How to mix strength and hypertrophy routines

[REALDEAL012]

My current goals are to gain muscle mass by training for hypertrophy in my workouts, while also trying to gain strength in deadlift, squat, and bench..

My current split is:

Monday-Back
Tuesday-Chest
Wednesday-Arms
Thursday-Legs and Shoulders

I have seen in many posts that lowering the volume, and increasing the frequency can increase strength faster than higher volume, lower frequency..

So the question is, could I add a 3x5 set of Bench to Legs day, and a 3x5 set of Squat on Chest day just to get a few more reps in on those lifts? I don't want to hinder my gains from slowing recovery, but I thought it would help with strength gains..

What are the thoughts? Thanks and will rep!

[REALDEAL012]

anyone?

[ironwill2008]

My current goals are to gain muscle mass by training for hypertrophy in my workouts, while also trying to gain strength in deadlift, squat, and bench..

My current split is:

Monday-Back
Tuesday-Chest
Wednesday-Arms
Thursday-Legs and Shoulders

I have seen in many posts that lowering the volume, and increasing the frequency can increase strength faster than higher volume, lower frequency..

So the question is, could I add a 3x5 set of Bench to Legs day, and a 3x5 set of Squat on Chest day just to get a few more reps in on those lifts? I don't want to hinder my gains from slowing recovery, but I thought it would help with strength gains..

What are the thoughts? Thanks and will rep!

As a general rule, "more" isn't usually "better." You grow when you're resting; to hit a bodypart multiple times a week can disrupt the healing/growth process.

That being said, the relationship between volume and frequency is an individual thing. In other words, what works for me, volume/frequency-wise, may not work for you, and vice-versa. It may be that you'd thrive on doing what you propose.

There's only one way to find out; try it for 3-4 months, and log your results. You don't really have anything to lose, and you just might learn a great deal about your own recovery ability.

[zephed56]

That alteration sounds fine to me, provided your volume workouts for each lift don't carry fatigue over into those workouts. Just make sure you're fairly fresh for the strength workout. A 2x per week frequency shouldn't cause problems for pretty much everyone if you arrange everything good.

[AndrewCa]

http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-...l-revelia.html

[lahr]

As long as you are not hindering your actual training day for that body part, or your muscles for that body part are not still tight the day you perform that extra push.

I would also consider that you save your heavy lifts for the actual training day and use the other day for stretching the muscle.

i.e. when you train chest on Monday, go heavy or go home. but on thursday when you impact chest again for a little recap, go light weight and focus more on slow, deeper movement, better form.

And give a minimum of 3 days between the actual training day, and the recap day.

[REALDEAL012]

As long as you are not hindering your actual training day for that body part, or your muscles for that body part are not still tight the day you perform that extra push.

I would also consider that you save your heavy lifts for the actual training day and use the other day for stretching the muscle.

i.e. when you train chest on Monday, go heavy or go home. but on thursday when you impact chest again for a little recap, go light weight and focus more on slow, deeper movement, better form.

And give a minimum of 3 days between the actual training day, and the recap day.

I would plan on doing those lifts after my entire workout..

Example: Finish my squats and lunges etc, overhead press, shoulder press etc, then at the very end of the workout, a quick set of bench

[Orlando1234977]

My current goals are to gain muscle mass by training for hypertrophy in my workouts, while also trying to gain strength in deadlift, squat, and bench..

If the goal is to gain mass, then a properly administered hypertrophy program will have you consistently getting stronger. If it's not, then you need to make adjustments. One of the most common reasons is simply doing a routine that is not suitable, or beyond your level of experience.

[henmaniac87]

I think your split could be rearranged to give you better results.

You currently train chest on tuesday then the following day hit your arms, this doesnt give your triceps enough time to recover from chest work. Here's my 4 day split which Ive been tweaking and am now happy with.

Mon-Rest
Tue-Arms/Shoulders
Wed-Legs/Core
Thurs-Rest
Fri-Chest
Sat-Back/Traps/Core
Sun-Rest

Ive added shoulders onto arm day recently because I dont do much direct work for shoulders and find I only need 3 good sets of some type of press to hit them adequately, plus shoulder or military press gives my triceps a little extra stimulation, which I think they are ready for.
Notice how its split up though, triceps get plenty of rest to recover for chest day, which will hit them hard, biceps also get plenty of rest to recover for back day, which will be
another killer bicep workout.

Being that arms are such small muscles they dont take very long to recover from even an intense workout, 72 hours should be perfect. Because they are small though they are the most susceptible to being over stimulated, which will have a negative effect on them.

[joelash302]

My current goals are to gain muscle mass by training for hypertrophy in my workouts, while also trying to gain strength in deadlift, squat, and bench..

My current split is:

Monday-Back
Tuesday-Chest
Wednesday-Arms
Thursday-Legs and Shoulders

I have seen in many posts that lowering the volume, and increasing the frequency can increase strength faster than higher volume, lower frequency..

So the question is, could I add a 3x5 set of Bench to Legs day, and a 3x5 set of Squat on Chest day just to get a few more reps in on those lifts? I don't want to hinder my gains from slowing recovery, but I thought it would help with strength gains..

What are the thoughts? Thanks and will rep!

As Ironwill said, it might work for you very well. Just eyeballing it my major concern would be your lower back could be seeing two days in a row of heavy work, which could cause issues on your Tuesday squatting session. But of course that depends on what your back day looks like.

[1nd]

Id do a set of 12, a set of 8, and a set of 6 for each exercise.