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Upper/Lower routine

Zigurd

Zigurd

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This is my new muscle building routine. Any criticisms ?

Workout A: Upper Body

Bench Press
Wide grip pulldowns
Dumbbell incline press
Dumbbell Rows
Decline bench press
Bent over barbell rows
One arm tricep pull down
Close grip preacher curl


Workout B: Lower Body

Squat
Deadlift
Leg press
Leg curl
Seated calve machine
Wide stance smith squats
Abs
Abs



No idea how many sets/reps I should do. I want at least 10-12 sets for chest and back.
 
The Creator

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Take away the decline press and replace it with an overhead press. I would also suggest replacing the pulldowns for pullups if you can. If you are planning on hitting this split twice a week I wouldnt do anymore than 8-9 sets for big body parts and 4-5 for smaller body parts. I do an upper lower split and having a strength day (low reps heavy weight 4-8) and a more hypertrophic day (lil lower weight and higher reps 12-15) works really well for me.
 
Zigurd

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Take away the decline press and replace it with an overhead press. I would also suggest replacing the pulldowns for pullups if you can. If you are planning on hitting this split twice a week I wouldnt do anymore than 8-9 sets for big body parts and 4-5 for smaller body parts. I do an upper lower split and having a strength day (low reps heavy weight 4-8) and a more hypertrophic day (lil lower weight and higher reps 12-15) works really well for me.

Thanks for your input !

Yes, I plan on doing this routine twice a week. I will do all you said, but the pulldowns I cants change because I can't do weighted pull ups. There is no belt for me to put weight on. And the bar is too high to put a dumbbell between my legs =/
 
The Creator

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I would try rack pulls. Just lock the smith machine in place, pull a bench in close, put your feet up, and then put some weight in your lap. Just make sure that the bench is close enough so your upper body is at a pull up angle. All the same benefits of a pull up without as much opportunity to cheat imo. Other than that I think the upper body is looking pretty good.
See how you feel on the lower body, but just make sure that you get real hardcore with the squats and deads and then see how you feel for the rest.
 
Braaq

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UB/LB splits :no:, not even gonna say anything. Good luck with it :xyxthumbs:
 
youngmusclejock

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UB/LB splits :no:, not even gonna say anything. Good luck with it :xyxthumbs:

cosign with that.. Was not for me in a big way.. Actually it hindered my progress.


Best of luck
 
G

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Haha I agree with Braaq....they just dont work well for me either. Good luck bro!
 
samsam

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Thats because you dont know shit about training :carduindisguise ;)

Without smileys that post might've got you some action.

My advice to the thread starter is:

Use the basic compound exercises, increase the weight successively(start low, add few pounds/reps each session). Focus on the compound exercises and actually increasing the workout weight of these, 5-10 reps/2-5 sets. 2 Exercises à large bodypart, 1 for smaller, depending on frequency/intensity obviously.
Stay away from failure sets if working the muscle more than once a week.

Great choice of exercises, follow Creator's advice.
 
The_KM

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This is my new muscle building routine. Any criticisms ?

YOUR ROUTINE HERE

No idea how many sets/reps I should do. I want at least 10-12 sets for chest and back.

Yep, everything Creator said is spot on :xyxthumbs:

First thing that came to mind, was that you do not need equal UB and LB exercises. There's much more muscles that make up your entire upper body than your lower body. As far as exercises criticism:

Apply what Mike said above.
Substitute pulley (seated) rows for BOB row, unless that works for ya.
Substitute a lying triceps extension for 1-Arm pulldowns.
.....need to specificaly focus on the long head. The remaining 2 heads will be worked through your pressing movements.


I'd also remove some leg exercises (leg press and wide stance squats). The leg press works for some, but the stimulus placed on your legs through squats is far superior.

Also, I don't see a real reason to work abs. The recruitment of the core and lumbar during multi-joint, stabilizing exercises definitely will be enough to develop those abs.

Last, you REALLY need to eat properly with this routine. The frequency and volume is enough to cause adrenal fatigue and neurological failure quick if caloric intake is low or even at maintenance. If diet's spot on, then this should last 6-8wks until you're over-reaching and you need a detrain week.

Sets and reps....I have an idea,

For your upper body day 1, keep reps at 8-12 with 30-90 second rest periods (sacroplasmic focus). Upper body day 2, keep reps at 4-7 with 2-3 minute rest periods (myofibril focus). Same applies for lower body days.

Hope all of this info helps bro, just some constructive criticism.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! :tiphat:
 

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tim290280

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This is my new muscle building routine. Any criticisms ?

Workout A: Upper Body

Bench Press
Wide grip pulldowns Do pullups, and yes you can add a DB, just stand on a bench first, not that hard
Dumbbell incline press do for higher reps
Dumbbell Rows do for higher reps
Decline bench press don't see the point of this
Bent over barbell rows nor this
One arm tricep pull down
Close grip preacher curl


Workout B: Lower Body

Squat
Deadlift good luck with doing these two in the same session for any level of intensity
Leg press higher reps on one leg
Leg curl one leg
Seated calve machine
Wide stance smith squats pointless
Abs
Abs



No idea how many sets/reps I should do. I want at least 10-12 sets for chest and back.
Isn't this the second or third routine in less than a month?
 
The Creator

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Shame on all you who bag the UB/LB splits :disgust: You just need to train with mac daddy mike aka Creator to get the full effect :gaygay:

I read something interesting the other day from a study that really helped me support my cause for UB/LB split. It was saying how muscle glycogen in the biceps was 80% depleted after 3 working sets near failure of biceps curls. The test was done on trained individuals that were fully loaded when the work began. Absolute failure and deep soreness is by no means a pre-requisite for hypertrophy. I see a lot of guys wasting a lot of time and energy going above and beyond what they need to. Get in, stimulate the muscle and tear it down, replenish, and repeat when substantial rest has been met.
 
Braaq

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Shame on all you who bag the UB/LB splits :disgust: You just need to train with mac daddy mike aka Creator to get the full effect :gaygay:

I read something interesting the other day from a study that really helped me support my cause for UB/LB split. It was saying how muscle glycogen in the biceps was 80% depleted after 3 working sets near failure of biceps curls. The test was done on trained individuals that were fully loaded when the work began. Absolute failure and deep soreness is by no means a pre-requisite for hypertrophy. I see a lot of guys wasting a lot of time and energy going above and beyond what they need to. Get in, stimulate the muscle and tear it down, replenish, and repeat when substantial rest has been met.

Didn't you say you got better results from once a week splits and were switching back? :wutyousay:
Also, what you say below is spot on, however, the HIT principles do the same thing as you mentioned above and you don't have to do UB/LB training.
 
The Creator

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^^ I never said that :carduindisguise

No in all honesty, I have gone back and forth between the two and I dont really notice a big difference in overall results besides with my legs in which I saw tremendous gains from incorporating an extra high rep day. I think this is mainly due to the fact that I believe other factors determine results long before what type of protocol an individual chooses to follow. I think things like overall intensity, training wisely (not overtraining), nutrition and proper rest play the most important roles. For 90% of the lifters out there, it is my opinion that an upper/lower split can be just as effective, if not more, if utilized correctly.

So to sum it up, I dont think one can effectively argue that either protocol is "wrong" because it all comes down to proper program design on top of the other factors I mentioned. :coolguy:
 
tim290280

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The studies they have done on weightlifters have shown that strength gains are related to the amount of muscle recruited in a session and how frequent the sessions were. Can't remember the details off the top of my head but the ones that looked at the hypertrophy gains as well as strength gains didn't change recommendations.

So while splits can work (although I would argue most people aren't really doing as much of a split as they think), fullbody can work, push/pull can work and upper/lower can work it is more about getting the adaptive strategies of hormesis. I think most people do splits because they want to "target" areas and blast the crap out of them. When you want to balance things out you really need to plan things a little better (upper/lower and push/pull do this by default) and recognise that we aren't a collection of body parts but a whole unit. Want to get the most out of training then we have to fire up our bodies. Splits using predominately compound moves can do this, but then it becomes tenuous to call them a split.
 
The_KM

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The studies they have done on weightlifters have shown that strength gains are related to the amount of muscle recruited in a session and how frequent the sessions were. Can't remember the details off the top of my head but the ones that looked at the hypertrophy gains as well as strength gains didn't change recommendations.

So while splits can work (although I would argue most people aren't really doing as much of a split as they think), fullbody can work, push/pull can work and upper/lower can work it is more about getting the adaptive strategies of hormesis. I think most people do splits because they want to "target" areas and blast the crap out of them. When you want to balance things out you really need to plan things a little better (upper/lower and push/pull do this by default) and recognise that we aren't a collection of body parts but a whole unit. Want to get the most out of training then we have to fire up our bodies. Splits using predominately compound moves can do this, but then it becomes tenuous to call them a split.

VERY well said!
 

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