I'm trying to come up with a 4 day split routine for when I come off my cut, training each body part once a week (although most will be hit as secondary groups as well). As I've been training with 3 full body workouts a week for about a year now (on and off) I thought it'd be good to go for a big change - I've also tried to throw in as many 'new' exercises as possible.

This is the split I've got in mind - I'm not sure about set/rep patterns as yet but volume is going to be pretty high. I was tempted to throw in extra exercises each day (e.g. T-bars on back day) but as I've not trained with so much volume for a while it'd probably be wise to keep it as is for the timebeing.

Any thoughts appreciated

Sunday - Back & Triceps
Deadlifts or rack deads
Dumbbell rows (never done these)
Hammer grip chins (rarely do these)
Wide grip dip
Close grip decline bench (never done these)

Monday - Legs
Full squat
Split squat (instead of lunges - never done these)
RDL
Calf raise

Wednesday - Chest & Biceps
Incline dumbbell press
Decline bench press
Cable cross over (never done these)
Incline DB curl (with grip variations)
DB preacher curl

Thursday - Shoulders & Core
Front squat
Clean & press
DB shoulder press
Lateral raise (neglected these and it shows )
Cable wood chops (never done these)

Very similar to my thinking before I started my current split. Only real difference in your split is you've moved shoulders from leg day to core day... I might do the same when I up the calories. A few thoughts on each day...

Monday - I see DB Rows as more of a finisher than real mass builder like hammer chins, therefor I'd do the chins first... though there's nothing wrong with switching them around each time like I plan to do.
Wide-grip dips don't hit my triceps that hard, are you trying to hit the chest aswell as a kind of secondry day? Again this is how I was thinking when planning my split.

Tuesday - I don't like split squats or lunges, knee wreckers for me, you might be different... take it easy with them!

Wednesday - I like it, then I would it's pretty much same as I do except I do Gironda Dips instead of bench.

Thursday - Again I like it but I'd do the HC2PP first maybe?? Alternate would be good I suppose. LOL @ your comment on the lat raise, I've just introduced them again after neglecting them for years

Why not try this:

1. Chest & Back
2. Legs
3. Bi's & Tri's
4. Shoulders, Calves & Core

health4ni wrote:Why not try this:

1. Chest & Back
2. Legs
3. Bi's & Tri's
4. Shoulders, Calves & Core

Must admit I would also favour this split but then I love supersetting Chest and Back.

I'm almost tempted to swap my 5 day for this and include a couple of true cardio days instead of using days off work for Cardio in the morings and weights in the evenings.

I'll not lie to you: this is a split that Poliquin favours for the majority of his clients (of ocurse he varies them so much, but as a general rule this is probably his favourite).

I have done the split ollie posted above. It was ok. Again varying things is good. And I've done each body part on it's own too: Chest, then back, then bi's, then tri's then shoulders. This was just too much hassle to be honest.

Anyway, since I've done the one I suggested above I've made the best progress in my training in many years. I'm the strongest and leanest I've ever been, and I'd say that this split is a defo big factor in that.

And I'm of the opinion that you could do such a split (and others I guess) for a prolonged period as long as there is variation within it: sets, reps, tempo, rest, exercises. Which is what I try to do.

Thanks guys

Bison - yes I would mix the order of the exercises up, perhaps every other week or so. Again this is something I haven't done in the past. Also - yes I was planning on hitting each muscle group on a secondary day - legs would be hit with deads and front squats outside of the primary legs day, chest would be hit with the wide dips, arms during back and chest days etc...

I've done lunges before and whilst I'm reasonably strong on them I'm sure they're not doing my knees any favours. Split squats should help in that regard as there's no 'impact' giving a risk of twisting - that was my reason for including them over lunges anyway.

Alex wrote:

health4ni wrote:Why not try this:

1. Chest & Back
2. Legs
3. Bi's & Tri's
4. Shoulders, Calves & Core

Must admit I would also favour this split but then I love supersetting Chest and Back.

I'm almost tempted to swap my 5 day for this and include a couple of true cardio days instead of using days off work for Cardio in the morings and weights in the evenings.

NI & Alex - that's the other split I considered. I trained with a similar 3 day split for a period last year (chest/back, legs, shoulders/arms) and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure that training chest and back together is optimal for me though, although it's certainly my favoured approach for a 3 day split - I was considering it but want a true change to something completely new...I've only ever trained an upper/lower split over 4 days previously.

I think the biggest problem with it is the bi's/tri's day. However hard I fry my arms I never feel as though I've worked that hard - I think it's important to include some multi-joint movements in every workout to maximise GH release and the like as well, although the difference it makes is minimal.

What about volume? I'm almost certainly going to use some HIT techniques where I can, although these will be limited as I don't have a training partner

ok, then to hit your arms better do Chest Dips on chest day, and supinated (palms facing) close grip chin-ups on back day.

health4ni wrote:ok, then to hit your arms better do Chest Dips on chest day, and supinated (palms facing) close grip chin-ups on back day.

Sounds like a plan Although would you not agree that close grip supinated pulldowns allow you to focus on the biceps better than a chin variant?

^^ nope. So long as you can do chins (6+ reps) you'll be fine. Make sure you lower to full arm lockout in about 3-4 secs

That's how I do them...thanks Scott

health4ni wrote:Why not try this:

1. Chest & Back
2. Legs
3. Bi's & Tri's
4. Shoulders, Calves & Core

The trouble I find with this split is where do deadlifts go?

I'm also with Ollie as I don't like a full session set aside just for arms. The chins and dips is the plan I had in mind but again this falls back to where the deadlifts go because...

Do the Deadlifts on Day 1 and you'll need to be squatting on Day 2.
Do Deadlifts on Day 2 with legs and not only will you need to squat same day but Back will have been hammered from Day 1. Also if doing chins on arms day then the back gets hit again.

For this reason I came very close to dropping deads altogether. Such a pain to incorporate into a split bodybuilding routine.

err Deadlifts go in a legs day.

And since most people do Squats, like Ollie, then best to do RDLs. Much more of a posterior chain exercise targeting Hams, glutes & lower back

So you're saying drop deadlifts?

Just do Romanian Deadlifts instead.

I don't have too much of a problem squatting and deadlifting on consecutive days, although I prefer not to. I'd personally do it on day 1 as I consider it to be more 'back' than 'legs'...

I also class deadlifts as a major back exercise, I'd be very hard pushed to do them on a leg day anyway and certainly not straight after a back workout, that's just asking for trouble..!?

It's so much easier to just leave deadlifts out like Health4ni says but I can't think of a single other exercise that's helped me pack on some quality mass like deadlifts... maybe HC2PP comes close?

at the risk of sounding like a senior citizen and repeating myself, why not simply do RDLs instead of Deadlifts on legs day?

Yes they work your back, but I find they are more upper hams and glutes. RDLs are a hip extension exercise if done correctly. When you lower the weight you should feel the hams get stretched like when you try to touch your toes. Then as you come up fast you push the hips forward. It is a legs exercise if done correctly imo.

I'm doing both Rack DL'd and RDL's on a Legs day after Squats and find these absolutely fine to be honest.

health4ni wrote:at the risk of sounding like a senior citizen and repeating myself, why not simply do RDLs instead of Deadlifts on legs day?

Yes they work your back, but I find they are more upper hams and glutes. RDLs are a hip extension exercise if done correctly. When you lower the weight you should feel the hams get stretched like when you try to touch your toes. Then as you come up fast you push the hips forward. It is a legs exercise if done correctly imo.

RDL's are great and I do them on legs day after squats, they're unrivalled for hitting the hammy's

They aren't a direct replacement for deadlifts though in my eyes, no other exercise can add thickness to the back like dead's. They bring my traps, middle and lower back on a treat.

The 4 day split I'm working on now is like Alex is saying and using rack deads instead, I think this is a good compromise? Though I'll be doing them on back day.

How about snatch grip RDLs off a 4" platform? They are very good at working the mid & upper back too. Need a lower weight due to wide gripping position.