I'm a 39 year old former gym rat but had to stop working out for about a year and a half due to a layoff. I am 6 weeks into a full body routine and can tell my muscles aren't properly stimulated anymore doing my full body routine so it's time for a change.
I'm 6'0" and went from 238lbs to 249lbs while losing some fat and seeing great strength progress.
3000 cal diet
Supplements: creatine, and glucosamine
My question is I've always done a "bro split" type workout so I can hit each muscle type as hard as I wanted and it worked well for me. Much of the articles I've been reading seem to push muscle stimulation twice a week so I'm thinking of giving a 4 day upper/lower split a try.
What is working for everyone on here to gain mass? Yes I need to cut at some point but focused on mass/strength for now.
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09-16-2018, 08:55 PM #1
How often do most people here hit each muscle group?
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09-16-2018, 09:12 PM #2
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09-16-2018, 09:15 PM #3
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09-16-2018, 09:28 PM #4
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09-16-2018, 10:22 PM #5
I had best results recently doing big lifts (squat, OHP, bench, row) 3 hard sets of 5 reps + a back-off set of 10 at 20% less. All 3 times a week
Plus 1 hard set 5 rep DL and 3 set 10 pull/chin, again 3 times a week.
Weekly 5 lb increment when possible. Sit ups, hypers, reverse fly, etc to finish.
Took more time than I've available or I'd still be doing it.
I'm an enthusiast for 3 times a week frequency.
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09-16-2018, 11:41 PM #6
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09-17-2018, 01:14 AM #7
I wouldn't start comparing yourself to everyone else. What works for one person might not work that well for someone else. Furthermore, if you say you are a former gym rat I would imagine you should already have figured out from prior training experience what works for you and what doesn't.
- Your mindset influences your outcome. It's time to take out phrases like "I can't" or "I don't have time" and replace them with phrases like "I will make the time" and "I will keep working at it until I find a way that works." Success starts with the right mindset and believing in yourself and your dreams.
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09-17-2018, 01:23 AM #8
- Join Date: Jan 2007
- Location: Suffolk, United Kingdom (Great Britain)
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2-3 x directly. Indirectly, almost every day.
The thing about frequency is that it's just another variable to play with. If you always stick to the same then you are missing a trick. I suggest making small incremental changes - like going from 1 - 1.5 x frequency. If you train 4-5 times a week, try a PPL rotation.
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09-17-2018, 03:52 AM #9
It’s not that a full body doesn’t stimulate the muscles enough, it’s that a full body is Extreemly HARD to do, and properly stimulate the muscles, as a lifter advances (and we aren’t talking a pathetic 6 weeks).
Most people claim to switch from a full body to a split so they can hit the muscles harder...but in actuality, it’s because hitting a full body with proper intensity has just become too hard, and they want their workouts to be EASIER. Much easier to do twice as many modest sets as a few super high intensity sets...followed by more for all the other muscle groups. Many people just don’t have the nads to get through a muscle building full body workout when the intensity and/or volume level becomes high...but those who do continue to see great progress.
I know, a bit of a rant...I just hate to hear people make this excuse and actually convince themselves it’s true.
^^this. Bodybuilding is very simple when it comes to the core things that work for everyone for 90% of their gains (consistency, lift, eat, sleep). The last, maybe, 10% is the personal fine tuning that comes with experience and experimentation.
MHOLast edited by grubman; 09-17-2018 at 04:36 AM.
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09-17-2018, 04:31 AM #10
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09-17-2018, 06:13 AM #11
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09-17-2018, 07:52 AM #12
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09-17-2018, 08:24 AM #13
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09-17-2018, 11:14 AM #14
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09-17-2018, 11:22 AM #15
What splitting accomplishes is it minimizes the CNS fatigue while maximizing muscle fatigue. Unless of course you're a Reg Park clone and can do 60+ sets M, W, and again on F.
Also, if the basic compounds are all used in the body part split, essentially everything is hit multiple times/week anyway, even using a BP split.DR. 3time
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~Cobra Kai Crew~
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09-17-2018, 11:33 AM #16
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09-17-2018, 11:34 AM #17
Grubman that's some great feed back. I've been hitting the fullbody workout hard and part of the issue could be more time restraint then anything. Every set is to failure and rest time it's kept short but still just felt like I wasn't getting what I wanted out of the program
I started the intermediate Furious 5 upper/lower split today (with an added superset) and feel like I finally got the muscles hard enough. Let's see what happens over the next 8 weeks and I'll see if I'm getting the progress that I saw on the full body program.
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09-17-2018, 11:40 AM #18
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09-17-2018, 12:09 PM #19
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09-17-2018, 01:03 PM #20
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09-17-2018, 01:27 PM #21
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09-17-2018, 01:41 PM #22
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09-17-2018, 01:52 PM #23
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09-17-2018, 04:36 PM #24
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09-18-2018, 01:13 AM #25
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09-18-2018, 03:17 AM #26
- Join Date: Jun 2016
- Location: United Kingdom (Great Britain)
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Time mostly. Endurance exercises are the biggest cause of Cns fatigue. Marathons being right up there, iron man style comps probably even more so.
Most if not all exercises shown to cause it have been insane protocols (7m constant bicep activation for example)
With intensity having little effect
Squatting relatively heavy 4 times a week would induce a high amount of peripheral fatigue, which is generally what people mix up with central fatigue.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595208/
While I generally prefer quoting studies than articles this one if well written and referenced and easier to link too on phone than 20 studies :P
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/bayes...s-fatigue/amp/5 day full body crew
FMH Crew, Sandbagging Mike Tuscherer Wannabee
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09-18-2018, 04:58 AM #27
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09-18-2018, 05:12 AM #28
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09-18-2018, 05:17 AM #29
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09-18-2018, 06:06 AM #30
- Join Date: Feb 2015
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Posts: 33,528
- Rep Power: 219150
I didn't say that anybody said that in the thread, i'm just pointing out the pervasive myths that are out there when it comes to CNS fatigue. Not to mention somebody mentioned something about squatting 500 lbs 4 times a week as opposed to 1 week so close enough, short-term was the point there. CNS recovers really quickly often within the the workout itself.
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