We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Experienced Hard Gainer Needing New Split

mikeny88
mikeny88 Posts: 5 Member
edited February 5 in Fitness and Exercise
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

  • projectbam
    projectbam Posts: 55
    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!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories