WS4SB - 4 Day Split

I changed around the program to include 2 lowerbody days. I plan on starting it after my lacrosse season (not for a while). I was hoping you guys could critique the program and tell me what I should change. Here is the program, and thanks for the help.

DAY 1 ? Lower Body

A. Max-Effort Lift ? Work up to a max set of 3-5 reps
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Trap bar deadlift variation
-Straight bar deadlift variation
-Free squat
-Good morning variation
-Rack pulls
-Box squat variation

B. Unilateral Movement ? Perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Step-up variation
-Lunge variation
-Bulgarian split squat variation

C. Hip Extension exercise ? Perform 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps (I tend to focus more on hip extension exercises (as opposed to knee flexion exercises) for the hamstrings once we increase the volume of running.
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Reverse hypers
-Upright sled walks
-Hyperextensions
-Swiss ball hip extension + leg curl
-Glute-ham Raises
-Low-cable pull-throughs

D. Trap/Grip superset ? Superset one exercise from the first group of exercises with one exercise from the second group of exercises. Perform 3-4 supersets.
Group 1
-Dumbbell or barbell Shrugs
-Power Shrugs
-Overhead Shrugs
Group 2
-Thick bar hold (timed set)
-Wrist roller
-Captains of Crush or Heavy Grips grippers
-Plate or dumbbell pinch gripping (timed set)

DAY 2 ? Upper Body

A. Max-Effort Lift ? Work up to a max set of 3-5 reps.
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Thick bar or regular barbell bench press
-Barbell floor press
-Rack lockouts
-Incline barbell bench
-Close-grip bench press (index finger on smooth part of bar)
-Weighted chin-ups
-Board presses

B. Supplemental Lift ? Perform 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Flat dumbbell bench press (palms in or palms facing out)
-Incline dumbbell bench press
-Dumbbell floor press (palms in)

C. Lat/upper back superset ? Superset one exercise from the first group of exercises with one exercise from the second group of exercises. Perform 3-4 supersets of 8-12 reps of each exercise.
Group 1
-Lat pulldowns (various bars & grips)
-Seated cable rows (various bars & grips)
-Chest supported rows
-Bent-over dumbbell rows
Group 2
-Standing rope pulls to neck
-Kneeling scarecrows
-Straight arm lat pulldowns
-Seated dumbbell power cleans
-Rear delt flyes (dumbbells or machine)

D. Elbow flexor exercise ? Perform 3 sets of 6-10 reps
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Hammer curls
-Zottmann curls
-Barbell curls
-Incline dumbbell curls

E. Abdominal circuit
Just pick a variety of ab exercises and perform them in circuit fashion with no rest between exercises.

DAY 3 ? Rest

DAY 4 ? Lower Body

A. Dynamic-Effort Lift ? 8 sets of 2-3 reps.
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Dynamic Box Squats with 50-60% of your 1RM
-Jump Squats with 40% of your 1RM
-Power Cleans
-DB Swing variation

B. Supplement Lift superset ? Superset one exercise from group 1 with one exercise from group 2. 2-3 supersets of 15-20 reps.
Group 1
-Leg Extensions with Machine
-Leg Extensions with Plate
-Leg Extensions with Bands
Group 2
-Leg Curls with Machine
-Leg Curls with Plate
-Leg Curls with Bands

C. Calf Exercise ? Perform 3 sets max reps (aim for 15-25), rest 60 seconds between sets.
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Standing Calf Raises
-Seated Calf Raises
-Leg Press Machine, Calf Raises
-Donkey Calf Raises

D. Neck Exercise Circuit
Just pick a variety of neck exercises and perform them in circuit fashion with no rest between exercises. Be sure to work every side of the neck.

E. Grip/Forearm Exercise ? Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps, rest 60 seconds between sets.
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Wrist Curls
-Reverse Wrist Curls
-Hand Grippers
-Plate or DB pinch Gripping (timed sets)
-Wrist Roller
-Hammer Levers
-Extensor Bands

DAY 5 ? Upper Body

A. Repetition Lift ? Work up to 3 sets of max reps, rest 90 seconds between sets.
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Dumbbell benches on Swiss ball, flat bench or incline bench
-Barbell bench press (max reps with 95lbs., 135lbs., 185lbs., etc)
-Bodyweight dips
-Chin-ups
-2-3-4 board press
-Regular push-ups, bar push-ups or suspended chain push-ups

B. Lat/upper back superset ? Superset one exercise from the first group of exercises with one exercise from the second group of exercises. Perform 3-4 supersets of 8-12 reps of each exercise.
Group 1
-Lat pulldowns (various bars & grips)
-Seated cable rows (various bars & grips)
-Bent-over dumbbell rows
-Chest supported rows
Group 2
-Standing rope pulls to neck
-Kneeling scarecrows
-Straight arm lat pulldowns
-Seated dumbbell power cleans

C. Medial Delt exercise ? Perform 3 - 4 sets of 8-15 reps.
Choose one of the following exercises:
-Dumbbell side press (single arm)
-Dumbbell shoulder press (seated or standing)
-Lateral raises (dumbbell or cable)
-Bradford presses

D. Upper Arm Superset ? Superset one exercise from the first group of exercises with one exercise from the second group of exercises. Perform 2-3 supersets of 8-12 reps of each exercise.
Group 1
-Preacher curls (EZ-bar or straight bar)
-Regular barbell curls
-Hammer curls
-Alternate dumbbell curls (standing or seated incline)
-Thick bar curls
Group 2
-Triceps pushdowns (band or cable)
-Dumbbell triceps extensions
-Barbell triceps extensions
-Incline, elbows-out triceps extensions

E. Weighted ab superset ? Once again, superset one exercise from the first group of exercises with one exercise from the second group. Perform 2-3 supersets of 10-15 reps of each exercise.
Group 1
-Hanging leg raises
-Low-cable pull-ins
-Weighted Swiss ball crunches
-Ab Rollouts
Group 2
-Dumbbell or cable side bends
-Reverse cable side bends
-Lateral bridge (timed set)
-Russian Twists

DAY 6 ? Rest

DAY 7 - Rest

You may want to change which days the workouts fall on.

Instead of

  1. Me lower
  2. Me upper
  3. De lower
  4. De upper

make it

  1. me lower
  2. de upper
  3. de lower
  4. me upper

Trying to leave two days of full rest between the me days. The reasoning for this is given in the 7 reasons you’re a weakling article, but can be seen pretty easy through actually training. Max effort lifting days back to back have killed me.

[quote]Naphta wrote:
You may want to change which days the workouts fall on.

Instead of

  1. Me lower
  2. Me upper
  3. De lower
  4. De upper

make it

  1. me lower
  2. de upper
  3. de lower
  4. me upper

Trying to leave two days of full rest between the me days. The reasoning for this is given in the 7 reasons you’re a weakling article, but can be seen pretty easy through actually training. Max effort lifting days back to back have killed me.[/quote]

I see what you mean. I’ll change it to this:

1 ME Lower
2 REP Upper
3 REST
4 DE Lower
5 ME Upper
6 REST
7 REST

Does that look good?

How would you go about separating the days but not being able to do weights on monday and wednesday, I’d preferably like to lift tuesday, thursday, saturday, sunday??

Vision 1, I notice you include weighted chins under max effort upper body. If you’re concerned with keeping parity between chest and back, I’d recommend either 1 day of ME push/pull or 1 day ME push/rep pull and 1 day ME pull/rep push. Oh, and you say ‘…once we increase the volume of running.’ Would these be sprints? I would do them as supplementary workouts on lower body days, to maximise recovery.
Otherwise, it looks like a very decent program. I’m just about to do something very similar myself.

[quote]SpunkayMunkay wrote:
How would you go about separating the days but not being able to do weights on monday and wednesday, I’d preferably like to lift tuesday, thursday, saturday, sunday??[/quote]

Just make saturday the ‘start’ day, like this:

Sat: ME lower
Sun: Rep upper
Mon: Off
Tue: ME upper
Wed: Off
Thur: Rep lower
Fri: Off

This is the split I use most often, I’ve found that I recover better when I minimise the times I train on consecutive days.

[quote]Dr. Invincible wrote:
Vision 1, I notice you include weighted chins under max effort upper body. If you’re concerned with keeping parity between chest and back, I’d recommend either 1 day of ME push/pull or 1 day ME push/rep pull and 1 day ME pull/rep push. Oh, and you say ‘…once we increase the volume of running.’ Would these be sprints? I would do them as supplementary workouts on lower body days, to maximise recovery.
Otherwise, it looks like a very decent program. I’m just about to do something very similar myself.

SpunkayMunkay wrote:
How would you go about separating the days but not being able to do weights on monday and wednesday, I’d preferably like to lift tuesday, thursday, saturday, sunday??

Just make saturday the ‘start’ day, like this:

Sat: ME lower
Sun: Rep upper
Mon: Off
Tue: ME upper
Wed: Off
Thur: Rep lower
Fri: Off

This is the split I use most often, I’ve found that I recover better when I minimise the times I train on consecutive days.
[/quote]

Sorry if it was confusing, but some stuff I just copied out of Defranco’s second WS4SB. Ignore the part where it says increase volume of running.

About the push and pull, I’ll try and make sure I get a good balance whenever I rotate exercises.

Not sure if you were aware or not but on Defranco’s website he has a template for a secondary lower body day, you might find it usefull.
I think it is something like:
-unilateral movement 3 sets 12-15 reps
-2 posterior chain exercises 3-4 x8-12 each
and any weakpoints such as dorsi/plantarflexion, abdominals or grip training or external rotators.

[quote]adziar wrote:
Not sure if you were aware or not but on Defranco’s website he has a template for a secondary lower body day, you might find it usefull.
I think it is something like:
-unilateral movement 3 sets 12-15 reps
-2 posterior chain exercises 3-4 x8-12 each
and any weakpoints such as dorsi/plantarflexion, abdominals or grip training or external rotators.[/quote]

Thanks, I didn’t know that. Is it in the “Ask Joe” section? Also, does it say anything about a DE movement?

Question for WS4SB. Should you switch the supplemental lifts when you switch from ME movements, randomly pick one, or just stick with one?

[quote]reconyah wrote:
Question for WS4SB. Should you switch the supplemental lifts when you switch from ME movements, randomly pick one, or just stick with one?[/quote]

All the exercises should rotate every so often.

[quote]vision1 wrote:
Thanks, I didn’t know that. Is it in the “Ask Joe” section? Also, does it say anything about a DE movement?[/quote]

Yeah it’s in the Ask Joe section.
About the DE movement, In his other article WS4SB2, he says you can do a ME exercise, or Dynamic Box Squats 8x2 50-60% 1RM or alternate the 2 methods every couple of weeks.

http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask_joe/archives/ask_joe_04-05-15.htm
Here’s the link to the 2nd leg day if you haven’t already found it.

[quote]enigma wrote:
http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask_joe/archives/ask_joe_04-05-15.htm
Here’s the link to the 2nd leg day if you haven’t already found it.[/quote]

Thanks, but I like mine a little better.