4-Day Split: My final attempt to find a happy medium

[xenithon]

Hi All,

Okay, this is my final post on options for my routine. Please let me know what you think. The reason for all the changes\indecisions are as follows:

- My left shoulder (RC) has been problematic for a long time, and thus my shoulder routine is light and not too long, thus I don't want a whole day dedicated to it since I want an even caloric expenditure through the week if you know what I mean
- Since doing arms together I have been stagnant, and thus want to move back to doing bis and tris with back and chest respectively
- I do 4 cardio sessions a week, two HIIT after two of my training sessions; two longer low intensity sessions on my off days (weekend)
- I want, as mentioned before, an even caloric expenditure, and thus an even distribution of training and cardio and not having something like 4 days of cardio in a row and 3 without any
- I have been doing all my legs on one day for quite a while, and while the quads/hams have been improving, calves are stagnant (tried everything! heavy, light, high reps, low reps, drop sets, pyramids, 4-minute sets etc.) so I want to see how they do when trained separately.


Monday: Chest, Tris, HIIT
Tuesday: Quads, Hams, Abs
Wednesday: Off (carb up day of 2g/lbs carbs, rest of the week I stick to a lowish carb diet of roughly 1g carbs per lbs bodyweight).
Thursday: Back, Bis, HIIT
Friday: Shoulders, Calves, Abs
Saturday + Sunday: Off (Low intensity cardio or some form of sport)

So, each muscle group trained once a week, except abs which is twice a week (targeting different areas eg. upper, lower, obliques etc). Each training session takes roughly 1 hour. Cardio is at least somewhat spread out. Bis and Tris are together with Back and Chest, and Calves is separated now.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. If you need a full list of exercises just holla. I usually do 4 exercises, 3 sets for large muscles; 3 exercises, 2-3 sets for small muscles.

Thanks again for the help (and the patience! I know this is my 3rd post about the routine, but I do not think I will have more the others I tried and simply did not work out for me so I really want to get it right this time).

[xenithon]

bump! anyone? any input appreciated!

[Odin]

Looks like a great schedule! The only thing I would switch would be Tuesday and Thursday workout. Just switch them up so you do back and biceps on tuesday then legs on thursday. The reason I would do this is because doing back and biceps the day before shoulders will really stunt your shoulder growth since you will not be 100% for the workout. Chest day works the front of the shoulders, and back tends to hit the back of the shoulder. In fact it really works the back of the shoulders. The second reason would be because your leg workout will be a lot better after a day off and carb loading. Carb loading a day before leg day is very important cause it requires a lot of energy but the energy needs to be their from the day before since eating too much on leg day will leave you in tough shape. This is why I like going into legs day on a empty stomach. Need everybit of blood in the legs and hips not any in the stomach breaking down food. Outside that great workout and wise choice to take 2 days off after shoulders.

[hoss827]

Looks good bro! Just curious...Whats HIIT?

[xenithon]

high intensity interval training. quick, powerful, intense cardio for 15-20 minutes max.

odin - thank for the info. I will definitely think about that switch. the reason I currently have it the way it is is because is gives me better distribution of abs (otherwise it's 2 days in a row - thursday + friday) and of cardio (otherwise I do 4 days straight)

thanks