2 day split routine

[arthuritus]

Hi all

I'm considering switching to a 2 day split with hypertrophy as a primary goal. These seem to cop some flak on other forums I've looked at but there's popular articles/methods that give credit to a two day split; notably 5x5 and HST.

I will be working out mon/wed/fri and pick up the next week where I left off; ie in a calendar week I will do workout A twice and in the next week I will do workout B twice. 3 sets of 10-12 or until failure.

A (push + squats)

incline db

squat

decline db

bench bb

tri ext

wrist ext

military press

cable flies

B (pull + core)

chinups

deadlifts

bent over row

seated bicep curls (on the angled bench thing)

dragon flags

hammer curl

wide chin

lat pulldown

The exercises *not* in bold will be included only if I have a lot of extra time one day or maybe rotated around with the others after a while. I'm not so fussed about doing lots of legs.

No actual question, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on 2 day splits in general (in the context of an efficient work out for time-poor people, not pro bodybuilders) and this workout plan ie what have I missed, what do I have too much of, downright stupid etc.

cheers

[tomsammce]

If i could get to the gym only 3 times per week and my goal was hypertrophy I would do a 3 day split and do each workout once per week.

Mon - legs

Wed - chest/shoulders

Fri - back

Abs can be done at home or anywhere easily.

I would train arms by themselves one day every 3 or so weeks in substitute of one of the normal days.

That's what I would do if I was in your circumstance

[arthuritus]

Thanks for the advice tomsammce, you're absolutely right about abs I should try and get into the habit of doing them on the weekend or something.

Do you mind clarifying why you'd prefer a 3 day split with an occasional arm day to a 2 day split? I've read that waiting a whole week before you train a muscle group again is unnecessary/inefficient (HST) and possibly even harmful (atrophy, no reference here just an unsubstantiated opinion I saw on a forum).

Its obviously a convenient (traditional?) way to split major muscle groups but I'm wondering if my leg time would be better spent doing my other workouts 50% more often. I've got squats in there to hit my quads and release growth factor. Also any cardio I do will be leg work of sorts.

I'm not trying to contradict you here, just hoping to to tease a bit more information out of people.

Thanks again, looking forward to more

[greemah]

You should have shoulder press as a staple instead of one you only do if you have time, otherwise you may not be getting enough shoulder work

[arthuritus]

Cheers greemah, I tried this workout yesterday and my triceps were toasted fairly early on so I did some lateral delt exercises instead of tricep extensions. Guess I'll make a permanent swap between tri.ext and some kind of shoulder press.

Note to self and possibly others: Don't switch from full body 5x5 workout to a 3x10 muscle group workout 2 days after starting a cut. I was chasing a mean chest pump but completely failed. I put this down to burning through my glycogen stores in the first exercise and the rest having to be done with laughably small weights. And the only muscle that's slightly sore today is my lats..... whut?

[greemah]

Cheers greemah, I tried this workout yesterday and my triceps were toasted fairly early on so I did some lateral delt exercises instead of tricep extensions. Guess I'll make a permanent swap between tri.ext and some kind of shoulder press.

Note to self and possibly others: Don't switch from full body 5x5 workout to a 3x10 muscle group workout 2 days after starting a cut. I was chasing a mean chest pump but completely failed. I put this down to burning through my glycogen stores in the first exercise and the rest having to be done with laughably small weights. And the only muscle that's slightly sore today is my lats..... whut?

If you've been doing 5x5 and now just starting a cut, you should stick with the 5X5 for the duration of the cut otherwise you'll lose some intensity (happens when starting new routines/rep schemes) and more likely to lose muscle. Plus I've read before that low reps are better for maintaining muscle mass than high reps when in a calorie deficit