Thread: Need help desperately!!!

Originally Posted by Archangel

I am curious if this schedule would be too much. I am wanting to do a bodypart a day, for a 5 day a week schedule.
Mon-Chest
Tues-Back
Wed-Legs
Thurs-Shoulders/Traps
Fri-Arms
Just wondering if this is a good workout routine to follow, or if it is too much for the body to recover.
Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Personally, I am not a fan of one bodypart a day or five day a week routines. The latter, I feel, does not allow one to recover sufficiently. In addition, one of the basic principles is that the body grows while it is RESTING, not when you are in the gym. Unless you are very young ( teens or early 20s) and have exceptional recovery abilities, I would suggest a maximum of 4 days a week and would prefer three.

In addition, it is not a good idea to train legs and back on consecutive days. Your lower back, especially if you are doing deadlifts, will be fatigued, which will affect how hard you can work legs when you squat.

If you want to stick to that order of parts, I would work chest and shoulders Monday, do back and traps Tuesday, off Wednesday, legs Thursday and arms Friday.

It`s good but it depends on your goals and how advanced and how dedicated to rest /nutrition you are.

I agree with Egoatdoor. 5 days in a row does not allow recovery. And Tjwes is right too, we need to know a bit more about you and your experience.

I have about 18 months consecutive experience. I am 35 and competed in my first BB show this past may. Took 5th in my division (HW). I am looking for that next level to improve my physique. Need help in my chest and biceps area the most. My legs are naturally big and seem to cut up nice. My chest however seems to disappear in a front double biceps pose. Any advice there would also be appreciated. My back is okay, needs more thickness , traps also. Shoulders okay too. Thanks again!!!

Originally Posted by Archangel

I have about 18 months consecutive experience. I am 35 and competed in my first BB show this past may. Took 5th in my division (HW). I am looking for that next level to improve my physique. Need help in my chest and biceps area the most. My legs are naturally big and seem to cut up nice. My chest however seems to disappear in a front double biceps pose. Any advice there would also be appreciated. My back is okay, needs more thickness , traps also. Shoulders okay too. Thanks again!!!

You have to decide what you think is best, but at 35, I do not think a 5 day a week routine is best. I am 45 and I train 3 days a week, though I did add a 4th ( a bit more on that later) for awhile this summer. I trained for 4 days a week when I started lifting again 5 years ago and was in a constant overtrained state( I have a day job like most of us and it does sap some of my energy). When I went to 3 days 2 years later and also made some diet changes, that is when I started making consistent gains month after month.

I developed some of the same strengths and weaknesses as you in the last year or so. My quads, shoulders and triceps are my best parts. The legs in particular, I just look at them and they grow. My chest was also shallow, was overpowered by my delts and "disappeared" in the front biceps pose. The width of my back needed to be improved, my calves were weak (very "high')and my hams were not up to my quads.

I did not want to go to 4 days a week all the time, but I wanted to place more emphasis on the chest, hams and calves. My solution was to go to a 4 way split, but split over 8 or 9 days, not 7. The effect was my chest and either hams or calves were trained twice in the 4 way cycle ( one at high intensity, one at moderate), shoulders, quads and arms were worked once. I did this for 4 months and since my job got very slow in August and I was working fewer hours, I did on some weeks that month do the 4 workouts in one week, but it wasn't really planned.

I just went back to 3 days a week and my chest is noticeably wider and thicker/denser and so is my back. I now have larger hams and a defined quad/hamstring separation that was not there before. Calves are improved, but still not great. My whole upper body got so much bigger that now my quads actually look somewhat small in comparison, which is definitely a switch.

The split was 1) Chest and back, 2) Calves or hams and shoulders, 3) Chest and biceps, sometimes triceps also, 4) Legs and either triceps( if not in #3) or forearms.

This is somewhat unorthodox, but it worked for me, so maybe you should try this or something similar to it, such as doing that split in a 4 day a week routine.

Thank you Egoatdoor, Will try that!!!

Good post E ... and welcome to IM. Arch welcome to you as well.

now, this may only be for me, but, i've always noticed that i cannot do back effectively following chest days (especially for lat pull downs). and my squats suck if I did deadlifts the day b4. according to your schedule you would do back following chest, and assuming you do your deadlifts on back days, then you would be doing squats the day after. i can see you want to draw as much distance as possible between delts and chest and yet not workout on weekends.

how about :
Mon- chest
Tues- legs
Wed- ams
Thurs- back.
Fri- shoulder

this way, you still have the 2 day distance bet. delt and chest. i think shoulders at the end would be a good idea since it gets overworked easy.

btw, for yourself, are you doing front,lateral and posterior delts all on delt day or do you do posterior on back days?

IMO only, perhaps working out 4 days a week (not 5) would be more profitable for you.

I think you can make the 5 day split work, you just have to insert a rest day in the middle somewhere. By splitting up your workouts into smaller ones, your body has less recovery to do after each session.

Thank you all for responding and welcoming me on board. My trainer over the past year and a half is a big HIT fan. He wants me to do an upper/lower alternating split. Then he wants me to go to a full body routine on m-w-f. I did this over the past year before my contest, and while I was in the best shape I have ever been, I noticed several areas for improvement. My chest being the main one. I also lack upper back/trap thickness. Thank you all for helping me!!!