I am changing to that as I have been doing each body part twice a week for a while and I find that it does not help me in any way to train like that. I don`t really feel like I am getting an adequate workout despite adding more and more sets to try and compensate for that effect. It almost has made training a boring chore. I am most focused and feel it the best using the split you just outlined and that is exactly what I am going to switch to.
How many sets do you do or do you just go and not count?
I am going to do 4 exercises each day, 6 sets each one week-10,8,6,4,3,2
The next week I will 4 exercises each day, 4 sets-5,5,5,2
Then the third week I will do 4 exercises each day, 3 sets each-10,10,10
Fourth week might be a free for all where I do the triple set, drop set,high reps, lifting challenges etc... or I may repeat again with the first week and so on. Not sure what I plan to do yet.
Adam,Joe Marino, aka (Coach Is Back) convinced me to train everything 2 X a week a few years back,I liked it but I didn`t recover from it too good,but I got in good shape.
I went to heavy or too intensely every day......if I was to try it again,I`d have 3 heavier days covering the whole body in those 3 days,then I would repeat it,but i`d go lighter or just use machines.
I did make good progress,but only up to a point due to my lack of recovery.
To keep my training from becoming boring,I do different training scenarios daily.
As you know,guys like us that have been training for eons,can easily get bored and once that boredom sets in,workouts become a chore instead of a daily tonic.
I know you cannot trick your body,but I find switching up workout scenarios alleviates the boredom that can easily arise if one was to follow a set routine.
That being said,you get a chance to use a multitude of different exercises which will help you to keep things fresh as well as to help in avoiding adaptation by using a set workout plan...........bro science ?,not sure,but it seems to work for me.
As far as sets and reps go,I try to no longer do triples or 5 rep sets,but at times my ego gets the better of me.
Regarding sets,as a rule,I do between 12-15 sets for chest + back
3 sets for traps as I believe overdoing trap work will create a sloped shouldered appearance,thus detracting from ones width
12-15 for delts because of the tree deltoid heads....I never do more than one pressing exercise in a workout for shoulders..totally unnecessary and simply redundant IMO
6-12 for calves,sometimes more,
8-12 for biceps and 10-12 for triceps.
abs,just a few sets to keep them strong unless prepping because abs are made in the kitchen and my ab development is decent enough.
REPS:
Chest-6-12,sometimes 15
Quads-10-100 reps...the 100 reps are on leg presses only
Back-5-15
Delts-6-12 on pressing moves,10-20 on lateral type exercises
Biceps-6-12
Triceps-8-50 reps at times,but generally,12-20..high reps work good for me on Triceps it seems.
abs-varies quite a bit according to the intensity techniques I use..straight sets are not taxing enough for me.
Sometimes I do burnout sets at the end of a workout by picking one exercises and just going for high reps,just as a final pump set type of thing.
A lot of people ask me why I go lighter these days,but the muscles have no clue what`s on the bar,they only know stress/stimulation..........plus training fast makes lighter poundages feel very heavy,very quickly.
I usually always pyramid up in weight on compound exercises while naturally decreasing reps as poundages increase.
years ago I did a similar plan like the one you are thinking about above...I went really heavy one week,used moderate weights the next week,then on the third week,I used machines exclusively,trained without resting in a Giant-Set type of scenario,racing the clock,light weight and just fatigeuing the muscle and going for a skin tight pump.
It was a form of periodization that worked really well for me.
At my age,I have come to realize that using huge poundages isn`t the answer,for me anyway.
I have used the 70 pound dumbells on seated alternate db curls for a set of 5 reps.slight cheat to get the weight started,then a mega-slow negative.
These days I use the 30`s and on rare occasions hit the 50 pounders..I feel the muscle working much better this way,ie. a much stronger mind to muscle connection which I believe to be the most overlooked aspect of training,for hypertrophy anyway..
I have lifted decent poundages for a guy my size,even at an advanced age,but all it got me was strength gains,and not much in the way of hypertrophy.
I`m not a big believer in progressive resistance poundage wise as after a time,not much weight can or will be allowed to be added to the bar or machine unless poor form is used.
Also,if progressive resistance was a constant,after a time,we`d all be benching 1000 pounds for reps.
Instead,again,I increase intensity over just sheer poundage as becoming stronger is not my goal and I`m still going to be about a zillion times stronger than the average man out there anyway.
No pink dumbells though,I go as heavy as possible for the number of reps I`m gunning for on every set,so it`s not just a wimpy excuse to go light as heavy is a very relative term/thing in this game.
Dude,I could go on and on,but I promise not to bore you with further diatribes unless you feel masochistic today!!
