Strength Training Schedule

Raynne413

For those of you that strength train, here's my question. . .
Right now, I alternate days of Upper Body/Lower Body strength, with core work on both. I have 3 days of Lower, 3 days of Upper, and one rest day. I also include cardio intervals in my strength sessions so I get it all done in one. I'm getting so that by the time Wednesday/Thursday hits, I'm pretty tired. Would it be better to do Upper, Lower, Cardio, Upper, Lower, Cardio, instead??

Raynne413

Oh, and I still do separate cardio as well. 20 minutes every morning, and then an extra hour on the weekends, sometimes more.

JNick77

For those of you that strength train, here's my question. . .
Right now, I alternate days of Upper Body/Lower Body strength, with core work on both. I have 3 days of Lower, 3 days of Upper, and one rest day. I also include cardio intervals in my strength sessions so I get it all done in one. I'm getting so that by the time Wednesday/Thursday hits, I'm pretty tired. Would it be better to do Upper, Lower, Cardio, Upper, Lower, Cardio, instead??

What do your upper body lookouts look like? Exercises, sets, reps? Same question for lower body.

Raynne413

For most exercises, I do one exercise per major muscle group.

Typical Upper Body:
Some form of pushup, chest, back, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps, abs. Also working on attempting to pullups/chinups

Typical Lower Body:
Some kind of squat or lunge, Glutes, Hamstrings, Inner Thigh, Outer Thigh, Core, Abs

I either do 3 sets of 10 or 12, or 4 sets of 8. I do one set superset, with 8 minutes of cardio in between each set.

JNick77

For most exercises, I do one exercise per major muscle group.

Typical Upper Body:
Some form of pushup, chest, back, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps, abs. Also working on attempting to pullups/chinups

Typical Lower Body:
Some kind of squat or lunge, Glutes, Hamstrings, Inner Thigh, Outer Thigh, Core, Abs

I either do 3 sets of 10 or 12, or 4 sets of 8. I do one set superset, with 8 minutes of cardio in between each set.

Part of it is that you need to mix things up just a little. Here's what I'd suggest if you want to keep and upper/lower split which is fine. Here is basically a modified approach that a prominent strength coach named Joe DeFranco uses.

Upper: Day 1 (Mon)
Exercise A. Choose 1 out of (Bench Press, Incline Bench, Decline Bench, Close-Grip Bench, Floor Press or even Standing Shoulder Press)
- work-up to a 3 to 6 rep max where you can't increase the weight any further without hitting your rep-goal.
- use this exercise for two weeks then pick something else for the next two
Exercise B: Tricep Exercise 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps - one of... Skull Crushers, DB Extensions, JM Press (YouTube a video)
Ex C: Upper Back: Rowing 5 sets of 6 to 8 reps or Chin-ups @ 50 total reps
Ex DB Shoulder Press 4 to 5 sets of 8-10 reps or super-set Front / Side raises @ 4 sets of 8-10
Ex E: Biceps: Preacher curls with a straight bar, ez bar, or Db's or DB Hammer Curls, 4 to 5 sets of 8

Upper: Day 2 (Thur)
Exercise A: Choose as you did above or you can choose from DB Bench Press, DB Incline Press, DB Decline Press, DB Floor Press
- Do either 4 sets of 10-12 reps or 3 sets of maximum reps with a weight that can be done for a minimum of 15-reps
- The purpose of this is volume not weight
EX B: Triceps: choose from the above for 4 to 4 sets of 10-12 reps
EX C: Rear deltoids: 1 of Rear Delt DB Raises, Face Pulls, etc. 4 to 5 x 12 reps
EX Traps: Shrugs with a BB, DB, or machine 5 x 8
EX E: Biceps: exact same as above

Lower Day 1(Tue)
Ex A: Choose from one of (Back Squat, Front Squat, Deadlift, Sumo Deadlift, Box Squat)
- Same sets/reps as Upper Day 1
EX B: Romanian Deadlifts 4 to 5 x 6-8
EX C: Back hyper extensions on a 45-degree bench or machine 5 x 8
EX Calf work 4 x 10

Lower Day 2 (Fri)
EX A: Same as lower day 1 and same set /rep scheme as Upper day 2
EX B: Romanian DL's 4 to 5 10-12
EX C: same as above
EX same as above

If you're interrested in the full version of his method go here, http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/65-westside-for-skinny-*kitten*-part3.html

Aside from the above you can use Wed/Sat, for instance, to focus on weaker muscle groups. For instance you said you're working on chin-ups. Good day for that. Legs are probably the hamstrings.

joeyplatypus92

its fine.

increase your volume tho, to a minimum of 3 sets.

mndamon

I'd think you're better off shifting from Upper one day to Lower the next and rotating that way. Maybe a rest day in between each 2 day set of Upper and Lower. Starting next week I'll be doing a 4 day split.

Day 1 - Chest and Biceps +20 min steady state cardio
Day 2 - Quads and Hamstrings +20 min steady state cardio
Day 3 - 20 min HIIT Cardio
Day 4 - Shoulders and Triceps +20 min steady state cardio
Day 5 - 20 min HIIT Cardio
Day 6 - Back, Calves and Abs +20 min steady state cardio
Day 7 - OFF

Raynne413

Thanks everyone for the help! I'll try to work these suggestions in!!