Looking for a 3-4 day split routine recommendation for women
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jiggyj9
Posts: 90 Member
I have been doing full body training (strong curves program/outline) for almost a year. I am starting to get bored with it and want more volume per muscle group, with a focus on lower body. I would love to fit in compound and isolation exercises. I can dedicate ideally 3 days at the gym, but 4 if necessary, because I row and do yoga or outdoor activities on off days. Can anyone recommend anything that’s high volume enough? I would love to hit each muscle group twice a week, because I’m concerned about muscle loss with too much rest time, but I don’t think that’s possible with a 3 or 4 day split. Any advice would be appreciated!
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Replies
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Recommending Erin Stern's Elite Body Trainer. It's currently locked up behind a subscription at bodybuilding.com, but they offer a free trial period, during which you can print, copy, and paste all you need.
4-day split for lifting, one cardio day, one HIIT day, one rest day.
Day 1 Shoulders,Arms
Day 2 Plyo exercises, legs
Day 3 Cardio
Day 4 Back
Day 5 Chest, shoulders
Day 6 HIIT
Day 7 Off
It's a 4 week program built on supersets, and very efficient. The lifting sessions shouldn't take more than 45 minutes, but if done right, they'll take everything out of you. There are a few videos hacked on youtube, including the introduction.
I have done this program many times, and I'll be happy to answer your questions, if you are interested.
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Thank you for your recommendation! In doing a few minutes of research, I like the sound of this program. Do you find that one day a week for legs is enough to maintain your current lower body mass and/or build more?1
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What about PHUL? Two days upper and two days lower. I've never done it but it looks like enough volume. Not sure about the glutes, I always find many programs don't have enough glute focus (for my personal goals, let me add).
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout3 -
What about PHUL? Two days upper and two days lower. I've never done it but it looks like enough volume. Not sure about the glutes, I always find many programs don't have enough glute focus (for my personal goals, let me add).
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
I like this program too, but I agree; I would like some more glute focus. Could I just add bridges or hip thrusts, etc to a lower day?
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What about PHUL? Two days upper and two days lower. I've never done it but it looks like enough volume. Not sure about the glutes, I always find many programs don't have enough glute focus (for my personal goals, let me add).
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
I like this program too, but I agree; I would like some more glute focus. Could I just add bridges or hip thrusts, etc to a lower day?
I don't see why not or sub it in instead of leg press or something.
Yea after doing Strong Curves I can't do any less than three days a week of lower/glute focus, it has forever spoiled me!4 -
What about PHUL? Two days upper and two days lower. I've never done it but it looks like enough volume. Not sure about the glutes, I always find many programs don't have enough glute focus (for my personal goals, let me add).
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
I like this program too, but I agree; I would like some more glute focus. Could I just add bridges or hip thrusts, etc to a lower day?
I don't see why not or sub it in instead of leg press or something.
Yea after doing Strong Curves I can't do any less than three days a week of lower/glute focus, it has forever spoiled me!
Yes! Willing to settle on two 😂
Are you still doing strong curves?
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What about PHUL? Two days upper and two days lower. I've never done it but it looks like enough volume. Not sure about the glutes, I always find many programs don't have enough glute focus (for my personal goals, let me add).
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
I like this program too, but I agree; I would like some more glute focus. Could I just add bridges or hip thrusts, etc to a lower day?
I don't see why not or sub it in instead of leg press or something.
Yea after doing Strong Curves I can't do any less than three days a week of lower/glute focus, it has forever spoiled me!
Yes! Willing to settle on two 😂
Are you still doing strong curves?
I think two should be good!
I was doing a SC sister program called Get Glutes for a while, then I went on and wrote my own. Maybe by next year I want to try out Bret's new subscription program (Booty by Bret) I've heard such amazing things about it.1 -
Thank you for your recommendation! In doing a few minutes of research, I like the sound of this program. Do you find that one day a week for legs is enough to maintain your current lower body mass and/or build more?
I recommend watching her videos. As I stated before, you'll have to hit it hard enough. As a matter of fact...and experience...you can expect to NEED the rest inbetween. You should not expect to be able to do a second workout of any kind on the same day, either.
Look at the program as support for all the other training sessions you've been through. After I'm through...today finishing week 3...I intend to keep the same split for the week, but fill my program with different exercises. My body likes the lineup very much, and I recover well.1 -
What about PHUL? Two days upper and two days lower. I've never done it but it looks like enough volume. Not sure about the glutes, I always find many programs don't have enough glute focus (for my personal goals, let me add).
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
That's what I'm doing, but slightly modified for home use and with added glutes. I agree that I've yet to come across programming that has it all. It's working great for me for the time being.
Edit to add that I went from Strong Curves to Body by Bret (now Booty by Bret) because I liked the 3 day a week full body programming. I did have doubts that it would have enough volume (especially upper body) but it was fine for a bit. After a while the upper body became really repetitive and just wasn't what I was looking for. So I switched to what I'm doing above.1 -
I highly recommend RP’s female physique template.2
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What about PHUL? Two days upper and two days lower. I've never done it but it looks like enough volume. Not sure about the glutes, I always find many programs don't have enough glute focus (for my personal goals, let me add).
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
This looks awesome, can't wait to try it this week0 -
SC is lacking useful intensity at the correct volume and frequency. Another big hole is very little focus on increasing strength along side hypertrophy at a optimal rate.
Any good program will increase both within the volume dosed since they both can and will govern each other on results fairly quickly when looking long term.
I've had alot of sucess using either the Bridge or varients very simular with auto regulation from people moving on from SC to more advanced programming.
You might also want to rethink that programming is gender based. Individuals respond or do not respond to programming. I don't quite understand how a program would be written solely for a woman since woman have different goals and respond as inviduals just like men do.
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Lolalikeslolagets wrote: »I highly recommend RP’s female physique template.
I second this recommendation. I personally have been very satisfied with everything I've ever used from Renaissance Periodization.1 -
SC is lacking useful intensity at the correct volume and frequency. Another big hole is very little focus on increasing strength along side hypertrophy at a optimal rate.
Any good program will increase both within the volume dosed since they both can and will govern each other on results fairly quickly when looking long term.
I've had alot of sucess using either the Bridge or varients very simular with auto regulation from people moving on from SC to more advanced programming.
You might also want to rethink that programming is gender based. Individuals respond or do not respond to programming. I don't quite understand how a program would be written solely for a woman since woman have different goals and respond as inviduals just like men do.
I know you don't like SC, but the program is not a strength program. While over time you can and probably will get stronger, it won't be as significant as other programs that I will agree with. It has very specific focus on certain physique goals. It is great for some beginners and women starting out with certain goals, it is simple and easy to follow, but I would only recommend it to to some women with specific goals in mind. I wouldn't recommend it to someone very advanced obviously. If someone's goal is to get really strong, have a bodybuilder's physique then I would probably push them in another direction.
I think a lot of programs are designed with certain genders in mind due to what people see that they typically want. But I will agree not all women or men want the same thing. It is definitely better to find customized programming, I will agree with that.
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SC is lacking useful intensity at the correct volume and frequency. Another big hole is very little focus on increasing strength along side hypertrophy at a optimal rate.
Any good program will increase both within the volume dosed since they both can and will govern each other on results fairly quickly when looking long term.
I've had alot of sucess using either the Bridge or varients very simular with auto regulation from people moving on from SC to more advanced programming.
You might also want to rethink that programming is gender based. Individuals respond or do not respond to programming. I don't quite understand how a program would be written solely for a woman since woman have different goals and respond as inviduals just like men do.
I know you don't like SC, but the program is not a strength program. While over time you can and probably will get stronger, it won't be as significant as other programs that I will agree with. It has very specific focus on certain physique goals. It is great for some beginners and women starting out with certain goals, it is simple and easy to follow, but I would only recommend it to to some women with specific goals in mind. I wouldn't recommend it to someone very advanced obviously. If someone's goal is to get really strong, have a bodybuilder's physique then I would probably push them in another direction.
I think a lot of programs are designed with certain genders in mind due to what people see that they typically want. But I will agree not all women or men want the same thing. It is definitely better to find customized programming, I will agree with that.
Your assumptions of what I like would be incorrect then.
I can care less what program someone starts on because that is temporary and short term. SC is a fine program to introduce a beginner. Especially if it enforces compliance to lifting on a regular basis.
I realize SC isn't a strength program as the many people I trained coming off of SC became very strong very quick as well their aesthetic goals are met in a more efficient timeline than when running SC.
The problem lies after the first few months, SC is at best a "average program" compared to others because the lack of focus on building strength long term which will reduce the effectiveness of producing hypertrophy (one of the goals the program is marketed towards). They both require volume to drive and if you neglect one, the other will be neglected eventually as well.
When someone becomes bored with a program, usually it is because they are not getting results they expected(rightfully or not). Then they might start questioning the effectiveness of their programming from that point, which happened in this case of the OP. I think the OP was absolutely correct on wanting to leave SC as programs can become stale to response.
OP asked for programming that would be more advanced than SC with a amount of slots to lift per week. I gave my suggestions of just that.
It's not about a arbitrary strength number or being a body builder...it's about progressing forward in a more optimal fashion.1 -
3 day, Full Body. 4 day, two lower body, two upper body.0
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