Trying to split up my leg days better and balance them properly... [Forum Archive]

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Trying to split up my leg days better and balance them properly...

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Posted by: Skib

Just wondering how you guys split up your leg days in order to balance everything properly... I'm currently working on a 2 day upper body and 2 day lower body split...

My fav leg exercises that I don't plan to give up are:

Squats
Deadlifts
Romanian Deadlifts

Right now I'm doing Squats and Deadlifts on one day and then Squats and Romanian Deadlifts on the other day (along with various other smaller exercises such as goblet squats, split squats, step ups) but I'm thinking Squats twice a week is unnecessary... and am wondering if Squats and Deadlifts on the same day is too much?

The other day I did Squats, Deadlifts and Dips and was pooched... took me about an hour to complete my sets... was a pretty good work out but am wondering if it was too much...

I don't really know how to front squat yet but am planning on practicing over the next little while...

So any ideas how I can break up my 2 leg days so they're balanced?

Thanks

Posted by: Skib

Here is the rest of my new program that I'm trying to fine tune... any comments or feedback would be appreciated... I'm still trying to work out set numbers and rep ranges...

Day 1

Flat DB Press
DB Rows
Standing Arnies
Weighted Pull Ups
Face Pulls

Day 2

Squats
Deadlifts
Weighted Dips
Goblet Squats
Cable Crunches

Day 3

BB Rows
Incl DB Press
Standing Push Press (thinking about doing a clean and press here actually... I've never really cleaned before but am looking to learn)
Weighted Pull Ups (with a different grip from Day 1)
Bent Over Laterals

Day 4

Squats
Romanian Deadlifts
Step Ups
Calves
Biceps

I just started this this week and have already realized that Day 2 might be too much... I skipped the goblets and crunches the other day as I had no time or energy left...

I haven't really figured out what I plan to do for core work and when yet

Also, I plan to do this as a 2 days on, 1 day off basis

Posted by: Gazhole

First, its always a good idea to name the days so that you dont get mixed up with what you're doing.

Why are dips and biceps on "leg" days?

If you cant fit them into your upper body days, they probably shouldnt be there or you need to rethink.

For example, your days could be (in an upper/lower split):

Quote:

DAY 1 - Upper Push Horizontal/Upper Pull Vertical

Bench
Pullups
Incline DB Press
Face Pulls

DAY 2 - Lower Push Bilateral/Lower Pull Unilateral

Squats
Single Leg RDLs
Goblets
Single Leg Hyperextensions

DAY 3 - Upper Pull Horizontal/Upper Push Vertical

Bent Over Rows
Arnold Press
Dumbell Rows
Dips

DAY 4 - Lower Pull Bilateral/Lower Push Unilateral

Deadlifts
Lunges
Romanian Deadlifts
Step Ups

Then throw in some isolation on each day, and there you have it - balance, and a training split that makes sense in terms of movement patterns.

As for tanking out sometimes, a lot of that will be down to what periodization you are using.

For example with legs you could go heavy on your bilateral movements (4x6) and light on your unilateral movements (2x12). That way you arent doing heavy quads twice a week, or heavy hams twice a week - heavy once, and light once for each.

Similar principles could be applied to upper body work. The increased training frequency will likely make up for the lowered intensity/volume in each individual session. Just because you've always done 24 sets in a 3 day split, doesnt mean this necessarily can or should be transferred to a 4 day split.

That is, if you are doing all four days in one week? If its a 4 day split 3 days a week, then keep the sets the same and man the hell up.

Posted by: Skib

Thanks for the feedback Gaz... I put arms on leg days as a means of increasing the volume as I felt I was lacking exercises on those days... but now that you've laid out some stuff to work in (that i've never really tried but am fairly keen to start doing) I guess there's no reason... I can do without the biceps isolation work but will certainly be keeping dips... I see you have them as a vertical pushing movement? never really thought of them that way...

I'm still working on the periodization though... I'll lay out what I come up with when I get a chance and maybe you can tell me what you think...

I have no problem working my 4 day split into a week... that's pretty much why I have it as 4 days... that and 4 days allows me more variety...

One problem I'm finding is I feel like I'm doing too many sets for certain exercises... I don't want to jump right into heavy heavy weight in order to avoid injury but I find I'm still doing 5 sets after 2-3 "warm up" sets... is this normal? Like tonight i did at least 8 sets for BB rows cause I used lightish weight for my first 2-3 to get warmed up and then still banged out 5 sets with heavy weight... the same applies for pretty much the first 2 exercises I do every session... any recommendations in that area? I'd like to keep it relatively simple... I read the sticky on warming up and thought it was a little too much to take in... I just want something simple to avoid injury... I'm not interested in spending 10-20 minutes warming up... I like to be in and out of the gym in an hour if possible...

Posted by: Skib

P.S. it'd be nice to hear something from P-funk, Built and any other advanced trainers

I know I hit you guys up a lot for info but I value your input... Built, my last 6-8 week program was based on the info you provided me with and I'm just looking to switch things up a bit for a while... but I'll definitely be re-visiting the stuff laid out in your "Baby Got Back" write up!

Posted by: Skib

Let it be known that I just started eating again :P I've been cutting for the past little while... so I can definitely handle the volume now... but definitely don't want to overtrain...

Posted by: Gazhole

Its common practice to do 1 or 2 warmup sets before your work sets. You would just periodize your work sets and leave the warmup sets the same each time.

For warmup sets i usually do something like 14 reps at 8 or 10rm - very low intensity.

If you want to keep some isolation work in, thats fine - just keep it a low amount and on the days it should be on, haha.

Posted by: Skib

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gazhole

14 reps at 8 or 10rm - very low intensity.

not sure this makes sense to me... i was reading over your blog and you describe RM as being the maximum number of reps you can perform before failure... how can you do 14 reps at a 8 or 10 RM???

"Conversely, an eight rep set with your 8RM (1x8 @ 8RM) would be very intense, and you would go very close to concentric failure on the last rep, and be completely unable to perform a ninth rep at the end of the set. This is because it is the maximum weight you can handle for eight reps!"

Posted by: Skib

by the way you're looking pretty huge in that pic on your blog... bigger than the pics you've got posted on here... what's the deal? lol

Posted by: Gazhole

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skib

I meant the other way around, haha. 8-10 reps at a 14rm :P. Low intensity, my bad.

Posted by: Gazhole

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skib

by the way you're looking pretty huge in that pic on your blog... bigger than the pics you've got posted on here... what's the deal? lol

Yeah, the pic on my blog was taken when i weighed 185/190lbs, i now weigh 164lbs.

Ah to be big again...

Posted by: Skib

why'd you lose so much size?

Posted by: PreMier

yea gaz WTF!?

Posted by: Skib

LOL that pic kills me... I had this page open at work yesterday and my co-workers were just like who the hells that clown? haha

Posted by: Skib

Gaz, you think one vertical push is sufficient? if that's the case I'll probably work in standing military presses as I did standing arnies my last program... should I work on adding a clean and press rather than just a simple military press?

Posted by: Gazhole

Dips and some sort of Military press will cover vertical pushing just fine.

As for me losing weight - i was close to my 200lbs BW goal, and pretty ripped to boot at the time, then i pulled my back and was out of commision for 3 months, and rehabbing for about another 8 months.

Its still not perfect - i did my first back squat in about 2 years a few weeks ago.

Doesnt help that im a student and find it hard to budget 5000kcal a day, haha. Im getting about 3600kcal right now, and considering my maintenance is about 3000...well it just doesnt cut it :P.

As for the hair...dont ask, lol.

Posted by: Ben dur

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skib

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/tr...-properly.html

please feel free to comment and tell me why you think it's garbage? I'm not sold on it by any means... just looking to try something new but I'd love to hear your comments...

as i stated on the other thread..
these types of splits have never been very productive to me

i feel that the diversity of the movements take away from my focus

the movements are all their and it is certainly balanced by all means

if you can keep the focus in the gym these splits surely have their place

but for me i could not keep up this type of split for more than a few weeks

Posted by: Ben dur

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skib

it's all good man, I'm pretty easy going and don't tend to take things personally... I'm just looking to start a new program and this was something Gaz helped me set up that I thought might work pretty well... I'm always looking for other opinions though...

you could certainly give it a try
everything is balanced

but for me this would not work, i would not be able to put forth enough intensity with the switching movements

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Trying to split up my leg days better and balance them properly...

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