28yrs old, been lifting 7 yrs and need some advice.

[StumpMT]

Hey fellow ologists. I’m asking for advice on my lifting routine. Currently I’m on my very first cycle of Test-E at 500mg/week (middle of week 4). My stats are…28yrs, 210lbs, 12-13% bf, 5’11”, and have been lifting since 2003. I take in about 3500 clas/day with macros of ~300g P, ~300g C, and ~100g F. I lift heavy with a rep scheme of 6-10 for 3 working sets and about 3 exercises per body part concentrating on compound movements. For a while now my lifting routine has been the following…

Day 1: Chest/biceps
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Shoulders/triceps
Day 4: Legs
Day 5: Off
Repeat

I didn’t always lifting with only one rest day….just recently. Now I’ve been having good gains on this routine and have felt pretty rested. But today was leg day and I went to do some squats and found that my legs were still sore from my leg workout last Sunday and I just wasn’t feeling up to par. I lift pretty heavy (squat 385 for sets of 6-8, bench 315 for sets of 6-7, etc) and I’m wondering if I should incorporate more rest days. I’m thinking of switching it up to one of the following…

Option 1
Day 1: Chest/biceps
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Shoulders/triceps
Day 5: Back
Day 6: Off
Repeat

or…

Option 2
Day 1: Chest/biceps
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Back
Day 5: Shoulders/triceps
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off
Repeat

Or

Option 3
Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Shoulders
Day 4: Legs
Day 5: Arms
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off
Repeat

What do you guys think? Any suggestions? I’m starting to feel like I’m not getting enough rest days and having more would allow for more intense training sessions.

Any and all feedback would be amazing! Thank you.

 

[foamy27]

On option one personally I wouldnt pair up shoulders and triceps. I tried that once and I didn't like it at all.

I like option three the best. But I prefer to have my two rest days back to back. I would say try option 2 and 3 and see which one you like better.

 

[StumpMT]

Thanks for the feedback. I used to do a chest/tricep and back/bicep routine but I felt my bis and tris were not getting proper stimulation because they were pre-worked with chest and back. Which is why I switched it up to what it is now. I've always liked having bis and tris on the same day (as in option 3). Maybe ill do that one. I'm curious as to what other people say.

Also right now I do heavy military presses, heavy upright rows, side laterals and bent over laterals. I'm really trying to bring my side delts up as well. Any suggestions on that?

 

[walker11]

are you deadlifting on your back days?

 

[StumpMT]

I do rack deads on my back day w/ 455 for 3 working sets of 6

 

[walker11]

depending on the height of your rack deads, that could be a potential reason why your legs are feeling tired since most of the muscles being used to squat are also used to pull. and of the options you listed, i like option one the most, but would make day 7 off so you have an extra day to recover.

 

[StumpMT]

Yeah, as soon as you mentioned dead lifts I thought about where they were in my routine and instantly thought about leg involvement. I put the pins so that the bar is just below knee level. Yeah, I think adding another 'Off' day to Option 1 would probably be the best. As that routine has an even spacing between days with conflicting body parts

 

[burlyman]

I don't know that shoulders would require their own day on option 3. You could pair them up with bis/tris and give yourself another day of rest in the week. Legs, if done right, probably need a day off afterward as intense legwork really affects the CNS. And at the end of the week, legwork would be relatively easy to do a day after smaller bodyparts. If you feel like you need more recovery, add a day of rest at day 7 and then repeat.

Day1:Legs
Day2:Rest
Day3:Chest
Day4:Back
Day5:Rest
Day6: Delts/Arms
Day7:Repeat

 

[glubgawd]

Day 1 - Legs
Day 2 - Rest
Day 3 - Chest
Day 4 - Rest
Day 5 - Back
Day 6 - Rest
Day 7 - Rest

^^^ Best split in this thread imo.

I honestly don't know what you would need your own day for arms when you're doing back and chest work earlier in the week (and hence already hitting arms). Similar thing with shoulders. Feel free to add workouts for those body parts on their corresponding days (ie if you're gonna waste your time doing bicep curls, waste that time on back day).

Also, no offense but the fact that your squat is 70lbs away from your bench isn't an indication of "lifting heavy." It's an indication that your leg routine needs work.

 

[Fiki]

Arms and shoulder day aka the excuse for a go0od HIIT, muscles take the load in 20 min an then u have time for a go0d cardio. Feel fre to up the p.

If You r satisfied with the legs even if your load is smaler then the bench, you r doeing it right.