Hi All,
I have been on BGB routine for the past year or so. Time constraint requires that I go onto three-day split (from the current four). Based on CowPimp's articles here, this is the split I have come up with.
Can you please provide inputs so as to streamline? Goal is to continue to stay lean building up some muscle mass.
3-Day Split
Mondays: Pull
1. Deadlift: 3 X 5
2. Chins: alternate 50-reps vs. weighted 5 X 5
3. Bent-Over Rows: alternate 3 X 8 and 5 X 5
4. Bent Lateral Raises 3 X 10
5. Alternate Dumbbell Curls: 3 X 5
6. Preacher Curls 3 X 10
Cardio: 15 minutes treadmill (intense)
Wednesdays: Legs
1
. Squats: alternate 5 X 5 and 3 X 15, 10, 8
2. Lunges: 3 X 10
3. Straight-leg Deadlift: 3 X 8
4. Leg Curls: 5 X 5
5. Standing Calf Raises: 3 X 20
6. Seated Calf Raises: 3 X 20
Cardio: 20 minutes on the stepper (medium)
Fridays: Push
1. Bench Press: 4 X 12, 10, 8, 6
2. Incline Bench Press: 4 sets of 10 reps each
3. Arnold Press: 4 X 8, 5, 5
4. Lateral Raises: 3 X 10 each
5. Dumbbell Triceps Extensions: 3 X 10 each
Cardio: 25 minutes on the cycle (alternate medium and intense)
This looks pretty good. A few suggestions:
Bolded in red are your compounds. You actually did a good job balancing the planes of motion. You have only one imbalance and that's horizontal push, of which you have two. I'd pick one of the two bench presses and keep it all even.
I'd move conventional deads to legs. They're a pull, yes, but a lower pull.
There's a fair bit of isolation, however. This might not be a bad thing. I don't know your training experience, but I'm guessing you threw them in because you feel you need to train those muscles directly (based on the fact that they're common isolation lifts). I'd ditch them all together and give yourself room for more volume.
Personally, the push something, pull something, do something for your legs is good, but there can be some gray area with this concept. My approach to push/pull used to be to balance the planes of motion evenly. This meant If I did 2 lifts for horizontal push, I did 2 for all other planes. However, as there are only 2 planes for the legs as opposed to four of the upper body (horizontal and vertical push/pull) you actually end up training your upper body twice as much as lower body.
The thing is this doesn't necessarily create issues because you have to consider the nature of the lifts. Leg lifts like deads and squats are full-body efforts and actually recruit muscles from your back, torso, arms, shoulders, etc, as opposed to, say, bench press -- which, when performed correctly, works fewer muscles. This is why you can get away with having more upper body work on a push/pull system, even though you're technically "balancing" the planes of motion. It can be tricky.
I give a bit more attention to lower body now. My goal isn't as much to even planes of motion as it is upper and lower. For instance, tonight I'll be doing a maximal lifting session for lower pull/upper push. I'll perform 2 lower pulls and 2 upper pushes -- 1 for vertical and 1 for horizontal. If you get technical with planes of motion that's uneven, but going by upper vs lower it's even. Besides, my 2 deadlift variations will recruit more than legs, and my vertical push, DB Military Press, will recruit muscles from my back, core, and even legs.
It can get complicated, but there's more to consider than just push/pull/legs.
Nevertheless, I suggest reverting to a 4-day split or at least splitting legs into push and pull and alternating your weeks so that one week is upper/lower/upper and the next is lower/upper/lower, and try and find a way to organize your session so that potential DOMS issues are addresses. For instance, I might refrain from upper pulling before a lower pull session because lat DOMS could interfere with deads. I mean, there are so many things to consider, that was just an example.
Also, though you didn't specifty intensities beyond the basic rep ranges you intend to follow, I'd suggest not limiting yourself to certain rep ranges, intensities, etc. Variety is crucial. Moreover, a lot of new lifters get the impression from others suggesting "heavy this" and "heavy that" that certain lifts like deads and squats always need to be performed at sub-maximal loads. Not that I'm saying you gave the impression, but on the note of periodization I though I'd warn you that you definitely don't need to stay at certain rep ranges on certain lifts. Anything is game. Challenge yourself with a variety of training stimuli. Just remember to not get too fancy. At the end of the day, it's progressive overload of the muscles, adequate rest, and calculated diet that will get you there, not negatives, supersets, and 1 rep maxes.
Overall, good looking program.
