Spreading a workout routine over the course of a day???

[1wickd6]

For simplicity's sake, lets say I work one body part a day, and for my example Im working bicepts. What would the drawbacks be of doing 3 exercises in the morning, say, preacher, dumbell curl, and cable curl and then that afternoon or evening coming back in and doing a straight bar standing curl, seated dumbell concentration curl, and some sort of machine bicept workout.

These are all just random examples, my main question is if splitting the workout like this would not work as well as doing all 4-5 or 6 excersises in one gym visit.

I ask this because of a couple of things. First, I have a gym here at work that is fairly limited and some days it can be difficult to get on a machine or get a hold of weights (im in a time crunch in the mornings so I cant wait around) but I get the most out of my workouts in the morning. When I leave the gym, I sometimes feel like I havent done sh*t because there wasnt enough time or equipment. So even though working out in the afternoon sucks for me and Im not nearly as focused, energized, etc. I could come back when the gym isnt nearly as busy and get some additional exercises in that I missed that morning.

Im sure everyone is going to say, "why dont you just do your entire workout in the afternoon, or when the gym isnt busy and you arent pressed for time". The answer to that is basically because if i am 100% in the morning, I would be something like 45% in the afternoon, so I get more out of my work out if I do it in the am.

Hope all of that rambling makes some sort of sense. Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[youngandfree]

You really don't need 5 or 6 exercises for bi's per workout anyway. I do 3 bi exercises, doing 1 per workout on a M,F,W rotation. Cut back on the total volume and go a bit heavier. Hit it hard in the morning, 2 exercises and be done.

 

[1wickd6]

You really don't need 5 or 6 exercises for bi's per workout anyway. I do 3 bi exercises, doing 1 per workout on a M,F,W rotation. Cut back on the total volume and go a bit heavier. Hit it hard in the morning, 2 exercises and be done.

Thanks for the reply! Now, what if I am going to do a body part each day. Would the same pricipal apply? Or is it just better to do a split where you're doing something like Monday - Chest/Tri's, Wed - Back/Bi's, Etc.? I just dont feel like Im hitting it hard enough. I am focused and go all out each excersise, but if I leave the gym only having done 2-3 excersises per body part and then dont hit that body part again until next week, I feel like Im short changing myself. What do you think?

 

[nathan meyer]

Try 3 days a week two exercises per workout doing 5x5 working up to final set at top weight. Screw iso-exercises.

M=Squat 1x20 to utter failure plus calf 2x8
W=Bench 5x5 plus dips or press 2x8
F=Suprine grip lat pull 5x5 plus Deadlift from knees 2x4

Work hard enough to induce nausea. In good form hit those low reps with enough weight that you're gasping for breath and maybe dizzy.

Work until those numbers increase by 30%. You'll never worry 'bout getting enough "volume" again. Work it so hard in the AM that the idea of going back in in the PM is simply ludicrious. Try it for 6 weeks see if you feel shortchanged ;-> If crunched for time do only 3x5 and 1 set of the 2nd exercise.

Lift for objective goals (more wt. on the bar, one more rep) not subjective goals (a feel, a pump, a look). Just a thought.

 

[youngandfree]

How much time are you spending in the gym? You can check out a 5x5 program. 3 days a week basically upper, lower, upper, lower, upper,lower. Hits each group 3 times in 2 weeks. Progressive weight increases with lower reps will shock your sytem. You might not leave with a skin busting pump, but you will know it the next day.

Another option is check out scivation's "Tri-phase" program. Pretty concise but effective program. Go to scivationbooks.com and download the E book.

 

[brownstown89]

ok to answer the first post i think it would be painful.. say u do preacher cable and stand DBs in the morning.. Soreness would set in by the time u go in the after noon and it would HURT to do more work.. if u dont feel **** from ur morning workout ur not going hard enough... and it would be hard to find that zone 2 x a day etc...

I always do my bench at home and do the rest of my workout at the gym and the ten minute drive to the gym after benching at home leaves me kinda zoned out for my first lift... i cant imagine waiting till the afternoon.

 

[pmiller383]

I usually split up my workouts where I will do my main stuff in the morning and the some recovery/accessory stuff at night. Here is an example of how I learned to do a split like that, we will take upper body for example:
AM session
Bench heavy
Supplemental Bench
Tricep exercise
Back exercise

PM session:
Super high rep low intensity:
Tricep exercise
Upperback exercise
Abs.

Pretty much your second session is just to get blood pumping to your muscles and do any extra work that you may need. If your just doing one body part a day you probably don't need to split it up because you should be able to properly stimulate the muscle in a couple different exercise.

 

[1wickd6]

Try 3 days a week two exercises per workout doing 5x5 working up to final set at top weight. Screw iso-exercises.

M=Squat 1x20 to utter failure plus calf 2x8
W=Bench 5x5 plus dips or press 2x8
F=Suprine grip lat pull 5x5 plus Deadlift from knees 2x4

Work hard enough to induce nausea. In good form hit those low reps with enough weight that you're gasping for breath and maybe dizzy.

Work until those numbers increase by 30%. You'll never worry 'bout getting enough "volume" again. Work it so hard in the AM that the idea of going back in in the PM is simply ludicrious. Try it for 6 weeks see if you feel shortchanged ;-> If crunched for time do only 3x5 and 1 set of the 2nd exercise.

Lift for objective goals (more wt. on the bar, one more rep) not subjective goals (a feel, a pump, a look). Just a thought.

First, thank you very much for the detailed reply, I appreciate it.

I looked into the 5x5 program and it looks like it would work well for me. There is a lot of reading that needs to be done to fully understand it though, and I plan on doing that tonight. Im just a little confused about one thing, the basic principle is doing 5 sets of 5 reps for each major body part. The part that im not fully understanding is the weight being used. I see that you increase it each workout by 5lbs, but what do you start with? As far as I can see, it advises you to start with just the 45lb bar. To me, it seems like going that route would take a substantial amount of time to reach a weight level where you are nearing failure on the 5th rep, no? So, if you were to start out squatting 45lbs and increasing that amount each workout, you would be upping the weight 15lbs a week correct? So me being 180 lbs, it would take 9 weeks before I am squatting my body weight. I may have misunderstood though, so if someone that is familar with this program can chime in, i'd appreciate it. Thanks!!

 

[nathan meyer]

No problem and I hope you like the workout--it's a rugged systemic style and once the weight goes up it can really rewarding.

There are 2 major ways the 5x5 is done, basically. The first is you use sets #1 & #2 as progressively heavier warms ups. Say a light warm up then add 15-20lbs on the bar for a "medium" warm up. On your third set put your working wait for 5 reps. Maybe it's a true 5-rep max maybe it's a wt. you can do 6 or 7 times but you stop. You rest a minute hit the 2nd set with that wt. then rest 60-90 seconds and hit the final set. Depending on your wt. you may get 5-5-5 or you may get 5-3-2, doesn't really matter just keep at the wt. until you get 5-5-5 then add 5 or 10lbs and start over.

The second way is the way I personally like it but that's just taste. Even in the 5-5-5 format that first "live" set of 5 is really just a third warm up. Sometimes, since you could get more than 5 on the 2nd set, that seems (to me) like a final warm up before you tackle the money shot set.

So I just go 4 warm ups of light, medium, moderatly heavy, heavy warm up and HARD 5th set with top wt. Then add 1.25lbs-5lbs per exercise per week. Don't start light--start close to your top 5-rep wt. If you're a little off and get only 4 reps or 7 reps no problem just work hard and adjust--it'll all be straight by week 3 and you'll be locked in.

This works great for Squats as well. I put in 20-reppers which you should google as "20 rep squats" or "Breathing Squats" to read about. I think this the single best program for mass--but a 5x5 squat routine (done either way) is very cool too.

Honestly, nailing your body with things like heavy squats and deadlifts will really make iso-work feel utterly supliferious.