2day movement-based split

[wtflestoppoules]

Hi guys! I am asking for a big tip here, as I am asking for someone to help me build up a 2-day split using compound exercises, instead of isolated.. I was thinking doing one upper day, and one lower day, but I just feel like it is not divided well, being that I would do WAY more exercises in the upper body day than lower body day, so I would like to know what I should transfer from upper body to lower body day. Should I put the horizontal pull? The vertical push? Thanks for the help everyone.

[I. Kay]

Just a thought:

DAY 1
Squats
Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
Chinups
Shoulder Presses

DAY 2
Flat Bench Press
Bent-Over BB Rows
Dips
Good Mornings

[DKing]

Instead of uppper/lower I would do two full body workouts with different emphasis.

Day 1
Quad emphasis legs, light hamstrings
Horizontal emphasis upper, light vertical

Day 2
Hamstring emphasis, light quad
Vertical emphasis, light horizontal

This will give you more overall stimulation.

Danny

[DKing]

Or you could just follow what Rockhard have you. For some weird reason I read it wrong when he first laid it out and thought it was an upper/lower split. Damn my ADD!

Danny

[chris_f]

Patrick, this is a 2 day routine that I use quite often. It will hit all your muscles in all 6 movement planes.

Workout A:
A1) Deadlift
A2) Bench Press
B1) Front Squat
B2) Chinups

Workout B:
A1) Back Squat
A2) Bent-over Row
B1) Stiff-leg Deadlift
B2) Shoulder Press or Dips

I usually do the workout 3 times a week, alternating between the two (Mon, Wed, and Fri), though you can do it just twice a week and be good.

There are several good options in this thread though, so choose the one that you think fits best into your goals and such.

[wtflestoppoules]

Thanks alot guys!! Sorry I couldn't answer sooner. I will start doing these just this week! [img]smile.gif[/img] I will do Rock's and Shark's splits in alternating basis, one per month, so that my body doesn't get used to much. I'm not gonna do yours, Dan, I don't really understand what you mean.. [img]tongue.gif[/img] But still thanks, and thanks for helping out everyone

**EDIT** Oh ya I forgot, I'm thinking.. can I do leg press instead of squat? it seems like it does the same movement, so I'm just thinking.. cause I love leg press, and don't particulary(sp? I'm french:p) like the squat, to refrain from saying I totally dislike it.

[wtflestoppoules]

Oh, and while we're at it, is it mandatory to do chinups, or could I do pullups instead? And if it is better to do chinups, can I do them on bars that are like this : || , instead of this: ----. I'm not sure if you understand what I mean, but anyway that's pretty much it! thanks again, guys

**EDIT,yet again!** Are these meant to be supersetted, and if not, would it give me an advantage to superset them? Or am I better off doing them normally?

[chris_f]

Patrick... no worries man... To answer some of your questions:

The leg press sucks. Its no where near as good an excercise as the squat. Do squats, they're good for you. Really really good for you. Make sure you use good form though. Eventually you will grow to love them. I promise! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Any variation of pullup or chinup will work. You can do regular pullups, chinups with your palms facing you, chinups with your palms facing each other. Just make sure you vary the way you do them everytime you switch routines. For example, if you do pullups with rocks routine, try using chinups with mine. They work the same muscles, but put different amounts of stress on each muscle.

Goodluck, and have fun!

EDIT: In regards to the supersetting question. I would use supersets, or better yet, alternating sets. With supersets, you do 1 set of each excercise back to back without rest between them, and then rest after completing both. With alternating sets, you alternate between the two excercises in the same way, but rest between EACH SET and not just each SUPERSET.

If you would like to have better endurance, and are doing sets of 8 reps or higher, rest for 60 to 90 seconds between a superset. If you are aiming for strength and using 8 reps or higher, use alternating sets and rest 60 seconds between each one. If you are using sets of less than 8 reps, use alternating sets and rest about 2 minutes between each set.

[wtflestoppoules]

thanks alot for answering, this clears alot [img]smile.gif[/img]

[chris_f]

So, how far are you from Montreal?

[I. Kay]

Yeah, Patrick, shark's right. The leg press is an inferior exercise to the squat. Doing squats incorporates more muscles, including important stabilizers. The leg press takes your stabilzers out of the equation because it's on a rail... the machine does that part of it for you. In other words, it leaves you with a weakness.

Also, squats give you better glute work, which will translate into a better deadlift as well.

[wtflestoppoules]

ooh I see, that's nice. I guess that would help me skate better then (even though I'm not really looking for that, just an advantage that I thought of, if it does indeed help me skate better.) Btw shark, I'm at about 2hours from Montreal. I'm pretty damn near the borders also, 5minutes in car!

[chris_f]

Patrick... good luck with your routine. If you want an excercise that helps with skating, you can also try replacing the front squat with bulgarian split squats (you put one leg a bench behind you and squat with the other... look it up on exrx.net).

Hey, you're a lot closer to Montreal than I am! It's honestly one of my favorite cities in the world! I've unfortunately only been to Metro Montreal though, and haven't gotten to see any of the old part of town.

[wtflestoppoules]

Hehe the old part is pretty cool. We took a ride in those horse-ridden cars one time, was nice. I don't really intend on doing bulgarian split squats, I play hockey just for fun in outside rinks, and skating faster will not really help my play all that much anyway, since I need to learn to skate well first (shouldn't have stopped playing (league) hockey at 8 lol).