T Nation

Ideal Split for 2B

#1

CT - In a recent thread you wrote:

For 2Bs the ideal split is as follow:
CHEST/BICEPS
LOWER BODY (quads emphasis)
BACK/TRICEPS
SHOULDERS/TRAPS & REAR DELTS
LOWER BODY (posterior chain emphasis… must include a deadlift variation)

  1. Is there a good way to adapt this to training 4 days a week?

  2. I don’t deadlift due to lower back issue. Would you add some more back work on the second leg day?

  3. Where could loaded carries be included? I often do them in leg days.

Thank you.

#2

Hard to do if we want everything to be hit to some extent twice a week. I guess you can simply roll the sessions through 8 days instead of 7.

Week 1
Mon: Chest/Biceps
Tues: Lower body quads emphasis
Wed: OFF
Thurs: Back/Triceps
Fri: OFF
Sat: Shoulders/Traps/Rear delts
Sun: OFF

Week 2
Mon: Lower body posterior chain emphasis
Tues: Chest/Biceps
Wed: OFF
Thu: Lower body quads emphasis
Fri: Off
Sat: Back/Triceps
Sun: OFF
Etc.

#3

Yes, but keep it conservative because you have traps and rear delts the preceding workout. So do mostly lats work on that second back day.

#4

They can be done anywhere including leg day. The problem with putting them on leg day is that if your legs are super pumped and tired from the workout, loaded carries will be much more demanding and the performance can be negatively affected.

I personally prefer to do farmers walk on back day and prowler on leg day

#5

Is there an “ideal” workout structure for 2Bs? I often play it by feel but end up falling into my usual pattern.

Thanks very much for the help.

#6

A. Main movement (compound lift) done alone, normally type 2B should not go above around 85% of 1RM, but most often in the 70-80% zone (6-10RM)

B1. Main assistance exercise for the “big muscle” of the day

B2. Antagonist/small muscle of the day

C1. Secondary assistance exercise, normally still a multi-joint exercise but lower on the neurological scale (pulley or machine)

C2. Antagonist/small muscle of the day

D1. Isolation exercise for the big muscle of the day (while often use an intensification technique like rest/pause, drop set, etc.)… this is most often an isolation exercise with free-weights

D2. Isolation exercise for the small muscle of the day, also often using intensification technique… more often using free-weights

Sometimes I will add E1 and E2 which are isolation exercises but using pulley or machine. Intensification techniques can also be used.

THIS IS ONLY A SAMPLE TEMPLATE. It works really well for 2Bs, but any type of proven “bodybuilding” set-up will work

#7

Wanted to mention a pretty good way to work everything into a 4 day split.

Quads+Traps (carries would go here)
Chest+Biceps
Off
Posterior chain+Delts
Off
Lats+Triceps
Off

Fits the 2-day rules and you hit most muscles heavy once and as secondary muscles on others.

#8

Coach, could you give an example exercise selection of this approach ?
Thank You!

#9

Let’s say that we are doing a chest/biceps sessions

A. Bench press

B1. Incline DB bench press
B2. Barbell curl

C1. Machine chest press
C2. Preacher curl

D1.Decline DB flies
D2. Rope hammer curl

E1. Pec deck machine
E2. Cable reverse curl

#10

Thanks heaps! I think this would suit me perfectly. Rest between B1 and B2 or perform as a superset ?

#11

Rest 75-90 sec if muscle growth is the main goal, superset when in a fat loss phase

#12

Coach, what would the sets and reps for the B1/B2 etc be ?
Thank you.

#13

CT - How can 2Bs use ramping as an activation/strength component in the beginning of a workout? I have always loved ramping sets of 3s, but get burnt out by them quickly. Thanks again.

Blockquote

#14

A nice little trick is to do one strength lift as “practice” at the beginnig of your workout. So on a leg day, you could start with some bench press for ramping sets of 3, focusing on perofmrance and explosivenss. Then you do your main work for legs.

On upper body day you’d start with a front squat or dl, etc. This one “anccilalry” strength movement lets you rpactice a lift, get some nice activation and also muscle work/higher freq. And it doesn’t detract from your main workouts performance/energy levels (in fact increases activation)!

#15

First off thank you sharing such an detailed workout structure for us 2Bs as I identify as that as well. I did have a question though related to where if possible some different intensity techniques might fit into a 2Bs workout stucture, most specially rest pause reps and myo reps. I see slow eccentrics are in the intensification phase could the rest pause option for one set or myo reps be used in place of the slow eccentrics?

Also should the accumulation phase just be used for volume approaches (like double progression) and stear clear of any of those other intensity techniques? I had good success using your best damn workout and just wanted to see where or if a 2B could fit them into the cycle structure you mentioned above.

Thank you again as always for your help.

#16

I’ve seen a few posts saying I’m a 2B how should I train. I’m not familiar with this terminology, can anyone link an article that explains what these different types are and how to determine yours? Sorry I’ve googled but came up dry.