Hi Guys,
Just wanted to get a feel for what some of the experts on here think about my split. Over the years I've always trained hard and trained in many disciplines, so luckily I've always kept some form of latent strength and recovery ability. That being said, I used to be a volume whore, feeling guilty and all about not training enough, given that I used to wrestle at a high level and box professionally. Since quitting the boxing last year June, that mindset has bled into my training ethos and led to me stagnating, psychologically plateauing. The way "sportsmen" train, is inherently overtraining, since when I was in camp it was long periods of 3 a days, most days, with 2 a days on "lighter" volume days. As such the adjustment to training once a day is really hard for me, and I can't help feeling like I'm lazy if I don't do at least 1 session a day. I also feel like I "have" to keep busy for my mental health. It's really hard to do something that was your identity for most of your life (combat sports) and transition to doing none of it. Going from 4 - 5 hours worth of training 6 - 7 days a week to just over 4 hours per week, 4 - 5 days a week. Trying to remind myself that I need the rest.
Needless to say I know this idea of high volume is the wrong approach for hypertrophy, so I've brought down volume quite a bit and for the last 2 weeks been in my "right" mind regarding training. My thinking is that I'll do 4 days a week, with an extra day at my disposal if for example I want to do "touch ups" like cardio, calves, forearms or mobility work. My split has been as follows:
- Monday - Chest and Triceps. My chest is my weaker body part aesthetically speaking, so I want to prioritise it first thing in the week, when energy levels are highest. I also don't want to put in legs early on, due to the high levels of central fatigue that doing such a neurologically intense muscle group will cause.
- Tuesday - Back, Rear Delts and Biceps. My back responds relatively well and I added rear delts into the day, to get in a little extra work in the form of 2 exercises, 2 working sets each (face pulls and bent over unilateral reverse cable laterals).
- Wednesday - Rest. I feel like taking a day off post back day (especially given I'm a sucker for heavy deadlifts) is necessary to maximise the amount of central nervous system stimulus required for legs, due to wanting to maximise neuromuscular matching and signalling, and it can't hurt to get some decent psychological reprieve from the strain of a ball's to the wall leg session.
- Thursday - Legs. I'm very glute dominant and they overpower my thighs, so I'm taking out regular free bar back squats and doing more hack squats, leg press to provide a bit more knee flexion, to quad bias my exercises. If I get the itch to add in squats, I use the smith machine and try a slight heel left to provide a different angle of leverage and account for the inability for my ankle mobility to accommodate the required angle my tibia needs to be up to hit the type of knee flexion I want to achieve.
- Friday - Delts, Traps and Arms. I really enjoy this day, I find it really easy to connect to the muscle and contract the muscle with whatever I'm doing with these muscle groups, so I'm not too phased about doing it the day after legs. If anything it's like desert for me, really enjoyable day
- Saturday - Rest (ish) - I still facilitate a wrestling class and every 2nd or so week, participate on the mat with the higher level students. Every 3rd or so week I spar with the amateurs (boxing) as part of my job, plus it feels good to just work at staying sharp.
- Sunday - Rest. I could do some mobility maybe, or cardio, but for now I'm doing a full rest. Could perhaps to active recovery?
Overall I have a low volume, high intensity approach, with 3 - 4 exercises per muscle group, 3 - 4 sets per exercise, 2 - 3 sets for subsequent exercises, example: 4 sets for Flat Bench, 3 sets for Incline Bench, 2 sets Hammer Strength Press, 2 sets Dumbbell Flyes, 2 sets Cable Crossovers. The first few extra sets at the beginning of the session are for warm up purposes, and as the workout progresses, I don't warm up for every exercise.
I haven't added the complete program, but please shout if you'd like to critique the whole thing and I can post that too. Would love insight if you guys feel it's necessary. I'm like a sponge and anything that is shared I will soak up and take in, no criticism is not constructive.
Thanks Guys.
