Obviously anybody exercising knows that you don’t just do one muscle group, you alternate and get more well rounded in your skills. But that being said, we all have areas that we want to improve on. I have pretty decent arms and chest, but now I think I need to work my traps and and shoulders. I have some notes that I’ve been writing down for what exercises to focus on and what the muscles do. What do y’all wanna work on? I love exercise and talking about it, everyone interacts with it in a different way, gets tired at different paces, sweats more or less, does more or less reps or sets.

    • ButtigiegMineralMapOP
      4•2 years ago

      Jonni Shreve, putting that down in my notes, thanks, and yea I agree, I’ve been getting started on deadlift(after like 3 weeks ignoring it) and realized that it IS actually very helpful for delts, but I still love Farmer Kettlebell Walks and bent over rows. Thanks for all the tips, great stuff here!

    • Muad'DibberA
      2•2 years ago

      Nice, thx I’ll check out some of jonnis videos.

    • @CriticalResist8A
      2•2 years ago

      I personally prefer upper lower now, because since it’s a 2-way split, you can do it twice, four or six times a week – whereas PPL can only be done 3 or 6. U/L is also more fun to me, as it has more variation, but the drawback is you don’t necessarily work out as much and the workouts are longer.

  • @CriticalResist8A
    5•2 years ago

    I have an upper lower split now but I definitely prefer the upper body to the lower – I already have big legs anyway.

    Tbh I don’t train one part more, I actually undertrain my triceps and biceps sometimes bc my arms got huge on this programme but my shoulders and forearms haven’t followed yet lol

    • ButtigiegMineralMapOP
      2•2 years ago

      Same lol, when I first started with basic lifting, I had no clue that the arms could look so big so quickly, I’m slowing down on arm workouts too

  • loathesome dongeater
    5•2 years ago

    I wanna focus on my arms and shoulders but for some reason I feel compelled to do deadlifts and squats even though I need to do them way less urgently than the aformentioned.

  • DankZedong MA
    4•2 years ago

    I mostly do a routine of back + biceps + legs and chest + triceps + shoulders with no focus on a certain group. I mostly go 3-4 times a week. I also do fight training which is heavier than most people think. I don’t do things perfectly and I could make progress a lot faster, but I feel happier this way then when I was an absolute gymrat with a doet that made me feel sick. I’m currently 185 cm (6.1-ish) and around 80 kg (around 176lbs) and I’m slowly working towards 85-90kg.

    • ButtigiegMineralMapOP
      2•2 years ago

      That’s badass! I’ve been doing light boxing since I was like 8. Roughly how long do you train fighting in one sitting because I actually haven’t hit the bag in a year or 2, I always need to catch my breath after like 5 minutes now.

      • DankZedong MA
        2•2 years ago

        Depends really. If I had a heavier workout that day, I just do a short workout of 10-15 minutes.

        I try to at least do some sort of fight training everyday. Could be sparring, could be punching something or just some shadowboxing. I found the shadowboxing, despite it’s weirdness, to be really helpful to maintain technique and stamina. There’s good workouts on YouTube that will guide you through a workout. A 20 minute shadowboxing workout can actually be pretty hard lol. But it’s a great way to build up some stamina for more heavier fight training.

        I’m also looking into judo again. I’ve almost reached the black belt before I quit some years ago, so I might give it a go again to get to the end.

        • ButtigiegMineralMapOP
          2•2 years ago

          Shadowboxing is great bc any time I hit my bag, it’s pretty loud for anybody at home. I actually checked out one of the videos you posted on here, a 15 minute shadowbox, but I used it as a guide for hitting the bag, it left me sweating like a pig, I try to do it in my free time now if I’m not watching something or reading

  • @201dberg
    4•2 years ago

    Overhead press - barbell

    Bench press - barbell

    Curls - dumbbells

    Deadlift - barbell

    Squats - barbell

    Weighted lunges - dumbbells

    Trying to add pull ups but I suck at pull ups still. Also push ups because why not.

    These lifts encompass like 80+% of overall muscle groups from what I have been told.

    Actually I also do these weighted bridges as part of my stretch routine my physical therapist game me, where I sit a weight on my lap and a resistance band around my legs above my knees. Do the bridge then at the top I open my legs and stretch outwards against the resistance band.

    • @redtea
      4•2 years ago

      Would you add rows and negative pull ups (just letting yourself down from the top, getting up there with a chair) to assist your full pull ups?

      • @201dberg
        3•2 years ago

        I probably could. I’m just like, super lazy, and so I just have been doing sets of “as far as I can go” and slowly been working up to full on pull ups. lol. Keeping up with my current routine is hard enough so I kind of just do what I can with adding things.

        • @redtea
          3•2 years ago

          Well, you are already hitting back with the deadlifts and squats (I assume back squats?).

          Some unsolicited advice on building lat strength when you find the time:

          When it comes to it, you could try one set of 3 negative pull ups followed by 3 sets of 1 pull up. Finish by hanging from the bar in a stable position (i.e. not just ‘hanging’ limp, but with your shoulders ready to pull you up: see below) for as long as you can. Work up to hanging in the ready position for 3 x 30 seconds. (This will build grip strength of that’s a weakness.)

          When this is easier, end with a set of negatives x 3.

          And when this is easier turn the full reps into 3 sets of 2 (or 2, 1, 1 until you can do 2, 2, 1 until you can do 2, 2, 2).

          Add reps slowly like this till you’re at 3 x 5, then build up in the same way to 5 x 5 (keeping a negative set or two as a warm up).

          Make sure you’re retracting your scapula by pulling your shoulder blades back and together (same position that you brace in to support the bar for squatting). Feet together and pointed forwards. Abs tensed just enough to keep your toes slightly in front of you for the whole movement. Breath into your stomach. Don’t let your elbows flare out behind your head. Grip the bar slightly ‘over’ it so there’s a small bend at your wrist at the bottom of the movement (imagine making a very slight swan shape with your forearm). When you’re at the top, your wrist should / will be straight. It’s less strain in the wrist at the hardest part of the movement.

          You can hit your lats like this a few times a week until you’re doing 3 x 3, then keep it to back days, and it won’t take long to get those reps in.

          Edit: until you’re doing full reps you could do them first, every session, while you’ve got the most energy.

  • @redtea
    4•2 years ago

    Full body. Although I tend to focus on the posterior chain to keep my posture tip-top. I’ll do isolation exercises to support compound lifts and improve posture, though.

    My main routine, when I have the health* and equipment to train regularly is very similar to what @SpaceCowboy suggests but using a barbell (to ensure good joint-rotation) rather than dumbbells where relevant. With this split, I’d do 3x8 for all the big lifts, but maybe 4x10-12 for the smaller lifts, like the reverse flies.

    [* Unfortunately, I’m not always able to train due to injury, etc, and if I do, it tends to be rehabilitative. So, what I want to work on and what I have to work on are not always aligned.]

    I have had some fun and made progress (in fact it’s my favourite routine) with a 5x5 full body, two days on, one day off split, focusing on form, breathing, and mechanics. The weight would be 60% of my one-rep max, following warm-up reps (including for rotator cuffs, regardless of the main exercise), and followed by mobility exercises (mainly with a foam roller and balls). I wouldn’t do this for long, though. Maybe 4-6 weeks.

    • Day one would be e.g. squat, bench, pull ups.
    • Day two would be e.g. deadlift, rows, overhead press.

    It’s intense because it’s full body, but as you’re never working to failure, it’s manageable and can feel like a rest from constantly increasing the weight on a more traditional split (leaving 3–4+ days between muscle groups).

    Edit: correct the @

    • @CriticalResist8A
      4•2 years ago

      Day one would be e.g. squat, bench, pull ups.

      Day two would be e.g. deadlift, rows, overhead press.

      That looks very similar to phraks, which I would suggest if you want to switch it up! Phraks is based on greyskull and you can find the pdf online which explains the rationale behind it. One thing is legs are the last exercise so that you don’t exhaust yourself too much by the time you get to them. Phraks is also 3x5 and last set is AMRAP with at least 5 – this is where you put everything but to be honest when I was doing it, I could rarely get above 5 reps on the last set.

      • @redtea
        2•2 years ago

        I’ll take a look, thanks.

    • @redtea
      3•2 years ago

      I forgot to say, thanks for starting this discussion! It’s motivated me to put more effort into getting back into a solid routine.

    • Muad'DibberA
      2•2 years ago

      I also do full body, just two days a week because I don’t have a ton of time, and also with just various sets of dumbells ( no access to a gym, and I like to roll out of bed and start exercising ) to make sure i can progressive overload.

      I follow along to various 10-30 min videos that I’ve found to be the best ones for me, that do a lot of different exercises, but I do cardio, chest, legs / lower body, arms / biceps, back and shoulders, then a good posture / stretching one for a cool down.

      Overall it takes about 1-1.5 hours.