ranges for each day, light upper/heavy upper for example, or not. Up to you.

You can also make both deadlifts and squats heavy, and the succeeding exercises light (or medium, whatever)[/quote]

This looks good, although I don’t do the antagonistic pairings I just do chest, then shoulders then tris, then I do back and bis. If you take enough time between exercises you’ll still be able to put up max poundages even if the supportive muscles are somewhat fatigued, your call though.
I love CG’s on the smith. You could also do reverse grip smith instead of the french press on the second day. Sumo leg presses are great if you do them right also.

10

[quote]trav123456 wrote:
This looks good, although I don’t do the antagonistic pairings I just do chest, then shoulders then tris, then I do back and bis. If you take enough time between exercises you’ll still be able to put up max poundages even if the supportive muscles are somewhat fatigued, your call though.
I love CG’s on the smith. You could also do reverse grip smith instead of the french press on the second day. Sumo leg presses are great if you do them right also.[/quote]

Yeah the pairing is up to personal preference. Can be handy when you’re pressed for time.

Reverse grip is great but I would use it to rotate with the CGs and try not to go overboard on the presses. I’d pick another tricep extension exercise to rotate with the french presses, but that’s just my way of doing things, I like to keep the “core” of the program with slight changes when necessary.

11

[quote]trav123456 wrote:
How about:

4-days a week

A:
Chest
Shoulders
Tris
Back width
Back thickness

B:
Bis
forearms
calves
hamstrings
Quads

A1
Off
B1
Off
A2
Off
B2
Off
repeat

3 sets to failure each body part, rep range 5-10 for compound lifts and 10-15 for isolation and more dangerous lifts ect or whatever feels right. Pick a different exercise for the two A and B days, mostly compounds that you can make big poundage jumps on. Slow negatives, no cheat reps.[/quote]

Ha. This was what I was talking about. Although DC isn’t for noobs, the split he uses is a good one at whatever level you’re at.

Might be even better than the typical upper/lower if you think there’s too much going on on the upper body days.

12

[quote]Flip91 wrote:
So you recommend doing something like this?:

Monday - Upper body (chest,shoulders,tris,bis,back) POWER
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - lower body (Hamstrings,quads,abs,lower back?) POWER
Thursday - off
Friday - Upper body (another rep scheme)
Saturday - off
Sunday - lower body (another rep scheme)

Exercises?? help me out with this :stuck_out_tongue:

UPPER BODY
Benchpress
bent over row
shoulder press
chin ups
bis and tris

LOWER BODY
Squat
abs
deadlift
?

something like this?[/quote]

That’s a good routine but I probably wouldn’t squat and deadlift as much. Better to alternate them, so it would look something like this:

Mon - Lower (Squat)
Tue - Off
Wed - Upper
Thu - off
Fri - Lower (Deadlift)
Sat - off
Sun - Upper

That’s the type of routine beginners/intermediates do well on (or at least until gains dry up). Some progress onto a 3 way split done 4 - 6 times per week after that, but not necessarily.

The other routines that people have posted are good too.

The reason why I said to experiment and make it up as you go along is because you need to find out your body’s own frequency. For example, when I was first starting out, to figure out my chest frequency, I did 5 sets (2 or 3 of which were max effort) each of benching (flat and incline), rep range was 6-8. I then waited 2 days before doing it again. I didn’t progress in weight. So, I waited 3 days before doing it again, progress was better, but I decided to wait 4 days to see if any better improvement could be made. There was a slight difference, a little better than waiting just 3 days. I tried waiting 5 and 6 days between training muscle groups, but this was too long (didn’t get stronger).

Guess what?

Because I was stronger training most muscle groups (except legs) twice every 8 days roughly, THAT is the correct frequency for me. It’s called supercompensation :slight_smile:

Not everyone has the same supercompensation time frame, but I believe that people have more in common than not, so most can progress on a decently constructed routine. Remember too, that most will progress on a program that’s not stupid, I’m just talking about optimising the frequency (something you will “evolve” yourself over time). Also, more often than not, it’s lifestyle (e.g. work commitments, girlfriend etc) that determines your routine, so that’s one of the main reason why people have different workout schedules (which at the end of the day gets the same result).

Try not to get too caught up in changing rep schemes, it’s progression in weight (with good form) that counts more. A good “fail proof” rep range is between 6-10. And 8+ for accessory movements. What’s even more important is eating enough; make sure the scale is going up each month.

The more time you spend trying to find the “perfect program”, the longer you’ll delay your gains, and the people who just get on with a basic routine and eat enough will overtake you. To put it in perspective, Dorian Yates only had about 3 routines over a period of about 15 years. So the moral of the story, stick to something that works (make sure you’re progressing on the basic lifts monthly) and eat/rest enough :slight_smile:

13


For those who like pictures :slight_smile:

14

Do you think something like this would work? or am i overdoing it? Just try to set up a something similar program like this, because when you talk all that complicated stuff i dont understand it :stuck_out_tongue: my English isn’t that great.

Day 1: Chest/Back/Shoulders/tris/bis

5x5 Benchpress
3x10-12 seated rows
5x5 Military press
3x10-12 Close grip pullups
3x6 French press

Day 2:Off

Day 3: Quads/Hamstrings/forearms/traps

6x3 or 5x5 Deadlift
2x MAX Shrugs from pins
3x15-20 Squat
2x MAX Glute ham raise

Day 4: Off

Day 5: Chest/Shoulders/Back/tris/bis

5x5 Bent over Rows
3x10-15 Benchpress
3x MAX wide grip chin ups
3x10-15 Dumbell shoulder press
3x6-8 Barbell bicep curls â?? Superset with Tricep pulldowns 20+ rep

Day 6: Off

Day 7: Quads/Hams/Forearms

6x3 or 5x5 Squat
2x Easy glute ham raises
3x15-20 Deadlift
3x20+ Leg extensions

Day 8: Rest

Then back to day 1.

15

So I typed all that for nothing? :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah it looks good to me, except deadlifting and squating twice a week. If you want to progress well in those lifts and give yourself enough recovery then you need to reduce the frequency of those lifts a bit. Like I said before, you can take it in turns with the two:

Day 3 - Squat

Day 7 - Deadlift

Or if you must do the two in the same workout, then make the deadlift a partial one (e.g. rack pulls) so that there’s less thigh involvement.

If you do those two lifts with that much frequency, you shouldn’t do many sets or go to failure/near failure each time (no more than one max effort set for each).

You’ll understand what I mean when the lifts start getting proper heavy :slight_smile:

16

Alright, Thanks :slight_smile: i’ll give it a try.