Really having trouble with my split

[_cato_]

Thanks a lot for your help and insight. I was trying to change it up slightly but not too drastically (hence the quasi 5x5 body part split).

Be honest though, do you think I'm changing it up too much given my success with what I've been doing? I actually made my best gains doing HST but I felt like doing the program as it was written was holding back my strength gains (after a certain amount of time you're supposed to decondition and then scale back the weight and start ramping up again).

A bit of a long winded response but...

I think it depends on what is most important to you: strength or size. Generally, it's better to focus on one thing or the other for a period of time than try to do both at the same time. That's not to say that there isn't a program that will work good for both, but over a period of say 16 weeks, you'll almost certainly get better results focusing on one for 8 weeks and then the other for 8 weeks, compared to the results you'd get from trying to mash a routine together to do both things.

You already know that HST gives you some pretty amazing results. Therefore, you know you respond very well to very high frequency, low volume per workout stimulus. You may be able to match or approach those results with a different program, but given that you gained 50 lbs (I'm assuming over the course of 1-2 years or something like that), you are very unlikely to exceed that with any program.

On the other hand if strength is your goal, you're probably better off doing 5x5, 5/3/1, westside, or some other strength focused program. By the way, I'm operating under the assumption that you are at intermediate strength levels and would be gaining 5-10 pounds per week on most or all of your lifts if you were doing a 5x5 right now. If not, then there may be actually a better suited strength geared program for you.

Personally, I think of these 3 day/week 2-way splits as being more of a hybrid between the two.

None of this is to necessarily say that you shouldn't do what you've been proposing here. Nothing wrong with trying something out even if the results are more or less suboptimal. It's not as if you won't make any progress on anything at all using those types of routines--far from it. Ultimately, if switching routine's up will keep you more interested in the gym, and therefore hitting it more consistently and with more focus, then go ahead and do it. Long term consistency is probably the most important thing as it relates to results over a period of years.

From a purely progress point of view, routine changes are probably best left to situations when you are at hard plateaus or your goals change (or in the case of having two goals of equal importance and you are switching between two routine's as a result).

As an aside, another option if lack of variety is a particular problem would be to do a 5x5 style routine with totally different lifts from whatever ones you've done in the past.

 

[stevesmi]

let me simplify it for you

1. push
2. pull
3. legs

 

[FlexManning]

If I was training 3 days a week- and I've done this at times in the past- I'd simply split it into upper/lower and alternate between the two. You mentioned your chest responding better to 2x/wk, and although that's not quite 2x/wk, you're never going a full week without training a given bodypart.

To do this and still utilize some of the push/pull concepts you might try jump sets with push/pull muscle groups, for instance alternating the bench press with the barbell row or chins with adequate rest between sets. When I started getting back into a regular routine I used a lot of the 5x5 concepts and jump/alternating sets. I added a little more work for hamstrings and some higher rep work for lower back with exercises such as the good morning and hypers, and gradually added some isolation work for a little bit more volume, leg curls for example.

If you decide at some point you want some pure density/hypertrophy work but want to stay within a simple 3x/week split It'd be a great idea to try some German volume training. Great way to to keep a workout quick and simple and gain.