New Bodybuilding Split

I've cycled a bastardized version of Arnold's Beginner Routine, which is 6 days a week, a few times now, and I've had good results, but I burn out after a month of it. The past two months I had switched to more of a powerlifter routine that consisted of 2 workout days a week. I've been making good strength gains, but my bodyfat has gone up a little. Instead of running a 6 day routine, I've devised a new routine  that I feel I'll be able to sustain longer than a month, will have me bodybuilding as a priority, and will have my bodyfat drop quickly.

I realized especially from the last two months, that you can do an exercise only once a week, and make gains. That said, performing an exercise three times a week is a waste of energy and there won't be progression, and if there is it will be short-lived. Two times a week is a fine number. I've also decided to progress the weight weekly opposed to by session. This is common in intermediate routines as progression slows down. It'll allow me to stay in the groove of my weight scheme longer.

I've replaced the traditional Deadlift with the trap-bar Deadlift. I've added back in Hack Squats. I added DB Curls and Cable Pushdowns.

My focus in workouts has largely been to progress in weight and have clean form. My new direction will be that of working the muscle. So every time I go to the gym, I get a pump in the planned exercises and leave afterwards. I'm not going to work past a fatigued muscle, I'm not going to have long workouts, and I won't need much rest.

Intensity Increase

For the past two months, I've been training 2x a week. One day was Bench Press, Military Press, shoulder work, Chin-Ups, and Dips. The other day was Squats, Deadlifts, and DB Bench Press. It was Tuesdays and Fridays, so I had 2 days of rest before the Deadlift day, then 3 days off until the next day. The extended recovery has helped my joints heal up from more vigorous training. I'm lifting the heaviest in Bench Press and Deadlifts.

What I found is that my Bench Press day had my muscles fatigued only half way through the workout, but I still finished the workout, and with heavy weight. I have very good endurance, but recently I've been getting nauseous at that halfway point too, but could still continue to lift impressively. I've been wanting more cardio in my routine. So I decided to cut that workout in half, and have 3 training days a week instead of 2.

I"ve heard that it's actually better to lift 2x a day because you have more intensity for the exercises. I found this hard to believe because I enjoy long workouts (3 hours). I figure that my endurance is good enough and I have enduring willpower to make it through these workouts, but what I've learned is that hard work is not necessarily the path to success. To work smart is more important than working hard - of course working smart and hard is ideal.

So am I now down to 6 exercises a workout, and 3 training days a week. That second half of my workout routine that had me exhausted to begin with now hit my muscles in ways they hadn't before. People love to say overtraining is a myth, but in my experience it's very easy to overtrain. The extra workout day also gave me the extra cardio I was looking for.

Bench Press Technique

The Bench Press is a deceiver. It's welcoming and easy looking. You lay on a bench unlike Squats of Deadlifts, and push weight from your chest to extension.  It's taken me some time to nail down myh Bench Press technique. There were a few things holding me back: grip on the bar, grip width on the bar, back arch, body placement on the bench, and lastly leg drive.

I'll start with the problems that I addressed chronologically. The grip width on the bar determines how much chest or arms you use in the movement. One would think it would be as easy as wide grip for chest and narrow grip for arms, but there can be other complications. For example, I used to take about an average width grip, and I was constantly in elbow pain. After doing research, I found elbow tendinitis very common with The Bench Press, Dips, Pull-Ups, and other Triceps movements. There are ways to treat the tendinitis temporarily to relieve pain, but to cure yourself of it, you must either adjust your technique, or drop the lift from your routine. The pain is excruciating. The best method of dealing with it is Voodoo Flossing or the equivalence. Biceps curls also alleviate pain.

So as to fix my technique to avoid tendinitis, I realized I needed to tuck my elbows more. At first I tried doing it with my normal grip width, but I found it took too much concentration, and that I wasn't very good at it, leading me to lift lighter weights. The fix was to narrow my grip width  I now grip just inside the rings. This is the grip associated with the Close-Grip Bench Press. One might think that if I'm targeting my chest, I shouldn't use the narrow grip, but regardless of it being narrow grip, it hits your chest. This method also protects your shoulders and elbows in the long run.

Body placement on the bench, back arch, and leg drive are all handled in one technique. I lifted this from the great powerlifter Dave Tate. Grab the very center of the bar with only your thumbs. Having them about an inch apart, pull your body up on the bench (towards head) so that your head is literally off the bench. Now raise your body into the bar and upon lowering yourself, arch the entirety of your lower back, or just one side like I like to do, and set that arched side, readjust your grip on the bar, and pin the other arched lower back side to the bench. You should feel uncomfortable. You are in essence, pushing yourself so hard into the bench that you can't even press the bar (45lb) correctly, because it's too light for you to maintain tightness and posture.

I find this position the most comfortable for unracking the weight and racking it once you finish the set.  Once you've repositioned on the bench, you are lower on the bench and so your head isn't hanging off any longer. I plant my toes and keep my glutes on the bench. The leg drive is from the toes, or you can plant your heels. I actually got sore calves from benching the other week. The arch in your lower back should be so severe as to minimize the distance horizontally from your upper back to your glutes. This provides better leverage.

The grip on the bar most importantly needs to rest in the palms of your hands.This place is halfway between your thumb and wrist. Your wrists should be straight as to transfer the load from your grip to your elbows, which will let you lift with your pecs, triceps, and lats. An important notion to think about is that you couldn't possibly bench 200lb+ with ease unless you're setup is positioned optimally enough for leverage. This leverage actually makes you use less muscle, but allows you to lift heavier weight, which induces muscle and strength growth.

An example of a beginner you may see would have them laying flat on their back with no arch, no leg drive, flared elbows, and poor ROM (range of motion). I benched the below this morning at 188lb bodyweight.

• 45 lb x 5 reps
• 240 lb x 3 reps
• 240 lb x 3 reps
• 220 lb x 5 reps
• 220 lb x 5 reps
• 220 lb x 5 reps
• 200 lb x 5 reps
• 200 lb x 5 reps

The Deadlift

The Deadlift is known to be the second king of all exercises besides the Squat. It utilizes many muscle groups and allows you to lift more weight than any other lift. The Spinal Erector muscles are hit hard, which includes the Lower Back. Recovery time can be 72 hours. Many programs avoid the Deadlift so that you can train more often. Another alternative would be to Deadlift at a lower weight for higher reps.

Just short of two years ago I started Deadlifting. I started by doing a set of 12 and got to 225lb. Then I switched to 8 reps, but my grip failed at around 245lb for higher reps, and so I started using straps. Without deloading, I got to 8 reps of 385lb, which granted took six months of adding 5lb each session. After that I deloaded to 8 reps of 200lb for 2 sets. So six months later, I pulled 8 reps of 375lb for 2 sets.

At that point, I pulled 405lb for a single, and about a week later 420lb, which injured the middle of my back to a minor degree. The lift was fine, but I held the weight too long. A couple weeks later, I pulled 425lb, then 435lb, and more recently 450lb, and will break that in 2 weeks time.

The Deadlift has corrected my posture to be more upright, made me stronger in all other exercises, developed my back muscles significantly, and have helped build my endurance. I have not yet used a weightbelt with them.

The technique I use is a very narrow stance with the heels touching each other. My grip is just between the rings. I start on the ground with the weight rolled forward, set my breathing, and roll the weight back into myself as I engage my Hamstrings and Traps and lift the bar until lockout, shoving my hips forward, and squeezing my Triceps, Biceps, Pecs, Quads, Glutes, and Abs.

DB Powered v2 Progress

My current style of lifting is only training two days a week, and having the rest to recover and recharge the needed power. I've noticed my body feeling more sore compared to training five to six days a week. The reason for this is debatable. Some say that soreness is not a good indicator of muscle growth or strength growth, but in all fairness it would seem that it can be. Muscles are typically known to recover within 48 hours, and some muscles within 72 hours. It's possible to train with muscles that are not fully recovered. I have heard of the style of lifting where you purposely do this to double the damage to the muscle and therefore to double the recovery and thus the muscle and strength growth. Another aspect I might be experiencing is from changing my method of training from a high frequency to a low frequency after some time. I think most people lean on that practice far too much. I think it's important to dutifully run the course of a routine to give it its merits, and to have a deeper pool of data for analysis.

I feel with lower frequency that there is greater body awareness, which leads to better mind-muscle connection, which I think is a key to muscular development. It's bizarre, but it would seem that just as under-training is possible, over-training is possible, regardless of how many deny it. I was recently looking at some people's routines, and I saw someone doing 10 sets of 10 on many exercises. Their poundage was not impressive, which in turn tells me their physique is not as well. Something I've been keen on is that for muscle growth, you need to lift heavy, and that if you do lift heavy, your muscles will haven choice but to grow. I thought about this a lot when my Squats were stuck and plateaued at 180lb max. I had been resetting often, and I think something slowed me down in progress is resetting to low, and having too great a range to climb through for every reset, leading me to lift heavy weight less often than I could have and should have perhaps.

I would like to welcome the concept of lifting heavy weights. Something that struck is that many beginners or people that don't lift very heavy mostly have poor technique. It's not feasible to lift heavy weight poor technique. How could they possible lift heavy weight with such poor leverage, range of motion, poor joint articulation, or lack of controlled breathing. There's much talk of avoiding chasing PRs, but it is possible to tailor your routine in a way where it does not harm you, and in fact charges you up, benefiting you. On the flip side, I think lifting too heavy with too high a close percentage to your max will burn you out quickly and will not take advantage of periodization as well as bruising your confidence and therefore mental game, which is huge in lifting.

Lastly, I'd like to recommend purchasing your consistent grocery purchases online opposed to any local store. I discovered the price of oats, flour, sugar, among other baking goods were less than half the price.

Highliting Recovery

After having a few months of 5-6 day workouts in a week, I'm experiencing the flip side - more rest days than training days. I had flu-like symptoms nine days ago, which kept me out of the gym, but gave me time to realize something which is that after any workout, your muscles are sore and take time to recover. You can workout before they fully recover, and even if you have lower back stiffness, you can find a way to still work it as well as having inflamed joints. But if you do take that time off, you can experience the body awareness of the recovery, and you'll know when the strength is back and the muscles are truly ready to be hit again. I think high frequency is great for hammering skill technique, elevating your strength, and using lots of time under tension, but I think low frequency also has its merits. I feel it's easy to become less active, less flexible, and less driven on a low frequency workout. The trade though is full recovery, body awareness, high intensity, and lots of free time. For my next workout, I plan to hammer chin-ups, bench press, military press, and dips. I've had a strange experience with Barbell Rows lately. They've been taking out my lower back, regardless of even pulling off the safeties. I want to try wearing a belt for them, but don't have one yet, so I'm switching to Kroc Rows, and will be adding Barbell Curls. I switch between two workouts: one with Squats, Deadlifts, and DB Bench Press, the other with Barbell Bench Press, Military Press, Shrugs, Kroc Rows, Chin-Ups, Dips, and Curls. I'll also sprinkle in Calf Raises, Rear Delt Rows, Lateral Raises, 1-Leg Leg Ball Curls, Bent Press, and Muscle-Ups.

450lb Deadlift PR