Lower/Upper Split Critique

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

I am using power cage + olympic barbell at home.

Lower A

  • Squat 5x5
  • Deadlift 3x10
  • Lunges 3x10
  • Calf raises 3x12 superset with weighted crunches 3x10
  • Calf raises 3x12 superset with leg raise 3x10

Upper A

  • Bench press 5x5
  • Rows 5x5
  • Overhead press 3x10
  • Chin up 3x10
  • Dips 3x10 superset with Bicep curl 3x10

Lower B

  • Deadlift 5x5
  • Squat 3x10
  • Lunges 3x10
  • Calf raises 3x12 superset with weighted crunches 3x10
  • Calf raises 3x12 superset with leg raise 3x10

Upper B

  • Overhead press 5x5
  • Weighted Chin up 5x6-8
  • Bench press 3x10
  • Rows 3x10
  • Dips 3x10 superset with Bicep curl 3x10

Mon: Lower A
Tue: Upper A
Fri: Lower B
Sat: Upper B

Any opinion?

2

I’m curious why you superset abs and calves. Is that just to save time or do you see a workout benefit to doing that?

3

Stuff like this is what I love to see in a new lifter. The big basics and some of the bigger accessories, equal pulling to pushing, low and high rep work, no special or complicated techniques.

4

looks great, well done.

seriously, if all newbs posted a routine like that the world would be a better place. Only thing I would add would be lateral raises to Upper A and rear delt flyes to Upper B.

5

[quote]Silyak wrote:
I’m curious why you superset abs and calves. Is that just to save time or do you see a workout benefit to doing that?[/quote]
Just to save time

6

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
looks great, well done.

seriously, if all newbs posted a routine like that the world would be a better place. Only thing I would add would be lateral raises to Upper A and rear delt flyes to Upper B.[/quote]
any reason to add delts isolation when i have overhead press?

7

[quote]tagan wrote:

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
looks great, well done.

seriously, if all newbs posted a routine like that the world would be a better place. Only thing I would add would be lateral raises to Upper A and rear delt flyes to Upper B.[/quote]
any reason to add delts isolation when i have overhead press?[/quote]

yeah, overhead press doesn’t hit the lateral or rear delts to any significant degree. Your shoulders will look loads better if you don’t neglect the other two heads. Also, from a shoulder health point of view, getting your rear delts stronger is desirable.

If you don’t care about how your physique looks then it’s maybe not so important, but it really will make a huge difference to how your shoulders look

8

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
yeah, overhead press doesn’t hit the lateral or rear delts to any significant degree. Your shoulders will look loads better if you don’t neglect the other two heads. Also, from a shoulder health point of view, getting your rear delts stronger is desirable.

If you don’t care about how your physique looks then it’s maybe not so important, but it really will make a huge difference to how your shoulders look[/quote]
Oh… noted.

9

Looks real good if you have learned a decent amount about all the lifts already.

Personally I think in the first few months of lifting the thing that helped me the most was doing 5x5 (with 4-7 warmup sets first) of four big movements, hitting each movement as often as possible. It got my numbers up and got me to learn the lifts.

The point being, if you don’t have a good MMC on all those lifts, you’re not gonna develop it if you’re not focused on a small subset of what you have listed.

10

is it better to split upper body into 2 days and add abit more volume with same frequency?

Like

Lower Body A

  • Squat 5x5
  • Deadlift 3x10

Lower Body B

  • Deadlift 5x5
  • Squat 3x10

Both Lower Body A and B

  • Lunges 3x10
  • Lunges 3x10
  • Calf raise 3x12 superset with weighted crunches 3x10
  • Calf raise 3x12 superset with leg raise 3x10

Push A (Chest + Shoulder + Tricep)

  • Bench press 5x5
  • Overhead press 3x10

Push B (Chest + Shoulder + Tricep)

  • Overhead press 5x5
  • Bench press 3x10

Both Push A and B

  • Dumbbell arm pullover or inclined bench press 3x10
  • Upright rows 3x10
  • Dips 3x10
  • Skull crusher 3x10

Pull A (Back + Bicep)

  • Rows 5x5
  • Chin up 3x10

Pull B (Back + Bicep)

  • Chin up 5x5
  • Rows 3x10

Both Pull A and B

  • Hammer curl or Preacher curl 3x10
  • Bicep curl 3x10

Day 1: Lower Body A
Day 2: Push A
Day 3: Pull A
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Lower Body B
Day 6: Push B
Day 7: Pull B
Day 1: Rest

And repeat

Or I just stick with lower upper split?

11

Have you tried the first routine yet for a few weeks?

Honestly, I wanted to do something like that but didn’t have the work capacity. Still working on that; I’ve added back in the assisted pull ups this week (and ow my lats).

12

[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
Have you tried the first routine yet for a few weeks?

Honestly, I wanted to do something like that but didn’t have the work capacity. Still working on that; I’ve added back in the assisted pull ups this week (and ow my lats). [/quote]
I have used it for 2 weeks. And i got good gain. But I dont know whether it is faster gain. Better ask beef.

13

any opinion about 2nd routine (10th post here, leg/push/pull)?