From full body to a body part split... critique.

[Keltron]

Tues: Delts
Dumbbell Shoulder Press [seated]
Standing Arnold's
Lateral Raises [Burnout/Drop Set]
Rear Delt Cable Flyes

Wed:Back
Yates Rows
Pull Ups
Rack Pulls
Pendlay Rows

Thurs:Chest
Flat Bench
Weighted Dips
Incline Dumbell
Dumbbell Flyes

Fri:Legs
Squats
Deadlifts
Various forms of Calf Raise
Pull Ups [I want to do them at least twice per week because I suck at them right now]

Sat:Arms
Barbbell Curls
Cable Tricep Extensions
Incline Dumbbell Curls
Skull Crushers

Oh and I also have a bit of a dilema on the order of the days. I wanted to start the week off w/legs since I'd be relatively fresh but I didn't want to put chest and delts back to back since the front delts get a lot of action on chest movements anyway. I also didn't want arm day to be back to back w/any upper body days so I figured I could use my leg day as a way to let my arms rest from the compound movements before hitting them directly. But starting the week off with delts seems kind of like a waste of a "fresh" day since my delt days have always been the least demanding in the past.

Another dilema:
I'm contemplating moving my rear delt work to my back day. It just seems like it makes more sense. I also want to add shrugs in there but it also seems like it would make more sense to do them on back day. Wouldn't it be better to work the entire trapezius [lower, mid, upper] on the same day? I don't know.. am I over-analyzing this stuff? lol.

My Previous Full Body Workout consisted of
Pull Ups
Compoung Chest Movement [Dips or Bench or Inc. DB]
Compound Back Movement [Barbell Rows, Seated Rows or T-Bar]
Squats
Seated Shoulder Press
Deadlifts.

[JC480]

Leg day I would put a leg press and, if you have one available, a calf curl (hamstrings)

I have deadlift on back day but each to his own

Sit ups / ab crunches might be good to get in there

Other than that looks good

[AFChief]

That is what I'm doing now. Been hitting weak areas again on day 6 or I take one day off versus two. I like the 5-day routine because I like to do something almost everyday and prefer quicker workouts.

[Dr.Oxygen]

If it was me I'm fatigued from squats so much there is no way I could also do deadlifts on the same day. Not and give each exercise is due. I would move deadlifts to back day. I like to structure my workouts around the exercise biggies. Squats, Deads, Bench, Clean and Press.

[Minotaur]

If it was me I'm fatigued from squats so much there is no way I could also do deadlifts on the same day. Not and give each exercise is due. I would move deadlifts to back day. I like to structure my workouts around the exercise biggies. Squats, Deads, Bench, Clean and Press.

Pretty much the same for me. I've got a post or two talking about trying to do full body workouts, and how I just can't do it. I find myself going back to a 4 day split: legs; chest & tris; back & bis; shoulders & tris. I work tris 2x/week. I can't even do chest & shoulders in the same workout.

[Keltron]

If it was me I'm fatigued from squats so much there is no way I could also do deadlifts on the same day. Not and give each exercise is due. I would move deadlifts to back day. I like to structure my workouts around the exercise biggies. Squats, Deads, Bench, Clean and Press.

Yeah, that makes sense but my squats are really weak. They are still difficult as hell for me but the weight is really low so I figured I might be able to get away w/deads as well on the same day. I was doing only 135 but I couldn't keep good form so I dropped it down to 115. But I don't know if I should be judging the weight in relation to most other people's ability or in relation to how hard it is for me.

[boathead]

not a bad split at all! but of course, a comment.:)

move deads to back day, and add leg press to leg day.

i find that doing deads with legs is a severe CNS problem if not a muscle problem. my CNS overloads for some reason. it's like i am trying to write left handed, if that makes any sense.

[Fifty+]

Yeah, that makes sense but my squats are really weak. They are still difficult as hell for me but the weight is really low so I figured I might be able to get away w/deads as well on the same day. I was doing only 135 but I couldn't keep good form so I dropped it down to 115. But I don't know if I should be judging the weight in relation to most other people's ability or in relation to how hard it is for me.



The only person you should be competing with is yourself. Never use another's ability to judge your own. As long as you better your lifts and continue to challange yourself, you can't go wrong. You might put legs first in rotation when you are most rested. Legs, shoulders, back, chest and arms. Don't get stuck using just one form of squats. Front squats and DB squats are very useful. Good luck with the new routine.

[amoreno]

My 2 cents:

For back day, I'd swap the rack deads with regular deads, or leave back day as-is and replace the deads on leg day with good mornings *and* stiff-leg dead lifts. Also add another quad exercise like front squats or leg presses. Only one exercise for quads and one for hams doesn't seem like enough to me.

I'd drop the pullups on leg day and add chinups on arm day before barbell curls. You'll hit your lats again and you'll get a better biceps workout (you only have one biceps exercise).

Also, if you're having problems with pullups, try experimenting with rep ranges. If you can't get through 3 sets of 10, try smaller sets totaling 30 (5x6, 6x5, etc.) As you get stronger, add reps and drop sets until you get to the set/rep range you want.

[gbk56]

Your leg day looks pretty weak. Your legs muscles are the biggest muscle group in your body and you only do two exercise plus calves.

Right now you have squats and deads. This is a good start. If your deads are stiff legged you are hitting you hamstrings more. If they are regular deads then you are hitting your quads more. IMO you should do at least 4 exercises for your legs excluding calves.

Try this.

Squats
Deads (stiff legged)
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Calve Raises

This will hit your quads twice and hamstrings twice.

[gbk56]

You may also want to consider changing the order to

Tue legs
Wed chest
Thu back
Fri delts
Sat arms


That will put legs first which you were trying to do in the first place and doing delts before arms should not affect your arm workout much. This is also working your largest muscle groups first and working you way down to the smallest.

[ExCompetitor]

Some good advice here already.I would move leg day in between upper body days for the rest factor...here`s a very good routine that i`ve used Off Season:
Day One Chest,Side Delts,Tri`s.
Day 2 OFF
Day 3 Quads,Hams.
Day 4 OFF
Day 5 Back, Biceps, Rear Delts
Day 6 Work on Weak Bodypart(s)
Day 7 OFF
Warmup with AB work or Calf work alternating days.