Chest help

[James]

What are your views on upper/lower splits trained every other day (thus allowing, on average, each body part hit 2.5 times a week). The best gains I have ever had have been on HST (full body three times a week), however I ate a stupid amount and got fat. I find my current split is superb.

To be honest, as long as you are including worthwhile lifts, and then progressing with weight on the bar, along with diet being in check; then it shouldn't matter?

[asoe209]

I must say HST has been my fav routine that I have tried followed by yours James. and I would like to see how it works when not doing it on a diet....

[stronglikewood]

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What are your views on upper/lower splits trained every other day (thus allowing, on average, each body part hit 2.5 times a week). The best gains I have ever had have been on HST (full body three times a week), however I ate a stupid amount and got fat. I find my current split is superb.

To be honest, as long as you are including worthwhile lifts, and then progressing with weight on the bar, along with diet being in check; then it shouldn't matter?

Asking me James?

I don't think I would follow an upper/lower every other day unless I wanted to gain strength. The reason being I think that for me to grow, the muscle must be worked with plenty of volume in one go. To do all of my upper muscles or all of my lower muscles in one session on a regular basis, would mean that I'd have to reduce volume on each muscle per session to fit everything in within the session. So I think the gains would be more strength in nature than mass. I've never done that split though, so that's just me hypothesising and going by the odd session where I do all of my upper muscles in one go. If your goal is mass, and it works then you should do it, same for any routine.

[James]

Fair do's, how about the mixed split I tend to use? The object being, training each muscle as frequently as possible allowing for maximised recovery and growth - obviously you wouldn't be a fan of my rep ranges

[stronglikewood]

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Fair do's, how about the mixed split I tend to use? The object being, training each muscle as frequently as possible allowing for maximised recovery and growth - obviously you wouldn't be a fan of my rep ranges

I've never tried your split James. I understand why you'd do it as it makes sense on paper. I find if I want to train something twice per week, then I can manage it fine for 1 or 2 muscle groups max. For every muscle to be trained more than twice per week I find draining unless volume is reduced. However I think volume is important for the muscle to grow, so I wouldn't want to compromise on it for the sake of training everything twice per week. I'd do this type of routine if I was cutting perhaps.

Edit- As for the rep ranges! Hehe, no I'm not a fan of 6-8 for prolonged periods. Once again, sounds good for cutting to keep the muscle that has been built.

[asoe209]

So what sort of stuff do you do Wood? just interested to know.

[stronglikewood]

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So what sort of stuff do you do Wood? just interested to know.

Basic template

Monday- Back
Tuesday- Chest
Weds- Rest (though occasionally was an arm day)
Thursday- Legs/abs *
Friday- Shoulders and arms **

* would add extra back stuff here if I wanted to focus more on back
** this day was also quite often another chest day

Rep ranges generally 8-15. Of course I go as low as 1-5 from time to. 3-4 exercise for each bodypart 3-4 sets of each. Pretty bog-standard stuff! Currently I'm only doing 2 exercise for chest and back as I've introduced 10x10 for them both. After I've done that, one more exercise is enough!

[Barrington]

Is it not that you more able to concentrate on the muscle you are training. For instance i do OHP after bench press, and quite often my triceps feel done in, so my triceps are getting in the way of giving my shoulders a good workout. I could always do OHP before bench but then i would have the same problem.
Whereas if i just had a shoulder session i would be able to hit them hard.

[stronglikewood]

Yes that too mate. It comes down to the volume again. If I do 3 or 4 sets of a bodypart then 3 or 4 of another (bench press for chest then some seated presses for shoulders say) well that's fine I could manage that. But beyond that.... Well the other muscles are going to suffer. Which means hypothetically I will have got 3 or 4 good sets for the first two exercises (but is this enough volume per muscle to stimulate growth?) followed by whatever dregs in strength I have left for the other muscles I worked that day. All in all, everything feels undertrained. There are ways around this, rotating the exercises each week for example but then you still have the lack of volume and the feeling of tiredness on the exercises you did last once again.