Splits Twice Per Week?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ve been looking for split that basically allows training of each bodypart twice/week as opposed to the typical once/week. I’ve tried the program compilation to no success. I’m not talking about upper/lower or push/pull but if that’s all there is then OK. What I mean is a split that maybe works the muscle directly once/week and then works it indirectly later in the week. I’ve been trying to play with this on my own and this is what I’ve come up with so far.

Day #1: Back/tris (gets gets bis, traps, some chest and legs since I deadlift here)

Day #2: Chest/bis (gets tris and shoulders)

Day #3: Quads/hams (Works lower back)

Day#4: Shoulders/traps (Works tris again and some upper back)

Any thoughts?

2

You’re thinking about this too much.

… have you even started lifting yet?

3

[quote]pepperman wrote:
What I mean is a split that maybe works the muscle directly once/week and then works it indirectly later in the week. [/quote]

This is pretty much what i’m doing now, but is more a powerlifting split (or whatever you call it):

Day1- Squat(Front Squat) and legs (mostly quads)
Day2- Press , shoulder,lats and arms
Day4- Deadlift, lower back and legs (mostly hams)
Day5- Bench, chest , back(rows) and arms

For example in the squat day i will do mostly quads but there are leg curls for the hams, in the deadlift day i will hit hard hams and lower back and do only bulgarian squats for quads.

I havent tried this split you are doing, but i know guys who had good results with something similar.

4

[quote]mr popular wrote:
You’re thinking about this too much.

… have you even started lifting yet?[/quote]

Perhaps…the purpose is that I feel my body responds best to hitting each bodypart twice per week however I wanted the volume that is allowed by a “bodybuilding” split rather than just a simple upper/lower program.

Thanks

5

I don’t have any idea what your stats are but it sounds like your focus might be in the wrong area.

The “big picture” here is body weight and poundage increase, and the reason people train a muscle twice a week (and the way they do it) is to increase the training effect and get stronger more quickly. (Eg: the typical westside template)

But if your training isn’t conducive to that effect then you’re better off hitting your muscles once a week.

Reason being if 6 months from now you’re benching and squatting 50lbs more than you currently can do, you’ll be just as big if you trained those muscles once a week or twice a week along the way.

I will say though, that most bodybuilders interested in higher frequency don’t normally opt for the 2x/week, but more like 1.5x/week… by that I mean they may do a 4 way split like push/pull/legs/shoulders… rest a day, but start over with it after that instead of waiting the full 7 days before hitting a muscle group again…

OR they will hit each muscle group once a week except one or two that are lagging behind, which they do twice a week.

6

I have recently changed things up myself and now break the muscles up in order to hit them hard twice a week.
My program looks as follows:

Day#1: Legs, Shoulders, and triceps
Day#2: Chest,Back, and biceps
Day#4:Same as day#1
Day#6:Same as day#2

When I say same as day#…, I mean the same muscle groups as that day, but with different excercises.

I train 2 excercises per muscle group, with the larger muscle getting 5x5.
I also adopted a part of Doggcrap training, as in if I can’t beat the previous week’s numbers(either higher weight for 5x5, or else the same weight for 5x6), then I change the excercise.

And this has been working pretty good for me so far. I have been doing this type of training for about 5 weeks now.

7

[quote]pepperman wrote:
I’ve been looking for split that basically allows training of each bodypart twice/week as opposed to the typical once/week. I’ve tried the program compilation to no success. I’m not talking about upper/lower or push/pull but if that’s all there is then OK.

What I mean is a split that maybe works the muscle directly once/week and then works it indirectly later in the week. I’ve been trying to play with this on my own and this is what I’ve come up with so far.

Day #1: Back/tris (gets gets bis, traps, some chest and legs since I deadlift here)

Day #2: Chest/bis (gets tris and shoulders)

Day #3: Quads/hams (Works lower back)

Day#4: Shoulders/traps (Works tris again and some upper back)

Any thoughts?[/quote]

The split you’ve listed actually hits some muscles three times a week. That isn’t necessarily bad, but your stated goal is to hit them 2x a week, using a bodybuilding level of volume.

With that as your goal, I’d suggest a similar, traditional split:

Day 1: Chest, Bi
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: Back
Day 4: Shoulders, Tri

The back and legs don’t exactly get hit 2x a week, but I, like many others, do fine with one leg day a week, and the lower back at least will be worked on leg day. If you use some kind of deadlift on leg day, then the back definitely will get worked 2x a week.

8

Here are some splits which should suit your need for hitting each muscle group twice per week.

Option 1:

Mondays and Thursdays:
Chest, Shoulders and Back

Tuesday and Friday:
Legs, Arms and Calves

Option 2:

Mondays and Thursdays:
Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Forearms

Tuesday and Friday:
Legs, Calves, Back and Biceps

Option 3:

Mondays and Thursdays:
Legs, Chest, Biceps and Forearms

Tuesday and Friday:
Back, Shoulders and Triceps

*Throw in abs wherever you want

9

[quote]leon79 wrote:
pepperman wrote:
I’ve been looking for split that basically allows training of each bodypart twice/week as opposed to the typical once/week. I’ve tried the program compilation to no success. I’m not talking about upper/lower or push/pull but if that’s all there is then OK.

What I mean is a split that maybe works the muscle directly once/week and then works it indirectly later in the week. I’ve been trying to play with this on my own and this is what I’ve come up with so far.

Day #1: Back/tris (gets gets bis, traps, some chest and legs since I deadlift here)

Day #2: Chest/bis (gets tris and shoulders)

Day #3: Quads/hams (Works lower back)

Day#4: Shoulders/traps (Works tris again and some upper back)

Any thoughts?

The split you’ve listed actually hits some muscles three times a week. That isn’t necessarily bad, but your stated goal is to hit them 2x a week, using a bodybuilding level of volume.

With that as your goal, I’d suggest a similar, traditional split:

Day 1: Chest, Bi
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: Back
Day 4: Shoulders, Tri

The back and legs don’t exactly get hit 2x a week, but I, like many others, do fine with one leg day a week, and the lower back at least will be worked on leg day. If you use some kind of deadlift on leg day, then the back definitely will get worked 2x a week.
[/quote]

I have seen that split mentioned favorably in at least one other thread, but with legs and back days in non-adjacent slots in the rotation:

Day 1: Chest, Bi
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: Shoulders, Tri
Day 4: Back