Monday: Upper Body A Workout
Tuesday: Lower Body A Workout
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Upper Body B Workout
Friday: Lower Body B Workout
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Lower Body A is:
Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
Leg Press
3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Seated Leg Curls
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
Standing Calf Raises
4 sets of 6-8 reps.
Abs
x sets of 8-15 reps.
& Lower Body B is:
Squats
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
Split Squats
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
Laying Leg Curls
3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Seated Calf Raises
4 sets of 10-12 reps.
Abs
x sets of 8-15 reps.
Can I just do squats for both?
Also, I have huge calves so I don’t need to do calf work. Anything else I can put in to replace the calf work?
Any changes you would make in general ? I’m 5’9 160 lbs my main goal is looking good. Testing out an U/L split and seeing if I like it better than a 4 day split. I am a beginner btw.
Since you’re a beginner I would ignore direct calf work for now. Compound movements will give you more bang for your buck. Idk what you mean as squats for both, but if I were you I would change Romanian Deadlifts to conventional deadlifts as your main movement on the first day. 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler is basically an upper lower split and would do you so much more good than this.
I second the suggestion that you switch Romanian Deadlifts for conventional deadlifts, or sumo deadlifts (whichever one you can get a good teacher on and have the mobility for) for a replacement for the calve work, I would say some glute work instead, it is rare for people to start training with decent hamstring or glute strength and both especially the glutes will help keep you healthy (ever try to lockout a deadlift when your glutes weren’t working correctly? you would know because you will have felt like you crapped out your spine).
Look up Bret Contreras’ barbell glute bridge and barbell hipthrusts, maybe read some of his articles on here. As for the squats, I would say keep the back squats on one day, then as a replacement do front squats after you deadlifts/romanian deadlifts, or do BARBELL hack squats (out of the power rack if you aren’t built to pull hack squats off the floor) these both use the quads more, and are better suited to be your second big exercise instead of having your back be dead when it is time to put the bar on your back.
[quote]Ampedlift wrote:
I’m starting this Upper/Lower split, 4x a week. [/quote]
Back in January, you said you’d chosen a program and were going to stick with it “until summer.” That would’ve been a good idea.
It’s been less than two months and you’re already starting a new routine. That’s a bad idea.
Presuming you’ve been on this 4-day split non-stop since your January thread, it’s barely been seven weeks. That’s nothing. You need to spend more time developing a foundation, not jumping from plan to plan hoping to stumble onto a routine that gives you super-amazing instant results.
Not to mention that this is now the sixth “how’s my program/how should I train”-type thread you’ve started this year. And we’re not even halfway through frickin’ March. You seriously need to think less, read a little less, listen more, and certainly just do more.
[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
Since you’re a beginner I would ignore direct calf work for now.[/quote]
Does not compute. Fast foward two years and he now has lagging calves and has to make up for all the lost time. Beginner or not, why would you tell someone to completely neglect a bodypart? Calf work at the end of a leg workout WILL NOT interfere in anyway with beginner gains…in fact it can only help developement and ankle stability on big compound lifts.
Serious question, but do you even know what you mean by this? That’s like saying trucks will give you more bang for your buck. What if I want to milk a cow? Trucks will be useless.
What is the bang?
What is the buck?
What if I want bigger biceps? Curls will actually be more bang for that buck than say, rows.
What if I want bigger calves? Well you just went and fucked me cuz you told me not to train them at all!
Please get out of this mentality asap and you will be much better off in your lifting career.
[quote]
I would change Romanian Deadlifts to conventional deadlifts as your main movement on the first day. [/quote]
RDLs are a MONEY lift on mastering hip hinge and learning to connect with the hams/glutes early in your lifting career.
Damn, I cannot agree with one thing you’ve said here.
I think that for an absolute beginner it makes far more sense to spend time perfecting and developing the main compound lifts. Thats why in my OPINION (just making that clear) calf raises for a beginner should be put on hold. Instead spend more time on your squat. That doesn’t mean I don’t think they are a valuable exercise at some point. For example front squats, I would say for a beginner not to do until they have mastered their back squat.
Not because I don’t think they are a valuable lift, they build the quads like no other, I just think they will interfere with learning the proper mechanics for the back squat and are a little more technical so they should be learned later on.
And what I meant by compound movements being more bang for your buck doesn’t mean you should ignore assistance lifts altogether. I just think he should be more focused on his compound movements to build a solid base with some minimal assistance work thrown in to balance it out.
And as far as the RDL’s go, I think that the conventional deadlift should be mastered well before they are brought into the equation.
[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
I think that for an absolute beginner it makes far more sense to spend time perfecting and developing the main compound lifts. Thats why in my OPINION (just making that clear) calf raises for a beginner should be put on hold. Instead spend more time on your squat. That doesn’t mean I don’t think they are a valuable exercise at some point. For example front squats, I would say for a beginner not to do until they have mastered their back squat. Not because I don’t think they are a valuable lift, they build the quads like no other, I just think they will interfere with learning the proper mechanics for the back squat and are a little more technical so they should be learned later on.
And what I meant by compound movements being more bang for your buck doesn’t mean you should ignore assistance lifts altogether. I just think he should be more focused on his compound movements to build a solid base with some minimal assistance work thrown in to balance it out.
And as far as the RDL’s go, I think that the conventional deadlift should be mastered well before they are brought into the equation.
Just my 2 cents[/quote]
Bulk, if you were a regular front squatter, you would know that front squat is incredibly fucking simple compared to a wide stance, low torso angle, big sit back type of squatting style. And RDL’s ARE a great hip hinge teacher when done correctly. Tell me, when you train to increase your bench, do you still do curls/extensions even though the biceps and triceps are ‘trained’ with floor presses, bench presses, rows, chin ups, ect?
The correct answer is yes, the biceps stabilize your bench, and the triceps are the most valuable muscle in the bench press even though both of them are ‘small’ muscles trained with ‘accessory’ exercises. I do it with other muscle groups that are valuable to me for one reason or the other.
DSSG I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said. I just personally felt that direct calf work is not necessary for a beginner. I didn’t say that no assistance work is needed. But for those first few weeks as a beginner focusing on the bench press, Deadlift, press, squat, and other “big” movements such as chin ups dips etc is probably more beneficial then calf raises. Like I said I’m still a beginner as well so I’m not trying to say my word is law here.
And as a beginner your biceps aren’t going to limit your bench press, your overall strength in just about the entire upper body will be limiting as well as your lack of nervous system adaptation to heavy weights and most of all your form. So yes I believe assistance work is necessary, however I believe as a beginner learning the compound lifts that will be a basis of your program in the long term is far more important.
And as for the front squat rdl conversation, I don’t think the front squat is terribly complicated. However I believe it can complicate things trying to simultaneously learn both the front squat and back squat movements. And the rdls are great at teaching hip hinging and are very valuable in almost any program. I can’t wait to add them to mine after my injury.
But like with the front squat/squat, I think the Deadlift should be learned first and used as a main moment because its potential loading and progression. I want to make clear I didn’t discredit the rdl in my original post, just stated I believed it would be more useful as an assistance movement rather than the main movement on that day.
Lastly lets not make things personal here, I have nothing against either of you not do I discredit your opinion/knowledge. I just felt the need to back up what I said with my own knowledge. Cause I wouldn’t have stayed my opinion if I didn’t believe in it. I