Split Problem

Deano

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About 3 months ago i decided to try IA's style of training i have incorperated all of his ideas that i could. The main problem i have is he suggests to do Mil. Press the same day as Bench and this makes sense to me but if i do mil press first my bench suffers badly and if i do bench first my mil press suffers badly. Does anyone have any ideas on how to overcome this, or alternatives. Thanks in advance.

Deano
 

OmarJackson

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if you are truly doing only one set per bodypart than you should still have a lot left in you to complete 1 set of military press. You could just rest more.
 

Deano

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I am not only doing one set per body part. IA's site says that is possible to see gains at that level but it is not for everyone. I personally do three working sets. Should i lower my sets?

Thanks,
Deano
 
ManBeast

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Couldn't hurt to take a set or two out on one or the other, make it a total of 3-4 pressing movements. Remember, the anterior deltoid works as a stabilizer for flat bench.

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goldylight

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I am not only doing one set per body part. IA's site says that is possible to see gains at that level but it is not for everyone. I personally do three working sets. Should i lower my sets?

Thanks,
Deano
You should be keeping a log. SO - reduce volume by one set per exercise and see how your reps\weight go up in this situation as opposed to what you were doing.
 

OmarJackson

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It could be that your a naturally shoulder presser, even on chest presses. Maybe you don't need much more shoulder presses and can do some heavy side laterals instead. ??
 

VanillaGorilla

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I would do bench first before m.p. Remember bench hits the front delts. Your going to loose strength in one of the exercises regardless if you cut the sets. The reason you aren't as strong is from fatigue not over training. It's usually better to do the larger muscles first. If you do m.p first than bench, you shoulders are fatiguing before your pectorals. If you do bench first your shoulders are dead from benching on the m press but your hitting shoulders any way so no big deal other than a ego thing. If you don't like that or aren't getting results try a different program........ no big deal.
 

VanillaGorilla

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Also, if you have been on the same program for 3 months it's probably a good idea to move on to a different one. Preferably the opposite of the one you were doing.
 

Deano

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Thanks for the info guys, Omar you might be right, i might use more shoulders on bench then some guys because i have always had a hard time getting my chest to grow. Is has come along way, just needs to fill out. My back, shoulders and legs i have no problem but to me my chest is lacking. I think i am going to try and lower my volume some more and see what happends. I am keepping a log of my progress and will keep you guys updated on it as well. Just to give you guys a little backround. I am 22 years old, 5'10.5" 226lbs, and 15-17% bf (no steriods as of yet). I have been seriously training for a little over two years. I started out a sloppy 285 and in 9 months i went down to 200 @ 12-14%bf (so you can amagine the muscle lost here due to not eating enough).

Thanks,
Deano
 

jweave23

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I would do bench first before m.p. Remember bench hits the front delts. Your going to loose strength in one of the exercises regardless if you cut the sets. The reason you aren't as strong is from fatigue not over training. It's usually better to do the larger muscles first. If you do m.p first than bench, you shoulders are fatiguing before your pectorals. If you do bench first your shoulders are dead from benching on the m press but your hitting shoulders any way so no big deal other than a ego thing. If you don't like that or aren't getting results try a different program........ no big deal.
Exactly ;)

I do shoulders and chest on the same day (chest/shoulders/tri's). I started this around January, did a 4 day split before that for awhile.

Needless to say you will not be able to put up the pounddages you used to with military presses....no big deal, you're working the muscle just the same. Check your ego at the door on that one :D
 

Deano

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Thats a big 10-4 jweave, my ego will stay at home on this one. How do you like doing shoulders with chest? Have you notices any benefits as of yet? How many sets of chest do you do? I seem to be stuck at 255x5 (no spot) on bench while doing 3 working sets on flat then 2 on db incline and then 3 on weighted dips. is this to much?


Thanks for the info guys,
Dean-o
 

jweave23

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woah, yeah thhat sounds like too much for me, but it is different for everyone.
My split:

Day 1 - legs/traps
Day 2 - chest/shoulders/tri's
Day 3 - back/bicep/abs

Chest - DB inclines (3 sets) and machine flys or dips (3 sets).

Shoulders - BB front shoulder press (3 sets), DB rear raises (2 sets) and DB lateral raises (2 sets)

Triceps - Skullcrushers (3 sets) and rope pulldowns (3 sets)

You can see that for each bodypart I don't do much volume at all. I think you should cut out one of your exercises, I would opt-out for flat bench. Try 3 sets of DB inclines and dips and call it a day for chest....IMO. :)
Tir
 

goldylight

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jweave - you saying you prefer DB over BB for bench press? i have the same split as you except i do my abs on the leg\traps day and a lot less volume
 

VanillaGorilla

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If you feel that your shoulders and tris are taking away from your chest development you could try a few different things. You could pre exhaust you chest by doing an isolation exercise such as flies before bench press. You could drop the bench all together and do incline db presses. Also remember there is a difference between body building and strength training.
 

kmac6225

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before working with IA i was using real low reps, like 4-8 rep range. That's good for strength training but if you want to fill out some more you'll need to keep reps in the 10-12 rep range. keeping the reps high gets a good pump going and gets more blood going through the muscles.
This is my understanding of things having talked with IA, feel free to correct me if im wrong
 

Deano

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Thanks for the info guys. Jweave i am going to try your workout and see if it works for me. How many reps do you do for each set. Do you do both chest exercises then shoulders? How do you feel about french presses for triceps? I love this exercise. Dont know if you have tried this or not but try and do skull crushers on a decline bench it adds alittle something to the exercise, including a greater stretch at the bottom.


Thanks,
Dean-o
 

jweave23

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Thanks for the info guys. Jweave i am going to try your workout and see if it works for me. How many reps do you do for each set. Do you do both chest exercises then shoulders? How do you feel about french presses for triceps? I love this exercise. Dont know if you have tried this or not but try and do skull crushers on a decline bench it adds alittle something to the exercise, including a greater stretch at the bottom.


Thanks,
Dean-o
I generally do 6-8 reps. Usually my plan is when I make gains and can do 10 reps each set, I add more weight to reduce reps back down to 6-8.

As for french presses (skullcrushers)... yeah I love them, a must-have tricep exercise IMO. Declines do work very well, but I usually just do them flat because some idiot has the decline bench used for abs :rolleyes:

I do both chest exercises then shoulder, yes. I usually do them in this order:
1. db incline bench
2. flys or dips
3. bb front shoulder press (don't do behind the neck military, no need for that stress on the rotator cuff IMO).
4. skullcrushers
5. db rear delt raise (2 sets, not 3)
6. tricep cable pushdowns
7. db lateral delt raises (2 sets, not 3)

It's a fairly decent amount of total work for one day, but it is a 3 day split, and I never do 2 days in a row or any day more often than every 7 days.
 

VanillaGorilla

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That's good for strength training but if you want to fill out some more you'll need to keep reps in the 10-12 rep range. keeping the reps high gets a good pump going and gets more blood going through the muscles.
There is some debate on weather or not your muscles getting pumped causes muscle growth. You statement generally isn't really true. Your body will adapt to any new training protocol you are using. What ever routine you are on it will get less and less effective as time goes on. You ever notice when you go on a new routine all of the sudden you start making a lot of progress ? That's why.
 

kmac6225

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good point - I guess I did make a blanket statement ther. Different rep ranges build size/strength for different people.
 

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