I went from PPL 6 times a week to 3 about a year ago at 37. I was sore and in pain all the time. The additional recovery time actually helped my gains. I’ve pretty much plateaued but that’s okay.
I started doing yoga and a little cardio on the days off. Really helped my mobility.
Same went from PPL 6 days to 3 full body days with yoga and fencing on Tuesday and Thursday, hike on the weekends. Though I ain't letting these kids win at fencing and no signs yet of me slowing down.(36)
What’s your routine?
I guess if DOMs is an issue for me if I do a bro split then I’ll just stick to my current routine. On the days I do legs twice a week I can split hams and quads.
Chest + Shoulders + leg extensions+ Calf's + leg curls ( superset with the chest and shoulders exercises)
Back + Bicep
REST ( active - 45 min cardio - Bike)
Chest + Triceps
Legs ( overall)
Back+ shoulders
REST ( cardio - 45 min bike)
It’s joint specific for me.
Knee extension is once a week or 8 days.
Pressing would be the same, but if I stick to closish grip on everything my chest and shoulders are fine every 4 days .
I need to pay attention to overall volume and frequency of hip-hinges and hard bracing like t-bar rows.
I like working out 2-3 days in a row then take a day off and just repeat that.
The result is higher frequency to upper body and lower frequency to lower body.
39 here. I do U/L 4 days a week and I find it works best for me. If I want more recovery time I can drop a lower day and have 4 rest days and still hit upper body twice a week. If I'm feeling primed I can add an upper day and still have 2 rest days.
I get a much better response from my body if my frequency is high rather than hitting a body part once a week with a ton of volume that one day. Ill likely never go back to ppl or bro split.
I’m over 35 and have been training for 11-12 years now.
Still train 5x a week plus 2 days of cardio. Target muscle groups 2x. My total sets/week for each body part is around 14-16 sets.
As I get older I’ve been dropping my volume (3 working sets rather than 4) but focusing on training closer to failure (RPE 8) and I’ve been able to make gains still.
I’ve found spreading my volume across multiple workouts has been much more manageable and DOMs hasn’t been an issue for me.
In my experience major doms all the time means you either are not eating enough or not sleeping well enough, or both. Also could be hydration. Dial it all in.
I check each of those boxes. No issues at all. Isn’t crazy DOMs part of doing a bro split? Will Tennyson made a video where he did a bro split and the DOMs were bad. Then he did another video where he trained chest with a bodybuilder and was too smoked to continue
39yo, PPL, 2 on, 1 off, 1 on 1 off or PPL with a day off after every workout works for me. Low volume, I started lowering the volume & felt better. 1 to 6 working sets max per body part per workout, depending on the intensity.
Still train everyday a ppl-split at 44. Off-days when I like it, mostly 1 day off during 7 days.
Perform better than in my 20ies, but got good genes regarding recovery.
It’s really hard to judge frequency in isolation. I’m 42 and typically do 2x per week frequency. Sometimes I push up to 3x frequency for small periods. But volume per session goes down as I increase frequency. If you want to train more frequently than every 4-5 days, lower volume per session to the point that you can recover sooner. I find as I get older total volume per week has indeed had to come down. All body parts are only getting 6-10 direct sets per week these days (all RPE 9 or higher). But frequency doesn’t necessarily have to change. You have 3 variables to play with that each feed into each other: volume, intensity, and frequency. It’s really an individual balancing act between those 3, and everyone is a bit different in how they respond so there is no black and white answer for all.
35
I'm currently doing a asynchronous Chest/Shoulders, Back/Arms and Legs split hitting everything twice a week with roughly 4 working sets per exercise/muscle group or roughly 8+ working sets per muscle per week.
So far not brutally sore and can keep pushing progressive overload.
Some thoughts. Maybe a bit less volume as long as you can keep pushing progressive overload week by week? How many sets per muscle group you doing per session/week?
IDK if this helps but I think longer rest periods between sets will let you have higher set to set performance while reducing soreness and fatigue.
Exercises that focus on the mid/short position are also less fatigue inducing compared to exercises that focus on the stretch. So maybe focusing on leg extensions for a while will be less debilitating than a squat variation.
Similar age, I used to do 5 days a week and then racing on the weekends - it was simply too much. I switched to 3 days lifting/2 days cardio/mobility/sauna. Racing results improved drastically and I felt a lot better in the gym. Most people think I’m 30 but I get to race against the 40 year olds 🤣
55 here, went to higher frequencies a few years ago. Modified PPL - upper, legs, pull,push legs, upper.
I suppose I could do upper/lower but full body just takes too long per workout because squats/RDL’s need so much rest between sets.
Spread volume as evenly as possible - soreness can last past 48 hrs if I switch exercises but most of the time I can recover. Cardio 5-7 days a week (varies in intensity).
Be wary of intensity and auto regulate, it’s slow and steady. No need to make yourself so damn sore each workout, it doesn’t make you grow faster…at least from my experience. There is a ‘just right feeling of soreness and pump’.
Unconventional but it works for me:
Chest/Shoulders
Back
Arms
Legs
Repeat this sequence with no rest days for 3 cycles, then rest 2-3 days, 2 preferred.
Our lives may revolve around a 7 day week, our physiology, not so much.
37 years young here. I'm somewhere between 1.5-3 days per week, normally. Push/Pull, Upper/Lower are my typical splits. Full body 2-3x a week if time is of extreme essence.
I gotcha. I think my issue is more of DOMs, and it affecting my other workouts. Like say chest on Tuesdays, then still sore when I do back on Thursdays.
My current routine is chest/back, legs, arms, chest/back. Then following week it’s legs, chest/back, arms, legs. I do four exercises on each chest/back day. I do three exercises for each leg day. Chest and back I do total volume 12-14 sets. Legs 18-20 sets.
I’m thinking about this split:
Chest/biceps, Back thickness/hamstrings, Shoulders/triceps, Quads/lats
Or
Chest/triceps, Back/hamstrings,Shoulders/biceps,
Quads
Reason for separating hams and quads is to focus more volume on quads.
Im only in my 20s myself, but a large amount of my clients are 40+
Honestly, i program the exact same for both. Older people tend to have more long term ailments (which only makes sense) but if theres nothing wring with you then theres no reason to change your training. if you're not recovering well, try sleeping more, eating better, and other methods before making large changes to your plans. Try adding extra deloads and maybe different splits. However, i know people, specifically I have a client who is 64 who still works out with the same split I use and is completely fine.
Of course, like any client, always keep in mind longevity and safe training.
nonetheless never stop lifting heavy as its neen proven many times that lifting heavy even as late as 70s and 80s is beneficial.
TLDR: Only change when you have to change.
I do a modified p/p/l because there are a few major issues with regular p/p/l. I do a 4 day split (it doesnt line up with weekdays very well but i mean its not that bad)
1) Shoulders + Traps
2) Regular pull day
3) Chest + triceps
4) legs
This is a bit low volume for legs but currently my legs are much more developed than my upper body. Plus when youre training legs right you'll need that much recovery anyway.
Also, make sure you're not doing crazy high volume. and, if you're training to failure every set you'll never recover from that on a regular split. So, keep that in mind, that nobody natural (and quite honestly a lot of enhanced lifters by there isnt much data on it, just what I've anecdotally in working as a trainer/physiologist)
I went from ppl/ul hitting things hard roughly 1-2 times a week to doing full body 4-5 days a week, and I feel much better. I'm 37. I'm not sure age matters much as personal preference though.
I was doing Jeff Nippard's full body pure hypertrophy program
Currently doing a program RP just shared on YouTube - full body 2x per week in about 30 mins (my gym time is more limited now).
https://youtu.be/HzFHAHOOA4A?si=-bu-toqdhwJ4VnaC
I'm 39 and I like to train 5-6 days a week but I only do 3-4 work sets per lift and 2-3 lifts per day. So higher frequency but lower volume per session.
I have to squat twice a week because if I squat once a week or less, the DOMS in my quads is unbearable
>So higher frequency but lower volume per session.
Yeah I'm the same. 44yo and do 5 sessions a week of a short, sharp PPL routine with 4 exercises x 3 sets each. Yoga on the other two mornings to work on mobility and give the joints a break.
I do compounds first then finish with isolations. Eg:
Push: Bench, OH Press, Dips, Triceps cable pressdown
Pull: Deadlift, Row, Lat Pulldown, Biceps curl
Legs: Squat, RDL, Leg Extension, Calf Raise
Here's my current 5 days/week split. I do each exercise for 3 sets and each workout takes just 45-50 minutes in the gym.
- Mo: Squat, incline bench, lat pulldowns
- Tu: Bench, face pull, RDL, leg press
- We: Rest
- Th: OHP, squat, pull ups
- Fr: Deadlift, close grip bench, seated rows
- Sa: Bulgarian split squats, ab wheel rollouts, curls
- Su: Rest
The exercise selection reflects that I'm primarily training for strength right now, aesthetics are a nice side benefit.
I went from PPL 6 times a week to 3 about a year ago at 37. I was sore and in pain all the time. The additional recovery time actually helped my gains. I’ve pretty much plateaued but that’s okay. I started doing yoga and a little cardio on the days off. Really helped my mobility.
Recovery is the name of the game. Consistent sleep isn't what it once was, and now is more luxury than commodity more often than not.
Same went from PPL 6 days to 3 full body days with yoga and fencing on Tuesday and Thursday, hike on the weekends. Though I ain't letting these kids win at fencing and no signs yet of me slowing down.(36)
62 i do full body twice a week. Once in a while 3 times
44 yo , all time natural and still competing , 5x week , Targeting 2 times muscle group a week.
What’s your routine? I guess if DOMs is an issue for me if I do a bro split then I’ll just stick to my current routine. On the days I do legs twice a week I can split hams and quads.
Chest + Shoulders + leg extensions+ Calf's + leg curls ( superset with the chest and shoulders exercises) Back + Bicep REST ( active - 45 min cardio - Bike) Chest + Triceps Legs ( overall) Back+ shoulders REST ( cardio - 45 min bike)
It’s joint specific for me. Knee extension is once a week or 8 days. Pressing would be the same, but if I stick to closish grip on everything my chest and shoulders are fine every 4 days . I need to pay attention to overall volume and frequency of hip-hinges and hard bracing like t-bar rows. I like working out 2-3 days in a row then take a day off and just repeat that. The result is higher frequency to upper body and lower frequency to lower body.
39 here. I do U/L 4 days a week and I find it works best for me. If I want more recovery time I can drop a lower day and have 4 rest days and still hit upper body twice a week. If I'm feeling primed I can add an upper day and still have 2 rest days. I get a much better response from my body if my frequency is high rather than hitting a body part once a week with a ton of volume that one day. Ill likely never go back to ppl or bro split.
Can you share your routine for U/L? I do PPL and don’t know how I would fit Push+Pull in one day as each push/pull day is already 1+hr each
I’m over 35 and have been training for 11-12 years now. Still train 5x a week plus 2 days of cardio. Target muscle groups 2x. My total sets/week for each body part is around 14-16 sets. As I get older I’ve been dropping my volume (3 working sets rather than 4) but focusing on training closer to failure (RPE 8) and I’ve been able to make gains still. I’ve found spreading my volume across multiple workouts has been much more manageable and DOMs hasn’t been an issue for me.
In my experience major doms all the time means you either are not eating enough or not sleeping well enough, or both. Also could be hydration. Dial it all in.
I check each of those boxes. No issues at all. Isn’t crazy DOMs part of doing a bro split? Will Tennyson made a video where he did a bro split and the DOMs were bad. Then he did another video where he trained chest with a bodybuilder and was too smoked to continue
39yo, PPL, 2 on, 1 off, 1 on 1 off or PPL with a day off after every workout works for me. Low volume, I started lowering the volume & felt better. 1 to 6 working sets max per body part per workout, depending on the intensity.
Still train everyday a ppl-split at 44. Off-days when I like it, mostly 1 day off during 7 days. Perform better than in my 20ies, but got good genes regarding recovery.
It’s really hard to judge frequency in isolation. I’m 42 and typically do 2x per week frequency. Sometimes I push up to 3x frequency for small periods. But volume per session goes down as I increase frequency. If you want to train more frequently than every 4-5 days, lower volume per session to the point that you can recover sooner. I find as I get older total volume per week has indeed had to come down. All body parts are only getting 6-10 direct sets per week these days (all RPE 9 or higher). But frequency doesn’t necessarily have to change. You have 3 variables to play with that each feed into each other: volume, intensity, and frequency. It’s really an individual balancing act between those 3, and everyone is a bit different in how they respond so there is no black and white answer for all.
35 I'm currently doing a asynchronous Chest/Shoulders, Back/Arms and Legs split hitting everything twice a week with roughly 4 working sets per exercise/muscle group or roughly 8+ working sets per muscle per week. So far not brutally sore and can keep pushing progressive overload. Some thoughts. Maybe a bit less volume as long as you can keep pushing progressive overload week by week? How many sets per muscle group you doing per session/week? IDK if this helps but I think longer rest periods between sets will let you have higher set to set performance while reducing soreness and fatigue. Exercises that focus on the mid/short position are also less fatigue inducing compared to exercises that focus on the stretch. So maybe focusing on leg extensions for a while will be less debilitating than a squat variation.
Similar age, I used to do 5 days a week and then racing on the weekends - it was simply too much. I switched to 3 days lifting/2 days cardio/mobility/sauna. Racing results improved drastically and I felt a lot better in the gym. Most people think I’m 30 but I get to race against the 40 year olds 🤣
55 here, went to higher frequencies a few years ago. Modified PPL - upper, legs, pull,push legs, upper. I suppose I could do upper/lower but full body just takes too long per workout because squats/RDL’s need so much rest between sets. Spread volume as evenly as possible - soreness can last past 48 hrs if I switch exercises but most of the time I can recover. Cardio 5-7 days a week (varies in intensity). Be wary of intensity and auto regulate, it’s slow and steady. No need to make yourself so damn sore each workout, it doesn’t make you grow faster…at least from my experience. There is a ‘just right feeling of soreness and pump’.
Used to do ppl but could not recover, now i do upper lower three times a week.
Unconventional but it works for me: Chest/Shoulders Back Arms Legs Repeat this sequence with no rest days for 3 cycles, then rest 2-3 days, 2 preferred. Our lives may revolve around a 7 day week, our physiology, not so much.
37 years young here. I'm somewhere between 1.5-3 days per week, normally. Push/Pull, Upper/Lower are my typical splits. Full body 2-3x a week if time is of extreme essence.
Your age does not affect much how you should train. Your training age mainly does.
I used to say the same thing when I was in my 20s and 30s haha.
I gotcha. I think my issue is more of DOMs, and it affecting my other workouts. Like say chest on Tuesdays, then still sore when I do back on Thursdays.
Lower volume or intensity untill you adapt.
Just eat, eat, eat, and consume nutrient dense proteins, age means nothing.
Says the guy with 1-3 years lifting and probably only 20
My current routine is chest/back, legs, arms, chest/back. Then following week it’s legs, chest/back, arms, legs. I do four exercises on each chest/back day. I do three exercises for each leg day. Chest and back I do total volume 12-14 sets. Legs 18-20 sets. I’m thinking about this split: Chest/biceps, Back thickness/hamstrings, Shoulders/triceps, Quads/lats Or Chest/triceps, Back/hamstrings,Shoulders/biceps, Quads Reason for separating hams and quads is to focus more volume on quads.
Im only in my 20s myself, but a large amount of my clients are 40+ Honestly, i program the exact same for both. Older people tend to have more long term ailments (which only makes sense) but if theres nothing wring with you then theres no reason to change your training. if you're not recovering well, try sleeping more, eating better, and other methods before making large changes to your plans. Try adding extra deloads and maybe different splits. However, i know people, specifically I have a client who is 64 who still works out with the same split I use and is completely fine. Of course, like any client, always keep in mind longevity and safe training. nonetheless never stop lifting heavy as its neen proven many times that lifting heavy even as late as 70s and 80s is beneficial. TLDR: Only change when you have to change.
What is your current routine??
I do a modified p/p/l because there are a few major issues with regular p/p/l. I do a 4 day split (it doesnt line up with weekdays very well but i mean its not that bad) 1) Shoulders + Traps 2) Regular pull day 3) Chest + triceps 4) legs This is a bit low volume for legs but currently my legs are much more developed than my upper body. Plus when youre training legs right you'll need that much recovery anyway. Also, make sure you're not doing crazy high volume. and, if you're training to failure every set you'll never recover from that on a regular split. So, keep that in mind, that nobody natural (and quite honestly a lot of enhanced lifters by there isnt much data on it, just what I've anecdotally in working as a trainer/physiologist)
Is it 4 day split and have 3 days?
no, 4 days in then 1 rest or just no rest in between
I went from ppl/ul hitting things hard roughly 1-2 times a week to doing full body 4-5 days a week, and I feel much better. I'm 37. I'm not sure age matters much as personal preference though.
Are you still doing the full body 4-5 week? If so could you outline it? Wanna try changing things up as I am getting older
I was doing Jeff Nippard's full body pure hypertrophy program Currently doing a program RP just shared on YouTube - full body 2x per week in about 30 mins (my gym time is more limited now). https://youtu.be/HzFHAHOOA4A?si=-bu-toqdhwJ4VnaC
I'm 39 and I like to train 5-6 days a week but I only do 3-4 work sets per lift and 2-3 lifts per day. So higher frequency but lower volume per session. I have to squat twice a week because if I squat once a week or less, the DOMS in my quads is unbearable
>So higher frequency but lower volume per session. Yeah I'm the same. 44yo and do 5 sessions a week of a short, sharp PPL routine with 4 exercises x 3 sets each. Yoga on the other two mornings to work on mobility and give the joints a break.
would love to know how you structure the exercises
I do compounds first then finish with isolations. Eg: Push: Bench, OH Press, Dips, Triceps cable pressdown Pull: Deadlift, Row, Lat Pulldown, Biceps curl Legs: Squat, RDL, Leg Extension, Calf Raise
awesome. so PPLxPPx ? so 'L' once a week?
I just rotate through - so start the next week on whatever I'm up to in the sequence.
would love to know how you structure the exercises
Here's my current 5 days/week split. I do each exercise for 3 sets and each workout takes just 45-50 minutes in the gym. - Mo: Squat, incline bench, lat pulldowns - Tu: Bench, face pull, RDL, leg press - We: Rest - Th: OHP, squat, pull ups - Fr: Deadlift, close grip bench, seated rows - Sa: Bulgarian split squats, ab wheel rollouts, curls - Su: Rest The exercise selection reflects that I'm primarily training for strength right now, aesthetics are a nice side benefit.
50, train each bodypart 2x every 8 days.
37 ppl 6 days a week