Splitsville
February 6th 2007 11:02
It is, I think, a difficult transition for those who have begun a weight lifting program(and have found it to their liking), when after several months they are faced with moving to intermediate status. Today I offer my approach to constructing your own intermediate workout. If you have proven to yourself that you can work out 4 or 5 days a week, these suggestions should help you ramp up workout training from that of a beginner.
You can no longer consider yourself a beginner if the need to increase your work load becomes obvious. The way to do this is with a split routine
. The "split" refers to training only two or three body parts in one day. This immediately ups the work load for the chosen parts, but will not substantially increase the work load of the of the workout.
A split should recognize that certain body parts work together to perform their tasks and thus should not be worked on separate days. You can select body parts whose functions do not overlap and thus work two on the same day without compromising the next day's workout. Doing a triceps workout,for example, the day before chest (in which triceps play a large part) would not be wise. Here is a split that takes this into account: Back/Calves/Biceps Chest/Hamstrings/Triceps and Shoulders/Quads. You may add abdominals onto whatever workouts you wish. If you wish to work your trapezius as separate from shoulders, you will have to add it to one of these workouts.
If you consider one of the larger body parts to be weak, it should be done first in your workout. That is except for quads which I never train anywhere but last, since they can pretty much exhaust you, if they are done seriously. The number of sets per body part in a split routine should be significantly more than you were doing in a beginner workout. I would say 6-9 for larger body parts and 4-6 for smaller, if you are indeed working a split for the first time.
I suggest you learn to use staggered sets when you begin a spit routine. Staggered means working a set for one body part and then going directly to a set for another. Thus,for instance,some chins for back followed by calf raises without rest would allow you to make rapid progress through your Back/Calf/Biceps workout and get you out of the gym in 45 minutes tops and improve your work capacity at the same time.
Split routines are about increased intensity and staggering the sets will add even more intensity. If you work with focus on your split routines for several months you will be able to attempt the granddaddy of splits- the giant set. That involves doing all your movements for a given body part in a stagger,i.e. one set right after another. That's some radical training! Your servant, as always.
You can no longer consider yourself a beginner if the need to increase your work load becomes obvious. The way to do this is with a split routine
A split should recognize that certain body parts work together to perform their tasks and thus should not be worked on separate days. You can select body parts whose functions do not overlap and thus work two on the same day without compromising the next day's workout. Doing a triceps workout,for example, the day before chest (in which triceps play a large part) would not be wise. Here is a split that takes this into account: Back/Calves/Biceps Chest/Hamstrings/Triceps and Shoulders/Quads. You may add abdominals onto whatever workouts you wish. If you wish to work your trapezius as separate from shoulders, you will have to add it to one of these workouts.
If you consider one of the larger body parts to be weak, it should be done first in your workout. That is except for quads which I never train anywhere but last, since they can pretty much exhaust you, if they are done seriously. The number of sets per body part in a split routine should be significantly more than you were doing in a beginner workout. I would say 6-9 for larger body parts and 4-6 for smaller, if you are indeed working a split for the first time.
I suggest you learn to use staggered sets when you begin a spit routine. Staggered means working a set for one body part and then going directly to a set for another. Thus,for instance,some chins for back followed by calf raises without rest would allow you to make rapid progress through your Back/Calf/Biceps workout and get you out of the gym in 45 minutes tops and improve your work capacity at the same time.
Split routines are about increased intensity and staggering the sets will add even more intensity. If you work with focus on your split routines for several months you will be able to attempt the granddaddy of splits- the giant set. That involves doing all your movements for a given body part in a stagger,i.e. one set right after another. That's some radical training! Your servant, as always.
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Comment by Claire S
Thanks for this! I was actually wondering how to split up muscle groups. Now I know how to do it right (I guess I figured wrong on what to do on my own).
Keep it up.