judge my 4 day split

[777rocky777]

I have about 6 years of weight lifting experience however until about 2 months ago took a 1 year break. I went from about 212 10% bf to around 180 10% bf I am 6ft 3 so I was very skinny. Since i started lifting again 2 months ago I have put on 25 pounds of lean muscle mass (thank you muscle memory) doing a 3 day split(pretty much a push pull). I am looking to bulk I would like to be around 220. Have never cycled and dont intend to. Anyways this is the split im looking at.
Monday
Chest/Tricep
BB or DB bench 4x8
BB or DB incline 4x8
Weighed dips 4x8
Chest flies 4x8
DB pullover 4x8
Tricep exercise (skull crushers or overhead tricep press)
4x8 usually by the time I get to my triceps they are pretty wasted. Wouldnt mind some additional ideas on maybe how to work tricep another time in the week or maybe 2x a week or another approach b/c my triceps arn't as beefy as they use to be.

Tuesday Upper Back/Bicep
pull ups 4x8
T bar row 4x8
seated row 4x8
DB row 4x8
Some kind of Curl 4x8

Weds - REST

Thursday Legs/Lower back

Squats 4x6 or 8
Deadlift 4x6 or 8
somtimes I might do a fifth set of squat or deads with 3x max.
Sometimes throw in Front squat 4x8 of legs arn't to blasted
Hamstring curl 4x8
I dont do calves b/c I have huge freak calves due to genetics.

Friday Shoulders

Miltary press 4x8
Arnold press 4x8
Upright rows 4x8
Front raise 4x8
Lat raise 4x8
Shrugs 4x8

Saturday Rest
Sunday Rest

I do abs randomly 2/3 days a week.

All input would be greatly appreciated my biggest fear is muscle group overlap and not having enough rest time b/c I over trained for a long time when i first started lifting.

[danimal79]

it could use some work. you need more triceps and biceps exercises. being tired by the end of the first bodypart is no excuse not to work the muscle properly. if you need another day in the gym to dedicate to bi's and tri's, take it. also, don't make the mistake of under-training what god gave you. i did that with forearms, and it ended up becoming a lagging bodypart down the road.

[goodlifting]

I have about 6 years of weight lifting experience however until about 2 months ago took a 1 year break. I went from about 212 10% bf to around 180 10% bf I am 6ft 3 so I was very skinny. Since i started lifting again 2 months ago I have put on 25 pounds of lean muscle mass (thank you muscle memory) doing a 3 day split(pretty much a push pull). I am looking to bulk I would like to be around 220. Have never cycled and dont intend to. Anyways this is the split im looking at.
Monday
Chest/Tricep
BB or DB bench 4x8
BB or DB incline 4x8
Weighed dips 4x8
Chest flies 4x8
DB pullover 4x8
Tricep exercise (skull crushers or overhead tricep press)
4x8 usually by the time I get to my triceps they are pretty wasted. Wouldnt mind some additional ideas on maybe how to work tricep another time in the week or maybe 2x a week or another approach b/c my triceps arn't as beefy as they use to be.

Tuesday Upper Back/Bicep
pull ups 4x8
T bar row 4x8
seated row 4x8
DB row 4x8
Some kind of Curl 4x8

Weds - REST

Thursday Legs/Lower back

Squats 4x6 or 8
Deadlift 4x6 or 8
somtimes I might do a fifth set of squat or deads with 3x max.
Sometimes throw in Front squat 4x8 of legs arn't to blasted
Hamstring curl 4x8
I dont do calves b/c I have huge freak calves due to genetics.

Friday Shoulders

Miltary press 4x8
Arnold press 4x8
Upright rows 4x8
Front raise 4x8
Lat raise 4x8
Shrugs 4x8

Saturday Rest
Sunday Rest

I do abs randomly 2/3 days a week.

All input would be greatly appreciated my biggest fear is muscle group overlap and not having enough rest time b/c I over trained for a long time when i first started lifting.

25lbs in 2 months?? that's intense dude. for a natty that is really good.

looks like a lot of work for each training session you have. i usually see 2-3 exercises for each body part in an effective workout routine.

i've noticed that a split that includes chest/tri days and back/bi days tend to lead to injury a bit more. you could try dedicating a day during the week to just biceps and triceps.

your leg workout includes deads and squats in the same training session. both of these exercises should definitely be included in your routine somewhere but i suggest separating them. that may be too much for your legs in one day. maybe switch back and forth between emphasizing either the squat or the deadlift for your given work out cycle.

i don't know what your schedule will allow but a split something like mon, tues, off wed, thurs, off friday, saturday will be more favorable to recovery.

this advise is more in consideration to your concern about overtraining. i believe if you follow this you will effectively avoid it.

[777rocky777]

I agree with both of you about not putting enough work in Tri/Bi area hows this sound:

Mon chest
tues back
weds off
thurs legs
fri shoulders
sat arms
sun off

Do you guys think tri's will still be hurting to bad to do chest with only 1 rest day in between? Also i tend to do heavy shoulder presses so would they're be overlap doing tri's the following day? I have also tried putting deadlift on back day but lower back tends to be sore still when i get to leg day. thanks for the input so far.

[goodlifting]

I agree with both of you about not putting enough work in Tri/Bi area hows this sound:

Mon chest
tues back
weds off
thurs legs
fri shoulders
sat arms
sun off

Do you guys think tri's will still be hurting to bad to do chest with only 1 rest day in between? Also i tend to do heavy shoulder presses so would they're be overlap doing tri's the following day? I have also tried putting deadlift on back day but lower back tends to be sore still when i get to leg day. thanks for the input so far.

keep it at 4 days a week. no need to add another day. you could split it like this:

mon: legs
tues: arms
wed: off
thurs: chest and back
fri: off
sat: shoulders
sunff

that way you don't have to worry about your arms being TOO exhausted. but like i said before i don't know what your daily work or school schedule looks like so split it the way that works best for you.

and my point about deads and squats was that you can go through a 4-5 week lifting cycle of emphasizing either the squat or the deadlift. for ex: during your training focus on your deadlifting. you can squat very occationally but don't go in to destroy yourself on the squat. and vise versa when you're on a squatting cycle (don't go in to destroy yourself on deadlifting). i've been throwing this idea at people who are worried about overtraining the legs.

[777rocky777]

Chest and back on the same day? I just done feel i could hit those muscle groups hard in one day.

[danimal79]

adding another day is fine. as far as the split, i'd make this adjustment:

Mon chest
tues back / forearms
weds legs
thurs biceps / triceps
fri off
sat shoulders / traps
sun off

[goodlifting]

Chest and back on the same day? I just done feel i could hit those muscle groups hard in one day.

chest and back in the same day will work just fine. remember that you should probably tone down the amount of exercises you have listed in your previous workout. workouts should be short, but intense. if you're in the weightroom for more than 90 min you need to cut it down. i have first hand experience with the chest/back days and they make for these types of workouts.

[goodlifting]

and just a point, you're gonna get a ton of different opinions on how to split your workout up and what to do for arms blah blah blah when you post your split like this. i see it all the time. just keep at it and find what ultimately works for you. we're here just to give our opinions and back them up.

[danimal79]

and just a point, you're gonna get a ton of different opinions on how to split your workout up and what to do for arms blah blah blah when you post your split like this. i see it all the time. just keep at it and find what ultimately works for you. we're here just to give our opinions and back them up.

agreed. honestly...ANYTHING will work, as long as you're busting your ass in the gym and eating right.

[goodlifting]

agreed. honestly...ANYTHING will work, as long as you're busting your ass in the gym and eating right.

well...i would go as far to say ANYTHING will work. there are definitely a few guidelines in training that solidify a good foundation.

for ex: i don't suggest working out 3 days in a row. the nervous system in the human body requires 24 hours to fully adapt to the destruction from lifting weight. you can work around this by training different body parts everyday but 3 days in a row sets you back too far.

[danimal79]

well...i would go as far to say ANYTHING will work. there are definitely a few guidelines in training that solidify a good foundation.

for ex: i don't suggest working out 3 days in a row. the nervous system in the human body requires 24 hours to fully adapt to the destruction from lifting weight. you can work around this by training different body parts everyday but 3 days in a row sets you back too far.

we disagree here. i always thought this^^^ but a couple months ago i decided to see for myself, whether or not this was true. seeing as how guys like arnold used to do 2-a-day's and hit the same muscle group 3 times a week (and sometimes every day). so i decided to give a similar plan, a try.

prior to this experiment, i was on an extremely lean bulk and was gaining 1/2 a pound a week (my goal). so going into the experiment, i kept my diet exactly the same, with the only difference being i added an extra meal. the result? i gained between 5 and 6 pounds the first month!

i could get into WHY this is the case, but it's pointless. the point is, i more than doubled my results with a routine that most people would call "over-training". that's why i think anything could work. hard work, good nutrition, and variety are the keys to success imo.

[777rocky777]

Yeah im usually sore 3-4 day after my workouts. I couldnt train that many days in a row. Just found out im deploying in 10 days though. Nutrition is gonna be tuff.

[Jitsu player]

I echo whats been said about a dedicated day for arms, I used to split back + bi etc but never got a hard enough workout on my arms. Tri's are a very large muscle group and respond well to big compound exercises so I would throw in some narrow grip bench press for definite. Goes without saying but good diet is the key to put that sort of wight back on in those timescales, I think if your getting that part right you could train 3 days in a row....Good luck dude.

[goodlifting]

Yeah im usually sore 3-4 day after my workouts. I couldnt train that many days in a row. Just found out im deploying in 10 days though. Nutrition is gonna be tuff.

yeah im big on not more than 2 in a row. good luck with your diet.

[danimal79]

Yeah im usually sore 3-4 day after my workouts. I couldnt train that many days in a row.

that's because by NOT training that frequently, your body isn't equipped to handle it. when i first started 2-a-day's, it took me some time to ease into it. but once i did, i wasn't sore for more than 24 to 48hrs at a time, from then on (sometimes much less). and this isn't because i train light lol. it's 'cause our bodies can adapt to just about whatever they're put through on a regular basis.

i have a lot to say on the subject of training frequency, but rather than bore you with the details, i'll just say that for BODYBUILDERS, frequent training sessions and 2-a-day's are best suited for breaking through plateaus. anything more than that (once the muscles adapt to the workload) is more trouble than it's worth.

[YoungGunsNY]

Stopped reading after the chest/back workouts in the same day ...

I have never done this - but until recently I follow a 4day split where I hit every muscle in 8 days (chest&back, legs&shoulders, off, arms - repeat) ...

Now chest & back - my back has always been huge, so I barely receive comments on any progress, but my chest has exploded..seriously, and it has been growing with other splits - but this week alone I received over 10 comments on my chest growing..it's noticeable...

Now, my opinion is because most people tend to overtrain & I knocked down my sets from 16-18 for chest & back on their individual days to 10-12 sets each when they're paired up...

Also, I tend to break up target areas of my muscle groups into 2 different sessions, so maybe the odd weeks (1,3,5) and the even weeks (2,4,6) have different workouts

For example...

Workout 1 - Incline & Width
Chest - 4 sets incline barbell, 4 sets incline dumbbell, 4 sets cable crossovers
Back - 3 sets wide grip pull-ups, 4 sets underhand wide barbell rows, 4 sets dumbbell lat rows

Workout 2 - Flat & Thickness
Chest - 4 sets flat barbell, 4 sets flat dumbbell, 4 sets dumbbell flyes
Back - 3 sets chin-up, 4 sets overhand shoulder length barbell rows, 4 sets cable rows

Less is More....