No it's not a 5x5 thread, but critique this split anyways..

[tzan]

I know 5x5 is sweeping this board away like a tidal wave, however I don't think it's right for me. Anyways, I just started my cycle and think I'm going to switch to a routine where I hit each muscle group 2x a week(or 2x every 8 days). The spits would look like:

chest/shoulders/triceps
legs
back/biceps/traps
off
chest/shoulders/tricpes
legs
back/biceps/traps
off
Repeat or rest again if needed

I would however change up the exrecises so I'm not using the same exact movements 2x a week. I listed below what I was thinking. Rip it apart for me.

Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Incline BB Press 3x6
DB Overhead Press 3x6
Closegrip 3x6
Flat DB Flys 2x12
Side Raises 2x10


Legs
Squats 3x12
SLDL 3x10
Calfs 3x12-15

Back/Biceps
Weighted Pullups 3x8
BB Rows 3x10
BB Curls 3x8
Shrugs 3x10

Off

Chest/Shoulders/Triceps(2nd time)
Flat BB Press 3x6
Milliatry Press 3x8
Weighted Dips 3x8
Incline Fly 2x10
Reverse Flys 2x12

Legs(2nd time)
Leg Press 3x8
Extensions 3x10
Calfs 3x12-15

Back/Biceps/(2nd time)
Deads 3x6
Closegrip Pulldowns 3x10
DB Curls 3x8
Shrugs 3x10

Off

 

[Illuminati]

I know 5x5 is sweeping this board away like a tidal wave, however I don't think it's right for me. Anyways, I just started my cycle and think I'm going to switch to a routine where I hit each muscle group 2x a week(or 2x every 8 days). The spits would look like:

chest/shoulders/triceps
legs
back/biceps/traps
off
chest/shoulders/tricpes
legs
back/biceps/traps
off
Repeat or rest again if needed

I would however change up the exrecises so I'm not using the same exact movements 2x a week. I listed below what I was thinking. Rip it apart for me.

Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Incline BB Press 3x8
Flat DB Press 2x10
DB Overhead Press 3x8
Side Raises 2x12
Closegrip 3x8

Legs
Squats 3x12
SLDL 3x10
Calfs 3x12-15

Back/Biceps
Weighted Pullups 3x8
BB Rows 3x10
BB Curls 3x8
Shrugs 3x10

Off

Chest/Shoulders/Triceps(2nd time)
Flat BB Press 3x6
Incline Fly 2x10
Milliatry Press 3x8
Reverse Flys 2x12
Weighted Dips 3x8

Legs(2nd time)
Leg Press 3x8
Extensions 3x10
Calfs 3x12-15

Back/Biceps/(2nd time)
Deads 3x8
Closegrip Pulldowns 3x10
DB Curls 3x8
Shrugs 3x10

Off

I would hit the CG bench as your first movement, and then on to your DB presses. I would also throw in something more direct of the Tri's, such as some kind of extension.

 

[tzan]

I'm a bit of an idiot since I didn't put them in the prder I will be doing them. I'll edit my first post so it reflects the order in which they will fall. I was directly working each muscle once per week. This split is obviously 2x per week, but with the same amount of sets per week. Basically what I'm doing is SACRIFICING VOLUME FOR FREQUENCY. Any thoughts?

 

[BOOEY]

You could probably get away with a little more volume, considering you'll be on. For instance maybe do 5 sets of your main exercises, and 3 sets for isolation. But you know your body best, so it'll be your call.

 

[Illuminati]

You could probably get away with a little more volume, considering you'll be on. For instance maybe do 5 sets of your main exercises, and 3 sets for isolation. But you know your body best, so it'll be your call.

shit, i missed that part. if you're gonna be on, you could bump your volume up a bit

 

[Madcow2]

Basically what I'm doing is SACRIFICING VOLUME FOR FREQUENCY. Any thoughts?

You're really not sacrificing at all expect on a per workout basis. In spreading your total volume over 2 workouts I'd imagine your total volume over the period of a week is probably akin to what most people are doing when training a bodypart 1x per week (which when used on a constant basis frequency this low runs into detraining so it's not good). People insist you can't train X twice a week because they take their current volume and perform their workouts twice (i.e. doubling total volume). That's a massive increase and they overtrain pretty fast simply because they aren't conditioned for that kind of load.

Also, the 5x5 is just a sample illustration of a couple of really valuable concepts. It's a good workout and you might want to give it a go sometimes but it's more important to understand periodization and how you can use the body's ability to handle very high loads over 2-4 weeks and then stepping back to recover. When people layout a non-periodized routine the assumption is that they can handle the load over a long period (i.e. they never get overtrained). In reality by altering the load over periods your average load handled is much higher and this translates to a lot more progress for experienced lifters over longer terms.

You don't need to be doing the 5x5 for this. You can do this with what you have right here. This stuff dominates the world of athleteics for a reason. It's just now getting to BBing but it's at least worth reading and understanding even if you don't want to ever try it.

If you read nothing else and take my word for only one thing, let this be it - I swear that this is worth your time:
'How to Benefit from Planned Overtraining': http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html

In regards to periodization and drugs a lot of people have found #3 here to be helpful as it provides a few tips that are invaluable in synchronizing your training and supplementation: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4633338&postcount=153

 

[tzan]

Madcow-
Good reads...I can see where the whole deloading and conditioning aspect comes into play when your lifting natural, but when your "on", you honestly think it's beneficial?? I don't see a reason for the "under reaching phase". To me it seems like you would be wasting the benefits of the gear for those weeks(or if not wasting, not reaching the full potential from it).

 

[Madcow2]

Okay, so a few things:

1) Steroids don't make one impervious to overtraining. They enhance capacity but you can overtrain in short order if you don't keep your workouts reasonable.

2) Assuming you are on for 12 weeks, you have to use a constant volume (non-periodized) the entire time to make sure your fatigue doesn't accumulate too much and force you into over training. Basically, you can't afford to push yourself even close to overreaching because you can't recover from it without altering the load significantly.

3) The body can handle A LOT more volume over a short period (i.e. 2-4 weeks) than it can when forced to train at a consistent level over a long period (12 weeks or infinite considering most people don't periodize at all and just do their "routine"). Basically the amount of work you can apply over 4 weeks when periodizing is a lot more than what you can do over the same 4 weeks if you intend to keep going for a long time at that rate.

4) By periodizing you can apply significantly more volume in blocks allowing for short deloading periods for recovery. The average amount of stimulus applied over a 12 week cycle using a 3 week/1 week load/deload (3 times for a total of 12 weeks) is going to be far far higher than what one can manage for 12 weeks at a constant work rate.

5) The stimulus applied will be greater and adaptation will be greater using periodization than a consistent block

6) disclaimer: this is used by drug enhanced athletes all over the world but keep in mind that not everyone is at the same level of experience and BBers have the benefit of not having a performance criteria and only being constrained by money so they can take as much as they want for as long as they want and as frequently as they want. Although over the vast majority of cases a periodized program will yeild at least as good a result as a non (and many times night and day better), there are certainly cases where a non-periodized will provide equal results and be much simpler to apply (i.e. novices or someone saturating their receptors with enough surplus test for their level of experience that they are able to apply novice techniques and still progress workout to workout).

So that's the jist anyway.

 

[Sub-Zero]

I'm a bit of an idiot since I didn't put them in the prder I will be doing them. I'll edit my first post so it reflects the order in which they will fall. I was directly working each muscle once per week. This split is obviously 2x per week, but with the same amount of sets per week. Basically what I'm doing is SACRIFICING VOLUME FOR FREQUENCY. Any thoughts?

i was doing that for a while and it was working out pretty well for me....then i went to once a week with more volume and i didnt gain nearly as well in size, but my strength went up more....mighta been a diet issue though