Sat - Triceps
LTE - 3 x 8-10 reps
Dips - 3 x 8-10 reps
Close grip bench - 3 x 8-10 reps
Dips - 2-3 sets til failure
I personally don't see the point of having a day dedicated to just triceps.
Sat - Triceps
LTE - 3 x 8-10 reps
Dips - 3 x 8-10 reps
Close grip bench - 3 x 8-10 reps
Dips - 2-3 sets til failure
If you're starting out, a fan of SS and want to put on size and strength, then honestly, just do SS.
Been working out seriously for a year now. My strength has shot up considerably since starting out and I'm comfortable with all the lifts and my form.
Think I may be close to exhausting my noob gains so feel ready for more than SS.
Been working out seriously for a year now. My strength has shot up considerably since starting out and I'm comfortable with all the lifts and my form.
Think I may be close to exhausting my noob gains so feel ready for more than SS.
Been working out seriously for a year now. My strength has shot up considerably since starting out and I'm comfortable with all the lifts and my form.
Think I may be close to exhausting my noob gains so feel ready for more than SS.
If you're close to exhausting your noob gains, I'd say move on to a program like 5/3/1. To me, things like your squat rep scheme and tricep day don't make much sense, but I've been known to be wrong before...
You think you are? Or you are?
If it's working. Why change it?
I'd say just do a 5x5 program for size and strength or change your program up so that you have a 5 day split because I personally don't see the point of having a day solely dedicated to triceps
I transitioned from SL, to SS, to 5/3/1. I took SS to a very far point, i was making gains for a long time, but 5/3/1 is a great transition for me personally, when i realized i do not want to look like a power lifter, want to maintain and slowly build more muscle, and not spend as much time at the gym. I had to realize lifting as heavy as possible isn't what i was actually after. YMMV.
idk man, I'm doing 5/3/1 and I definitely don't look like a power lifter.Isn't 5/3/1 more for people that want a power lifting look?
idk man, I'm doing 5/3/1 and I definitely don't look like a power lifter.
Might as well see where my routine could require some maintenance. I'm a fan of SS so tried to incorporate something similar in to it.
Goals - Strength & Size
4 day split - Weds, Thurs & Sat, Sun
Weds - Chest & Biceps
Bench press - 3 sets x 5 reps. Move the weight up the next session if successful
3 X 8-10 reps of either bench drop sets or dumbell press
3 x 8-10 reps incline dumbell press
Barbell curls 25kg > 15kg > 10kg x 2
Thurs - Legs & Shoulders
Squats - 5 sets x 10 reps
Leg press 2 sets x 10
OHP - 3 sets x 5 reps. Move the weight up the next session if successful
Dumbell shoulder press - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
Dumbell front and side raises - 3 x 10-12 reps each
Sat - Triceps
LTE - 3 x 8-10 reps
Dips - 3 x 8-10 reps
Close grip bench - 3 x 8-10 reps
Dips - 2-3 sets til failure
Sun - Back/Full upper body
Deadlifts - 2 light sets - 8 reps (warm up) 2 heavy heavy sets 5-6 reps (tend to move up in weight every few weeks)
Pullups - 3 sets - usually something like 8-9 first set, 6-8 second and 5-7 for third (deads tire me out)
BB row - 5 sets - 3 heavy - 8-10 and 2 drop weight sets 8-12
Pullups - til failure
Sundays workout tends to destroy my body so having a 48 hour rest period between that and the next session works really well.
Isn't 5/3/1 more for people that want a power lifting look?
Isn't 5/3/1 more for people that want a power lifting look?
SS goes up that fast because a novice CAN progress that fast.Not really. You go up 5lbs a month per lift on the upper body, 10lbs for lower body when doing 5/3/1. On SS, you are going up at a MUCH faster pace, lifting heavier and heavier. 5/3/1 is very gradual, and i feel like its a slow but steady way to make gains. IMO of course, i want to keep things slower and cut fat while gaining muscle, this is my preferred method.
SS goes up that fast because a novice CAN progress that fast.
5/3/1 progresses mor slowly because it's geared more for those who are no longer novices.
That's not to say it won't work for novices. It most definitely will, but why slow progress if you don't have to?
reason for having a dedicated tricep day is because my chest/bicep day tires me out to the point I can't achieve my rep targets on my dedicated tricep exercises. size is an important goal and visible triceps look nice!
Poor biceps. :-( Your tris get their own special day to shine and your bis only get one exercise after chest.
Honestly man, I would probably do some things differently but if you are eating right and really pushing yourself every training session then this will give you results. Keep up the good work!
I know time spent in the gym isn't indicative of progress, but I wouldn't be able to get my self to go to a gym just to pop out 15 minutes worth of tricep exercises and then leave.
5/3/1 isn't about a "look." And the routine itself can be altered to fit damn near any lifestyle/goal. believe it or not, not everyone here is a "body builder" hell some of us aren't concerned with appearances much at all.
haha, well they get a nice workout on sunday too don't they?
deads, pull ups and BB row.
I prefer the slower progress because its not as taxing on my body, and still making gains. Its a marathon, not a sprint, i'm committed to lifting life long, so need to rush. Just my preference to why i like 5/3/1. I would not recommend it to a beginner however, definitely start with SS and get your noob gains for a nice base to build upon.
Really? I totally never knew that...![]()
This thread might as well be called strength or powerlifting gaf
Yeah they do but so do your tris on chest day.
There's a difference between trying to force progress and planning smartly to capitalize on the quick progression one can get while on a program like SS while being a novice.
"Not as taxing on your body" is not the answer. Progress comes from forcing adaptation. The body needs to be taxed/challenged to adapt. This adaptation is increased muscle mass/ capacity and strength.
If you moved on to 5/3/1 because it was easier you may have cut yourself short. Also if 5/3/1 is easier I question how effective you're actually implementing the program.
I did SS till i had to deload several times on the compounds. I likely could have went a few more weeks of progression on certain lifts, but the 5/3/1 kicks my ass plenty and i am making gains at the gym every single time i step in the place. I did SS for ~8-9 months, then switched to 5/3/1. As i said, i would not recommend 5/3/1 for any novice, but its a excellent transition point once you have a solid base under you. Everyone is different tho, there is no one size fits all. Its just what i preferred.
That makes more sense. Although less than a year for a program seems kind of short especially for a novice but you know your body better than I do.
Something to consider is that if you're stalling in a program it may not be he program that's run it's course it may be you not focusing enough on recovery. (Food/sleep/etc)
You act as if strength/powerlifting isn't fitness. You seem confused all around
Absolutely, during my switch from SS to 5/3/1, i had switched to SKD (Standard Keto Diet) which effected my lifts during the transition phase, and i always get 8 hours of sleep. If i had stuck with SS more, i likely could have taken my DL and bench a bit further, but i feel plenty strong and continue to get stronger, so i am quite happy. I took where i was when i stopped doing SS and now 4 months strait on 5/3/1 with nonstop gains on every lift.
Bro u seem so hurt by what he said. Let's chill for a minute. He said 5/3/1 is more for people that want the power lifting "look" which I don't think is wrong as powerlifters gravitate towards that type of program. You obviously felt some type of way about it and said not everyone is concerned with a look. Nowhere did he criticize the actual 5/3/1 program. As to what he said about it being a powerlifting gaf.. For the most part if anyone has a question pertaining to lifting weights, I've noticed that most here will prescribe some type of powerlifting program SS, 5/3/1 or something of the sort. Not saying its wrong, but this thread would be better if there were different prescriptions instead of mainly just powerlifting/strength prescriptions. Again not everyone is concerned with powerlifting or strength. It would also justify the namesake of the thread.
Well you clearly didn't know the first part of the quoted text. So I'm not gonna assume you know anything else.
You act as if strength/powerlifting isn't fitness. You seem confused all around
Really? I totally never knew that...
This thread might as well be called strength or powerlifting gaf
Bro u seem so hurt by what he said. Let's chill for a minute. He said 5/3/1 is more for people that want the power lifting "look" which I don't think is wrong as powerlifters gravitate towards that type of program. You obviously felt some type of way about it and said not everyone is concerned with a look. Nowhere did he criticize the actual 5/3/1 program. As to what he said about it being a powerlifting gaf.. For the most part if anyone has a question pertaining to lifting weights, I've noticed that most here will prescribe some type of powerlifting program SS, 5/3/1 or something of the sort. Not saying its wrong, but this thread would be better if there were different prescriptions instead of mainly just powerlifting/strength prescriptions. Again not everyone is concerned with powerlifting or strength. It would also justify the namesake of the thread.
Nope, you generally like looking way too deep into things that should generally be pretty clear if you can take in context, which judging by our previous arguments, you can't. Is 5/3/1 not generally used by people wanting to build strength or not? Is that not what powerlifters generally try to do or not? Do powerlifters tend to gravitate towards something like 5/3/1 or not? I'm simply saying who tends to gravitate more towards that workout. I'm not saying that 'only' powerlifters use it and if anyone else does its bad. Sorry if the statement threw you off so much you couldn't comprehend anything else.
Once again no. All I'm saying is that I tend to see strngth and powerlifting advice overused in this thread. There are many different ways to maintain fitness and not every single way is a strength based program which I see many try to spread as gospel to anyone coming in here for advice. The only thing I ever see recommended to someone looking for program ideas and/or advice is a strength based program like SS or 5/3/1. I generally see splits shot down like theyre something no one in their right minds would do and instead advised with a strength program. Its pretty much been like this since the very first fitness OT and it seems like much hasn't changed since. I'm not saying strength programs are bad, but it is bad when one philosophy of lifting is generally treated as superior to all else
Once again no. All I'm saying is that I tend to see strngth and powerlifting advice overused in this thread. There are many different ways to maintain fitness and not every single way is a strength based program which I see many try to spread as gospel to anyone coming in here for advice. The only thing I ever see recommended to someone looking for program ideas and/or advice is a strength based program like SS or 5/3/1. I generally see splits shot down like theyre something no one in their right minds would do and instead advised with a strength program. Its pretty much been like this since the very first fitness OT and it seems like much hasn't changed since. I'm not saying strength programs are bad, but it is bad when one philosophy of lifting is generally treated as superior to all else
Wait....If you're not concerned about strength then why even start lifting weights? Please enlighten me?
Wait....If you're not concerned about strength then why even start lifting weights? Please enlighten me?
Fitness is the ability to perform a specified task, not to look like you could perform it. Also, for the average joe, training to 'look' like a powerlifter as opposed to a bodybuilder isn't going to make a huge difference visually (assuming they actually establish a base for bb'ing instead of just grabbing something from a magazine that's all isolation and machines, in which case they'll look worse), but it makes a large difference in terms of strength and overall health.
This thread definitely has a resistance training focus, but that doesn't equal powerlifting. I don't think more than a handful of posters in this thread have ever competed in a meet, let alone structure their training almost entirely around developing for competing in the sport. Some people learn the weightlifting lifts, that doesn't make them Olympic lifters. The reason routines like Starting Strength and 5/3/1 get recommended to people asking about resistance training isn't to turn them into powerlifters, it's because they're what work for strength and fitness.
EDIT: Wait, you want people to recommend resistance training routines that aren't effective for improving strength? What on earth is the point of that? Look, if people say they want to focus on size or something like that the people in this thread who have experience with that sort of thing are generally on hand to help them out. However, if they're a beginner coming in saying they want to get "big but not too big" and have a routine they cobbled together from some magazine's new split of the month, they'll be told to do something like SS because it will actually work, whereas the split will not.
Onemic, it's about smart programming and a lot of splits that get posted just aren't smart.
Why wouldn't people recommend what works?
I spun my wheels for five years doing splits. Five fucking years. So much time wasted where I could have been training efficiently.
After five years of splits I couldn't even bench 135 :/.
Wait....If you're not concerned about strength then why even start lifting weights? Please enlighten me?
aesthetics, i guess
....For size? For health? Strength is not the one size fits all everyone here seems to think it means. In fact I don't think its much of a stretch to say that most people that go to a gym do so for aesthetic purposes first and foremost, with everything else being second.
Correct me if I'm factually wrong here but is it even possible to enlarge your muscles without gaining strength?
Wait, are you saying that a BB only looks like they can do a lift while a PL can? Really? Please explain
So why exactly are you so against splits or anything other than building strength? Why is training for strength the only way? There are many different philosophies to working out and training for strength is only one of them. This thread however, acts like training for strength is the only one, hence why I said and still maintain that calling it Fitness gaf is misleading and calling it strength/powerlifting gaf would be more ideal if all you're gonna do is only spout the mantra of strength training while shooting down everything else. Its like me starting a fit gaf and only giving advice on calisthenics or your dreaded splits and saying any other way is wrong. Or only talking about running and endurance. I'm sure you guys would then say that the title of the thread isn't correct. Much like this one
What type of split were you doing? Were you taking it straight out of a mag of mens health? I highly doubt the philosophy of splits were the problem. I was able to do 135 in about 2 months or less doing a split.
....For size? For health? Strength is not the one size fits all everyone here seems to think it means. In fact I don't think its much of a stretch to say that most people that go to a gym do so for aesthetic purposes first and foremost, with everything else being second.
What type of split were you doing? Were you taking it straight out of a mag of mens health? I highly doubt the philosophy of splits were the problem. I was able to do 135 in about 2 months or less doing a split.
I'll refer you to my opening sentence: fitness is the ability to perform a specified task. If you are using resistance training to increase your fitness, then your goal is to increase strength and associated qualities such as connective and supportive tissue density, efficient motor patterns, rate of force production etc... Any visual changes are secondary. Saying that focussing on discussing and recommending training protocols designed to drive these adaptations is missing out on other aspects of 'fitness' is simply not true. What aspects of fitness, that are effectively trained by resistance training (so not things like low intensity endurance) are neglected by training programs such as SS, 5/3/1, TM etc...?Wait, are you saying that a BB only looks like they can do a lift while a PL can? Really? Please explain
So why exactly are you so against splits or anything other than building strength? Why is training for strength the only way? There are many different philosophies to working out and training for strength is only one of them. This thread however, acts like training for strength is the only one, hence why I said and still maintain that calling it Fitness gaf is misleading and calling it strength/powerlifting gaf would be more ideal if all you're gonna do is only spout the mantra of strength training while shooting down everything else. Its like me starting a fit gaf and only giving advice on calisthenics or your dreaded splits and saying any other way is wrong. I'm sure you guys would then say that the title of the thread isn't correct. Much like this one
What type of split were you doing? Were you taking it straight out of a mag of mens health? I highly doubt the philosophy of splits were the problem. I was able to do 135 in about 2 months or less doing a split.
....For size? For health? Strength is not the one size fits all everyone here seems to think it means. In fact I don't think its much of a stretch to say that most people that go to a gym do so for aesthetic purposes first and foremost, with everything else being second.
GAF, I need major help.
I'm a skinny fella. I want to gain size, definition and moderate vascularity. The OP is very insightful, but it is also overwhelming. I want to talk to real people about my personal issues.
I weigh around 135 right now and I'm 5'8".
I know nothing about weightlifting (the only terms I know are reps and sets). There is so much different information out there that I don't know what do. I'm absolutely dumbfounded when it comes to getting started with this, so I figured I would post about it.
I'm the type of guy who needs exact plans. I need to know exactly what to eat, how much to eat, etc. The only rule I have about diet is no meat besides chicken and fish.
I have a weight bench and a few dumb bells at home, and I have access to the YMCA (but am afraid to go due to complete lack of knowledge and physical weakness).
Please help me to create a diet plan and work out plan to achieve the results I want.
Here are pictures of me:
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Here are pictures of what I want to look like:
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As you can see, I want a much larger, more solid physique.
Also, would it be possible for me to get close to that state by August if I started now?
I'm glad to hear that it's easily achievable.
My eating is all over the place. I'm more of a snacker rather than a large meal eater. My larger meals come mainly from breakfast and dinner. Below is a rough idea of what I eat.
Breakfasts that I may have on different days:
*3 cups of Cheerios with 2% milk
*A bagel with cream cheese
*2/3 scrambled eggs with two pieces of 12-grain toast
Lunches that I have on different days:
*A tuna sandwich with one small can of tuna, one pickle, a fourth of an onion, a tablespoon of mayo, and garlic/onion powder on 12-grain bread
*An entire box of Kraft mac & cheese
*About half a box of rigatoni and 2 cups of red sauce
*Peanut butter sandwich on 12-grain bread
Dinners that I have on different days:
*An average-size chicken breast with a cup of a frozen vegetable
*Two large plates of chicken casserole (made with fried onions, frozen vegetables, 6/7 cut up chicken breasts, lots of cheese - basically it's very unhealthy)
*A half box of rigatoni with olive oil/salt/pepper
I snack often during the day on things like crackers, tortilla chips, Snyder's pretzels, Triscuits, chips & salsa, granola bars, etc. A lot of processed, unnatural food.
Anyone?
Once again no. All I'm saying is that I tend to see strngth and powerlifting advice overused in this thread. There are many different ways to maintain fitness and not every single way is a strength based program which I see many try to spread as gospel to anyone coming in here for advice. The only thing I ever see recommended to someone looking for program ideas and/or advice is a strength based program like SS or 5/3/1. I generally see splits shot down like theyre something no one in their right minds would do and instead advised with a strength program. Its pretty much been like this since the very first fitness OT and it seems like much hasn't changed since. I'm not saying strength programs are bad, but it is bad when one philosophy of lifting is generally treated as superior to all else
Wait, are you saying that a BB only looks like they can do a lift while a PL can? Really? Please explain
So why exactly are you so against splits or anything other than building strength? Why is training for strength the only way? There are many different philosophies to working out and training for strength is only one of them. This thread however, acts like training for strength is the only one, hence why I said and still maintain that calling it Fitness gaf is misleading and calling it strength/powerlifting gaf would be more ideal if all you're gonna do is only spout the mantra of strength training while shooting down everything else. Its like me starting a fit gaf and only giving advice on calisthenics or your dreaded splits and saying any other way is wrong. Or only talking about running and endurance. I'm sure you guys would then say that the title of the thread isn't correct. Much like this one
Wait....If you're not concerned about strength then why even start lifting weights? Please enlighten me?
I started going to the gym with my cousin who did splits. So most of my first year of training was splits. I wouldn't say its a total waste of time, but the difference from a compound routine and splits is enormous results wise. Everything is better with compounds. It's why ss is such a good starter routine. Great base to improve on.
Great, but as your muscles grow they in turn get stronger. So if you want bigger looking muscles for purely aesthetics why not use your time efficiently and train to get strong? Correct me if I'm factually wrong here but is it even possible to enlarge your muscles without gaining strength?
EDIT:
Refer to above. I think you are confused. Many don't share the passion for strength gains like most in this thread do but all people at the gym looking for bigger muscles are attempting to gain strength if they know it or not.
The thing is, you can and should use compounds in your splits.
Splits and compound movements are not mutually exclusive.
Yup. And I switched it up because of "muscle confusion". Chest day, back day, arm day, shoulder day, leg day, abs day. Ugh. I shiver thinking of it.
THIS!
Seriously the best split is this imo.
5/3/1
Chest 5/3/1 bench movement
All your other chest shit
Some tricep shit
Back 5/3/1 deadlift
All your other back shit, shrugs, whatevs
Biceps shit
Shoulders 5/3/1 overhead press
All your other shoulder shit
whatever else you need to focus on
Legs 5/3/1 Squat
All yo leg shit
or if you want have a 5th day for arms..I'm dong that now.
5/3/1 basically is already set up like a split. Just add your other movements after the compound movement. Been doing this for over a year.