Three Upper, Three Lower

Hi, I’m trying to get stronger, bigger and more athletic for basketball. I’m not trying to be a bodybuilder. I’m trying to increase my athletic ability and strength and gain some muscle.

Since I’m a beginner, I can workout a little more. Will this split be overtraining?

Upperbody days:

Bench press- 6 sets of 8
Rows- 6 sets of 8
Dumbell curls- 5 sets of 8
tricep pulldown- 5 sets of 8
Dips- 3 sets to failure
pullups- 3 sets to failure

Lowerbody days:

squat- 6 sets of 8
deadlift- 6 sets of 8
Lunges- 5 sets of 8
Calf raises- 5 sets of 15
leg curls(hamstrings)- 3 sets of 8
legcurls(quads)- 3 sets of 8

I will rest 2 minutes between sets

Monday- upperbody
tuesday-lowerbody
wednesday-upperbody
thursday-lowerbody
friday-upperbody
saturday-lowerbody
sunday-rest

I plan to jog 15 minutes everymorning on an empty stomach to burn fat. And I will play basketball and do pylometrics on my lowerbody days. I will also do HIIT a couple times a week.

Will this be overtraining? If so, will lowering the amount of total sets per workout make a difference?

That program doesn’t look to bad, although 6 sets of 8 is a lot of volume. I would probably start with 4 sets of 8, and go from there. Same kinda thing with the number of workout days, you might want to try 4 workouts a week, and see if you still have energy/dedication to bump it to 6.

The point of overtraining is different for everyone, if you’re very athletic, you might be able to handle 6 workouts per week, but for the average beginner, it’s a bit too much.

[quote]Baller1950 wrote:
Hi, I’m trying to get stronger, bigger and more athletic for basketball. I’m not trying to be a bodybuilder. I’m trying to increase my athletic ability and strength and gain some muscle.

Since I’m a beginner, I can workout a little more. Will this split be overtraining?

Upperbody days:

Bench press- 6 sets of 8
Rows- 6 sets of 8
Dumbell curls- 5 sets of 8
tricep pulldown- 5 sets of 8
Dips- 3 sets to failure
pullups- 3 sets to failure

Lowerbody days:

squat- 6 sets of 8
deadlift- 6 sets of 8
Lunges- 5 sets of 8
Calf raises- 5 sets of 15
leg curls(hamstrings)- 3 sets of 8
legcurls(quads)- 3 sets of 8

I will rest 2 minutes between sets

Monday- upperbody
tuesday-lowerbody
wednesday-upperbody
thursday-lowerbody
friday-upperbody
saturday-lowerbody
sunday-rest

I plan to jog 15 minutes everymorning on an empty stomach to burn fat. And I will play basketball and do pylometrics on my lowerbody days. I will also do HIIT a couple times a week.

Will this be overtraining? If so, will lowering the amount of total sets per workout make a difference?[/quote]

Didn’t you just post a thread with pretty much the same topic? Asshole.

[quote]InCorporeSano wrote:
Didn’t you just post a thread with pretty much the same topic? Asshole.

[/quote]

Damn now whos the ass hole lots of worthless pecker waving and flaming here of laet and damn this is the beginner forum. settle down.

I agree with the first poster great advice all around.

[quote]john3103 wrote:
The point of overtraining is different for everyone, if you’re very athletic, you might be able to handle 6 workouts per week, but for the average beginner, it’s a bit too much.

[/quote]

Yeah, I agree with this. This will probably be too much since you’re probably going to continue to play basketball throughout the week.

Where did you get the notion that since youre a beginner you could work out more often?

What are leg curls for your quads? Leg extensions?

2 things: 1 it does seem to add up to just a little too much volume on a weekly basis. I would recommend doing 2 work sets of everything on week 1, 3 sets on week 2, 4 on week 3, and maybe 5 on week 4, then cycling back to 2 and pushing a little harder. When you cycle back, you may even want to stay at 2 sets for 2 or 3 weeks if you are able to add weight each week.

Second, I if you are going to train 6 days a week, which is fine, I think you need to vary your rep ranges. On days 1 and 2 I would do 12-15 reps, on days 3 and 4, 8-12, and on days 5 and 6 3-6 reps, adding weight to each subsequent workout throughout the week.

And after years of experience I would say no leg extensions. You could add Glute ham raises, or back extensions, or for sports, leg raises instead.