Reorganizing my split/routine (2010 retrospective and 2011 resolutions)

[Pump Freak 86]

This will be a long post so brace yourselves. The purpose of this thread is to solicit advice on my routine to prioritize my arms, back, and legs in the new year. I will start by laying out my current routine (the one I've been doing for the past few months) and then provide a brief story about how it came to be since it is a derivation of a widely known program. I'll then give a self-assessment of where I feel my body is currently and where I want I to go. Feel free to skip to the actual question at the end. I included as much info as I could up front so I wouldn't have to answer questions later.

Pump's Current Power/Hypertrophy Routine

Day 1 (Upperbody Power)
5x5 Decline Press
5x5 Seated Overhead Press
5x5 Barbell Rows (supersetted with 10 rep sets of rear delt flyes)
4x10 Seated Dumbell Curls/Barbell Curls superset
2x10 Close Grip Bench Press/Rope Pressdown superset
2x10 CGBP/Tricep Dips superset

Day 2 (Lower Body Power)
5x5 Deadlifts
5x5 Leg Press
5x10 Standing Barbell Calf Raises (supersetted with the leg presses)

Day 3 (off)

Day 4 (Chest and Arms Hypertrophy)
3x10 Incline Bench Press
3x10 Machine Guillotine Press
3x10 Incline Flyes
2x10 Wide Grip Spider Curls/Close grip chin ups superset
2x10 Close Grip Spider Curls/Wide grip chin ups superset
2x8-10 V handle cable curls/incline curls superset
2x8-10 V handle cable curls/concentration curls
3x5 CGBP (with 20 second static contraction at the last rep)
3x10 Skullcrushers (supersetted with cgbp)
3x8-10 V handle pressdown/Overhead tricep extension superset
3x8-10 Single arm cable pressdowns/Dumbell kick backs superset
(I know this looks like a lot of volume, but it's actually just a detailed accound of a 4x8-10 approach with variations throughout the 4 sets listed seperately. Biceps basically get two supersetted movements, triceps get two but with more sets. I found it to be really effective).

Day 5 (back/shoulders hypertrophy)
Close grip pullups 3x12
Wide Grip Pullups 2x12
Hammer Grip pullups 2x12
Machine Row/Dumbell Row superset 3x12
Seated cable row/standing lat pullovers 3x8-10
Behind the back cable cable laterals/face pulls 3x10
3x8-10 TYIs (lying rear laterals done at 3 axes of motion per "rep", the first leaves your body resembling a T, the next a Y [or a W I've been told], and the final an I. Each "rep" in the set is actually 3 reps (one in each position).
Seated Side laterals
2x10 trap cleans (like a clean but without much lower body drive. it's a heavily modified movement that I use to focus on trap power).
2x10 Dumbell upright rows (supersetted withthe trap cleans. I sometimes replace the dumbell upright rows with behind the back upright rows with the barbell)
2x10 Behind the back shrugs/Seated overhead dumbell presses

Day 6: Legs Hypertrophy
3x10 Squats
3x8-12 Lunges
3x10 Leg Extensions
3x10 Standing Leg curls
3x10 Seated Leg curls
6x10 Standing calf raises (supersetted with the lunges and extensions)

Day 7: (abs and cardio)
15 minutes of HIIT on an exercise bike or treadmill
Ab Routine A:
2x crunches (each set lasts for 2 minutes, I don't even count reps)
3x30 Cable crunches
3x10-15 Hanging leg raises
3x10-10 side crunches
Ab Routine B:
3x8-12 Dragon flags
3x10 ab roll outs
3x15 cable crunches
3x15-20 twisting decline crunches
4x10 Seated Dumbell Curls/Barbell Curls superset
2x10 Close Grip Bench Press/Rope Pressdown superset
2x10 CGBP/Tricep Dips superset

Pump's rationale for this plan:
I took the Layne Norton template and tweaked it to suit my needs and goals. Some of those goals were met better than others however. When I first started training in this fashion in January of 2010, I only made one change to the traditional plan. I replaced Bench presses with Incline bench presses. My front delts blew way up but I also made a lot of gains in the upper chest area. My front delts continued to explode so I had to switch to decline presses to keep my front delts from being overstimulated. I also moved overhead dumbell presses to the end of my shoulder hypertrophy routine.

The other thing I did was break up the supersets between bodyparts in the traditional routine because I found that they underserved certain bodyparts while benfiting others (my shoulders overall got big on the traditional plan while my back really stagnated). Once I did those two things, I got my front delts under control and started to progress in my underserved areas.

For my leg training, I should point out that I have recently regained the ability to back squat after several years due to a shoulder injury. Interestingly enough, my upper body training wasn't that hindered by it, but I was unable to do any behind the back movements except for side laterals. I trained legs without squats in that time, but it just wasn't the same. When I was finally able to squat again, my technique was GONE. I wasn't able to do 5 rep maxes because I didn't have solid form, so i moved them to the hypertrophy day so I could get some much needed practice. I had to go all the way back to box squats with 135lbs and go from there.

I also made cardio training a part of my routine, which I had never done in the past. As a hardgainer, the last thing I wanted to do was burn calories, but I think the cardio improved the strength of my circulatory system which allowed me to gain more mass and strength.

Pump's self-assessment:
From my time in training on the power/hypertophy program above, I saw huge increases in my lifts (100 lbs on the bench and deads) and added some much needed mass to my arms (an inch, each one counts) by bumping up from the bb.com approved once per week with minimal sets approach to arm training to a more effective 3x per week approach. My arms were barely 15 inches in a year ago (December 2009) and had been there for about 2 years. They were 12 inches when I began and grew to 13 in my first year. Over the next 5 years, they ballooned up to 15 inches (3 inches of arm growth in 7 years while I gained about 50 lbs of mass) using the once per week approach. In the past year, I've added more size (in my arms and body overall) than in any other year besides my first. I weighted 175lbs in December of 2009 and I now weigh 190, having not lost any definition. I think the 2x per week split, combination of low and high reps, and added cardio helped a lot. I also improved my technique on my arm exercises which also helped a lot (focusing on peak contractions and negatives).

Pump's 2011 goals:
My goals at this point are to gain 10 more pounds (which would put me at my ultimate size goal), to increase the size and detail of my back (which I think I'm on track to do), and to increase the size of my arms and legs (especially my triceps and hamstrings).

Pump's question:
Is there anything I can do with my routine to emphasize my arms, legs, and back more than I already have? I intend to start hitting squats for 5x5 in the new year, but I think I can go further with the emphasis.

[ironwill2008]

Pump's question:
Is there anything I can do with my routine to emphasize my arms, legs, and back more than I already have? I intend to start hitting squats for 5x5 in the new year, but I think I can go further with the emphasis.

I'm not in the habit of tearing down an experienced trainee's routine line by line. No one knows better than you your tolerance to work. As long as you are able to recover from the volume/frequency you have listed here, then go for it. As long as you're progressing the weight and/or reps lifted on a week-to-week basis, just keep rolling.

If /when you get to a point where you begin to stall, then you might start thinking about cutting out some of the isolation lifts you have listed. But that's going to be your call.

As far as emphasizing particular bodyparts, you can't really effectively do that with more than one bodypart at a time, as a natty. If you feel you have one area that's really lagging, move it to the day after a rest day, when you're fresh, and work it by itself, or at least first, on that day.


The bottom line is always the same; effort-in = results-out.

[Pump Freak 86]

If you feel you have one area that's really lagging, move it to the day after a rest day, when you're fresh, and work it by itself, or at least first, on that day.

I've never heard it put so simply before. That actually is really helpful. Split-wise,
that would work out to:

Lower Body Power
Upper Body Power
off
Arms/Back
Shoulders/Chest
Legs
off

which could work well.

[SgSpartan]

Weighted pull-ups have made my back look much better, just thought I would share something that worked for me.

[Pump Freak 86]

Weighted pull-ups have made my back look much better, just thought I would share something that worked for me.

I've used them in the past. I don't at present have a belt, but I'll be getting one soon. I've been without one for about 3 months since I had to change gyms and my new one doesn't have one.

[Pump Freak 86]

bump