Hi all, i've been an active lifter for most of my life but have done it more from just a general 'fitness' angle as opposed to specifically targeting muscle growth. My last 18 months has consisted basically of 5 and a half days a week in the gym (11 days in a fortnight more accurately) and just hammering each muscle group once a week.

I'm at the stage now where i want to focus a bit more on growth and i would like to hit each group more than once a week, twice a week preferably but due to fairly heavy training volume i realise that might not be possible fatigue wise so 1.5 times per week (i usually work it fortnights, so 3 times a FN). I'm not specialised enough to differentiate between upper and lower back etc, so these are the groups i would be targeting -

Tris
Bis
Chest
Abs
Shoulders
Back
Hams
Quads
Calves

The 2 parts of my body that seem to stay fatigued for longer than the rest are tris and calves so i find i need a decent break before i can lift at 100% again, in the case of tris in particular this includes exercises that they are stressed heavily without being targeted directly.

Given that my tris and calves are 'weak' in terms of recovery, could anyone here recommend a 14 (or 7 day for that matter) day routine that would enable me to hit each muscle group at least 3 times in that period (or 1.5 for 7 days) and preferably 4 times? Or would 4 times be asking a little much?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

do this routine


monday

chest and tries and shoulder

tues rest

wed legs

thurs rest

fri back and bis

and repeat till you grow

That's quite a generic workout, one which i have used in the past and it's quite effective for someone who hasn't lifted a lot in the past. Unfortunately it's basically what i have been doing for quite some time, except the 5 and a half days is condensed into 3 which would mean i could dedicated far less to each muscle group than i have been previously, partly because of time constraints (i can't spend 3 hours at the gym) and partly because fatigue levels would be far higher when reaching the end of a workout if i maintained the same weights/reps that i am doing now. For example i might be able to shoulder press xxkg for 3 sets of 8 reps at the end of a 'shoulder only' day, but after chest and tris i'd have no chance!

I'm basically looking for a way to juggle at least 3 days per body part per FN effectively, while minimising hitting fatigued muscle groups until they have recovered sufficiently. Perhaps the answer is to reduce the workload of my stronger areas to allow me to hit my weaker areas more frequently, at least for a while. But i have the typical gym mentality where pride won't allow me to ignore a strong muscle group to benefit a weaker one!

Some of the best growth I ever achieved was by doing this:

Day 1. Chest and bi's.
Day 2. Quad and ham's.
Day 3. Abs and calves.
Day 4. Back and tri's.
Day 5. Shoulders.
Day 6. Abs and calves.

Then continue on, no rest days. Ab and calf workouts you can superset them and have done 8-9 sets of each in 20-25 mins, it's not exactly taxing on the body. So each major body part gets trained once every 6 days instead of the usual 7. Over a period of time, say 91 days, each major body part has had an extra 3-4 workouts. It also mixes things up mentally, as you aren't training the same body parts on the same days of the week anymore.

My abs and calves especially, have never looked better than when I was doing this split.

I like the look of the B Unit, how did you go without a rest day? Or were the calves/ab days enough of a break?

I did find that they were enough, I was also doing a fair bit of physical work at the time, but my diet was spot on, was pretty much off all achohol, and only having one cheat meal usually at lunch time once every 5-6 days. I managed to get down to the 6-7% body fat level on this program with no cardio what so ever.

You know what I'm gonna say don't you.

http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/5x5_.../Linear_5x5.htm

IF your really want to get bigger and stronger there is probably nothing else I would recommend, unless your more into sculpting or bodybuilding.

But this is only really a 12 week or so program and you can go and concentrate on sculpting and cutting after your done, I guess it just depends what exactly you're after.

I know it doesn't specifically isolate muscles, but it will build a better base for you so all your lifts will end up benefiting.

the^penguin what are your stats as in height and weight. What do you bench, squat, and deadlift?

+1 for doing 5x5's for initial strength/growth/bulk

Just short of 6'2 (187cm), weight hovers a couple of kilos either side of 88kg.

I've never really taken much notice of 1RM's, my 5RM is about 100kg for bench, 120kg for squats and i haven't deadlifted in a long time due to a back injury a while ago. I think i'd be right to DL a moderate amount now, but it's just that psychological factor that prevents me from trying!

Monday
DB INCLINE PRESS 5X5
BENT ROWS 5X5
CG BENCH 5X5
CHINS 5XMAX

Tuesday
MILITARY PRESS 5X5
SQUATS 5X5
SL DEADLIFT 3X8
BB CURL 3X8

Thursday
BENCH PRESS 5X8
POWER CLEANS 5X3
DIPS 5XMAX
DYNAMIC SHRUGS 5X5

Friday
STANDING PRESS BEHIND NECK 5X8
SQUATS 5X10
LUNGES 3X8
SKULL CRUSHERS 3X8

Add calf work and abs to suit.

sets x reps

This routine sounds about what your after to hit the muscle a bit harder during the week. I plan on using either this routine once the one im on finishes up its cycle or my 3 day a week one, except my 3 day a week one is brutal compared to this.