general weekly program vs specific area targeting

[urban eel]

to help make more sense
lately i have been just using a beginner weights routine on jefit
ie. Chest/Tri on Monday , Legs on a Wednesday etc
im fairly inconsistent with getting time to complete all 4 days nor am i lifting much weight at the moment

my question is would there be any positives or negatives with say doing chest and triceps 3 days a week for a month or 6 weeks. Then the same for Shoulders/traps , Back/Biceps

the main aim would be to build strength and build up the muscle that has wasted away from lack of use

 

[Pete Cash]

Well you would probably get crazy muscle imbalances. I'd not lift like that. Sometimes bodybuilders will pay special attention to areas and up the total reps but not only train one muscle at a time for a period of a month.

I'm not exactly sure how strong you would get doing that either. A month in the scheme of things isn't a long time. Most cycles are 3 to 4 months.

 

[shaggs]

If you are a beginner then you need to workout every body part at least once a week.

As Pete said, you will end up with imbalances.

Try a 3 day split. Chest and tris, back and bis and then legs.

 

[urban eel]

Pretty much what I'd thought.
What prompted me to ask was that some times it can be close to two weeks before I go get back to doing the same muscle group.
Might look at a better 3 day one to increase the likelihood of doing the full
Weeks routine

Thanks guys

 

[Pete Cash]

Its tough i mean I try and get to the gym 6 days a week but I consistently miss the same days so I feel I am missing out so I just mix it up. Like say if I am constantly missing weds I might one week do what I would do on weds on friday.

How old are you and what are you trying to do in the gym. Like you say you are trying to build up muscle and get strong. Is the muscle to look good with your shirt off (no shame in wanting that) or just incidental to your gains in power so you can get strong enough to flip a car over (no shame in that either) but it matters on what routine you should be doing.

 

[urban eel]

Its tough i mean I try and get to the gym 6 days a week but I consistently miss the same days so I feel I am missing out so I just mix it up. Like say if I am constantly missing weds I might one week do what I would do on weds on friday.

that's what i'm often doing. or if its near the end of the week ill do the routine for where i need the most work

How old are you and what are you trying to do in the gym. Like you say you are trying to build up muscle and get strong. Is the muscle to look good with your shirt off (no shame in wanting that) or just incidental to your gains in power so you can get strong enough to flip a car over (no shame in that either) but it matters on what routine you should be doing.

35 yrs 6'5" currently 107 kgs
i lot of what i want to achieve is losing the spare tyre and bondi chest ( a long way from manly) and starve off the affects of getting older

but also built upper body in general to not have the gut show so much
not worried about definition or abs etc but for a guy my size i should be stronger

 

[RHCP]

There's always the option of full body or Upper/Lower splits so that even if you only hit the gym twice a week you still haven't 'missed' anything so to speak.

 

[Thomas]

I either do a 3-day or 2-day split depending on work.

3 day split is:

Mon - Deadlifts and back
Wed - Chest and arms
Friday - Squats, legs and shoulders

If I do a 2 day split, I do back and chest on one day and legs and shoulders on another.

Works for me.

 

[Joker's Wild]

If you want to lose some belly fat you need to add some high intensity interval training in there somewhere. Just lifting is not going to get you too far in that department

I usually start with a heavy compound lift (Press, squat, dead, clean) then move into a superset of 2 moves back to back at medium weight (Row/press, lunge/clean, Pullup/pushup wieghted) then finish with a circuit of 5-6 core and body weight moves with a light load, back to back, focusing on higher volume.

I find this gives me a best of both worlds when it comes to results (strengh gains, muscle building, fat burning) in the limited time I have available

 

[RHCP]

Yeah, antagonist supersets are a good way to sneak in some conditioning in without suffering (too much) of a drawback in total weight moved and save on time.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

If you miss a day then the next time you are at the gym do the workout you missed. You dont have to fit it all into a 7 day period. Sometimes it takes me 2 weeks to get my weekly workouts in.

Otherwise you will find yourself skipping every leg day and no one will be your friend.

 

[Kurt Angle]

Yeah but tommy, you OHP what 75% of your body weight, you're no beginner.

If you are doing the following or less.

bench @ 50% of your bodyweight
squat @ 80% of your bodyweight
deadlift @ 110% of your bodyweight.

you're a beginner, and should be nowehre near isolations, or even targetted days.

DO post warm-up

squats - 3x10
bench - 3x8
OHP - 3x8
DL - 3x8
Bent over barbell row - 3x8

if you have to do a 6th, Barbell curl - 3x8

if you have to do a 7th, do calf raise 3x8

those compound lifts do everything you need in every workout. Thus every session doesn't leave anything out or lead to imbalances. there should be not plateauing where you have to adjust inclines, or swap out to dumbells, or levers or cables, etc.

Do those lifts long enough, you'll be reaching well ahead of the targets I stated, and you'll know your body better as well, thus knowing where any future imbalances are , and where you need to target.

 

[Snoochies]

Over at Ausbb there is this beginner program, simple but effective.

Primarily stating you are a beginner until you can Bench Press 100kg, Squat 140kg and Deadlift 180kg.

3 days a week, hits every major muscle and I don't know anyone who can lift those weights who doesn't look strong.

http://ausbb.com/power-lifting-strength-training/9460-beginners-program.html

 

[Pete Cash]

Hmmmm the op is 35 years old. How is his recovery ? His diet ? His sleep ?

It's all well and good to say squat three times a week but I find I (at thirty and eating at a deficit) need like 3 days to recover before I can squat at 100 percent intensity.

 

[Pete Cash]

That said I squat with a lot more volume than that.

 

[urban eel]

DO post warm-up

squats - 3x10
bench - 3x8
OHP - 3x8
DL - 3x8
Bent over barbell row - 3x8

if you have to do a 6th, Barbell curl - 3x8

if you have to do a 7th, do calf raise 3x8

those compound lifts do everything you need in every workout. Thus every session doesn't leave anything out or lead to imbalances. there should be not plateauing where you have to adjust inclines, or swap out to dumbells, or levers or cables, etc.

Do those lifts long enough, you'll be reaching well ahead of the targets I stated, and you'll know your body better as well, thus knowing where any future imbalances are , and where you need to target.

agreeded. it also suits the limited equipment i have at home

Over at Ausbb there is this beginner program, simple but effective.

Primarily stating you are a beginner until you can Bench Press 100kg, Squat 140kg and Deadlift 180kg.

3 days a week, hits every major muscle and I don't know anyone who can lift those weights who doesn't look strong.

http://ausbb.com/power-lifting-strength-training/9460-beginners-program.html

going to go with this, which is basically the same as KA lists above
only real question will be how i go at increasing my load effectively

Hmmmm the op is 35 years old. How is his recovery ? His diet ? His sleep ?

It's all well and good to say squat three times a week but I find I (at thirty and eating at a deficit) need like 3 days to recover before I can squat at 100 percent intensity.

muscle response and recovery are ok. expecting to be sore alot for the first few weeks until i adjust to working out again
diet is good, plenty of calories. not much junk, but will need to include some more protein





i like the simplicity of this workout.will make it easier to stay on track and let me worry about cardio etc weightloss without worry if my weight program is helping or hindering


thanks for all the suggestions and help

 

[Snoochies]

Yep squatting should be fine, I'm 34 and can cope on deficit. One thing to maybe consider trying with squats is something similar to madcow.

An example only:

Monday: 3 X 10 @ 100kg

Wednesday: 3 X 10 @ 70-80kg

Friday: 3 X 5-8 @ 105kg.

Then on Monday do 3 X 10 with what you did Friday and repeat the rest of the week as per above where Friday you will ultimately increase the weight again.

I tried it whilst on a deficit, it's slower but allows more recovery and for me personally, mentally gave me more specific goals to work towards.

Everyone is different so depends what works for you.

 

[Thomas]

Yeah but tommy, you OHP what 75% of your body weight, you're no beginner.

If you are doing the following or less.

bench @ 50% of your bodyweight
squat @ 80% of your bodyweight
deadlift @ 110% of your bodyweight.

you're a beginner, and should be nowehre near isolations, or even targetted days.

DO post warm-up

squats - 3x10
bench - 3x8
OHP - 3x8
DL - 3x8
Bent over barbell row - 3x8

if you have to do a 6th, Barbell curl - 3x8

if you have to do a 7th, do calf raise 3x8

those compound lifts do everything you need in every workout. Thus every session doesn't leave anything out or lead to imbalances. there should be not plateauing where you have to adjust inclines, or swap out to dumbells, or levers or cables, etc.

Do those lifts long enough, you'll be reaching well ahead of the targets I stated, and you'll know your body better as well, thus knowing where any future imbalances are , and where you need to target.

Currently I'm at:

OHP: 80% of bw
Bench: 1xBW
Squat: 1.25 xBW
DL: 1.5 BW.

My issue is the fact I'm lifting on a cut. And also I've had back issues which means I'm 2 steps forward 1 step back with my squats. I was doing 531 for a while but have switched to RPT and I like it.

Warm up on my 4 lifts is the following:

6x % of working set
5x % of working set
4x % of working set

Then I do n lifts of my working set NOT going to failure. I squeeze that last rep out but don't fail.

Then I do 1 set of n + 1 less 10% of my working set
Then n + 2 less 10% of my working set.

After I've done my compounds, I'll move to isolation. Incline DB press, split squats, RDLs etc.

I've found that this really gives me a good mix, especially on a cut where I'm looking to maintain muscle and lean up. I throw in 2 days of cycling to and from work (17kms each way).

 

[Thomas]

Hmmmm the op is 35 years old. How is his recovery ? His diet ? His sleep ?

It's all well and good to say squat three times a week but I find I (at thirty and eating at a deficit) need like 3 days to recover before I can squat at 100 percent intensity.

I turn 40 in a month and I've made the humbling decision to cut down on the number of intense workouts. I also do a deload week once every month or so. Currently I have a tweaked back and tendinitis in one forearm. f**k.

 

[Walt Flanigan]

There's always the option of full body or Upper/Lower splits so that even if you only hit the gym twice a week you still haven't 'missed' anything so to speak.

Yeah I'd say full body sessions are the go if consistency is an issue. You can still make some decent gains doing them 3 times a week.

Just smash the compound exercises.