Evolving Into Splits!

So I’ve been on a full body (TBT) for a good 4 months, and my progress has stalled. Time to man up I think and progress my training onto the next level, which I see as being splits. I’ve looked over various types, including upper/lower and push/pull, but I’m drawn largely to a 4-day split, mainly because it’s what I’d picture most bodybuilders doing, and it’s how I see the way to get hypertrophy into overload!

As it’s my first split, could any of you experts give it the once over and let me know if it looks OK? I understand it’s a bit about trial and error, but all the same…

Shoulders/traps: (all 12-10-10-8)
Standing BB military press
Narrow-mid grip URR
DB bent over rear delt raises
DB lateral raises
DB front raises

Legs: (all 12-10-10-8)
Back squats
Stiff-legged deadlifts
Leg Press
Leg extensions
Hamstring curls

Chest/tris: (all 12-10-10-8)
DB Bench
Dips
Incline DB Bench
DB skullcrushers
CGBP

Back/bis: (all 12-10-10-8)
Deadlifs
Chins
DB BOR
EZ bar biceps curls
DB hammer curls

Thanks in advance!

do traps with back and shoulders with chest/tris. My split is very similiar to this.

stiff leg dling is going to blow ass teh day after doing traps

Aside from it being totally trial and error, I think it looks fine.

Though I think you’ll change your mind on leg day. It looks like torture.

Yeah I’m looking over that now and thinking bloody hell, I still need to be able to use the pedals on my car afterwards… :stuck_out_tongue: Might swap the leg press for walking lunges or maybe even some calves work.

As for the other days though, I’m a little concerned about the overlap for the anterior deltoids between chest and shoulders days. I feel my shoulders are the lagging body part, so I want to beast them into shape more than anything. This program won’t hinder those goals?

[quote]ShutUpAndSquat wrote:
Yeah I’m looking over that now and thinking bloody hell, I still need to be able to use the pedals on my car afterwards… :stuck_out_tongue: Might swap the leg press for walking lunges or maybe even some calves work.

As for the other days though, I’m a little concerned about the overlap for the anterior deltoids between chest and shoulders days. I feel my shoulders are the lagging body part, so I want to beast them into shape more than anything. This program won’t hinder those goals?[/quote]

I dont see that being a problem because your giving your delts a day (or maybe more since you didn’t indicate the days) between workouts, so you should be fine. Again, try it and see if it does pose a problem.

Damn Im hot! I love my avatar…umm, sorry I got distracted.

[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
do traps with back and shoulders with chest/tris. My split is very similiar to this.

stiff leg dling is going to blow ass teh day after doing traps[/quote]

I don’t know about the shoulders with chest. If I do incline benching before I do shoulder press, I will be able to shoulder press about half the weight that I’d be able to if I did it fresh.
It goes beyond pre-fatiguing. When I started doing shoulders with back, they exploded.

[quote]Artem wrote:
zephead4747 wrote:
do traps with back and shoulders with chest/tris. My split is very similiar to this.

stiff leg dling is going to blow ass teh day after doing traps

I don’t know about the shoulders with chest. If I do incline benching before I do shoulder press, I will be able to shoulder press about half the weight that I’d be able to if I did it fresh.
It goes beyond pre-fatiguing. When I started doing shoulders with back, they exploded.
[/quote]

Agreed, I used to do shoulders with chest/tris but I found I neglected my shoulders doing that. To each his own, though, either way is a solid option. Also OP to your comment about wanting to bring up your shoulders more than anything else, if you’ve only been working out for 4 months I wouldn’t worry about anything like that, just adding mass everywhere should be your main concern.

URR = Up Right Row?

I also like separating shoulders from the chest/tri work.

It also affords me more time and energy to spend on prehab exercises.

[quote]As for the other days though, I’m a little concerned about the overlap for the anterior deltoids between chest and shoulders days. I feel my shoulders are the lagging body part, so I want to beast them into shape more than anything. This program won’t hinder those goals?

I dont see that being a problem because your giving your delts a day (or maybe more since you didn’t indicate the days) between workouts, so you should be fine. Again, try it and see if it does pose a problem.[/quote]

Plan would be something like this:
Mon- OFF
Tue- Chest/tri
Wed- OFF
Thurs- Back/bi
Fri- OFF
Sat- Shoulders
Sun- Legs

So this gives me 4 days between chest and shoulders and then 3 days between shoulders and chest. Enough you think then to not hinder the development of the shoulders?

[quote]ShutUpAndSquat wrote:
As for the other days though, I’m a little concerned about the overlap for the anterior deltoids between chest and shoulders days. I feel my shoulders are the lagging body part, so I want to beast them into shape more than anything. This program won’t hinder those goals?

I dont see that being a problem because your giving your delts a day (or maybe more since you didn’t indicate the days) between workouts, so you should be fine. Again, try it and see if it does pose a problem.

Plan would be something like this:
Mon- OFF
Tue- Chest/tri
Wed- OFF
Thurs- Back/bi
Fri- OFF
Sat- Shoulders
Sun- Legs

So this gives me 4 days between chest and shoulders and then 3 days between shoulders and chest. Enough you think then to not hinder the development of the shoulders?
[/quote]

this looks good. Don’t do SLDL on leg day if you’re doing traps with shoulders. At least, I wouldn’t. I prefer glute hams anyways.

overall it looks alright, you’ll have to see how it works for you… Now you didn’t specify a goal really im assuming hypertrophy… a few of my thoughts from my personal experiences though…

Shoulders/traps: (all 12-10-10-8)
Standing BB military press
Narrow-mid grip URR
DB bent over rear delt raises
DB lateral raises
DB front raises

it seams like you have quite a bit of volume here and imo raises don’t really put on enough mass to use when bulking, maybe drop them and add another press, seated DB or arnold maybe

Legs: (all 12-10-10-8)
Back squats
Stiff-legged deadlifts
Leg Press
Leg extensions
Hamstring curls

you’ve addressed this, my 2 cents are that this is far to much to do naturally. If your intensity is high this would quickly lead to over training in a lot of people. Maybe hit squats, presses and walking lunges or something but perhaps less volume as well

Back/bis: (all 12-10-10-8)
Deadlifs
Chins
DB BOR
EZ bar biceps curls
DB hammer curls

this seams a little light on back… i personally feel that given the size and complexity of the back musculature that more work needs to be done to promote growth. DL’s and Chins are good, i prefer BB BOR but to each his own… but perhaps add another row variation (tbar) or maybe a pulldown on the end to lighten the workload (close - neutral grip or reverse grip for the lower lats perhaps)

overall though it seams like you have a decent plan, my BIGGEST piece of advice to anyone while old and common but VERY important is always take what anyone (even me) says with a grain of salt, as what works for them won’t neccecerly work for you. Listin to your body and make adjustments accordingly, good luck man

OK, but adding in another back exercise is going to take away a biceps one… would the biceps be best matched with something else instead then? Or would one biceps iso be enough?

[quote]ShutUpAndSquat wrote:
OK, but adding in another back exercise is going to take away a biceps one… would the biceps be best matched with something else instead then? Or would one biceps iso be enough?[/quote]

I would do depends. If I hit a big PR on incline DB curls, I might feel doign cable curls after to just be repetitive. If I can’t PR on my arm movement, I usually smash them with volume. This is just a personal preference though.