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Bill Starr and 4 Day Split?

loco75_dfw

New member
Summer is here and I want to try something a little different. I really like the 5x5 program that I have been doing however, I find myself wanting to do a little more. I was thinking of maybe adding in a 4th day and doing a workout like this:

Tuesday: Squats, Bench (85%-90% of max)

Thursday: Deadlifts, bent over Rows (85%-90% of max)

Saturday: Front Squats, Incline Bench (60%-75% of max)

Sunday: stiff legged deadlifts, power cleans (60%-75% of max)

Has anyone done something like this before? Would Bill Starr disapprove? What are your thoughts?
 
I have and it works well.....in fact, in "The Strongest Shall Survive" Starr himself recommends eventually training Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri (or Sat) when it gets to the point that doing the big 3 on one day takes you 3 freaking hours because of all the warm-up sets and rest between the heavy sets etc.
 
BiggT said:
I have and it works well.....in fact, in "The Strongest Shall Survive" Starr himself recommends eventually training Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri (or Sat) when it gets to the point that doing the big 3 on one day takes you 3 freaking hours because of all the warm-up sets and rest between the heavy sets etc.

Thx for the fast reply. So what exercises does Bill recommend to do on the 4 day??
 
This is something that I'm interested in also. swanky11 was kind enough to summarize his routine for me and BiggT has done the same for someone in his log. Hopefully they won't mind and this will save them the trouble:

swanky11's routine

BiggT's routine

I've also seen the log of someone (on another forum) who trains at Mark Rippetoe's gym, and was surprised that Rippetoe had moved him to a 5x5 based split. Until then I had thought that maybe 3x/week full body was sacred.

I do have one question for BiggT or anyone else experienced with doing things this way. As I alluded to, in the Madcow routines and in the Texas Method that Rippetoe talks about in Practical Programming, there is a middle light day. I think this is intended mostly for active recovery and a moderate added stimulus.

So in terms of workload and programming I'm wondering if when you go to 2x/week frequency for a movement, do you adjust the workload much due to dropping the middle day, or pretty much just do the same as you would have for the other two workouts just without the light day?
 
I have been doing a M-F workout program for a long time now and it work out really well all round.. This split gives the various muscle groups a few days to
recoup prior to being needed in supporting roles..

Monday - Chest / Tri
Tues - Back / Bi
Wen - No heavy lifting - Heavy Cardio / Abs / Misc weak areas(grip,forearms,traps)
Thur Legs
Fri - Shoulders
 
Lifting N Tx said:
This is something that I'm interested in also. swanky11 was kind enough to summarize his routine for me and BiggT has done the same for someone in his log. Hopefully they won't mind and this will save them the trouble:

swanky11's routine

BiggT's routine

I've also seen the log of someone (on another forum) who trains at Mark Rippetoe's gym, and was surprised that Rippetoe had moved him to a 5x5 based split. Until then I had thought that maybe 3x/week full body was sacred.

I do have one question for BiggT or anyone else experienced with doing things this way. As I alluded to, in the Madcow routines and in the Texas Method that Rippetoe talks about in Practical Programming, there is a middle light day. I think this is intended mostly for active recovery and a moderate added stimulus.

So in terms of workload and programming I'm wondering if when you go to 2x/week frequency for a movement, do you adjust the workload much due to dropping the middle day, or pretty much just do the same as you would have for the other two workouts just without the light day?

Yea your questions are the same as mine. A standard 5x5 has a Heavy - Light - Medium day for the Bench and Squat. How does that work on a 4 day split? Do we just do Heavy - Medium on 2 days????
 
I have had a few variations of 4 days splits, although they are really two day splits done twice a week. I tend to break my workouts into pulling and pushing days. A sample of this weeks split:

Day 1 (monday/thurs):
Bench 5x5
OHP 5x5
Ancillary
Abs
Rotator cuff

Day 2 (tues/fri):
Pullups 5x5
Power clean 5x5
Squat 5x5
ancillary


I am thinking of adding dumbell rows to day 2, but it is already a longer workout than day one since there is one more core lift.
 
loco75_dfw said:
Yea your questions are the same as mine. A standard 5x5 has a Heavy - Light - Medium day for the Bench and Squat. How does that work on a 4 day split? Do we just do Heavy - Medium on 2 days????

thats what i do. one heavy and one medium no light day.
 
BiggT said:
I have and it works well.....in fact, in "The Strongest Shall Survive" Starr himself recommends eventually training Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri (or Sat) when it gets to the point that doing the big 3 on one day takes you 3 freaking hours because of all the warm-up sets and rest between the heavy sets etc.
That is good to know. I have been thinking about doing this. I thought I was just getting more lazy cause it seems to take much longer now to get thru the sets. By the time I finish lifting and then do cardio I am there forever it seems.

Perp
 
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