Can this program work?

[zmich]

Hello all,
I am currently overseas and have an 8 day schedule. Will this program Work? I run 4 times a week, ranging from 3-5 miles and 1 of those days I do plyos. I lift 3 days a week. A chest/shoulders/tris day. A back/bi day. and a legs/powerlifting day. and mix in core training twice a week and end all lifting days with a 15 min treadmill HIIT session. I also switch sets/reps monthly.
I am currently 198 and would like to be around 185 with good muscular definition when I go back to my wife in 5 months. I also run so much so I can kill my yearly physical training test.
Is this an appropriate workout for my goals?
Thank You.

[zmich]

Looking at it, is it too much cardio. should I lift 4 days and 3 cardio?

[zakatak333]

it seems like you know how to design your own workout routines(as evidenced by the fact that you change it up periodically, incorporate back & core work and do PL stuff on legs day)

so i'm not going to comment on the workout, i'm just going to stress the fact that diet is crucial to gaining or losing weight

there are many different ways to cut, all of which rely on having a calorie intake that is lower than calorie expenditure

[zmich]

it seems like you know how to design your own workout routines(as evidenced by the fact that you change it up periodically, incorporate back & core work and do PL stuff on legs day)

so i'm not going to comment on the workout, i'm just going to stress the fact that diet is crucial to gaining or losing weight

there are many different ways to cut, all of which rely on having a calorie intake that is lower than calorie expenditure

Understood. I guess I am just wondering if I will get too skinny with no muscle on this? can I gain muscle and lose the fat with this? gotta look good for the lady. lol

[zakatak333]

Understood. I guess I am just wondering if I will get too skinny with no muscle on this? can I gain muscle and lose the fat with this? gotta look good for the lady. lol

depending on how detailed of a discussion you want to have on the topic, some people will say that a man can gain small and insignificant amounts of muscle while cutting, others will say its impossible to build muscle in a deficit and the best a person can hope for is to maintain what mass he already has(although i would suspect a beginner could make muscle gains while cutting, but they can make gains doing just about anything)

but this is a detailed discussion, and frankly, i don't know the answer


if it was me, i'd just slow bulk for 3 months then do a hard cut for about 1.5 months until reaching ideal weight... then i'd slowly start increasing the food again to fill out and peak out on the 5 month mark

but i wouldn't recommend that to anyone, i think its generally accepted in the community that slow & steady cutting is the best way to go

one thing i will say though, is that it is VERY HARD to guess the weight at which you will look shredded, maybe pros and coaches and trainers can do so but in my experience i have always miscalculated my "shredded" weight

i think the mirror is the best way to judge when your body is ready(lol)

you never know, you might be shredded looking at 185, maybe 175, who knows

but yeah, i wouldn't focus on body weight so much as appearance

anyhow, you have options because 5 months is a good amount of time

a cut is always easier following a bulk, but if you bulk too much and cut too late then you'll miss your mark

[zmich]

thank you. shredded might be an overstatement. just want to look fit, muscular, and/or toned.

would you suggest taking away a running day and splitting my shoulder/chest day? considering I do HIIT after every lifting session?

[zakatak333]

thank you. shredded might be an overstatement. just want to look fit, muscular, and/or toned.

would you suggest taking away a running day and splitting my shoulder/chest day? considering I do HIIT after every lifting session?

that really depends on your level of exertion during each cardio session and your body's adaptation to overall weekly/monthly cardio volume

so i can't even begin to comment on the amount of cardio you should do

but if it was me, i know what i'd do, i'd have zero cardio days(or maybe 3 cardio days absolute max) lol



but regarding adding a 4th day to a 3 day split

the way i see it, the amount of overall mass gained in legs and back combined is like 90% of the muscle in the body and arms/chest/front delts pails in comparison

that being said, personally i would have two back days with a variety of different exercises and high volume(perhaps spliting the back days into a "trap/rhomboids/rear delt/side delt" focus day and a "lat/teres/rhomboids" focus day) and two legs days one for high rep front squatting & core assistance and the other for low or medium rep back squatting & core assistance

but you probably wouldn't want to do just legs/back/legs/back(most people wouldn't want to do that, i am unique in that regard)

but yeah, i think a typical lifter is going to benefit more from adding an additional back day as opposed to splitting shoulders & chest

basically back/legs/back/chest is going to be better than chest/legs/shoulders/back in my opinion

if i was doing back twice a week then i would either do full back on both days or split back into "traps/rear delts/side delts/rhomboids" day(basically doing a bunch of shrugs, horizontal pulling and band pulls) and "lats/teres/rhomboids" day(basically doing vertical pulls, horizontal pulls and band pulls)