Anyone done PPL once a week with success?

@darksoul999 Doing Legs , rest , push , rest , pull , rest repeat is the best thing I’ve ever done . I get more reps / weight every workout as long and everything else is in place ( sleep diet hydration ect ) once you get to a certain strength there’s no way your recovering in time for you next workout if your doing 6 days a week .
 
@darksoul999 That is the best way to run it imo. I personally can't understand how some people can go to the gym 5+ days a week and train hard consistently.

Monday : Quads, Hamstrings, Low Back, Calves (Starting with a Heavy Squat)

Wednesday: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps ( Starting with a Heavy Push)

Friday: Back, Arms (Biceps and extra Tricep work), Forearms ( Starting with Heavy Deadlift or Rack Pull)

If you need more upper body volume maybe do: Lower, Upper, Rest, Pull, Push, Rest, Rest.
 
@darksoul999 I’ve been doing 6 day ppl for over four years now. I’m about to be 22 years old so maybe it helps that I’m still young. I enjoy working out and don’t feel like I’m burnt out or anything, in fact I wish I could go 7 days. I’ve noticed a lot muscle gain but I do wonder if maybe I would of had way more of I had only done 4 days a week
 
@darksoul999 I’m not a fan of PPL personally, but I think you can do at least 4-5 days per week and still recover properly. I like the Arnold split and find that I get enough recovery time. I increased my strength training from 2x/week to 6x/week to train for my first fitness competition (4 weeks out!). I’ve been doing 6x/week since March 2023.

I do biceps/triceps/shoulders Day 1, Legs Day 2, and chest/back Day 3. Then I repeat Days 1-3. I take 1 rest day per week (Sunday) and then restart the next week on Day 1 again. I find having 2 full days between circling back to a muscle grouping for the second time in a week allows me to actually recover and go in feeling fresh for my second time on a muscle group. So even though I work out 6 days/week (and I also do 40 mins steady state cardio each day including my rest day), I don’t feel broken by the end of the week. Maybe it’s because I’m newer to body building, but I’m also a 37 year old single mom and I work a full time job/ run my own business, so it’s not like I’m a spring chicken 😂

Are you wedded to the PPL split?
 
@handakatomy I'm currently doing the arnold split actually, it's a lot of fun but chest/back day I find super intense and long, why I'm thinking about going back to PPL for a while. Sounds like it's working for you though so nice!
 
@darksoul999 It’s interesting how certain days on an Arnold split can feel more/less intense than others. On my current program, chest/back day feels like my easiest, leg day is moderately hard, and my arm day is brutal and takes the longest (2.25 hours)! What are you doing on chest/back day?
 
@darksoul999 That’s a solid chest/back day—I hate bent over rows with a passion. I can see why you’d be wiped after all of that, especially if you’re going to failure. Could you look at increasing your rest between sets to give you a bit more gas in the tank?

I’m in competition prep at the moment so all of my workouts are around 2 hours each and have been for the past few months. Arm day is killer on this new program, and those extra 15-20 mins needed to get through everything are brutal compared to the other days.
 
@handakatomy Ah I do them chest supported! best back excersise i find imo, no need to worry about your lower back at all, just pull and go heavy. What is your shoulder and arm day? Good luck with the competition!
 
@darksoul999 That’s a great idea re: chest supported! I find it hard to remember to engage my core throughout to avoid straining my lower back with a bent over row—I’ll try that post-competition when I have a bit more flexibility.

My current program overall is pushing for hypertrophy with higher reps on just about everything. My arm day is:

Biceps Superset
-bicep barbell curls x30
-seated dumbbell curls x30
-isolation curls x30 (per side)
-elastic band bicep curls (50 together, then 20 per side)

IThe superset is repeated 4 times with 1 min rest between supersets

Tricep Superset
-tricep dips on fitball x30
-skullcrushers x30
-tricep rope extensions x30
-tricep rope overhead extensions x30
-underbar push-ups x30

This superset is repeated 4 times with a 1 min break between supersets.

Shoulder Superset
-military press (x30 behind head, x30 in front)
-Arnold press x30
-lateral dumbbell raise x30
-front dumbbell raise x30

This superset is also repeated 4 times with a 1 min break between supersets.

So basically, I destroy each muscle group with minimal rest time. By the time I get to my shoulders I’m already toast. The Arnold press right after 60 reps of military press is especially brutal!

Before I start on my biceps I do an ab routine that takes about 10 mins to complete, and about 2-3 mins of banded walks (about 80 steps with the highest resistance band my gym has called the “pencil skirt” 😬). I’m about 15 mins into my workout by the time I start biceps. It takes me about 40 mins to do biceps, 40 mins to do triceps, and then 45-50 mins to do shoulders. I try to get through all my reps without stopping, and I can absolutely do that for my biceps and triceps, but shoulders are a grind.
 
@handakatomy Wow that is a lot. How come so many reps .. have you had inflammation/pain from doing so much? Maybe you'd see same results with less? For the Rows, I set a bench to incline, grab couple of heavy dumbbells, lean over and row, they are really good for sure.
 
@darksoul999 I’m working aggressively to refine the shape of my muscles. Hypertrophy all the way, baby! I have a coach who has devised this plan—if it were up to me there is no way I would come up with a program involving all these reps! 😂

Over the summer I was struggling with bilateral tennis elbow, mostly while doing bar presses and skull crushers (but at far fewer reps than I am now). My sports massage therapist is a miracle worker thankfully, and between her intervention/treatment and some tweaks to my form I’ve gone from waking up in pain every night to being completely pain free.

Aside from that incident a few months back, I’ve had no pain or felt any symptoms that needed treatment. I just walk out of the gym on arm day feeling like I have to go sideways between doorways because the pump
I get from all those reps is unreal 😂💪🏾
 
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