My workout structure
Wrote this a while ago, would still like to know what people think:
Just want to know what I should consider changing now that AAS is involved, if you have suggestions i'm all ears but I want reasons why.
It was this for three years:
Mon: Chest, sholders, and tris.
Tue: Back and bis.
Wed: Legs and abs.
Thur: Chest, sholders, and tris.
Fri: Back and bis.
Sat: Legs and abs.
Sun: Rest.
It worked well enough to build decent size and such but then I realised I was missing out on so much more! I mean doing up to three muscle groups in one day really wasn't giving enough time to each, however I found it was enough time for my muscles not to be sore anymore. Obviously picked those groups because of the compound movements Bench, Pulldowns, leg press etc.
But then I discovered this and have been on it for two years and it has made a world of difference.
Mon: Chest
Tue: Back
Wed: Legs (Not calves)
Thur: Sholders(Delts), and traps.
Fri: Bi's and tri's
Sat: Calves and abs/obliques
Sun: Rest
This works for me because monday chest/tri's are worked and a little of the delts through press and dip exercises (But not isolated), tuesday back is worked and bi's through rows and pull downs, wed gives upper body a break and smashes everything down their and some lower back through deadlifts and a little calves, thurs my shoulders are smashed and delts are with a little of bi's and tris through compound shoulder press and upright rows hit bi's slightly but they are still all good for Fri! So then i start my Fri with muscle ups(weighted) which hits chest and back which are all better by now, and then obviously bi's and tri's workout. Then sat hit ab's obliques and calves and can't walk properly Sunday which is rest. Now this way i hit my muscles at least once a week but stimulate them more than once which I find helps a lot. This way I NEVER suffer from overtraining and can work out more days a week burning more calories and keeping natural test levels high.
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training 6 days in a row isn't the style i prefer, like to shoot for 4 days a week lifting
Could you explain why? Thanks.
I prefer to do a routine a little like your current one:
Mon: Chest
Tue: Legs
Wed: Shoulders
Thu: Back
Fri: Bi's/Tri's
Sat: Off
Sun: Off
I start off with compound movements and then progress towards more machine exercises towards the end of my workouts.
Here's a post i wrote about an effective split routine:
In order to build muscle for example, one must gain an efficient mind muscle connection - therefore more experienced bodybuilders have adapted a stronger neurological connection between their mind and the muscle group they have chosen to work out.
Thus, by doing a chest/tri split your mind muscle connection is 'active' during the chest phase of the workout, since you're getting the muscle pumped before breaking it down. However, regarding the tris part, the muscle is already pumped subliminally through it being a secondary muscle group when working out chest.
Therefore IMO, a more effective split, for example, would be chest/bis since you are initiating mental focus twice as opposed to once. if that makes any sence?
In order to substantiate my aforementioned point regarding a mind-muscle connection I put forward the idea of the disabled:
Taken out of context in order to further develop a holistic view, we analyse a blind man. Since this person has lost one of his senses he is much more dependant on other senses such as touch for example. Therefore the mind muscle connection has created strong links between the brain/nervous system and nerves in his fingers (braille) to ensure the human flys (recalling upon both the fight or flight theory and Darwin's natural selection - and also a point that Tread-m touched upon in his most recent post, the Causality Paradigm - Cause and Effect ).
Now, if we put this back into context, a bodybuilder would aim to develop/enhance their mind-muscle connection to further the efficiency of their muscle growth, as it has proven to be beneficial through the simple analytical awareness of the target muscle group and the overall objective, thus creating a synergistic harmonious benefit.
Also, neurological changes – ultimately the nervous system is responsible for ‘recruiting’ muscle fibers. In simple terms the nervous system stimulates a muscle to contract by sending down electrical impulses towards the muscle. Scientists can measure the ability of the nervous system to stimulate muscle by measuring its electrical activity.
In order to optimise the mind-muscle connection, more myelin must be created (Myelin is the insulation for nerve fibres - think of this as the rubber which insulates your household electrical appliances) - thus, the more myelin, the stronger and more accurate the electrical activity will be.
Every human skill, regardless of which activity it is (for example, playing soccer, playing a musical instrument, running in a 100 metre sprint) is created by thousands chains of nerve fibres carrying an electrical pulse - resulting in a signal being transmitted from a source (CNS - Central Nervous System)to the muscles required to perform a specific task. The role of myelin is to embrace and wrap around the nerves carrying the signal in order to ensure that the signal level is efficient - thus reducing the amount of electrical impulse being leaked outside of the intended destination.
Thus, upon practising (through bodybuilding repetitions, for example) our neurological circuits are continuously firing and through repetitions, our brain signals send messages to ensure each correctly fired signal's nerve is insulated more and more - (think of this as if the more myelin there is insulating your nerve fibres, the more efficient you are at performing that specific movement).
Myelin is very important for many reasons. Everyone can produce it - and it is produced more efficiently during our childhood years (which is why it is considered easier to pick up a skill/talent in our youth than in our senior years). Additionally, its indiscriminate - and growth can be a result of both mental and physical actions.
Myelin is therefore an inhibitor of skill - whereby skill is defined as "a cellular insulation that wraps neural circuits and that grows in response to certain signals" (Coyle, D., 2009) - thus, through the analysis of the aforementioned quote, the more time and energy you administer with achieving a certain skill-set - the more efficient and effective you become at it (substantiated by the common phrase practise makes perfect).