PPL or Full Body workout?

babeproulx

Hi guys, got back to training 3 months ago, going 275 to 255 (40 yo, 6 foot 2 endomorph male) with a program built with my kinesiologist after a lower back injury.

Now i feel im ready for an upgrade to my training routine and id like to try Push-Pull-Legs but im not too sure if its the right iption for me.

Right now, my scale is kinda stalled to 255 since about 3 weeks, but my clothes tell me i built quite a lot of muscles already.

My plan is to get down to around 220lbs. Should i go for PPL, Full Body or something else? Gimme your thoughts about it! Thanks in advance

Retroguy2000

How many days per week training?

babeproulx

5 to 6 times weekly. I work on rotation shifts. On days i workout before my shift at the gym we got at work. For night shifts, i train in my basement

babeproulx

Job gym has:
Dumbbells
Smith machine
Lat pulldown
Shoulder press
Chest press
Chest fly
Dip/pullup
Cable row
Leg curl
Leg press
Bike, treadmill, elliptic, stair simulator

Home gym has:
Treadmill, elliptic, stair simulator
Dumbbells
Bench press
Landmine
Pullup bar
Resistance bands

Retroguy2000

It sounds like you have everything you need at home. If your db's go heavy enough you can do lunges or goblet squat. With the landmine, barbell and a double D attachment you can do T-bar rows, or without the attachment Meadows rows. With the barbell you can do barbell rows, Romanian Deadlifts and barbell hack squat (aka behind the back deadlift). That last one is great for the quads especially if you don't let the weight drop to the floor each rep, and you shouldn't feel any pressure in your lower back either. If you're concerned about back squats or deadlifts because of your lower back, check that one out.

As for the split, definitely not full body.

I favor targeting each major group twice weekly. You could do:

Push
Pull
Legs
Rest
Upper
Legs
Rest

That's 5 days, and if you can squeeze in a day 6 call it a bonus day, add more arms, core, shoulders, something that can handle the extra volume without adding more systemic fatigue.

OTOH, if you try to to PPLPPL but miss a day, now a major group only got hit once in the week and you may be behind in your weekly volume target.

If your total training experience is under a year, aim for about 10-15 working sets per group per week. Longer than that, you could go up to 15-20 weekly sets if you feel you can recover enough to keep it going.

nossmf

With only 3 months of training under your belt, I would strongly hesitate jumping to a six days per week program, I don't think that would give you sufficient recovery. Especially factoring in rotating shift work, which I did for years and had to fit my workouts around.

I'm with @Retroguy2000 in advising a change from full-body, but personally I prefer an upper-lower split 4 days per week, which gives you the flexibility to shift the workouts a day earlier/later to account for work schedule and the even more-important sleep schedule. To whit:

Upper
Lower
Rest
Upper
Lower
Rest
Rest

As long as you have at least two days between consecutive upper (or lower) sessions, you can move workouts earlier/later to make it easier on your work schedule. This should make it easier to hit each body part 2x per week.

Retroguy2000

@nossmf They said "got back to training", so it's not clear how much total training time they have.

I like ULUL, that's what I do. Regarding recovery, I stressed total weekly volume, because as you know 4 sessions at 1 hour each doesn't mean 6 sessions should also be 1 hour each. Those workouts should be shorter, to meet similar weekly volume goals, unless of course increasing volume is your goal.

nossmf

Fair enough.