Lifters: Not real sure what to do now...

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  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
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    Tracie - personally not a big fan of splits for someone who has not been lifting that long. But if you are making gains in strength than stick with it. Perhaps the extra recovery time for the muscles is needed for you, however, in what reading I've done about MS I've never read that as an issue, but I could be wrong.

    It's a decent program. Here's how I'd rewrite it if you were my client. Didn't put weights because I have no idea what you can lift with good form. Probably a bit too much isolation work in the program but if your recovery is good and you're progressively lifting heavier (which should be your goal) then stick with it. I kind of get the impression from what you've stated that your trainer's goal is more to change up exercises (muscle confusion-LOL) than to stick with an exercise and progress with the weight.

    Chest and tri's:
    Flat dumbbell press- 3 warm up sets then, 3x5
    Chest Flyes - 3x12
    Push up- 3 x 20
    Seated tricep press- 3x10
    Tricep dips- 3 x 15 - I'd work up to doing these on parallel bars if you're not already.

    Back and bi's:
    Deadlifts- warm up, 1x5
    T bar row- 3x5
    Pull ups- 3x? Work on negatives so you work towards doing the complete Pull Ups
    Barbell Curls- 3x10
    Preacher Curls 3x10

    Legs and shoulders:
    Squats- warm up, 3x5
    Front squat- 3x5
    Lunges (weighted barbell, dumbbell, etc.) 3x10
    Military press- warm up, 3x5
    Side lateral raise- 3x10
    Rear delt raise- 3x10

    Basically, Compound Lifts (the most important) 3x5
    Isolations 3x8-10

    ...and thank you for the kind words in your PM :smile:
  • tracieangeletti
    tracieangeletti Posts: 432 Member
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    Thank you so much!! I will try this and see if it's a bit easier for me. I may someday switch to a 5 x 5 or 5 x 3 routine altogether without the splits. I started with splits for several reasons. First, I was just plain afraid of squats and deads to begin with and thought that having them to do just once a week would be better! Lol Second, my MS makes me feel like I'm always working in a energy deficit to begin with and exercise adds extra drain. I was afraid doing squats 3 x a week and deads sometimes 2 x a week would just zap all my energy and I wouldn't be able to keep up. If my MS flares it can knock me out completly. Third, two of my gym days are back to back and I know you shouldn't work same muscle group two days in a row. If I can switch up my gym days I may try a Stronglifts approach.

    Once again thank you so much!! I'm feeling much more positive about my deads tomorrow!!! :-)
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    I transitioned from strength to hypertrophy and it's killing me- I'm shooting for 8 but normally I make 6. And doing 4 or 5 sets of 6 reps is awful- I have deloaded by about 30-50 lbs of my 1 rep max. It's atrocious.

    I have no idea how people do 2 sets of 12 anything- it's like torture.

    You and me both. 8 rep sets are like cardio imo

    Is the difference between hypertrophy and strength lifting that different? Sometimes I wonder if I switched to lower reps if I could lift more weight. Maybe some but I don't think by too much. Am I wrong?

    Training in a lower rep range is more effective for training strength. That's a fact.

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