3 day mass gain split

[-AC-]

thought you may want a new basic routine for big mass gains that isnt quite as much work in each day as the 2 day split i put up earler in the week. this is the workout i will be following for mass gains.

workout 1 - chest and triceps
workout 2 - back and shoulders
workout 3 - legs and biceps

my training week will look like this:

monday - W1
tuesday - W2
wednesday off
thursday - W3
Friday - W1
saturday - W2
sunday off
monday - W3
tuesday - W1
............................. and so on following that pattern

I will have wednesday and sunday as rest days. this allows for bodyparts to be trained twice per week. every 3 weeks one of the workouts will only be trained once. as you can see on week 2 W3 will be trained twice but W2 will be only trained once. this allows for maximum muscle stimulation twice per week (every 4 days). this will allow for maximum recovery but muscle stimulus more regularly. if you train a muscle group on a monday, by thursday it will normally be fine to train again, but you dont, you leave it fully recovered and doing nothing for another 4 days. whats the point. that muscle could be growing in those 4 days but its not as its had no stimulus. This plan is the perfect combat to that.

so the workouts must tie in the bodyparts. normally if training a bodypart once per week i would do maybe 5 exercises of 3 sets per bodypart. due to training each part every 4 days this is not necessary. the workout will be as follows:

W1: chest and triceps
flat bench press - 5 x 5
incline dumbell press 3 x 8
cable flyes - 3 x 8
weighted dips - 5 x 5
cable pushdowns - 3 x 8

W2: Back and shoulders
Barbell row - 5 x 5
Chins - 4 x 8
heavy shrugs - 3 x 8
standing barbell press - 5 x 5
heavy lateral raise - 3 x 8

W3: legs and biceps
squats - 5 x 5
smith machine lunges - 3 x 8
leg extensions - 3 x 8
standing barbell curls - 5 x 5
seated hammer curls - 3 x 8

calfs are important as these need to be improved so i will most likely train these after what turns out to be the shortest workout (as of yet am unsure). because we are not going to failure on any set except the last intensity will be kept high. weights will not be increased each set but rather a weight will be chosen (for example 100kg on bench press), then when 5 sets of 5 reps can be achieved i will increase the weight. then if i fail at say 3 reps on the final set i will stick at that weight until the full 5 x 5 is accomplished. no forced reps either.

[matttat2]

Might have to steal this. Just did a full upper body and it killed me, ran out of energy by the time I got to bi's and trap's.

[Freizah]

I train 1 muscle group once a week right now but Im going to go back to my old time fav what is what your doing -AC-

[mb1]

ive done ac workouts and i must say great results with them so thank you adam!

[PanicAcid]

thought you may want a new basic routine for big mass gains that isnt quite as much work in each day as the 2 day split i put up earler in the week. this is the workout i will be following for mass gains.

workout 1 - chest and triceps
workout 2 - back and shoulders
workout 3 - legs and biceps

my training week will look like this:

monday - W1
tuesday - W2
wednesday off
thursday - W3
Friday - W1
saturday - W2
sunday off
monday - W3
tuesday - W1
............................. and so on following that pattern

I will have wednesday and sunday as rest days. this allows for bodyparts to be trained twice per week. every 3 weeks one of the workouts will only be trained once. as you can see on week 2 W3 will be trained twice but W2 will be only trained once. this allows for maximum muscle stimulation twice per week (every 4 days). this will allow for maximum recovery but muscle stimulus more regularly. if you train a muscle group on a monday, by thursday it will normally be fine to train again, but you dont, you leave it fully recovered and doing nothing for another 4 days. whats the point. that muscle could be growing in those 4 days but its not as its had no stimulus. This plan is the perfect combat to that.

so the workouts must tie in the bodyparts. normally if training a bodypart once per week i would do maybe 5 exercises of 3 sets per bodypart. due to training each part every 4 days this is not necessary. the workout will be as follows:

W1: chest and triceps
flat bench press - 5 x 5
incline dumbell press 3 x 8
cable flyes - 3 x 8
weighted dips - 5 x 5
cable pushdowns - 3 x 8

W2: Back and shoulders
Barbell row - 5 x 5
Chins - 4 x 8
heavy shrugs - 3 x 8
standing barbell press - 5 x 5
heavy lateral raise - 3 x 8

W3: legs and biceps
squats - 5 x 5
smith machine lunges - 3 x 8
leg extensions - 3 x 8
standing barbell curls - 5 x 5
seated hammer curls - 3 x 8

calfs are important as these need to be improved so i will most likely train these after what turns out to be the shortest workout (as of yet am unsure). because we are not going to failure on any set except the last intensity will be kept high. weights will not be increased each set but rather a weight will be chosen (for example 100kg on bench press), then when 5 sets of 5 reps can be achieved i will increase the weight. then if i fail at say 3 reps on the final set i will stick at that weight until the full 5 x 5 is accomplished. no forced reps either.


Question AC, just wondering I usually see a lot of people doing shoulders with legs or abs or what ever else they have in the equation and then usually do the push pull split, how have you found training your shoulders with your back to be? effective?

[-AC-]

i really enjoy it. barbell row works the rear delt and the traps. doing heavy shrugs work your upper back and spinal erector muscles so there are actually some good tie ins there. its quite a tiring workout as you're moving a lot of weight but its probably my favourite of the 3.

[PanicAcid]

Yeah, it's got me thinking about switching to a similar routine.. but I'm also going to try the 3 day split one posted in the basics for big gains (http://fitforum.co.uk/showthread.php?1363-basics-for-big-gains) thread you did a while ago,

[murph]

I think its a very good spilt but its a lot of heavy compound lifts in a single session therefore for less advanced trainees I think it is important to concentrate on progressing ONE exercises per session- don't fall in the trap of saving some gas in the tank because you know theres a lot more to come in the session. The most important thing is to progress your core exercise with either weight or reps every session-
For example Squats! if you do a PB for total weight moved over the 5 sets then that may mean you have to lift next to nothing on quad extensions or even do less sets if it means you've
your goal of squatting more!

[calvinellis]

this is how im training atm trying to hit each bodypart twice within 4-5 days of each other depending on work hoping to see some good gains, i agree back and shoulders does take it out of you i just wanna sleep for a few days after tht routine :P

[tomonator]

ta for that AC ... whats your rest periods btwn sets m8? ...and btwn exercises?

pete

[mb1]

as all of you fellas have lots of knowledge i would like some advice on my workout.
im bulking at the mo and train mon, wens and fri. so train three days per week.
my workout is total body and goes like this
squatsx3
bench pressx3
shoulder pressx3
pull upx3
dipsx3
is this a ok workout for bulking or am i overtraining doing this with just one day rest inbetween workouts.
any workout routines or tips welcome.
cheers

[CTP]

What were your reasons behind Whole Body Workouts (WBW) over a tradiditonal split?

For bulking teh key isnt time in the gym, btu enough time and nutrition out of the gym to rest (and grow). During your WBW how many reps are you doing?

[mb1]

to ctp yeah mate my diet is pretty much spot on so have got that covered.
just read alot that wbw are better for bulking as dong compound heavy lifts.
would you suggest splits would be better if so could you give me some ideas pls.
my reps range 6-10.

[-AC-]

WBW are not necessarily better depending on what you do in the workout. may lead to overtraining. if i were you i would do push, pull, legs. so monday do pulling exercises like deadlift, chins, barbell row, shrugs, biceps. then wednesday do pushing like bench press, dips, standing barbell shoulder press. then on friday do legs so squats, lunges, stiff leg deadlift, calfs and quads.

this would be most effective in my opinion.

[mb1]

cheers ac will give this a go. how many sets and what rep range would you say would be best?

[CTP]

You dont want to be doing many more than 18(ish) sets. If your bulking aim for 5-6 (going v. heavy with good form), if your leaning 8-12 (ish)......Just as a rule of thumb.

[daveyoung]

AC.. what diet will you be using on this mass gaining routine? I suspect the protein and carbs will have to be sky high?

[-AC-]

im not doing this routine at the moment due to training partners other commitmenst messing up the training days. once we are back to training when we want i will be back on this routine. but yes eating big is vital.

[daveyoung]

do you think you can eat big though? your not the best of eaters anyway?

[-AC-]

no. lol but ill try.

[daveyoung]

thats the spirit! just keep downing them cheap complex carb drinks, it will act like dianabol for you!

[CraigA]

Ive been doing thisroutine for the last 2 months following 90% of it added deadlifts in on backdays and missed a few workouts :(, but have had great results (while on a cut)

Now going to try it on a bulk and see what happens carbs proteins HIGH! fats reasonable. So should be good.

[blaze69ufc]

would this be a good routine for cutting or is it just for bulking up ?

[Sick_Swans]

I'm going to use this routine as of next week to bulk up, I have no problem eating big so should be fun :)

[Tomfarrow]

How long would you have between each set?

[numerouno]

This is a LEGONDARY workout.

[Sick_Swans]

I'm loving this split. Perfect amount of rest in between sessions, and I'm increasing the weights every time I hit the gym.

[Tomcheshire]

Liking this alot,might steal it tbh! i always end up forgetting and falling back into my normaltraining ...

[sam14]

im planning on something similar...maybe.. mon C+T
tues B+S
wed
thurs L+B
fri C+T
sat
sun B+S
mon L+B
tues
wed C+T
thurs B+S
fri
sat L+B
sun
mon
tues C+T
……


this would allow for slightly more rest (and 2 days off together every other week.) what do u guys think?

also, is shoulders the day after chest+triceps a good idea?..i assume it must be ok.

[sam14]

sorry ac, i pm'ed u but u may not have noticed. i just wanted to confirm that it does not matter if i only go to failure on the last set of each exercise?

i usually go to failure on ALL sets, but this routine seems to suggest not to do that.

just wanted to check as i dont want to be taking things easier than i should be

grateful as always
sam

[-AC-]

if you are nowhere near failure on your last set you picked the wrong weight. you can go past 5 on the last set but that generally means that you arent going anywhere near hard enough from the start.

[sam14]

i was more worried about not going to failure on earlier sets....sets 1-4 for example. ..... if i could do 8 reps say on set 1, i still stop at 5 reps..aiming to fail at 5 on the last set?

for example on barbellv shoulder press today, i did 5,5,5,5 and then failed at 4 on the last set, yet i was not red faced and sweaty due to not going to failure on earlier sets. i just felt like i had not worked hard enough.

would drop sets and or fst7 be used in conjunction with this routine or should i stick to exactly as outlined for every workout.

sorry for confusion and questions AC, i just feel i could really get into this workout and am keen to do it justice1

LAST SET OF QUESTIONS
thanks
sam

[ts36]

Theres no real right or wrong way to do this mate. AC may correct me but this isnt a rigid, written in stone routine that works for everyone perfectly all of the time. Its all about finding out what works for you. If you feel you should be pushing to failure on every set then go for it, some people will find this too much work and end up barely managing anything on the final sets of the exercise. Likewise if you think you will respond better to increased volume then up the sets or add in an FST-7 exercise.

I used this routine over the summer and i changed it around every 4 weeks or so to keep it interesting and to keep my body guessing.
I did something like this:
Weeks 1-4: Workouts as outlined in original post
Weeks 4-8: Increased sets by 40-50%, reduced rest periods, aiming for complete failure on last set
Weeks 8-12: Reduced sets to about 70% of original outlined workout, increased rest periods, focussing on lifting as heavy weight as possible
Weeks 12+13: Original workouts + 2 FST-7 exercises per workout

Just experiment and see what works for you. Thats part of the fun!