Any advanced guys use 3x week splits?

[Cantell]

Just wondering if any "advanced" lifters still used 3x a week splits. Ie: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Or even fullbody routines?

I know when I started lifting I always did 3x weekly splits, something like Chest/tris Legs/shoulders Back/bis.

However, now days I do 5x weekly splits. BUT, I havent been making gains, and I dont see why other than maybe its just to much gym time.


What do you guys think? IS 3x weekly ENOUGH?

 

[R1balla]

i just started doing it this past summer. ever since i was 15, i was on a "bodybuilder split"....u know, chest day, back day, leg day...etc I tried DC for the first time this summer. LOVED IT. i rotate between my own workout routine i created, DC, and 5x5....occasionally for a few weeks ill go to a 4x/week split but nothing over that. im loving my recovery with 3x/week. i have tried full body splits, i HATE them with a passion.

i used to think the same thing as you did....now way i can get accomplished what i wanna get in 3 days per week. boy was i wrong. 5x5 is legit, DC is awesome....you dont grow in the gym anyways. more rest u get the better. I have been used to high volume for ever. now i dont wanna go back to high volume. im loving my rotation.

 

[ssbackwards]

i like 3 days a week,

I totally skip arms though. always. may do it once a month. but i do

chest/shoulder monday
legs wednesday
Back Friday

I also run to and from the gym on the workout days.

and box on the others. take saturday off completely and just run sunday

i duno if you can call it a 3 day split, but in terms of lifting it is.

 

[R1balla]

see, i do arms, but dont do shoulders. i do reverse flys on back day and chest day i get a good workout in my front delts

 

[BigRed904]

I do a 3 day split but only because I load trucks at UPS 5 days a week. I like splitting it up as alternating weeks:

Week 1: Mon(Chest/Arms) Wed(Legs) Friday(Shoulders/Arms)
Week 2: Mon(Chest) Wed(Legs/Arms) Friday(Shoulders)

I have actually had pretty good gains because of the increase of intensity with every workout.

 

[Resolve]

I'm doing full body 4days a week right now. It's easier for me to lean out with FB routines - also gives me more time to work on bring up lagging bodyparts, which for me would be shoulders/traps and hammies. It does slow my increases in absolute strength, but I'm on such a caloric deficit I won't gain much strength right now anyway.

 

[asooneyeonig]

yes. and it depends on the persons goals, recovery ability, volume and intensity in the workout on whether it will help them.

for size i am a fan of more volume and fewer parts hit per workout. so a 4-7 day split works better.

but for strength 3 days a week can work great. as long as you dont think like a body builder. think movements instead. the guys i know that do 3 days a week for example will have a deadlift/squat day, a bench day, then a strongman training day which usually has overheads of some sort, stone work, farmers, etc.

 

[R1balla]

yes. and it depends on the persons goals, recovery ability, volume and intensity in the workout on whether it will help them.

for size i am a fan of more volume and fewer parts hit per workout. so a 4-7 day split works better.

but for strength 3 days a week can work great. as long as you dont think like a body builder. think movements instead. the guys i know that do 3 days a week for example will have a deadlift/squat day, a bench day, then a strongman training day which usually has overheads of some sort, stone work, farmers, etc.

i disagree. 5x5 and DC are great for size as well.

 

[asooneyeonig]

i disagree. 5x5 and DC are great for size as well.

yes they are. as well as GVT or a super squat program. heck the strongman competitors i train with range from 200 at 5'5" to 285 at 6'3". and they dont even train for size.

rarely do i see people that are capable of the intensity of those workouts though. they may think they are lifting intensely but they usually confuse that with lots of volume. and my experience from training people tells me that people can more readily follow a higher volume workout that is not as intense. of course there are are exceptions so what i am stating above is not a blanket statement that covers everyone. i will usually answer to the lowest common denominator and that IMO is why i responded the way i did.

but hey thats what is great about a forum. all the different responses you can get. as long as the forum doesnt get bogged down with only 1 answer to everything then its usually a great forum.

 

[Tomahawk88]

Been doing High Intensity Training and I like it a lot. Dont see size gain being a problem. Strength has been good minus bench but my bench is a weird lift to begin with. Love the DC program and it is a great way to train when you are advanced. Going to be a pain to go back to a 4/5 day split though. Most of them get so time consuming.