Moving from Norm to 3 day split

gerryjuice

Hey have been going to the gym for a while but think I’ve reached a plateau so I need a good shake up. I’ve decided to try and go for a kind of 3 day split. And was wondering if some of you people could give me some advice.

Im 6ft 26 m 14.5 stone

Basically every day when in the gym ill be doing the same warm up and core exercises when in the gym

Warmup –
5 min rower
Complete stretch

Core
Press-ups 4*20
Leg-Raises 4*20
Back extensions 4*20
V-Ups (Hold for 30 sec) 4*5
Plank 4*1min

Day 1 legs
Weighted Lunges 4*10
Calf raises 4*10
Leg Curl 4*10
Leg Extension 4*10
Leg Presses 4*10
Cardio – Rower 21-min (HIIT)

Day 2 Chest/Back
Dumbell Press 4*10
Front Pull Down 4*10
Seated Row 4*10
Dumbell Fly 4*10
Seated Press 4*10
Cardio – Bike 21 min (HIIT)

Day 3 Should/Arms
Shoulder Press 4*10
Front Raise 4*10
Side Raise 4*10
Incline curls 4*10
Dumbell Kick back 4*10
Cardio – Treadmill – 21 min (HIIT)


The gym I’m currently a member of the moment doesn’t have any barbells so I can’t do any compound exercises eg deadlife squat etc. Is it worth moving gyms in order to be able to perform these exercises, as the gym I’m currently in is part of my apt block and costs nothing.

If I don’t make it to the gym some days ill be going for a run which is about 6 miles (40-45 min), Ill be looking to have some sort of exercise 5 days out of 7.

Basically the goal is to maybe lose 1.5 stone in fat and gain .5 in muscle over the next 4 months.

As regards diet things are not perfect :rolleyes:but a lot better than what it was.
Could not seem to get the 5-6 meals a day right, so I’ve resorted to just making a conscious decision to eat more healthy, and cut out white bread altogether.
Daily diet would be along the line of

10.30 – breakfast (cereal – fruit - coffee)
13:00 – Brown Bread Roll (1 meat 2 veg)
17:00 – Pasta + chicken + sauce
22:00 – Soup (Veg)

Have read of few posts earlier and the idea of hypertrophy came up with regards to reps between 8-12. Basically for my case I don’t want to put any more “size” across my chest and am more looking to tighten my chest up and get more definition. Am I better off reducing the amount of reps and increasing the weight to fulfil this goal.

Thanks in advance.

pwd

I would consider it worthwhile to move gyms to allow you to use a barbell and hence perform exercises such as the deadlift and the squat. The way you phrase the question suggests you already know these are the most effective exercises for building muscle. The level of exertion required to perform these exercises with reasonably heavy weights is particularly high, and it results in an increase in testosterone and growth hormone levels. All compound exercises have this effect to some extent, but deadlifts and squats are the best.

You are doing a lot of exercises each day. It is generally considered good practice to limit your workouts' duration to 50 minutes or so because of hormone levels. There are some programs that work well and ignore this principle (Sheiko being the obvious example). You are also doing a lot of isolation exercises. These are not as effective for developing muscle as compound exercises and should generally be used as supplemental exercises to the compound ones. I would suggest doing fewer isolation exercises and adding deadlifts and squats, keeping the workout under 50 minutes.

It is a good idea to vary your routine. Your body will adapt if you keep doing the same exercises and cease to benefit from them as much. This is probably part of the reason why you have reached a plateau at the moment.

What are v-ups and plank?