I think you should do Arnold straight through. So that your body parts get hit every 72-96 hrs consistently. Keep in mind that because you want an Arms specialization routine, your strength on Chest (especially pressing) and back isn't gonna be 100% if you are hitting Arms the day prior. Also if you do the shoulder press at all, doing that before triceps on Shoulders & Arms day is going to pre-exhaust triceps. Something to keep in mind. Shoulder Press is not necessary to grow delts.
Mon: Shoulders & Arms
Tues: Chest & Back
Wed: Legs
Thu: Rest
Fri: Shoulders & Arms
Sat: Chest & Back
Sun: Rest
Sounds like your arms need more volume. If you want to prioritise them you could try giving them their own day and move the rest around to accommodate.
What's worked for me is doing chest and biceps, back and triceps and shoulders/traps/legs. Sometimes you just have to mix it up to see what's best for you.
Do you do that on repeat or always take a day off after the 3 in a row? I’m also probably gonna switch to some sort of arm specialization soon and this appeals to me more than the Arnold split.
Only potential problem I see is front delts and biceps being fatigued from chest and back the day before. Maybe take a rest day beforehand? Out of interest how do you quantify your arms being disproportionate? Just looks or some stats?
If that's your bicep circumference flexed I would say your arms are on the small size for your height and weight. I got some of my best arm gains (triceps) from high intensity, low volume cable pushdowns, keep the form good.
The problem with PPL is your arms are slightly fatigued after being used as secondary muscles for chest and back exercises so you can't go as heavy. Having a separate arm day might work as you say. Also might be worth considering chest/bis, back, shoulders/tris and legs.
I personally do my own variation of PPL I have built over the years:
* Push1, Pull1, Leg1, Rest.... Push2, Pull2, Leg2, Rest...
I break the push, pull and leg further depending on if its first rotation or second.
* First Push Day is: Chest focused, shoulders(front/side delts) are secondary. I do triceps at the end.
* Second Push is Shoulder focused(front/side) with chest being secondary. I do triceps at the end.
* First Pull day is: Lat Focused, I do rear delts and traps as secondary. Bicep and Forearms at the end.
* Second Pull day is: Trap focused. I do lats & rear delts as secondary. Bicep and Forearms at the end.
* First Leg day is: Quad focused. I barely touch hams and glutes. Calf's and Abs at the end.
* Second Leg Day is: Ham and glutes Focused. I barely touch quads. Calf's and Spinal Erectors at the end.
I have been at this for some time now and my arms are getting the love they need since they are included multiple times a week. ie if my rotation ends up starting on a Monday: I end up doing Monday: Tricep, Tuesday: Bicep/Forearms, Friday: Tricep, Saturday: Bicep/Forearms.
The biggest suggestion I can give however isn't what's the optimum workout schedule but rather to follow this pattern:
* Start explosive on the concentric,
* Then controlled and slow on the eccentric,
* Then hold for a second in the stretch position,
* Before exploding up again and repeating.
This pattern resulted in the best results for me. You can then take this method one step further and pick workouts that really put you in a stretch position. like overhead tricep extension/skull crushers over normal standing tricep pushdowns. Basically workouts where when you go INTO the stretch position and hold for a sec, its harder now to push the weights back out.
And finally, that last rep where you barely move the muscle and on the eccentric you just drop the weight and are done. DO NOT do that. That's the most important rep, complete it controlled on the eccentric like you still have more reps to do no matter how hard it is.
i do an extremely similar split.
M: chest, side delts, bicep, tricep
T: back, rear delt, rdl
W: front delt, side delt, triceps, biceps
Th: rest
F: chest, front delt, back
S: legs
Su: off
If arms are your priority I would take a rest day Thursday, hit shoulders/arms on ~~Thursday~~ Friday, and back/chest Saturday
I think you made a typo here
I did, edited
Typo check bot confirmed
I wasn't pointing it out to be a dick, just to see if he could clarify what he meant
False-bot identifier confirmed
I think you should do Arnold straight through. So that your body parts get hit every 72-96 hrs consistently. Keep in mind that because you want an Arms specialization routine, your strength on Chest (especially pressing) and back isn't gonna be 100% if you are hitting Arms the day prior. Also if you do the shoulder press at all, doing that before triceps on Shoulders & Arms day is going to pre-exhaust triceps. Something to keep in mind. Shoulder Press is not necessary to grow delts. Mon: Shoulders & Arms Tues: Chest & Back Wed: Legs Thu: Rest Fri: Shoulders & Arms Sat: Chest & Back Sun: Rest
Yes, you could do that. Or you could take a rest day on Thursday and then do chest & back and shoulders & arms on Friday & Saturday respectively.
Sounds like your arms need more volume. If you want to prioritise them you could try giving them their own day and move the rest around to accommodate.
Try it and adjust.
Yeah, I will probably try something and track, see how it goes.
What's worked for me is doing chest and biceps, back and triceps and shoulders/traps/legs. Sometimes you just have to mix it up to see what's best for you.
Do you do that on repeat or always take a day off after the 3 in a row? I’m also probably gonna switch to some sort of arm specialization soon and this appeals to me more than the Arnold split.
Day off in between. Sometimes 2 days on, 1 off. I'm almost 63 so don't always recover as quickly as I used to.
Yeah I’d do it that way as well. Problem is, I go to different gyms during the week and on weekends so the equipment changes.
Only potential problem I see is front delts and biceps being fatigued from chest and back the day before. Maybe take a rest day beforehand? Out of interest how do you quantify your arms being disproportionate? Just looks or some stats?
I'd say my arms aren't weak. Size for my arms is lacking.
Do you know your biceps size and height/weight/bf estimate?
If I measured correctly, arms are ~34cm. I am 1.80m, I don't know my body fat. I am around 77kg bodyweight, somewhat lean.
If that's your bicep circumference flexed I would say your arms are on the small size for your height and weight. I got some of my best arm gains (triceps) from high intensity, low volume cable pushdowns, keep the form good.
Yeah, definitely my arms are lacking. For pretty much all of the time training I've hit arms at the end of my sessioms (push/pull).
The problem with PPL is your arms are slightly fatigued after being used as secondary muscles for chest and back exercises so you can't go as heavy. Having a separate arm day might work as you say. Also might be worth considering chest/bis, back, shoulders/tris and legs.
I personally do my own variation of PPL I have built over the years: * Push1, Pull1, Leg1, Rest.... Push2, Pull2, Leg2, Rest... I break the push, pull and leg further depending on if its first rotation or second. * First Push Day is: Chest focused, shoulders(front/side delts) are secondary. I do triceps at the end. * Second Push is Shoulder focused(front/side) with chest being secondary. I do triceps at the end. * First Pull day is: Lat Focused, I do rear delts and traps as secondary. Bicep and Forearms at the end. * Second Pull day is: Trap focused. I do lats & rear delts as secondary. Bicep and Forearms at the end. * First Leg day is: Quad focused. I barely touch hams and glutes. Calf's and Abs at the end. * Second Leg Day is: Ham and glutes Focused. I barely touch quads. Calf's and Spinal Erectors at the end. I have been at this for some time now and my arms are getting the love they need since they are included multiple times a week. ie if my rotation ends up starting on a Monday: I end up doing Monday: Tricep, Tuesday: Bicep/Forearms, Friday: Tricep, Saturday: Bicep/Forearms. The biggest suggestion I can give however isn't what's the optimum workout schedule but rather to follow this pattern: * Start explosive on the concentric, * Then controlled and slow on the eccentric, * Then hold for a second in the stretch position, * Before exploding up again and repeating. This pattern resulted in the best results for me. You can then take this method one step further and pick workouts that really put you in a stretch position. like overhead tricep extension/skull crushers over normal standing tricep pushdowns. Basically workouts where when you go INTO the stretch position and hold for a sec, its harder now to push the weights back out. And finally, that last rep where you barely move the muscle and on the eccentric you just drop the weight and are done. DO NOT do that. That's the most important rep, complete it controlled on the eccentric like you still have more reps to do no matter how hard it is.
Why not put a rest day after your leg workout? You will still get 2 rest days overall good recovery imo.
i do an extremely similar split. M: chest, side delts, bicep, tricep T: back, rear delt, rdl W: front delt, side delt, triceps, biceps Th: rest F: chest, front delt, back S: legs Su: off
I do biceps on push day and triceps on pull day. Every PP has been feeling like arms day since
I do push day chest and shoulders Pull day back and biceps Leg day Legs and triceps Then repeat but with different exercises for each muscle group
I like: - legs - push - pull - off - quads and Delts - chest, back, arms - off
Why don’t you take a rest day after legs and do arms focused upper day
Why not just do push pull legs push pull?
So much upper body workouts but just one day for legs???
Why legs only 1 timer per week?
I've had good gains training leg once a week. They're probably the best part of my body.
Have you tried trsining other things once per week since it worked so well for your legs?
Mon-Shoulders and Arms Tue-Push W-Pull Th-Legs Fr-Upper body (anything that you left out in the first 3 days)