Critique this Split Plan

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hey guys. Wondering if some of you can critique this possible split plan

Day 1 Chest
Day2 Back (including traps on back day)
Day3 Legs (working calf?s with quads and hams, but throwing another calf day in on another day too)
Day 4 Triceps
Day 5 Shoulders (All three heads)
Day 6 Bi?s and Forearms
day 7 off

Keep in mind this would actually allow for hitting everything pretty much twice a week, one day directly, one day indirectly. Back day would hit bi?s too, but that?s not my focus that day, ect.

Different people recover at different speeds. I have always recovered super fast. As long as I get my 8 hours of sleep, my calories, and the right supplements, I?m good to go within 48 hours with whatever muscle group I just worked. No matter how soar I was the next day because of going to failure, the second day I?m fine as if I never worked it. I?ll be to where I cant roll out of bed one day and the next fine. IDK, I?m like wolverine or something lol.

My idea is by just doing one muscle group a day instead of two I can concentrate and hit it hard and with everything I?ve got because I won?t have to worry about saving anything for later. This would take my work outs from an hour to down to 40 minutes. Instead of spending 30 minutes on chest and 30 on back I could beat the shit out of my chest without worrying about my back until tomorrow, and even go for an extra 10 minutes making sure to hit every part of the pec muscle by doing 4 exercises instead of just 3 that day.

I would still work out for an hour however, but now I can add exercises to my work out that hit the sometimes overlooked muscle groups. Maybe use that extra 20 minutes add an extra day of calf?s, or forearms, or traps.

Also I?d assume that since I?d be working out 6 days a week vs 4 that I?d be able to have a leaner yet better bulk because I would be burning more calories a week allowing me to eat even more!, which then gives my muscles more of what they need. I read an article on here that said it was better to increase activity and increase calories than to decrease calories to account for your inactivity.
Heres my current two splits I use and alternate every 2-3 months.

1 Chest/back 2 Legs, 3 off, 4 Arms, 5 off, 6 Shoulders, 7 off

1 Chest/ Tri?s, 2 Back/bi?s, 3legs, 4 off, 5 Shoulders, 6 off, 7 Forearms/calfs

Call it genius, tell me its been done, or flame away??

2

It’s good. Lifting more frequently will not only make you have leaner gains, but to actually build more muscle mass.

3

Is this a routine thats been covered here before in some article? Why dont you really see anyone working 6 days a week but just focusing on one part each day?

Is it because most people dont have the time?

4

i dont really understand why youd devote one day to calves and forearms, such small muscles. personally i just add calves to my leg day at the end of my routine and hell my forearms are strong just from deadlifts and shrugs without straps. so it seems like a waste of a day, id replace that day with some ab work or or maybe do more work on a muscle group youre lacking in. but yeah decent plan, i lift 5 days a week as well

5

Maybe I didnt write it clearly enough, I’m still hitting calfs on leg day, and forearms on Bi’s… but since those are the muscles that always need more work i’ll throw them in for a second hit where I can.

My calfs are my weakest point. My forearms arent weak, but its true… the stronger your forearms are the more you can lift on everything else so i always want to hit them as much as I can without overtraining them

6

[quote]mavrcksurfer69 wrote:
Maybe I didnt write it clearly enough, I’m still hitting calfs on leg day, and forearms on Bi’s… but since those are the muscles that always need more work i’ll throw them in for a second hit where I can.

My calfs are my weakest point. My forearms arent weak, but its true… the stronger your forearms are the more you can lift on everything else so i always want to hit them as much as I can without overtraining them[/quote]

ya calves are stubborn muscles you really gotta hit em hard to get them to develop. forearms will pretty much get bigger and stronger just from lifting w/o straps but my fav exercise to target them specifically was hammer curls

7

yeah ive gotten best results from hammers (also gave me more girth in my bi’s), reverse curls, and doing Rows and weighted Pull ups

Seriously My arms finally for the first time ever exploded in size real quick the day i started doing weighted pull ups. They grew an inch in 4 months

8

Honestyl? Its pretty horrible.

A full day to tris? And a full day for biceps and forearms? I dont think so.

And then you go on to say you recover fast, but you are using a split routine which really only hits each MAJOR muscle 1x per week.

Go with TBT or an Upper/lower split 3-4x per week, and if you want to work arms, forearms, and calves more often, then do the more often.

9

[quote]dankid wrote:
Honestyl? Its pretty horrible.

A full day to tris? And a full day for biceps and forearms? I dont think so.

And then you go on to say you recover fast, but you are using a split routine which really only hits each MAJOR muscle 1x per week.

Go with TBT or an Upper/lower split 3-4x per week, and if you want to work arms, forearms, and calves more often, then do the more often.
[/quote]

LOL

Good one.

10

or an Upper/lower split 3-4x per week, and if you want to work arms, forearms, and calves more often, then do the more often.
[/quote]

Umm, isn’t that pretty much what he did? Granted it’s not Upper/lower, but it’s pretty much a four day split with extra days for arms, etc.

11

[quote]dankid wrote:
or an Upper/lower split 3-4x per week, and if you want to work arms, forearms, and calves more often, then do the more often.[/quote]

[quote]donovanbrambila wrote:
Umm, isn’t that pretty much what he did? Granted it’s not Upper/lower, but it’s pretty much a four day split with extra days for arms, etc.
[/quote]

What thread are you reading? Upper/lower isn’t a four way split, it’s a two way, done (as suggested in this instance) twice per week. Dan is suggesting spltting the body into two and hitting muscles twice a week rather than into six and hitting them once a week. The two are completely different.

Anyway, personally I will say that it’s obvious the more advanced trainee will need a more advanced routine. A six way split might be necessary and even optimal for Ronnie Coleman or something who will need far more recovery time for a muscle after a workout, but for Joe Average who needs less time they would be better training muscles more often (and particularly squatting and deading more often), so an upper/lower split would be a better option (or even a three way split done twice a week over six workouts, if he wanted to train six times in a week).

Obviously it’s all individual and everybody responds to different things better or worse… more or less frequency, more or less volume, more or less reps per set, slower or faster tempo, etc. so experimenting with different routines is the best way to find out how to get the best results. Listen to everybody and believe nobody, basically, find out for yourself. I have to say though that looking at this guy’s avatar a six way split is a waste of time that could be better spent with a less advanced split with more of a focus on repeated mass building movements performed more often. Again, someone squatting 200lbs can and should obviously squat more often than someone squatting 800lbs.

The bigger and stronger you get, the more you should split the body up and allow increased recovery time before working the same muscle again. The OP definitely doesn’t look ready for a six way split, which is in no way a slur because everybody has to start somewhere, I’m not ready for a six way either, but I think he would be doing himself a disservice by doing a split that would give optimal results for someone more advanced but almost certainly suboptimal results for him.

Ultimately though the only way to KNOW is to try it and to KNOW, not just to THINK.

12

[quote]dankid wrote:
Honestyl? Its pretty horrible.

A full day to tris? And a full day for biceps and forearms? I dont think so.

And then you go on to say you recover fast, but you are using a split routine which really only hits each MAJOR muscle 1x per week.

Go with TBT or an Upper/lower split 3-4x per week, and if you want to work arms, forearms, and calves more often, then do the more often.
[/quote]

Ok gotcha. I’m open to trying anything, so I’ll give this a shot. Anything to mix it up. I’m bored of switching b/w the two splits I’ve been doing, so if anything this will just keep things from getting monotonous.

I’ll go read up TBT and make a routine.
And no offense taken, I know I’m not Ronnie Coleman lol

13

[quote]Squelchy wrote:
dankid wrote:
or an Upper/lower split 3-4x per week, and if you want to work arms, forearms, and calves more often, then do the more often.

donovanbrambila wrote:
Umm, isn’t that pretty much what he did? Granted it’s not Upper/lower, but it’s pretty much a four day split with extra days for arms, etc.

What thread are you reading? Upper/lower isn’t a four way split, it’s a two way, done (as suggested in this instance) twice per week. Dan is suggesting spltting the body into two and hitting muscles twice a week rather than into six and hitting them once a week. The two are completely different.

Anyway, personally I will say that it’s obvious the more advanced trainee will need a more advanced routine. A six way split might be necessary and even optimal for Ronnie Coleman or something who will need far more recovery time for a muscle after a workout, but for Joe Average who needs less time they would be better training muscles more often (and particularly squatting and deading more often), so an upper/lower split would be a better option (or even a three way split done twice a week over six workouts, if he wanted to train six times in a week).

Obviously it’s all individual and everybody responds to different things better or worse… more or less frequency, more or less volume, more or less reps per set, slower or faster tempo, etc. so experimenting with different routines is the best way to find out how to get the best results. Listen to everybody and believe nobody, basically, find out for yourself. I have to say though that looking at this guy’s avatar a six way split is a waste of time that could be better spent with a less advanced split with more of a focus on repeated mass building movements performed more often. Again, someone squatting 200lbs can and should obviously squat more often than someone squatting 800lbs.

The bigger and stronger you get, the more you should split the body up and allow increased recovery time before working the same muscle again. The OP definitely doesn’t look ready for a six way split, which is in no way a slur because everybody has to start somewhere, I’m not ready for a six way either, but I think he would be doing himself a disservice by doing a split that would give optimal results for someone more advanced but almost certainly suboptimal results for him.

Ultimately though the only way to KNOW is to try it and to KNOW, not just to THINK.[/quote]

Same one youre reading, only you didn’t read my post, apparently. I said four DAY split, not four WAY. Upper 2x a week + Lower 2x a week= (gasp!) 4 days!

To the OP: I would not do TBT. In my experience, it’s good for beginners, like super beginners, but not for much other than conditioning after that. I like the split you posted, for reasons already stated. Ultimately, you know your weaknesses and it seems like youre working to fix them.

14

yeah I just read about TBT and I dont want to say it sucks because I’ve never tried it… but I think I can already tell its not for me.

Right now with those two splits I switch b/w I do 3 exercises with 4 sets per exercise for each muscle for a total of 12 sets.

I think what I’ll do is keep the split routine and do four exercises with 3 sets each to mix it up

Example, Chest; Flat Bench, Incline, Decline, Fly for a pump/ Back; Row, Weighted pullup, Shrugs, Lower back raises.

15

[quote]donovanbrambila wrote:
Squelchy wrote:
dankid wrote:
or an Upper/lower split 3-4x per week, and if you want to work arms, forearms, and calves more often, then do the more often.

donovanbrambila wrote:
Umm, isn’t that pretty much what he did? Granted it’s not Upper/lower, but it’s pretty much a four day split with extra days for arms, etc.

What thread are you reading? Upper/lower isn’t a four way split, it’s a two way, done (as suggested in this instance) twice per week. Dan is suggesting spltting the body into two and hitting muscles twice a week rather than into six and hitting them once a week. The two are completely different.

Anyway, personally I will say that it’s obvious the more advanced trainee will need a more advanced routine. A six way split might be necessary and even optimal for Ronnie Coleman or something who will need far more recovery time for a muscle after a workout, but for Joe Average who needs less time they would be better training muscles more often (and particularly squatting and deading more often), so an upper/lower split would be a better option (or even a three way split done twice a week over six workouts, if he wanted to train six times in a week).

Obviously it’s all individual and everybody responds to different things better or worse… more or less frequency, more or less volume, more or less reps per set, slower or faster tempo, etc. so experimenting with different routines is the best way to find out how to get the best results. Listen to everybody and believe nobody, basically, find out for yourself. I have to say though that looking at this guy’s avatar a six way split is a waste of time that could be better spent with a less advanced split with more of a focus on repeated mass building movements performed more often. Again, someone squatting 200lbs can and should obviously squat more often than someone squatting 800lbs.

The bigger and stronger you get, the more you should split the body up and allow increased recovery time before working the same muscle again. The OP definitely doesn’t look ready for a six way split, which is in no way a slur because everybody has to start somewhere, I’m not ready for a six way either, but I think he would be doing himself a disservice by doing a split that would give optimal results for someone more advanced but almost certainly suboptimal results for him.

Ultimately though the only way to KNOW is to try it and to KNOW, not just to THINK.

Same one youre reading, only you didn’t read my post, apparently. I said four DAY split, not four WAY. Upper 2x a week + Lower 2x a week= (gasp!) 4 days![/quote]

OK, in that case in what way is training 4 days per week instead of 6 on a two way split instead of a six way split “pretty much” the same (your words, not mine, being you said it was “pretty much what he did”, i.e. the six way split)?

16

Is everyone really this stupid now. Im not directing this at the OP but that split is HORRIBLE. You are hitting all the big muscles once per week on the first three days (1-3) and then the rest of the week is devoted to arms, forearms, and calves. If you are training hard, i dont see how you can hit chest, back, and then legs three days in a row, and then arms the rest of the week. Its so unbalanced.

Seriously if you aren’t going to do TBT, then do WS4SB or upper/lower. And like I said, if you want to devote extra work arms and calves you can. I’ll even post an example for you.

Day1: Upper + Calves
Day2: Cardio or rest
Day3: Lower + Arms
Day4: cardio or rest
Day5: Full body + calves + arms
Day6: OFF
Day7: OFF

With this plan, you get the best of everything. You hit every muscle 2x per week, plus you can hit your calves and arms 3x a week. Cardio would be optional depending on your diet and goals, and then you’d adjust the # of exercises and volumes for each exercise to balance things out.

17

[quote]hurg53 wrote:
i dont really understand why youd devote one day to calves and forearms, such small muscles. personally i just add calves to my leg day at the end of my routine and hell my forearms are strong just from deadlifts and shrugs without straps. so it seems like a waste of a day, id replace that day with some ab work or or maybe do more work on a muscle group youre lacking in. but yeah decent plan, i lift 5 days a week as well[/quote]

Why do you work calves after legs day ?

18

[quote]bpeloquin wrote:

Why do you work calves after legs day ? [/quote]

Apart from calf raises, what leg movements do you do that involve the contraction of the calves?

19

[quote]Squelchy wrote:
bpeloquin wrote:

Why do you work calves after legs day ?

Apart from calf raises, what leg movements do you do that involve the contraction of the calves?[/quote]

Are you asking me ?

In my opinion working calves on legs day is like working triceps on chest day … it just doesn’t work quite as well as I’d like it.

20

[quote]bpeloquin wrote:

Are you asking me ?

In my opinion working calves on legs day is like working triceps on chest day … it just doesn’t work quite as well as I’d like it. [/quote]

No, I was trying to make a point without being explicit. Let me explain.

I can’t speak for anybody else, but when I train my legs it’s the usual squats/deadlifts/leg extensions and curls for everything except my calves. I might do any excercises including back squats, bulgarian split squats, barbell split squats, deadlifts, snatch grip deadlifts off blocks, stiff legged barbell or dumbbell deadlifts, leg extensions and leg curls. Not a one of those makes me feel anything in my calves, so from that perspective it doesn’t really matter in the slightest what you group calves in with if you’re doing some sort of split because the only thing that works the calves (at least for me personally, from the exercises I use) is working the calves directly. So it doesn’t matter if I train them with chest, back, legs, arms, left buttock, right nipple, whatever, they’re going to be fresh regardless.