Thread: 3 Day Split

Originally Posted by amiller

Hi,

This is my first attempt at designing my own routine. I've read cowpimp's guides and other supplemental information. I've been lifting consistently for about 8 months, and my goal is to gain muscle. Any advice or critiques on my routine would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Planning on doing 3 sets of 8 -12 reps for each exercise.

Mon
Deadlift
Chinups
Olympic bar corner press
Dumbbell bent-over row
Alternating dumbbell curls
Preacher dumbbell curls

Wed
Bench Press
Incline DB press
Military press
Body weight triceps dips or close grip bench press
Cable pushdowns

Fri
Squat
Barbell Romanian deadlift
Lever standing calf raise
Seated calf raise
Walking lunges

Fixed. (not a fan of "back and bis", "shoulders chest and tris", "legs" but I left it alone anyway)

Originally Posted by amiller

Hi,

This is my first attempt at designing my own routine. I've read cowpimp's guides and other supplemental information. I've been lifting consistently for about 8 months, and my goal is to gain muscle. Any advice or critiques on my routine would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Planning on doing 3 sets of 8 -12 reps for each exercise.

Mon
Cable pull down
Barbell upright row
Dumbbell bent-over row
Barbell shrug
Barbell curl
Barbell Preacher curl

Wed
Bench Press
Incline DB press
Military press
Body weight triceps dips or close grip bench press
Cable pushdowns

Fri
Squat
Barbell straight leg deadlift
Lever standing calf raise
Seated calf raise
Vertical leg-hip raise

My suggestions:

(1.) The leg workout looks good, but could use one more compound for both pushing and pulling. Unilateral movements would be wise. How about adding BB or DB Split Squats for pushing and Unilateral DB Romanian Deadlifts for pulling?

(2.) To balance upper and lower training, alternate the order of your sessions. If upper is A and lower is B then do this: Week 1 - A, B, A; Week 2 - B, A, B

(3.) Drop one of the chest-dominant lifts for another vertical push. Military press is a great choice. How about Olympic Bar Corner Press or DB Shoulder Press?

(4.) Your pulling day has too many isolation movements. The DB rows are good, but you need to add one more horizontal pull (any row variation - excluding upright rows) and two vertical pulls (pullups, chinups, pulldowns). Ditch the shrugs, upright rows, and I'm not sure if by cable pulldown you mean an isolation lift or lat pulldowns, so I can't comment on that one.

Thanks for the advice Built. I'm not married to the chest/shoulders/triceps, back/biceps, legs split. What would you recommend instead? Something like an upper/lower? For someone with my experience level and goals, what do you think would be best? Maybe from there I can give it another shot and you can critique it.

You gaining weight currently?

I'm not looking to gain weight specifically. I've lost quite a bit of weight through diet and exercise, as I was basically coming off the couch. I currently weigh about 185 and am about 6 feet tall. I am not a hard-gainer by any means, so I'm just looking to add on lean muscle mass. If I have to gain a little weight to add muscle then I'm okay with that.

How, exactly, do you expect to gain light-as-air lean mass?

What I mean is that I want to gain muscle mass while minimizing any fat gain. I'm aware that adding muscle also adds weight.

Right. So I ask you again - are you gaining any weight? Because in order to gain lean mass, you are going to have to gain weight and if you're not gaining any weight, you're going to have to eat enough to ensure that you do.

Since I started lifting I would say I've lost some weight. More recently, it has probably been steady. What I need to do is monitor my weight more regularly so I can make sure I'm meeting my goals and then adjust my diet as needed. But, I haven't been weighing myself at regular intervals, just going off of how my clothes fit and how I look in the mirror.

Well, listen. You're still recomposing some - I'd suggest you start monitoring your diet while using a good balanced split, see how your body progresses over a month or two, then decide if you're going to maintain, cut or bulk.

How many days a week do you want to train - three? Do you feel you are fairly balanced, or is your upper ahead of your lower - or vice-versa?

Three days a week seems to work good for me. If I try for anything more, it seems like I end up skipping workouts. I would say fairly balanced.

Cool. You can try incorporating Phineas' suggestions to what we have written here to see how you like it if you like, while you read around to see other setups.

Ok, I've come up with a different pairing, doing chest/back, legs, shoulders & arms. Going to try it out for a few weeks and see how I like it. I've basically taken the lifts Built recommended and organized them into the new pairing. I have a couple questions:

1) Built, I noticed you recommended replacing barbells with dumbbells for the biceps lifts, can you explain the reasoning behind this?

2) I struggled a little with the ordering of the lifts, particularly with the chest and back day. Let me know if it needs some revising.



Chest & Back
Dumbbell bent-over row
Chinups
Deadlift
Bench Press
Incline DB press
Olympic bar corner press


Legs
Squat
Barbell Romanian deadlift
Lever standing calf raise
Seated calf raise
Walking lunges

Shoulders & Arms
Military press
Alternating dumbbell curls
Preacher dumbbell curls
Body weight triceps dips or close grip bench press
Cable pushdowns