Anyone looking to add a big chunk of weight to your collection at a great price, Bells of Steel has a pair of 100 pound plates going for $229.99 right now:

Black Edition Mighty Grip Plates - Bells Of Steel USA

Those are actually the plates I bought last year. I need to get more and I love the economical idea of 100# plates, but I feel like I am more likely to injure myself from loading the bar than performing the movement.

Absolute win.

I'd like some input on full body vs body part split.

In the past (I've been lifting for approx 10 years) I've run body part splits, combining compounds and accessory work, but splitting into body part days either by push or pull, or some other form of splitting up the week.

As I've aged, I've felt more joint pain in certain areas, and so I've turned to full body workouts for the past few months. Its let me increase my volume in certain areas (ex: Legs) but I've also had my joints recover faster. They just overall feel better.

For example - rather than having a leg day or 2, every day is now leg day. 5 days a week there is some leg focused exercise in the workout. By the end of the week, I've put in more volume than when I had leg days, and my joints feel great bc there was never a day where I "blasted" my legs (and joints). Same goes for elbows - my other joint that generally angry at me. No more arm day - now every day has an arm component.

Thoughts on full body vs part/bro split and its impact on muscle growth and recovery?

That depends entirely on what your goal is. If it's just overall fitness, muscle maintenance, etc., it's not a bad approach. If you're trying to add a bunch of muscle mass and increase strength, specialization is almost always a better approach.

TikkaShooter said:

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I'd like some input on full body vs body part split.

In the past (I've been lifting for approx 10 years) I've run body part splits, combining compounds and accessory work, but splitting into body part days either by push or pull, or some other form of splitting up the week.

As I've aged, I've felt more joint pain in certain areas, and so I've turned to full body workouts for the past few months. Its let me increase my volume in certain areas (ex: Legs) but I've also had my joints recover faster. They just overall feel better.

For example - rather than having a leg day or 2, every day is now leg day. 5 days a week there is some leg focused exercise in the workout. By the end of the week, I've put in more volume than when I had leg days, and my joints feel great bc there was never a day where I "blasted" my legs (and joints). Same goes for elbows - my other joint that generally angry at me. No more arm day - now every day has an arm component.

Thoughts on full body vs part/bro split and its impact on muscle growth and recovery?

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Age? Weight? Goals?

(For me, I'm 41, I respond better to full body stuff, especially for strength). For very specific body building routines, I can see bro splits having their uses.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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That depends entirely on what your goal is. If it's just overall fitness, muscle maintenance, etc., it's not a bad approach. If you're trying to add a bunch of muscle mass and increase strength, specialization is almost always a better approach.

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Maybe Im not quite understanding, but for overall strength, just the heavy compound lifts (which end up being mostly a "full body workout) seems to be one of the better ways to go about it.

Also, because I have no where else to go....

After long last...after MUCH trial and tribulation as documented on this thread...I'm a terrible squatter.

I finally hit 315, to depth, with damn near perfect form. I know its not alot of weight, but man...squats are real hard for me due to body proportions, Feeling pretty good about that.

I train more for hypertrophy than strength, so I've done pretty well with an upper/lower 4 day a week split because it allows me to hit major muscle groups twice a week at least. For my legs, I combine Smith machine high-bar squats with lying leg curls, and the other "lower" day I do romanian deadlifts + leg extensions. However, I'll sometimes swap out the squats for walking lunges or split squats

It gives me a good combo of compound and isolated movements for my legs. But I also do some very isolated work on the "lower" days like overhead triceps extensions or lateral raises. I find my recovery is pretty good at this point, but it definitely took a while to work up to this capacity

My understanding has always been that not giving rest days between certain muscle groups hinders your maximal strength and hypertrophy gains. Your muscles need recovery time. I do compound lifts every day but I split them by 48 hours in terms of similar muscle groups. My squat and deadlift days are Monday and Friday distance from each other. Bench and OHP are T/Th.

Periodization in overall programming also works the same way … it's all about the need to plan for progressive overload without overtraining.

Beau Holder said:

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My understanding has always been that not giving rest days between certain muscle groups hinders your maximal strength and hypertrophy gains. Your muscles need recovery time. I do compound lifts every day but I split them by 48 hours in terms of similar muscle groups. My squat and deadlift days are Monday and Friday distance from each other. Bench and OHP are T/Th.

Periodization in overall programming also works the same way … it's all about the need to plan for progressive overload without overtraining.

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We are agreeing on the same concepts. (You also lift a ton and need more recovery time for your big lifts).

We need way more information. It does seem that Push/Pull/Legs is pretty popular among the Bodybuilding crowd. The classic "bro split" seems to be a bit out of favor.

I use to think so too, but research may say otherwise?

Splitting into higher frequencies for higher total volume:

I respect Dr. Mike and his research but this goes back to the original question of what the goal is.

Individual recovery plays a big role in this too. Not everyone can recover from compound lifts the same... some folks are great benching/squatting/deadlifting 2-3 times a week and still recover fine. I have never been one of those people... my second push day has to be heavily skewed towards shoulders (assuming I am on a PPL split) and only a minimal amount of chest.

Same goes for squats. My CNS cannot handle squats 2x a week when I am lifting heavy (more than 500lbs). Physically, I am still recovering from heavy squats 3-4 days later.

So back to the goal, if you're lifting strenuously and/or effective enough a higher frequency isn't always fruitful. At some point you're just looking at junk volume by working out entire body every day if your goal is strength and/or hypertrophy. It will absolutely work to an extent but you'll be limited in this approach.

Every program I have done was either Push-Pull-Legs or Pull-Push-Legs, the latter which I actually prefer. granted they were all Bodybuilding programs.

This thread is full of nerds and I am a big fan of that.

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For my legs, I combine Smith machine high-bar squats with lying leg curls, and the other "lower" day I do romanian deadlifts + leg extensions

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Not sure if you're doing this already but try hitting hamstrings before doing your squats. It helps go hard on your hamstrings and when you're not under systemic fatigue from squats and squats dont really utilize the hamstrings, so localized fatigue is not going to overly impact your ability to squat. It sounds bad but its actually a good approach.

X2 on squats. I only back squat 2x a week. Once heavier (5-8 reps per working set) and once lighter (12-18 reps per working set)

Other days either get a leg press, weighted lunges, or BSS

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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For my legs, I combine Smith machine high-bar squats with lying leg curls, and the other "lower" day I do romanian deadlifts + leg extensions

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Not sure if you're doing this already but try hitting hamstrings before doing your squats. It helps go hard on your hamstrings and when you're not under systemic fatigue from squats and squats dont really utilize the hamstrings, so localized fatigue is not going to overly impact your ability to squat. It sounds bad but its actually a good approach.

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Funny you mentioned that…I actually did that yesterday for the first time. You're right, it definitely helped! Thanks!

Anyone have any experience doing a 5x5 linear style program for women?

The 5 pound per workout (10 for deadlift) jumps seem pretty aggressive. I was thinking 2.5 and 5 pounds might be more manageable? That is still a jump from 35 pounds to 100 pounds in 2 months for squat. And for the bench/OHP, I could see 2.5 being too much after 4 months or so too, but will play that by ear. I have fractional plates so I can adjust if needed.

Aiming for a body weight squat, and doing 2.5 pound jumps, that would be reached in about 4 months.

Also, going to sub out the deadlift for RDL. Trying to lower the barrier of entry with a less technically demanding lift.

Anyone see any issues with the above?

Hit 475 on DL today. Up 10 pounds from Jan. I feel like I'm getting newbie gains because I haven't taken deadlifts semi serious in a long time.

Sounds good. Could also consider slowing the progression by doing two workouts before increasing.

That is a good idea. I may do that on the first 5x5 miss instead of the traditional deload. This will be a first time barbell user so I am not trying to rush it.

I am less worried about the lower body stuff, I'm just not sure how far to realistically expect to take the bench and OHP. The goal there is to learn the exercises and get a baseline understanding of the form, get a decent strength base, and then probably switch to dumbbells and more hypertrophy focused lifting for upper body. I think getting to a .5 to .6 of BW range on the bench is the goal.

Due to my line of work, I often have to take long breaks in real lifting. In this instance, I have only had one working gym day in about 7 weeks.

Somehow today I hit weights I had not hit in a long time. Squatted 300 and deadlift 405. Kicking myself for not going for 315 on squat. 225 on bench for 5 reps as well for a total of 930 today. It's been nearly 3 years since I hit those squat and DL numbers. I feel like a god in my own world right now.

Yep it's crazy how some days you just got it! Hope you aren't limping too bad in 2 days, though!

Started my new training block on 5/3/1 this week. Going with the SVR II template to start. I am going to do my best to stick to the program as written - doing the box jumps and the 2 hard conditioning days. The hard conditioning with my sled is only 15 minutes so I am just going to add it on after my walk 2 days a week.

Added in an extra serving of carbs in the AM (Dave's Killer Bagel, give them a try they're pretty good). I am feeling really good - weight is holding steady (even losing a tiny bit this week), energy level is good. If I can lose or maintain and keep my energy level where it is, I am going to be thrilled.

First week is a set of widowmakers - knocked out a set of 255 for 15 on squats. I was a little worried going in that I wasn't going to be able to handle it, but once I knocked that out, I have a ton of confidence going into my 5x10 sets next week.

The road to 5 plates begins!

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knocked out a set of 255 for 15 on squats

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15 reps on squats with any weight sucks... good job on that!

It was the closest I've gotten to blacking out in awhile, so that was nice. It was also the wake up call that I might need to listen to the guy who designed the program on the conditioning work.

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15 reps on squats with any weight sucks

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Does it?

TikkaShooter said:

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15 reps on squats with any weight sucks

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Does it?

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When your goal is squatting for strength, you're usually not doing many working sets of high reps. Most of your training is focused on lower rep counts and heavier weight and often utilizing things like tempo and pause to familiarize yourself with any inadequacies in your form.

I do heavy working sets of 3-5 reps and then do a back off set as an AMRAP that is usually 12-15 reps each squat day. I'd rather be squatting low to mid 500s for reps than 100-150lbs less for that many reps. That set absolutely sucks in my opinion…

What's the purpose of the finishing AMRAP set at a 75% reduction in weight of your working sets?

Two main things for me:

1) consolation set if my top sets suck that day. I can usually grind out a few extra reps here and call it a "win" for the day because I am pissed off. I think it's important to have some success each day you lift and this is an easy way to do it for me

2) Incorporate some volume for hypertrophy after everything is more than adequately warmed up but also not at the cost of limiting the weight I am able to do on my working sets. My warmups sets are all tempo (3 second eccentric) + pause until I am in working sets and then back off set.

There is more but those are the main reasons for me.

You forgot the most scientific principle: "Last set best set"