Archangel said:
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.
