Split Routines

So how many of u Guys and gals are still using split routine’s

Just got through reading A Cosgrove’s article and it seems he is not a huge fan of split routines.

Ive switched to a split routine and im making gains.But i get bored very easily so ill probably be back on a full body routine sooner rather than later :smiley:

Just curious?

HHH

HHH…good question…I’m still using split routines and mixing it up with some DE/ME pseudo-powerlifting type of splits. I’m open to going to a full body 3/wk type of template. The problem is I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around the intensity/volume approach towards this type of training…especially if you are already an advanced lifter. 500S,405B Raw,655 Dead. If someone has any good ideas about how to approach this, I’d appreciate some insight.Goals …nothing any fancier than continuing to get BIGGER and STRONGER with decent GPP and not being a FAT SLOB.

Well I think people are misreading Alwynn.

He is not saying split routines in and of them selves are all bad just how people go about splitting them in is opinion.

That you should not split it by body part but by movement if you are going to do it. That by say doing an arm day you are limiting yourself to movements that are not very natural. How often is it you just use an arm to do something??

That said right now I am doing such a split for a bit and making good progress but Im sure will soon go back to full body, or push pull legs etc.

Mix it up keep it fresh challanging and fun.

I have a body part split atm, T-Nation taught me that sux so now i?m looking for an alternative.
Could anybody help me with that?
One option would be some complete body stuff (e.g. squats, chins dips - deadlifts, row, front press).
But what if i want to do more than one excercice for one muscle?
push-pull-legs sounds good, any other ideas, examples?

[quote]p1nt wrote:
I have a body part split atm, T-Nation taught me that sux so now i?m looking for an alternative.
Could anybody help me with that?
One option would be some complete body stuff (e.g. squats, chins dips - deadlifts, row, front press).
But what if i want to do more than one excercice for one muscle?
push-pull-legs sounds good, any other ideas, examples?[/quote]

I don’t remember which of his programs it was in off hand, but I think I remember seeing CW recommend a 4 day a week split that has an upper body push day, lower body quad dominant day, day off, upper body pull day, lower body hip dominant day, 2 days off.

I’m having a seriously difficult time with this topic. If I had three hours for the gym, maybe it would be a good idea. As I have only one hour (roughly), one part/day works well. Chest takes four days to recover. Back (and to a lesser degree biceps) takes four. Legs take two. Shoulders (and minimal chest) two days - right in line with chest recovery. Then arms, after recovering from back as well as chest/shoulders… and finally legs again on day six. Two days off and back to it.

I’ve just started the legs 2xweek; one with high weight/low reps and the other high reps/low weight for box squats, deads and calves.

How is this working? Well, now that I’ve found this site and the necessary nutrition I’ve been missing these past four years… I’m seeing shoulder gains, chest gains, arm gains… can’t see my back without eyes in the back of my head… and a new understanding of squat/dead FORM making me feel like a noob… it’s working good. I can see less fat in the mirror as well as 1-2 bodyweight pound gains a month.

Working all muscles twice a week has it’s serious attraction, though. Time and exhaustion are the limiting factors. The gym is not my life; it’s a part of my lifestyle. Plus, I’m not convinced that I would get 100% out of my pull-ups/chin-ups after doing chest. After these, then do shoulders? How much fuel in the tank does one have?!?

Can anyone explain the non split routine better? Please?

[quote]jd_dd wrote:

I don’t remember which of his programs it was in off hand, but I think I remember seeing CW recommend a 4 day a week split that has an upper body push day, lower body quad dominant day, day off, upper body pull day, lower body hip dominant day, 2 days off.

[/quote]

Sounds good. So that would be something like 1) bench press, dips, front press
2) squats, leg extensions etc.
3) chin ups, row, (maybe something for the rear part of the shoulder)
4) deadlifts, leg curls (maybe calves dunno)

no extra armtraining beside chin ups and dips?

do people who read these forums even read ANY of the hundreds (probably thoasands) of great articles?

From some of the questions in this thread it really doesnt seem like it. If your having questions about training with a split other then the body part split I would start with Chad Waterbury’s articles. He talks alot about training freaquancy and it is all very is to understand.

HHH…good question…I’m still using split routines and mixing it up with some DE/ME pseudo-powerlifting type of splits. I’m open to going to a full body 3/wk type of template.

The problem is I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around the intensity/volume approach towards this type of training…especially if you are already an advanced lifter. 500S,405B Raw,655 Dead. If someone has any good ideas about how to approach this, I’d appreciate some insight.

Goals …nothing any fancier than continuing to get BIGGER and STRONGER with decent GPP and not being a FAT SLOB.

No one has really given me a good example yet, of course I’ve read both ABBH 1& 2, TBT training etc. I’m saying those splits are NOT suitable for advanced lifters with a 1600lbs+ Total, RAW & Clean… I wanna here some opinions.

[quote]puglet wrote:
HHH…good question…I’m still using split routines and mixing it up with some DE/ME pseudo-powerlifting type of splits. I’m open to going to a full body 3/wk type of template.

The problem is I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around the intensity/volume approach towards this type of training…especially if you are already an advanced lifter. 500S,405B Raw,655 Dead. If someone has any good ideas about how to approach this, I’d appreciate some insight.

Goals …nothing any fancier than continuing to get BIGGER and STRONGER with decent GPP and not being a FAT SLOB.

No one has really given me a good example yet, of course I’ve read both ABBH 1& 2, TBT training etc. I’m saying those splits are NOT suitable for advanced lifters with a 1600lbs+ Total, RAW & Clean… I wanna here some opinions.[/quote]

look up the training of most any big name powerlifter, the great majority (at least from everything I have seen) do not train with a body part split.

I think you are correct in thinking full body routines would be difficult to setup for an advanced lifter, they are one of the few cases where lots of recovery is needed.

[quote]puglet wrote:
HHH…good question…I’m still using split routines and mixing it up with some DE/ME pseudo-powerlifting type of splits. I’m open to going to a full body 3/wk type of template.

The problem is I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around the intensity/volume approach towards this type of training…especially if you are already an advanced lifter. 500S,405B Raw,655 Dead. If someone has any good ideas about how to approach this, I’d appreciate some insight.

Goals …nothing any fancier than continuing to get BIGGER and STRONGER with decent GPP and not being a FAT SLOB.

No one has really given me a good example yet, of course I’ve read both ABBH 1& 2, TBT training etc. I’m saying those splits are NOT suitable for advanced lifters with a 1600lbs+ Total, RAW & Clean… I wanna here some opinions.[/quote]

Given your question, I would appraoch it like this. This is just my opinion, based on my own experiments.

What I mean by each method:
ME = max effort (90% +)
DE = dynamic effort (explosive @ 60%)
RE = Repetitive effort (8-12 reps @ 75%)
SE = Strength endurance (50-60% 15-20 reps)

Day 1 ME upper SE Lower
Day 3 ME Lower RE Upper
Day 5 DE Upper RE Lower
Day 6 DE Lower SE Upper

First style in the day gets the most effort, say 60-75%. Remaining volume goes to the other method.

CW wrote something about this, which was basically using a radically different method for the body part on the next workout, always getting full body activity.

I too would agree that for adavanced lifters, full body routines where the volume is EQUALLY divided across all methods/exercises does not make sense. Advanced lifters need specilization IMHO. Now, that does not mean full body cant work, only that it will not look like what CW talks about in TBT.

The biggest challenge for me whenever I implent the above type of method is going to high on volume and running past my recovery abilities.

Of course, from your exeprience, you know that better for your body than anyone else.

And in terms of the general argument on splits, my idea is simply this - lift with big movements, big weights, as much as you can. Divide or alternate the work over a period of time that allows that to happen. When I first started lifting at 16, that was heavy squatting twice a week. know at 33 that looks like heavy back squat one week, heavy front squat next week, etc.

Whatever it takes to move the big stuff!

The problem most people run into with splits is dedicating work and recovery capacity to exercise activity that will haver very little impact on their long term growth.