4 days upper body —- too much?

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

I have a garbage split that I built around my work schedule - 3 day off —- 4 days on 12 hours a day

The split was as follows

Mon— Chest triceps and leg accessory

Tuesday compound legs, compound back and biceps

Wednesday shoulder and triceps


Saturday back bicep and Tricep

—————————-

I’ve pushed my body to the limit. My lower back is killing me … arm spasms, chest spasms, real delt spasms

Taking the rest of the week off..

After that —-

NEW SPLIT

Monday — Chest and Tricep

Tuesday —- back bicep

Wednesday —- compound Legs. Accessory legs

Saturday

Shoulder/shoulder accessory bicep and triceps


anyways.. how many days a week do you guys hit upper body?

 

[gspieler]

Depends on volume and intensity. In general, though, I wouldn't advise hitting the same muscles/movement patterns more than 3x/week, without a pretty specific reason to.

Other than that, your new split looks better than old one IMO. Though I would probably throw in a second lower day. Maybe split the compound and accessories into two separate days.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Monday Thru Sunday

 

[Xoleth]

I will do something similar in two weeks.
Chest & shoulders
- barbell incline press
- flat Prime machine press
- chest dips
- some vertical press
- lateral raises

Back & some recovery stuff
- pullups
-pulldowns
- some wide row for traps
- one arm machine row for lats
- other stuff, maybe Lu raises for traps

Legs
- leg press
- deadlifts/RDLs
- walking lunges
- leg curls
- some other/recovery stuff (Jefferson curls, unilateral deadlifts, jumps, plyometrics)

Arms
- incline curls
- Preacher curls
- some unilateral dumbbell curl done bro style, with partial range of motion
- EZ bar skull crushers
- cable pushdowns
- some machine extensions

Also, some abs exercise every time.

Probably 5 times a week, although it depends. Sometimes it might be 6, others 4. It's pretty chaotic.

 

[vision1]

3 full body has always been the best combo of volume frequency and rest for me

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

Monday Thru Sunday

for me personally —- I’m getting so strong that even my “safe” accessory lifts are taxing

Like Tricep pulldown. You can do that 5 days a week when you’re pulling down a full stack for 10 reps

But when you’re pulling down a full stack plus 30 pounds for 14 reps… it’s different. At least it is for me

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

3 full body has always been the best combo of volume frequency and rest for me

3 days total? And then what’s the split look like on those days

 

[1rawdog]

didn't we just do this back in june? a quick look but It doesn't seem like you took anyones advice back then, or maybe didn't change your routine?
R U the guy who posted a pic here a couple weeks ago? I'm on more than one board and get confused about who is who

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

didn't we just do this back in june? a quick look but It doesn't seem like you took anyones advice back then, or maybe didn't change your routine?
R U the guy who posted a pic here a couple weeks ago? I'm on more than one board and get confused about who is who

Whether or not I followed people’s advice ).. I’m pretty certain I didn’t ask about this specific question

This is the first time I’ve ever considered less than 4 upper body days.

Im getting stronger and I have a trainer and he does less volume. 3X a week upper body should be good

 

[Stoic1]

You're on gear and young. Should be okay.

Just watch the creatine levels - bar might slip and fuck you up.

 

[Volador]

Split seems fine in itself. Whether you can handle it or not depends more on how you program volume and intensity imo.

 

[1rawdog]

Whether or not I followed people’s advice ).. I’m pretty certain I didn’t ask about this specific question

This is the first time I’ve ever considered less than 4 upper body days.

Im getting stronger and I have a trainer and he does less volume. 3X a week upper body should be good

yeah the format of your work days rang the bell for me, seems a lot like the same question I know what i would have probably recommended and it would have included 3 upper days. It's always interesting to me when people have a trainer but don't do what the trainer says, I assume you are paying him? That's not a shot at you either, I understand seeking other knowledge, I just find it interesting, what are you paying for if not following? Of course I don't know the relationship/deal you have with him but from a trainers perspective that can be less than ideal.
I've found that someone who is constantly arguing every concept usually will not be compliant to the program and eventually complain about lack of results. You can't complain if you didn't follow the advice. The ones who take liberties with diet reporting are the worst lol. This is different than just having questions to further understanding btw, that's cool and encouraged.

Anyhoo, my response here would be the same as it is in the other thread. I'd also remind you that volume is not directly related to frequency, my stuff is what most would consider low volume,

Best of luck to you

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

yeah the format of your work days rang the bell for me, seems a lot like the same question I know what i would have probably recommended and it would have included 3 upper days. It's always interesting to me when people have a trainer but don't do what the trainer says, I assume you are paying him? That's not a shot at you either, I understand seeking other knowledge, I just find it interesting, what are you paying for if not following? Of course I don't know the relationship/deal you have with him but from a trainers perspective that can be less than ideal.
I've found that someone who is constantly arguing every concept usually will not be compliant to the program and eventually complain about lack of results. You can't complain if you didn't follow the advice. The ones who take liberties with diet reporting are the worst lol. This is different than just having questions to further understanding btw, that's cool and encouraged.

Anyhoo, my response here would be the same as it is in the other thread. I'd also remind you that volume is not directly related to frequency, my stuff is what most would consider low volume,

Best of luck to you

Just startied training with dude (cheap as fuck too)

Because I’m on gear and I can make gains with accessory work. I could probably grow from pushups man.

So I learn mobility training with him.. establish a routine of daily stretching… strengthen rear delts/scapular whatever .. approach push exercises cautiously and if I get injured then so be it. I’m immensely careful

 

[vision1]

3 days total? And then what’s the split look like on those days

3 days total. Or one day on, one day off (4 every 8 days)

Every day includes one lower, one upper push, one upper pull, and then whatever else I want.

Or a split of Squats + Bench, Deadlifts + Bench, Squats + Bench also works well (always including some upper back work with the bench stuff)

 

[1rawdog]

Just startied training with dude (cheap as fuck too)

Because I’m on gear and I can make gains with accessory work. I could probably grow from pushups man.

So I learn mobility training with him.. establish a routine of daily stretching… strengthen rear delts/scapular whatever .. approach push exercises cautiously and if I get injured then so be it. I’m immensely careful

Nice reply, good on you for not taking offence to mine, that often happens here, I think mostly because people don't read the carefully chosen words and jump to defnsive conclusions.
That sounds like a good setup with this guy then, especially if it is in person.

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

3 days total. Or one day on, one day off (4 every 8 days)

Every day includes one lower, one upper push, one upper pull, and then whatever else I want.

Or a split of Squats + Bench, Deadlifts + Bench, Squats + Bench also works well (always including some upper back work with the bench stuff)

You use a lot of upper back for bench and OHP. I try to keep them separate.

Nothing will fuck up your push days more then a heavy pull day the night before and bad sleep

At least do push exercises first. Otherwise your upper back will bottleneck your chest and shoulder development

 

[Trabaho]

Why not the logical 3 split push pull legs ?

Push - chest triceps shoulders

Pull - back biceps delts

Legs - legs

Core - whenever you want

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

Why not the logical 3 split push pull legs ?

Push - chest triceps shoulders

Pull - back biceps delts

Legs - legs

Core - whenever you want

I’m open to it. Is 3 days enough to see progress?

 

[Devil's_Advocate]

Anything is possible especially on gear. You could train it twice every single day. It comes down to intensity and volume.

If you're on gear you may burn out your CNS and develop nagging injuries like tendinitis.

I’ve pushed my body to the limit. My lower back is killing me … arm spasms, chest spasms, real delt spasms

This right here points to 'no' in the way you're doing it. So you have to drop the intensity.

If you're maxing out, I don't care if it's pulldowns for 14 reps you'll start causing yourself serious issues.

Some people like to go to the gym to chat and hang out. If that's a large part for why you go then sure you can do that but you have to drop the intensity way down. So if your max is 14 reps, you're stopping on reps 8-10. Think of it as greasing the groove of sorts.

You can also think of some of your days as deloads. So a couple heavy days per week plus some more where you come in just to break a sweat, chat, stretch or do light mobility drills with your trainer, etc ...beyond that even the sauce won't save you...

 

[Trabaho]

I’m open to it. Is 3 days enough to see progress?

I was in good shape working out 10x a month. Benching 110kg for sets. 19-20 days 12 hour shifts security sitting around. So yes. You train as much as you got time. Other option is change work. When you got time train. You need to work and sleep. Other time you can train. At most on your last shift you can do a small workout after work. But maybe you already need sleep by than. 3x a week is very good. Consistently. Now I'm training more. I got time. But the body also needs time to adapt. Or joints hurt. And you get overtrained. 5x a week 2 x a day is possible for athletes who built the tolerance. Sleep well eat good and train reasonable. With time than 2x a day 5x a week is realistic. But one step at a time. Depends for bodybuilding or sport. For bodybuilding 2x a day doesn't even make sense. Unless one session is some cardio and abs. I think you just wanna look good.