Tom Mutaffis 3-Day Split

[TomMutaffis]

Yeah man that sounds like a good idea, if you could do that I'd appreciate it.

I will work on that for you, it may take me a few days to turn around.

Please subscribe to this thread to see updates as they are posted.

[rgold14]

I'm going to start this next week. I just have some quick questions though (I apologize if you've already answered them somewhere in the previous 13 pages)
How many drop sets should I be performing for the small muscle groups?
Also, on the push day how many reps should I be doing for the seated db military press? I'm a bit confused with your rep explanation.

[gerbilz]

What about cardio? Is it safe to have two days of hour cardio while doing the original three day split

[eagon06]

Tom, ill be finishing up my cut in a month or so and this program looks great for me to do a lean bulk. Question though, I have ****ty knees so I don't like to deadlift or squat high weight. For the 4 day split, what do you think about switching out deads on back day for a bent over row and then for squats on leg day just keeping it low weight? Thanks man.

[Th3Juic3dCpt]

tom, is there a specified reason on why there are only 1, 2 or 3 sets? how come there isnt 4 ?, ive been lifting for about a year and a half, should i increase anything ? or what? any suggestions ?

[CBRPDX]

For initial compound movement in each workout I generally work in the 3-5 rep range. For the next compound movement I typically go with 5-8 reps, and then I finish the rest of the workout (accessory/isolation movements) in the 8-12 rep range.

On some of the smaller muscle groups (deltoids, biceps, triceps) I will generally perform drop sets.

can you explain this a little better for someone that isn't too familiar with isolation/initial compound movement? like, which exercises do you do 5-8 and which are 8-12? kinda confused about this part. how would you dropset a bicep workout? just decrease the weight and or reps? immediatly after the first set or do you still rest in between a drop set and onto the next set. thanks in advance to anyone who answers. and sorry for the noob questions :P

[eagon06]

can you explain this a little better for someone that isn't too familiar with isolation/initial compound movement? like, which exercises do you do 5-8 and which are 8-12? kinda confused about this part. how would you dropset a bicep workout? just decrease the weight and or reps? immediatly after the first set or do you still rest in between a drop set and onto the next set. thanks in advance to anyone who answers. and sorry for the noob questions :P

You probably shouldn't do this program if you don't know the difference between a compound and isolation exercise, no offense. But a compound exercise works multiple muscles: squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, certain back rows etc. Isolation then is obviously one muscle: curles, tricep push downs, lat raises, etc.
When doing drop sets you wanna do em on a machine or with dumbbells that are ready to go. Go until failure and then drop the weight and go until failure and repeat however many sets as desired. Usually around 3. If you're looking to put on size check out starting strength. Great program, just watch videos and read up to keep your form in check.

[torpstar711]

Just wanted to say thanks Tom for making an excellent split. I've been using your 4-day split for the past few months (after trying PHAT for a few months before that) and have been making some nice, steady gains

[rgold14]

You probably shouldn't do this program if you don't know the difference between a compound and isolation exercise, no offense. But a compound exercise works multiple muscles: squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, certain back rows etc. Isolation then is obviously one muscle: curles, tricep push downs, lat raises, etc.
When doing drop sets you wanna do em on a machine or with dumbbells that are ready to go. Go until failure and then drop the weight and go until failure and repeat however many sets as desired. Usually around 3. If you're looking to put on size check out starting strength. Great program, just watch videos and read up to keep your form in check.

The question I have is are you supposed to do 3-5 reps for the first compound movement of the whole exercise or for the specific muscle group? For example, on the push day the military press is not the first compound movement overall, but it is the first compound movement utilizing the delts. So would you be doing 3-5 reps there or 5-8?

[torpstar711]

The question I have is are you supposed to do 3-5 reps for the first compound movement of the whole exercise or for the specific muscle group? For example, on the push day the military press is not the first compound movement overall, but it is the first compound movement utilizing the delts. So would you be doing 3-5 reps there or 5-8?

Just do whatever you want with them, really. Tom's split is a solid program but it's not like if you alter a couple things that it's going to be impossible to make gains. My preference on the military press is 5-8 reps, nice mix of strength and hypertrophy.

[gerbilz]

what days would you do cardio on? hiit cardio. hardcore sprints, 3-4 mile jogs, running stairs etc.

[TomMutaffis]

I'm going to start this next week. I just have some quick questions though (I apologize if you've already answered them somewhere in the previous 13 pages)
How many drop sets should I be performing for the small muscle groups?
Also, on the push day how many reps should I be doing for the seated db military press? I'm a bit confused with your rep explanation.

No problem - glad to hear that you have chosen this program.

For the smaller muscle groups I would base the number of drops sets on the intensity of them. Typically I will perform more drops (3-5) if doing lower reps on each of the drop sets and stopping shy of failure; if I am going to failure on the first segment of the drop set then simply 1-2 additional drops would be sufficient in fully exhausting the muscle group. For example if you are doing biceps curls and doing sets of 5 on each set from 45 lbs down to 10 lbs that would still be fairly tiring, but another approach might be a set of 10 with the 45's immediately followed by 10 reps with the 25's - and that would be equally as exhausting in most cases despite the number of drops and total reps being different.

For the DB military press I would go with something in the 6-10 rep range depending on how heavy you go on the prior movements and the overall weight that you are using.

Hope this helps and I would be happy to answer any other questions that you might have.

[TomMutaffis]

What about cardio? Is it safe to have two days of hour cardio while doing the original three day split

what days would you do cardio on? hiit cardio. hardcore sprints, 3-4 mile jogs, running stairs etc.

You can add up to (6) cardio training sessions/days depending on your goals and how you would like to configure the program. For most athletes looking for a balance of strength/size/conditioning I would say that 2-4 sessions is going to be optimal and you can perform them either on training days or rest days. The only rule that I would put in place is that at least one day per week must be entirely devoted to rest - no cardio or weight training.

In terms of the types of cardio I would stick with either HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) or LISS (Low Intensity Steady State) training. The LISS could be a good way to 'warm-up' for your sessions and the HIIT will provide the most return on investment since it will increase your metabolism and is also more time-efficient.

Hope this helps.

[TomMutaffis]

Tom, ill be finishing up my cut in a month or so and this program looks great for me to do a lean bulk. Question though, I have ****ty knees so I don't like to deadlift or squat high weight. For the 4 day split, what do you think about switching out deads on back day for a bent over row and then for squats on leg day just keeping it low weight? Thanks man.

Are you able to do rack pulls (from right at the knee or slightly above)? Or are deadlifts entirely out of the question? If you are pulling heavy I would only perform them every other week regardless, but they could be a good way to overload your posterior chain with some heavy weight if you are able to do them. If not then a suitable replacement might be a 'Power Row' (bent over row returning the bar to the ground between reps), T-Bar rows, or if you are looking for something without knee bend you could do SLDL's.

With regard to the squats have you tried Front Squats? Another option would be do just do high-rep squats so that you are not having to do a ton of sets or heavy weight. For example if your 1RM squat is 315 you could just warm up to 185 lbs and then knock out a set of 20 reps with 185 and call it a day on squats. This should spark some significant growth and will also boost your conditioning.

Let me know if there are any other exercises that you might need to look at alternatives for and I hope that the program works well for you.

[TomMutaffis]

tom, is there a specified reason on why there are only 1, 2 or 3 sets? how come there isnt 4 ?, ive been lifting for about a year and a half, should i increase anything? or what? any suggestions?

The sets listed in this program are work sets, and in most cases should be done to failure (or near failure). You should perform warm-up/ramp-up sets to get to your working weights, and it is not necessary to perform more than (3) high intensity sets for any particular movement. If you are training with lower intensity for some reason then you could increase the volume a bit.

I have been training for 15 years and have seen the best results with 1-2 working sets per movement. This allows you to incorporate more overall movements into your training and to put the highest level of effort into each set, since you are not 'sandbagging' to save energy for a later set.

If you personally prefer to hit 4-5 sets for each exercise then you can experiment with it, but I would be careful to moderate the overall volume and duration of your workouts if you have fairly advanced strength levels since it could present a recovery problem.

[TomMutaffis]

Just wanted to say thanks Tom for making an excellent split. I've been using your 4-day split for the past few months (after trying PHAT for a few months before that) and have been making some nice, steady gains

I am glad that you like the program and that it is working well for you.

If you get to a point where you want to change things up please feel free to drop a note in this thread and I can make some recommendations.

[vbarvmuuj1]

Responses are below in bold, hopefully this answers your questions:

Thx for answering!

About the abs workout: what exercises would you recommend for weighted workout and where should I put them for two sessions per week?

[jeffreybungle]

This routine is almost exactly what I'm doing, which is promising. I am however doing a couple of sets of Squats, on my Pull day and a couple of sets of front squats on my push day. Just because my legs have been lagging slightly. Is there anything wrong with that? I see on SS you are meant to squat every session.. Perhaps I should be doing light squats on those days.

[Th3Juic3dCpt]

[QUOTE=TomMutaffis;1010228673]The sets listed in this program are work sets, and in most cases should be done to failure (or near failure). You should perform warm-up/ramp-up sets to get to your working weights, and it is not necessary to perform more than (3) high intensity sets for any particular movement. If you are training with lower intensity for some reason then you could increase the volume a bit.


I have been training for 15 years and have seen the best results with 1-2 working sets per movement. This allows you to incorporate more overall movements into your training and to put the highest level of effort into each set, since you are not 'sandbagging' to save energy for a later set.

If you personally prefer to hit 4-5 sets for each exercise then you can experiment with it, but I would be careful to moderate the overall volume and duration of your workouts if you have fairly advanced strength levels since it could present a recovery problem.[/QUOT









So if i were doing squats, for 4 sets, would two of those be warm ups or would 4 be of the working sets?

[TomMutaffis]

Thx for answering!

About the abs workout: what exercises would you recommend for weighted workout and where should I put them for two sessions per week?

Are you doing cardio/conditioning outside of the three day split? The days that you add the ab work to do not make a huge difference as long as you keep at least two days between the sessions, and do not perform the ab workout within two days of your Lower Body session (can be performed at the end of that session though).

[TomMutaffis]

This routine is almost exactly what I'm doing, which is promising. I am however doing a couple of sets of Squats, on my Pull day and a couple of sets of front squats on my push day. Just because my legs have been lagging slightly. Is there anything wrong with that? I see on SS you are meant to squat every session.. Perhaps I should be doing light squats on those days.

I would not squat that often unless you are working to compete in Olympic lifting, and in that case I also would not follow these type of programs. You can make the best size/strength gains with 1-2 sessions per week targeting each compound movement or muscle group.

If for some reason your lower body is the biggest priority then you could use the two upper body days from this program and then create a second lower body day giving you a total of (2) lower and (2) upper sessions per week.

Some people like Starting Strength and it works well for them, but personally I would not recommend that program.

[DelonL]

Hey Tom been using your program for weeks now and all seems to be good,
but just wanted to drop a quick question - is it normal to stall/lose strength while cutting?

I don't have much strength to begin with, so I feel a little weak on my end.
But as long as I'm training while eating a calorie deficit - all is good, right?

Thanks!

[TomMutaffis]

So if i were doing squats, for 4 sets, would two of those be warm ups or would 4 be of the working sets?

For the squats I would ramp up with the first two being 'working sets' but not to failure and then the third being a heavy working set to failure (set of 3-8 reps) and the fourth set being a challenging higher-rep set.

An example for someone who can squat 405 lbs for 1RM would be:

325 lbs x 4
345 lbs x 4
360 lbs x 4
315 lbs x 6-8

If you are more focused on hypertrophy then you should mix things up and in some cases may want to just go with a linear weight and stick with 315 lbs and perform (4) sets of max or near-max reps with moderate rest periods. If your primary goal is strength then it would make sense to perform lower reps on the ramp-up sets to conserve energy for your maximal set, although I would still include the back-down/volume set on the 4th.

Hope this helps.

[TomMutaffis]

Hey Tom been using your program for weeks now and all seems to be good,
but just wanted to drop a quick question - is it normal to stall/lose strength while cutting?

I don't have much strength to begin with, so I feel a little weak on my end.
But as long as I'm training while eating a calorie deficit - all is good, right?

Thanks!

If you are in a caloric deficit 'cutting' then you should not expect to make any significant strength or muscular gains, but a good training program can help you to retain your current muscular size/strength as you improve your body composition or decrease weight (depending on goals).

What you are experiencing is definitely normal in terms of the plateau, if you want to you could try adjusting your diet to include a bit high calories/carbohydrates on training days - specifically before and after your training sessions.

[jeffreybungle]

Thanks a lot! I did get that advise from a powerlifting site. Maybe I'll keep a front squat in there somewhere, to make it legs twice a week. Cheers

[mynamebob]

Some people like Starting Strength and it works well for them, but personally I would not recommend that program.

May I ask why you wouldn't recommend it? IF you could elaborate that'd be great!

[mash74]

Tom
I've been doing the free weight only version of this routine you put up a few pages back and I'm enjoying it, seeing good gains. Whenever I back squat I get knee pain, I'm thinking of getting a trap bar and doing trap bar squats instead, I did barbell hack squats and it didn't seem to bother my knee as much but the lift is a bit awkward. Do you think doing trap bar squats instead of back squats is Ok? If I did that on leg day should I still dead lift on back day?
Thanks

[TomMutaffis]

Thanks a lot! I did get that advise from a powerlifting site. Maybe I'll keep a front squat in there somewhere, to make it legs twice a week. Cheers

Tuesday would be a good day for the front squats if you are going to the gym to do cardio/abs/etc. If not then you could add them at the end of your Monday workout, unless you wanted to prioritize your lower body in which case I would do them at the beginning of the workout.

[Sen8or]

Hi Tom

With the original 3 day split on the front page, you recommend a superset of leg press and leg curl at the end of the legs workout. I am getting back to your routine after taking a mini break to work on squat form. I workout from home and don't have a leg press, would a superset of front squats and leg curl be an ok substitute?

Thanks
Sen

[Th3Juic3dCpt]

Here is the 4/5 day training split...


Training Template:

Monday: Back
Tuesday: Chest
Wednesday: Cardio / Abs / Stretching
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Arms / Shoulders


Specific Workouts:

Back:
- Deadlift: (2) sets of 2-5 reps
- Chins / Assisted Chins: (3-5) sets / goal of 25 total chins, 50 for advanced.
- T-Bar Rows: (2) sets of 5-8 reps
- Close Grip V-Bar Pulldown / (Superset) / Seated V-Bar Row: (2) sets of 8-10 reps each.
- One Arm DB Rows /or/ Underhand Barbell Rows: (2) sets of 10-15

Chest:
- Incline Bench Press: (3) sets, 3-8 reps
- Flat Dumbbell Bench Press: (2) sets of 10
- Decline Flyes: (1) sets of 12
- Hammer Strength Incline Press: (2) sets of 8
- Cable Crossover: (2) sets of 12

Legs:
- Squats: (3) sets of 5-8 reps
- Standing Lunges: (3) sets of 8-10 reps
- Stiff Leg Deadlift: (3) sets of 8-10 reps
- Superset: Option 1: Leg Extension / Leg Curl: (2) sets of 10-15 reps each
Option 2: Hack Squat / Leg Press: (2) sets of 10-15 reps each

Arms & Shoulders:
- Seated DB Military Press: (3) sets of 5-10 reps
- Dips / Weighted Dips: (2) sets of 8-10 reps
- Barbell Curls: (2) sets of 8-10 reps
- Overhead DB or Barbell Extension: (2) sets of 8-10 reps
- Lateral Raise / Front Raise Superset: (2) sets
- Close Grip Bench / Pushdown Superset: (2) sets
- Preacher Curl / Hammer Curl Superset: (2) sets

**I typically perform deadlifts every other week.

tom, using your 4 day program, what reps should i aim for, in the supersets for arms and shoulders day? i'm really struggling to grow my arms and im desperately trying to make them grow. Any tips?