Experienced Hard Gainer Needing New Split

Hey everyone,

I am 29 yrs old, 6'1" 190 lbs and have been lifting weights since college. I have been through periods of strong consistency and also times where I have only hit the gym 1-3 times in a week or maybe 2X in a matter of 2 weeks. I have been through bulking periods as well as cutting periods. My average weight is around 188 and my bf is currently in the 18-22% range. I have gotten down to around 9-10% but this post is mainly addressing a new training split. I am experienced with the main compound lifts (squat, bench, deadlift, OHP, bb row). For the last 2 years I have mostly been doing 1 body part a day, going 4 days a week. i incorporate calves and abs atleast once a week and sometimes twice. I'm looking to put more size onto my shoulders and arms. Can anybody recommend a new program or split that I should try? Any feedback would be appreciated! Thanks fitfam!

Replies

  • I recently switched from doing one or two body parts per session - that went something like this:
    1. Bis and Tris
    2. Chest and Back
    3. Shoulders
    4. Legs

    to something like this:
    1. Back and Bis (+Calves if i feel like it)
    2. Chest and Tris (+Calves if i feel like it)
    3. Quads/ Hams/ Glutes
    4. Shoulders and Calves

    I tried to move towards more of a PUSH and PULL split .. rather than both in the same session (ie. Chest = PUSH and Back = PULL).

    I do however sometimes do Shoulders and Bis in the same session to switch things up .. i never do the same exercises in the same order/ or the same number of sets/ or the same number of reps ... just to keep testing myself .. but yeah i know what i'm going to do before i get into the gym and i know generally which exercises i want to do .. i note down everything i do (exercises/ sets/ reps and weights) and look back to make sure i'm atleast doing similar or pushing myself harder :))
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
    there is no such thing as a hard gainer. Only under eaters.

    That said, get rid of the garbage 1 day a week bodypart splits, and get on something where you are hitting everything 2-3x a week. PHAT, or 5/3/1 BBB, or WSFSB3 being the top 3 I would recommend.
  • mikeny88
    mikeny88 Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks projectbam... I would like to try a PUSH/PULL/LEGS split wehre I am doing chest/delts/tris, back/bis/traps, legs.... i am going to look into those 3 splits, phjorg1
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Something here is really funky if OP is actually 18-22% BF and not experiencing non-fat gains. Seems like this might help:

    http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/f*ckarounditis.html

    Edit: replace the stars with a bad 4-letter word :p
  • mikeny88
    mikeny88 Posts: 5 Member
    thanks jw, i'm reading it now!