Upper body/Lower body

[Control]

This is one of my favorite splits if not the #1. I like it because it's very flexible and IMO you can train more frequently without over-training.
Basically it would go something like this:

Upper-body workout "A"
-Rows
-Bench
-Decline skull-crushers
-Hammer curls
-One-arm lateral raise

Lower-body workout "A"
-Squats
-Leg curls
-calves

Upper-body workout "B"
-Pull-ups/pull-downs
-Weighted dips
-Tricep pressdowns
-Preacher curls
-one-arm raise to the front
-rear delt raise/reverse pec-deck

Lower-body workout "B"
-Leg-Press
-Romanian Deadlift
-calves

Hardgainer/max recovery volume:
Upper-body "A"
off
off
Lower-body "A"
off
off
Upper-body "B"
off
off
Lower-Body "B"
off
off
repeat (1 on 2 off)

For a higher volume split, you could do 1 on 1 off. So:
Upper "A"
off
Lower "A"
off
Upper "B"
off
Lower "B"
off

If you have recovery abilities which far exceed the average person and/or you're on tons of gear, GH, slin, etc, you could try the ball-to-the-wall approach:

Upper "A"
Lower "A"
off
Upper "B"
Lower "B"
off

^Most people will over-train pretty quick doing that, I know I would.

As far as sets, reps:

Reps should stay in the 8-12 range for upper-body and 12-20 for lower body 90% of the time. Once in awhile you can do a heavy set or high-reps set to shock the muscle. For example a 3-rep bench or a rest-pause set where you go to 20 on rows.

Sets are detirmined by the exercise. 2 sets for isolation exercises like curls or raises, up to 5 for compound exercise like squats or rows (first set extremely light, gradually work up in weight to the last set)

[crombie09]

Im willing to try this and not trying to argue here, its just going against what I've been taught so Im skeptical. I tend to over analize the hell out of everything and will give up easily if Im not 100% sure the routine is worth my time.

Ok so you have 3 excersizes that really isolate the tris (Decline skull-crushers,Tricep pressdowns and Weighted dips) and only one excersize for chest really (bnech press).

Right now for chest I do: bench, incline bench, incline dumbells, butterflys and some sort of decline press. I do this once every 6-7 days. Your routine just sounds like so little to do for each muscle group. I was always told to do 5-7 different excersizes for each muscle group so you hit the muscle from different angles.

Also Im trying to cut right now so can I continue to do cardio after lifting? Im trying to get in 5 cardio days a week. Also what kind of cardio do you recommend?

[Control]

Originally Posted by crombie09

Im willing to try this and not trying to argue here, its just going against what I've been taught so Im skeptical. I tend to over analize the hell out of everything and will give up easily if Im not 100% sure the routine is worth my time.

Ok so you have 3 excersizes that really isolate the tris (Decline skull-crushers,Tricep pressdowns and Weighted dips) and only one excersize for chest really (bnech press).

Right now for chest I do: bench, incline bench, incline dumbells, butterflys and some sort of decline press. I do this once every 6-7 days. Your routine just sounds like so little to do for each muscle group. I was always told to do 5-7 different excersizes for each muscle group so you hit the muscle from different angles.

Also Im trying to cut right now so can I continue to do cardio after lifting? Im trying to get in 5 cardio days a week. Also what kind of cardio do you recommend?

Weighted dips actually work your chest, triceps and anterior delts (same as bench) but you can substitute exercises. For example you could do flat bench or decline instead of dips. As far doing all those different exercises in one workout, that's not the best way to train for MOST people. Some guys can grow training like that, but most of us over-train after awhile and stop making gains in size/strength. Also, it's not necassary to hit a muscle from every possible angle, either the muscle gets worked or it doesn't. There's no point in doing flat bench for your "middle" pecs and decline for your lower chest, and flyes for your "inner" chest. Pick one compound movement per bodypart, warm-up and then blast it with INTENSITY. That's the key. If you want to get bigger and stronger on a continuous basis, you have to train with intensity. That's why I don't like that high-volume training. How much intensity can you muster for 21 sets per body-part? Also, the way I do this routine I train 1-on-1-off. So each muscle is getting worked every 5 days as opposed to once every 6 or 7; but since I'm doing less over-all sets and I've got plenty of rest days I can recuperate better than if I trained a different bodypart each day.

As far as cardio after lifting, I think you sacrifice muscle when you do that. After you lift you need carbs and protein in large amounts, quickly. You could have some dextrose and whey in a shaker cup and mix it with water after lifting, then do your cardio, but you might cramp up. If possible I'd want to do cardio seperate. In fact I'd just do it on off days if you train EOD. The best cardio for burning fat while maintainingmuscle is low-intensity cardio (speed walking on a treadmill, elliptical, whatever) for 45 minutes or so. Once in awhile, maybe once a week, do high intensity cardio. Uphill sprinting is good, I've heard alot of good things about sled-pulling. Something that will get you out of breath quick.

[Knoxy]

How much rest time are you looking at between sets?

[Control]

Originally Posted by Knoxy

How much rest time are you looking at between sets?

I just rest long enough between sets to catch my beath, stretch a little and drink some water. maybe 1-2 minutes I guess.

[Curls4dGirls]

Originally Posted by Control

As far as cardio after lifting, I think you sacrifice muscle when you do that. After you lift you need carbs and protein in large amounts, quickly. You could have some dextrose and whey in a shaker cup and mix it with water after lifting, then do your cardio, but you might cramp up. If possible I'd want to do cardio seperate. In fact I'd just do it on off days if you train EOD. The best cardio for burning fat while maintainingmuscle is low-intensity cardio (speed walking on a treadmill, elliptical, whatever) for 45 minutes or so. Once in awhile, maybe once a week, do high intensity cardio. Uphill sprinting is good, I've heard alot of good things about sled-pulling. Something that will get you out of breath quick.

Not to change the subject, but thought you might find this interesting:

HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING: THE OPTIMAL PROTOCOL FOR FAT LOSS?
By James Krieger

As exercise intensity increases, the proportion of fat utilized as an energy substrate decreases, while the proportion of carbohydrates utilized increases (5). The rate of fatty acid mobilization from adipose tissue also declines with increasing exercise intensity (5). This had led to the common recommendation that low- to moderate-intensity, long duration endurance exercise is the most beneficial for fat loss (15). However, this belief does not take into consideration what happens during the post-exercise recovery period; total daily energy expenditure is more important for fat loss than the predominant fuel utilized during exercise (5). This is supported by research showing no significant difference in body fat loss between high-intensity and low-intensity submaximal, continuous exercise when total energy expenditure per exercise session is equated (2,7,9). Research by Hickson et al (11) further supports the notion that the predominant fuel substrate used during exercise does not play a role in fat loss; rats engaged in a high-intensity sprint training protocol achieved significant reductions in body fat, despite the fact that sprint training relies almost completely on carbohydrates as a fuel source.

Some research suggests that high-intensity exercise is more beneficial for fat loss than low- and moderate-intensity exercise (3,18,23,24). Pacheco-Sanchez et al (18) found a more pronounced fat loss in rats that exercised at a high intensity as compared to rats that exercised at a low intensity, despite both groups performing an equivalent amount of work. Bryner et al (3) found a significant loss in body fat in a group that exercised at a high intensity of 80-90% of maximum heart rate, while no significant change in body fat was found in the lower intensity group which exercised at 60-70% of maximum heart rate; no significant difference in total work existed between groups. An epidemiological study (24) found that individuals who regularly engaged in high-intensity exercise had lower skinfold thicknesses and waist-to-hip ratios (WHRs) than individuals who participated in exercise of lower intensities. After a covariance analysis was performed to remove the effect of total energy expenditure on skinfolds and WHRs, a significant difference remained between people who performed high-intensity exercise and people who performed lower-intensity exercise.

Tremblay et al (23) performed the most notable study which demonstrates that high-intensity exercise, specifically intermittent, supramaximal exercise, is the most optimal for fat loss. Subjects engaged in either an endurance training (ET) program for 20 weeks or a high-intensity intermittent-training (HIIT) program for 15 weeks. The mean estimated energy cost of the ET protocol was 120.4 MJ, while the mean estimated energy cost of the HIIT protocol was 57.9 MJ. The decrease in six subcutaneous skinfolds tended to be greater in the HIIT group than the ET group, despite the dramatically lower energy cost of training. When expressed on a per MJ basis, the HIIT group's reduction in skinfolds was nine times greater than the ET group.

A number of explanations exist for the greater amounts of fat loss achieved by HIIT. First, a large body of evidence shows that high-intensity protocols, notably intermittent protocols, result in significantly greater post-exercise energy expenditure and fat utilization than low- or moderate-intensity protocols (1,4,8,14,19,21,25). Other research has found significantly elevated blood free-fatty-acid (FFA) concentrations or increased utilization of fat during recovery from resistance training (which is a form of HIIT) (16,17). Rasmussen et al (20) found higher exercise intensity resulted in greater acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) inactivation, which would result in greater FFA oxidation after exercise since ACC is an inhibitor of FFA oxidation. Tremblay et al (23) found HIIT to significantly increase muscle 3-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase activity (a marker of the activity of b oxidation) over ET. Finally, a number of studies have found high-intensity exercise to suppress appetite more than lower intensities (6,12,13,22) and reduce saturated fat intake (3).

Overall, the evidence suggests that HIIT is the most efficient method for achieving fat loss. However, HIIT carries a greater risk of injury and is physically and psychologically demanding (10), making low- and moderate-intensity, continuous exercise the best choice for individuals that are unmotivated or contraindicated for high-intensity exercise.

1. Bahr, R., and O.M. Sejersted. Effect of intensity of exercise on excess postexercise O2 consumption. Metabolism. 40:836-841, 1991.

2. Ballor, D.L., J.P. McCarthy, and E.J. Wilterdink. Exercise intensity does not affect the composition of diet- and exercise-induced body mass loss. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 51:142-146, 1990.

3. Bryner, R.W., R.C. Toffle, I.H. Ullrish, and R.A. Yeater. The effects of exercise intensity on body composition, weight loss, and dietary composition in women. J. Am. Col. Nutr. 16:68-73, 1997.

4. Burleson, Jr, M.A., H.S. O'Bryant, M.H. Stone, M.A. Collins, and T. Triplett-McBride. Effect of weight training exercise and treadmill exercise on post-exercise oxygen consumption. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 30:518-522, 1998.

5. Coyle, E.H. Fat Metabolism During Exercise. [Online] Gatorade Sports Science Institute. http://www.gssiweb.com/references/s...020000006d.html [1999, Mar 25]

6. Dickson-Parnell, B.E., and A. Zeichner. Effects of a short-term exercise program on caloric consumption. Health Psychol. 4:437-448, 1985.

7. Gaesser, G.A., and R.G. Rich. Effects of high- and low-intensity exercise training on aerobic capacity and blood lipids. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 16:269-274, 1984.

8. Gillette, C.A., R.C. Bullough, and C.L. Melby. Postexercise energy expenditure in response to acute aerobic or resistive exercise. Int. J. Sports Nutr. 4:347-360, 1994.

9. Grediagin, M.A., M. Cody, J. Rupp, D. Benardot, and R. Shern. Exercise intensity does not effect body composition change in untrained, moderately overfat women. J. Am. Diet Assoc. 95:661-665, 1995.

10. Grubbs, L. The critical role of exercise in weight control. Nurse Pract. 18(4):20,22,25-26,29, 1993.

11. Hickson, R.C., W.W. Heusner, W.D. Van Huss, D.E. Jackson, D.A. Anderson, D.A. Jones, and A.T. Psaledas. Effects of Dianabol and high-intensity sprint training on body composition of rats. Med. Sci. Sports. 8:191-195, 1976.

12. Imbeault, P., S. Saint-Pierre, N. Alméras, and A. Tremblay. Acute effects of exercise on energy intake and feeding behaviour. Br. J. Nutr. 77:511-521, 1997.

13. Katch, F.I., R. Martin, and J. Martin. Effects of exercise intensity on food consumption in the male rat. Am J. Clin. Nutr. 32:1401-1407, 1979.

14. Laforgia, J. R.T. Withers, N.J. Shipp, and C.J. Gore. Comparison of energy expenditure elevations after submaximal and supramaximal running. J. Appl. Physiol. 82:661-666, 1997.

15. Mahler, D.A., V.F. Froelicher, N.H. Miller, and T.D. York. ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, edited by W.L. Kenney, R.H. Humphrey, and C.X. Bryant. Media, PA: Williams and Wilkins, 1995, chapt. 10, p. 218-219.

16. McMillan, J.L., M.H. Stone, J. Sartin, R. Keith, D. Marple, Lt. C. Brown, and R.D. Lewis. 20-hour physiological responses to a single weight-training session. J. Strength Cond. Res. 7(3):9-21, 1993.

17. Melby, C., C. Scholl, G. Edwards, and R. Bullough. Effect of acute resistance exercise on postexercise energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate. J. Appl. Physiol. 75:1847-1853, 1993.

18. Pacheco-Sanchez, M., and K.K Grunewald. Body fat deposition: effects of dietary fat and two exercise protocols. J. Am. Col. Nutr. 13:601-607, 1994.

19. Phelain, J.F., E. Reinke, M.A. Harris, and C.L. Melby. Postexercise energy expenditure and substrate oxidation in young women resulting from exercise bouts of different intensity. J. Am. Col. Nutr. 16:140-146, 1997.

20. Rasmussen, B.B., and W.W. Winder. Effect of exercise intensity on skeletal muscle malonyl-CoA and acetyl-CoA carboxylase. J. Appl. Physiol. 83:1104-1109, 1997.

21. Smith, J., and L. McNaughton. The effects of intensity of exercise on excess postexercise oxygen consumption and energy expenditure in moderately trained men and women. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 67:420-425, 1993.

22. Thompson, D.A., L.A. Wolfe, and R. Eikelboom. Acute effects of exercise intensity on appetite in young men. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 20:222-227, 1988.

23. Tremblay, A., J. Simoneau, and C. Bouchard. Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism. 43:814-818, 1994.

24. Tremblay, A., J. Després, C. Leblanc, C.L. Craig, B. Ferris, T. Stephens, and C. Bouchard. Effect of intensity of physical activity on body fatness and fat distribution. Am J. Clin. Nutr. 51:153-157, 1990.

25. Treuth, M.S., G.R. Hunter, and M. Williams. Effects of exercise intensity on 24-h energy expenditure and substrate oxidation. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 28:1138-1143, 1996.



Washington State University Athletics

[crombie09]

Ok Control I did A upper body today along with calves and abs. Wow, kinda kicked my ass. Haha.

I did 4 sets of rows 4 sets of bench 2 skulls b/c my arms were so pumped from the bench I thought I was going to drop the weight on my face I did 3 sets of hammers and 3 sets on each arm for the lateral arm raises.

Wondering .....what are you stats? You seem to know what you're talking about.

[Control]

Originally Posted by crombie09

Ok Control I did A upper body today along with calves and abs. Wow, kinda kicked my ass. Haha.

I did 4 sets of rows 4 sets of bench 2 skulls b/c my arms were so pumped from the bench I thought I was going to drop the weight on my face I did 3 sets of hammers and 3 sets on each arm for the lateral arm raises.

Wondering .....what are you stats? You seem to know what you're talking about.

Right now I'm 5'11" 225. I've dropped a ton of muscle over the last year. I'm about to start my first cycle since early 05', I should be able to get back to 250 or so by fall.

[crombie09]

Originally Posted by Control

Right now I'm 5'11" 225. I've dropped a ton of muscle over the last year. I'm about to start my first cycle since early 05', I should be able to get back to 250 or so by fall.

So did I do everything correctly?

[Control]

Originally Posted by crombie09

So did I do everything correctly?

Sounds like it.

[crombie09]

Shit. So, Im going to just go in and do cardio today and Im thinking, "what and how do I eat before and after"? I usually lift before cardio so when I get home I just have a protien shake with malto/dex, but dont know if thats good if I only did cardio. I guess my question is what to eat before cardio and what to eat after if only doing it by itself?

[Control]

Originally Posted by crombie09

Shit. So, Im going to just go in and do cardio today and Im thinking, "what and how do I eat before and after"? I usually lift before cardio so when I get home I just have a protien shake with malto/dex, but dont know if thats good if I only did cardio. I guess my question is what to eat before cardio and what to eat after if only doing it by itself?

A regular meal with low g.i. carbs and protein. Avoid sugar except for pwo.

[Knoxy]

What would you do to really bring in the traps?

[Control]

Originally Posted by Knoxy

What would you do to really bring in the traps?

I never really train traps. Mine seem to grow fine from rows and various raises. If you want you could throw in some shrugs or you could do partial deadlifts.

[crombie09]

Ok Im still doing this routine and liking it so far. What about milatary presses, shrugs or any forearm workout?

[ROCKILLER]

If I understand it correctly the idea is to hit each muscle with one exercise and all the intensity that you can. If you do a few different shoulder exercises you wont be able to hit them again hard as soon. Each of the upper bodys has some type of arm raise for the delts. As for forearms, do you use straps? My problem getting my last deadlift rep is usually because I have to really concentrate on my grip to keep ahold of the bar.

I decided to try this for a while and I havent done leg curls in a LONG time. I did them and they were still hurting 7 days later when I did the deads.

[Control]

Originally Posted by crombie09

Ok Im still doing this routine and liking it so far. What about milatary presses, shrugs or any forearm workout?

Lately my wrists have been bothering me and I have a partially torn pec from way back that sometimes keeps me from benching, so, I'll replace bench presses with military presses (actually it's about half-way between an incline press and a military press). If you're doing bench presses, dips, 3 kinds of raises and rows, you don't need to domilitary presses to make your shoulders grow, but if you want to swap them out for say, front-raises or whatever go ahead (you can also substitute partial-deadlifts for rows or cable curls for preacher curls etc). The actual exercises aren't that important, I just listed them as an example. Just make sure you're hitting all the muscle groups and don't do more than 5 or 6 exercises in one workout.

As far as forearms go, I like to do a super-set of reverse curls and behind-the-back curls at the end of my workout, just depends on if I have the energy.

[Control]

Originally Posted by ROCKILLER

If I understand it correctly the idea is to hit each muscle with one exercise and all the intensity that you can. If you do a few different shoulder exercises you wont be able to hit them again hard as soon. Each of the upper bodys has some type of arm raise for the delts. As for forearms, do you use straps? My problem getting my last deadlift rep is usually because I have to really concentrate on my grip to keep ahold of the bar.

I decided to try this for a while and I havent done leg curls in a LONG time. I did them and they were still hurting 7 days later when I did the deads.

I use straps or hooks for my last set sometimes, but I prefer chalk.

[ROCKILLER]

I think when I begin to approach the kind of weight you move I will look into some straps, my "gym" doesnt do chalk. For now, I dont feel so bad when I skip forearms.

[NYCmitch25]

Great post! Good contributions to the board bro.

I like this myself. Do you mix it up with the 1 on 2 off?

Originally Posted by Control

For a higher volume split, you could do 1 on 1 off. So:
Upper "A"
off
Lower "A"
off
Upper "B"
off
Lower "B"
off

[Control]

Originally Posted by NYCmitch25

Great post! Good contributions to the board bro.

I like this myself. Do you mix it up with the 1 on 2 off?

I can handle 1 on 1 off just fine as long as I'm eating enough and getting enough sleep.

[The_Grinder]

I've been thinking about switching from my push/pull/legs split to an upper/lower body kind of thing. Right now, I'm trying to train sport specific, so I'm more worried about strength than size. Especially leg and core strength. Would an upper/lower split like this cater a little better to my strength goals? Thanks for the tips so far, this is an informative post.

[Konitz]

I asked control in march about a good routine and diet and he told me about the 1 day on 1 day off and it has been nothing but sucess i have been making gains in my weight and size and strength before this routine I was making slim gains i have jumped from 195 to 208 sin