Training chest, shoulders, and legs same day

**yeahbuddy289** · 01-14-2018, 08:45 PM

This totally goes against the way I have been training previously. My old split would be:
Monday-chest
Tuesday-back
Wednesday- legs
Thursday-shoulders/traps
Friday-arms
Saturday- calves

I have to be honest 6 days a week in the gym really was starting to kill me... plus I had no life during the week because I was training everyday after work. So the past couple weeks I have moved some things around:

Saturday- calves and traps
Sunday- chest, shoulders, legs
Monday- back
Tuesday arms

I know training three muscle groups in one day is crazy BUT if I psych myself up enough I can train all three of them with intensity. I spend an hour and half to two hours in the gym but it is Sunday and I can go home and rest and eat for the rest of the day. Plus it gives me flexibility during the week... I can take Monday off and move back to Tuesday or take Tuesday off and push arms to Wednesday.

It is very tough and I basically spend all day Sunday on the couch exhausted but I believe in the big picture I am getting more of an opportunity to rest and recover by spending less days in the gym. Even though I was only training each muscle group once a week, I think training 6 days a week was way too much on my central nervous system.

**MuscleScience** · 01-14-2018, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by yeahbuddy289

This totally goes against the way I have been training previously. My old split would be:
Monday-chest
Tuesday-back
Wednesday- legs
Thursday-shoulders/traps
Friday-arms
Saturday- calves

I have to be honest 6 days a week in the gym really was starting to kill me... plus I had no life during the week because I was training everyday after work. So the past couple weeks I have moved some things around:

Saturday- calves and traps
Sunday- chest, shoulders, legs
Monday- back
Tuesday arms

I know training three muscle groups in one day is crazy BUT if I psych myself up enough I can train all three of them with intensity. I spend an hour and half to two hours in the gym but it is Sunday and I can go home and rest and eat for the rest of the day. Plus it gives me flexibility during the week... I can take Monday off and move back to Tuesday or take Tuesday off and push arms to Wednesday.

It is very tough and I basically spend all day Sunday on the couch exhausted but I believe in the big picture I am getting more of an opportunity to rest and recover by spending less days in the gym. Even though I was only training each muscle group once a week, I think training 6 days a week was way too much on my central nervous system.

My split use to be:
Monday: Chest-tris-shoulders—-they are all hit anyway when doing chest

Tues:Back and Bi’s
Thursday: legs
Friday: clean up day. Usually calves, abs and some shoulder or arms.

That was my split while competing, although it wasn’t optimal with my work duties it’s all I could muster a lot of times.

**yeahbuddy289** · 01-14-2018, 09:09 PM

I’ve always trained during the week, after work and could never imagine training more than one muscle group per session. But dragging myself to the gym everyday after work was killing me. I can motivate myself mentally to train three muscle groups on Sunday because by doing so it means I get an extra couple of days off during the week. Plus on Sunday i am usually well rested because I can sleep in and the gym is really all I do that day.. other than meal prep.

**Bio-Active** · 01-14-2018, 09:10 PM

I do what I have to do to get m workouts in. Sometimes I do one group ed and like this week I know I’m going to be busy so I did two today. It really depends on our goals and just figuring out what works for YOU.

**yeahbuddy289** · 01-14-2018, 09:14 PM

I agree. This seems to be working for me right now, but maybe as I grow it won’t be as effective. I’m just coming back after time off from surgery so it feels like I’m destroying every muscle I train but that could be a little more difficult when I adapt.
Another plus is sundays the gym is dead... I can always get the equipment I need and there’s always a squat rack open.

**Bio-Active** · 01-14-2018, 09:20 PM

Do what your doing till you stall and then change it

**GearHeaded** · 01-16-2018, 09:58 PM

imo, based from training lots of clients and putting lots of programs together, I find that if someone wants to spend less days per week in the gym they are far better off with a high frequency training split.

even though you split your training up to get in more but with less days per week, your still only hitting each muscle once per week. which is not enough frequency for most people (unless your very very strong and your chest day consists of 500 pound bench presses and you create enough homeostatic stress and disruption that your chest really does need a whole week to recover).

you may want to consider an upper body lower body split, or a front of your body back of your body split. you'll spend less days in the gym and still be able to hit body parts more then once per week.

**yeahbuddy289** · 01-17-2018, 05:59 AM

Man that’s seems like a lot of training doing upper body in one day...but definitely something to consider. I’ve never really thought about training each body part twice a week.

**SwoleAnchelada** · 01-17-2018, 07:16 AM

Originally Posted by GearHeaded

imo, based from training lots of clients and putting lots of programs together, I find that if someone wants to spend less days per week in the gym they are far better off with a high frequency training split.

even though you split your training up to get in more but with less days per week, your still only hitting each muscle once per week. which is not enough frequency for most people (unless your very very strong and your chest day consists of 500 pound bench presses and you create enough homeostatic stress and disruption that your chest really does need a whole week to recover).

you may want to consider an upper body lower body split, or a front of your body back of your body split. you'll spend less days in the gym and still be able to hit body parts more then once per week.

This is my approach as well, you don't need to do the same exercises twice a week, for example, if you're doing back twice a week, one day could be horizontal pulling and pushing and day two could be vertical pulling and pushing, or vertical pull horizontal push and vice versa

**CMB** · 01-22-2018, 04:19 AM

Hello.

To be quite frank (respectfully), I really don't like that six day split or the four day split. I understand your concern about being in the gym 6 days a week, I feel the same sometimes.

I have had great results with a push-legs-pull split. It would look something like this...

Monday - Chest, Deltoids (anterior/lateral), Triceps

Wednesday - Legs

Friday - Back & biceps

If you choose your exercises correctly, you'll have hit all muscle groups with a mere 3 workouts a week. Moreover, the split utilizes pulling/pushing muscle groups separately. In other words, deltoids and triceps go well together with chest, just like back and biceps go well together...

I can elaborate much further, but I have used this routine for myself and clients many times and it doesn't fail. It is not an elite bodybuilder split by any means, but a fantastic physique can 100% be reached with something similar to that split.

Just my .02$, good luck.

**CMB** · 01-22-2018, 04:21 AM

Originally Posted by yeahbuddy289

This totally goes against the way I have been training previously. My old split would be:
Monday-chest
Tuesday-back
Wednesday- legs
Thursday-shoulders/traps
Friday-arms
Saturday- calves

I have to be honest 6 days a week in the gym really was starting to kill me... plus I had no life during the week because I was training everyday after work. So the past couple weeks I have moved some things around:

Saturday- calves and traps
Sunday- chest, shoulders, legs
Monday- back
Tuesday arms

Reading the bold made me figuratively cringe, especially the 4 day split.

**Tzan** · 01-29-2018, 08:54 PM

I've had great success with:

Mon-chest/front and side delts
Tues back/rear delts
Wed-off
Thur-arms
Fri-legs
Sat-off
Sun-off

**ScotchGuard02** · 02-01-2018, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by yeahbuddy289

This totally goes against the way I have been training previously. My old split would be:
Monday-chest
Tuesday-back
Wednesday- legs
Thursday-shoulders/traps
Friday-arms
Saturday- calves

I have to be honest 6 days a week in the gym really was starting to kill me... plus I had no life during the week because I was training everyday after work. So the past couple weeks I have moved some things around:

Saturday- calves and traps
Sunday- chest, shoulders, legs
Monday- back
Tuesday arms

I know training three muscle groups in one day is crazy BUT if I psych myself up enough I can train all three of them with intensity. I spend an hour and half to two hours in the gym but it is Sunday and I can go home and rest and eat for the rest of the day. Plus it gives me flexibility during the week... I can take Monday off and move back to Tuesday or take Tuesday off and push arms to Wednesday.

It is very tough and I basically spend all day Sunday on the couch exhausted but I believe in the big picture I am getting more of an opportunity to rest and recover by spending less days in the gym. Even though I was only training each muscle group once a week, I think training 6 days a week was way too much on my central nervous system.

During off season, when I'm not training for a show, I do more Crossfit type of workout. I don't mean all the crazy exercises but multi-joint exercises that hit multiple muscles at the same time. i.e. for my back/shoulder day I will do clean and jerk with the bar. It's a great total body workout. For legs I would do squats followed by push-up to box jump. Hitting multiple muscles at the same time. It isn't ideal for bodybuilding but it works the whole body and I just come into the gym 4 times per week.