I do 2 upper and 2 lower weights sessions per week, but I understand the need for a bit of variety there. I’ve seen templates involving one ‘strength’ and one ‘other’ workout for each per week, so I wondered would it make sense to do one of each upper/lower at 3x12 and the other at 5x5? Goals are 95% hypertrophy, but would 5x5 hinder that?
Sounds pretty solid to me. Joel Marion would approve.
Nothing wrong with it, plus I think it gets more important the higher frequency you use specific exercises. I’m squatting three times a week and I split the days up as heavy, medium, and light. Makes recovery possible. IMO
I have used a similar upper lower split with 5x5 for the first two days and 4x10 for the last two. Which is indeed similar to some of Joel Marion’s workouts, though the exercises/rest/days/goals were different.
[quote]That One Guy wrote:
Nothing wrong with it, plus I think it gets more important the higher frequency you use specific exercises. I’m squatting three times a week and I split the days up as heavy, medium, and light. Makes recovery possible. IMO[/quote]
How the hell do you manage that? I used to do legs twice a week but I can only do them once a week now. How much are you squatting and how deep? I’m usually sore for days after leg day.
[quote]Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
Nothing wrong with it, plus I think it gets more important the higher frequency you use specific exercises. I’m squatting three times a week and I split the days up as heavy, medium, and light. Makes recovery possible. IMO
How the hell do you manage that? I used to do legs twice a week but I can only do them once a week now. How much are you squatting and how deep? I’m usually sore for days after leg day.
[/quote]
Stretching constantly, upping protein, hot/cold showers. Plus only heavy and medium days I actually push failure. Light day is recovery and I just use the squatting for warmup for the rest of leg day. Also the most important part is it’s just 3 sets and eventually your body adapts to it making it possible. How do you think Smolov programs are finished? Work capacity goes up along with strategic weight fluctuating. I did take out deadlifting though, think it’ll fuck my lower back up too much.
its definitely possible
i squat 3x/week (heavy day, light day, heavy day) and it is really not anything special
i think a lot of people are afraid of squatting more than 1x/wee…but often times when someone tries squatting multiple times/week and manages to stick with it for a few weeks, they learn to tolerate the extra stress
personally i think that it has enabled my recovery capacity to increase which will definitely prove to be a big advantage as the years go by
OK how much are you guys squatting though, and how deep?
245 on heavy days, 205 on medium, and 185 on light days. I’m doing this specifically to bring up my squat as it sucks, and I go until my hamstrings hit my calves.
On heavy days, i’m only getting in like 9-12 reps, so it’s really low volume.
[quote]That One Guy wrote:
245 on heavy days, 205 on medium, and 185 on light days. I’m doing this specifically to bring up my squat as it sucks, and I go until my hamstrings hit my calves.
On heavy days, i’m only getting in like 9-12 reps, so it’s really low volume.[/quote]
9-12 all sets combined?
I ask because I’ve never heard of bodybuilders squatting heavy so frequently. It’s great for newbie gains.
[quote]Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
245 on heavy days, 205 on medium, and 185 on light days. I’m doing this specifically to bring up my squat as it sucks, and I go until my hamstrings hit my calves.
On heavy days, i’m only getting in like 9-12 reps, so it’s really low volume.
9-12 all sets combined?
I ask because I’ve never heard of bodybuilders squatting heavy so frequently. It’s great for newbie gains.
[/quote]
Like it’s only 3 sets on whatever given day.
heavy day= 3 sets of 1-4 reps
Medium day= 3 sets of 6-9reps
light day= 3 sets of 12-15 reps
This is done before the rest of my workout. Push day is heavy squatting, then chest, shoulders, tris, and abs. Pull day is medium squatting, then back, biceps, and forearms. Leg day is light squatting (warmup purposes really) then quads, hamstrings, and calves.
[quote]That One Guy wrote:
Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
245 on heavy days, 205 on medium, and 185 on light days. I’m doing this specifically to bring up my squat as it sucks, and I go until my hamstrings hit my calves.
On heavy days, i’m only getting in like 9-12 reps, so it’s really low volume.
9-12 all sets combined?
I ask because I’ve never heard of bodybuilders squatting heavy so frequently. It’s great for newbie gains.
Like it’s only 3 sets on whatever given day.
heavy day= 3 sets of 1-4 reps
Medium day= 3 sets of 6-9reps
light day= 3 sets of 12-15 reps
This is done before the rest of my workout. Push day is heavy squatting, then chest, shoulders, tris, and abs. Pull day is medium squatting, then back, biceps, and forearms. Leg day is light squatting (warmup purposes really) then quads, hamstrings, and calves.
[/quote]
Dude, how do you manage heavy squats, chest, shoulders, tris, and abs in one workout? How long does that take you? I’d probably pass out, or half ass it.
[quote]Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
245 on heavy days, 205 on medium, and 185 on light days. I’m doing this specifically to bring up my squat as it sucks, and I go until my hamstrings hit my calves.
On heavy days, i’m only getting in like 9-12 reps, so it’s really low volume.
9-12 all sets combined?
I ask because I’ve never heard of bodybuilders squatting heavy so frequently. It’s great for newbie gains.
Like it’s only 3 sets on whatever given day.
heavy day= 3 sets of 1-4 reps
Medium day= 3 sets of 6-9reps
light day= 3 sets of 12-15 reps
This is done before the rest of my workout. Push day is heavy squatting, then chest, shoulders, tris, and abs. Pull day is medium squatting, then back, biceps, and forearms. Leg day is light squatting (warmup purposes really) then quads, hamstrings, and calves.
Dude, how do you manage heavy squats, chest, shoulders, tris, and abs in one workout? How long does that take you? I’d probably pass out, or half ass it.
[/quote]
Well it depends. What do you do for chest, shoulders, and tris? and abs? What kind of volume would we be looking at here on your typical day?
[quote]That One Guy wrote:
Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
245 on heavy days, 205 on medium, and 185 on light days. I’m doing this specifically to bring up my squat as it sucks, and I go until my hamstrings hit my calves.
On heavy days, i’m only getting in like 9-12 reps, so it’s really low volume.
9-12 all sets combined?
I ask because I’ve never heard of bodybuilders squatting heavy so frequently. It’s great for newbie gains.
Like it’s only 3 sets on whatever given day.
heavy day= 3 sets of 1-4 reps
Medium day= 3 sets of 6-9reps
light day= 3 sets of 12-15 reps
This is done before the rest of my workout. Push day is heavy squatting, then chest, shoulders, tris, and abs. Pull day is medium squatting, then back, biceps, and forearms. Leg day is light squatting (warmup purposes really) then quads, hamstrings, and calves.
Dude, how do you manage heavy squats, chest, shoulders, tris, and abs in one workout? How long does that take you? I’d probably pass out, or half ass it.
Well it depends. What do you do for chest, shoulders, and tris? and abs? What kind of volume would we be looking at here on your typical day?
[/quote]
a lot
1 body part takes 1+ hours
Well a typical workout for me is less… Usually two exercises. One is my “indicator” exercise, I try to lift more weight as often as I can on the exercise, I ramp up to 3 work sets at the heaviest weight, usually for lowish reps. Then I have a second exercise (usually an isolation exercise) where I use a “shock” method like a triple drop set or superset, etc. for higher reps. Then I stretch the muscle right after while it’s still pumped, and that’s it for that muscle. Usual workouts last from 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours…
[quote]That One Guy wrote:
Well a typical workout for me is less… Usually two exercises. One is my “indicator” exercise, I try to lift more weight as often as I can on the exercise, I ramp up to 3 work sets at the heaviest weight, usually for lowish reps. Then I have a second exercise (usually an isolation exercise) where I use a “shock” method like a triple drop set or superset, etc. for higher reps. Then I stretch the muscle right after while it’s still pumped, and that’s it for that muscle. Usual workouts last from 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours…[/quote]
Damn dude, you can do 5 body parts in 90 minutes? Have you ever tried using more volume? If you’re young/ have good recovery, then it could really be beneficial.
What would a typical back workout be for you? I’m just curious what kind of isolation you’d do for back. I recover fast, so I do back/shoulders on Monday and Friday. I do vertical pull (3 exercises) on Monday and horizontal pull (3 different exercises) on Friday.
[quote]Artem wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
Well a typical workout for me is less… Usually two exercises. One is my “indicator” exercise, I try to lift more weight as often as I can on the exercise, I ramp up to 3 work sets at the heaviest weight, usually for lowish reps. Then I have a second exercise (usually an isolation exercise) where I use a “shock” method like a triple drop set or superset, etc. for higher reps. Then I stretch the muscle right after while it’s still pumped, and that’s it for that muscle. Usual workouts last from 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours…
Damn dude, you can do 5 body parts in 90 minutes? Have you ever tried using more volume? If you’re young/ have good recovery, then it could really be beneficial.
What would a typical back workout be for you? I’m just curious what kind of isolation you’d do for back. I recover fast, so I do back/shoulders on Monday and Friday. I do vertical pull (3 exercises) on Monday and horizontal pull (3 different exercises) on Friday.[/quote]
Yeah, i don’t know. I’m partial towards the lower volume stuff because (after stalling for a year because I did the whole switching between exercise plans and training goals phase ugh) around Halloween I switched to an upper lower split and just focused on gaining strength as fast as I could by ramping up to 2 worksets per bodypart. I gained strength really quickly and gained almost 20 pounds in 10 weeks, but I eventually stalled out, took a break from the training, then I started this routine I’m doing like 2 weeks ago. Not long enough to judge it, but I’m not regressing…
As for my workouts, they’re in my log. I started keeping up with it again this week.
to the op, 5x5 would not hinder your hypertrophy goals mixed in with higher rep workouts like 3x12. It can actually be very effective. Try it out for a month and monitor how your body responds- just make sure to eat. Hypertrophy occurs in a caloric surplus.
[quote]lukepropst wrote:
to the op, 5x5 would not hinder your hypertrophy goals mixed in with higher rep workouts like 3x12. It can actually be very effective. Try it out for a month and monitor how your body responds- just make sure to eat. Hypertrophy occurs in a caloric surplus.[/quote]
Thanks! If this is the general consensus then I’ll give a go to one 5x5 and one 3x12 workout for both upper and lower for the next month or two and monitor.
FWIW, I’m 81kg, 12% BF, 23 years old… currently my bulking diet is 3050 calories on workout days and 2800 on ‘‘off days’’… does this look roughly like it fits?
If you are gaining weight then your diet is fine. If not then your diet is insufficient.
I put most of my carbs except high fiber veggies around my training. Some juice and whey protein before training and lots of juice, fruit and a few cookies along with whey after training. This puts the bulk of my calories around training and it works pretty well.
I eat meat, eggs, nuts and veggies during the rest of the day.
I have a few days a week where calories are pretty low. I like this for both cutting and bulking. If I want to bulk I just eat more around my training. It works good for me. If I’m cutting sometimes I’ll only “carb up” twice a week.