Full body workout in 5 days?

[licious]

Hey all. I am returning to the gym and absolutely loving it. Truly a rewarding experience. I used to be a diligent lifter about 8 years ago, and I am feeling a bit rusty with my scheduling.

At the moment, I am returning to the gym with the following 3 day split:
-Chest, triceps, abs
-Back, biceps, shoulders
-Full legs, abs

I am trying to move to a 5 day, weekly routine and have two definitive rest days: fridays and sundays. This is what I was thinking:

M: Back, biceps, shoulders
Tues.: legs, abs
W: chest, triceps
Thur.: back, biceps, shoulders
F: Off
Sat.:legs, triceps, abs
Sun: Off

I have worked out my chest twice a week for years in the past. However I have heard a lot of people mentioning doing chest just once per week. And I want to limit my gym days to 5 only.

What are your thoughts? Would you divide it in a different way? I was trying to give each muscle group 72 hours of rest minimum. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[destls]

@licious I will say that NORMALLY chest/tris/shoulders (push) are trained together, full legs (legs) are trained together and back and biceps (pull) are trained together. That’s a PPL split. It’s just prob going to be more efficient since all your pushing and pulling muscles are going to be trained together. It does allow ample time of rest for each group of trained muscles and can be trained in a 3 or 6 day split, for which 6 days for you might be preferable. However if you want to limit it to 5 days you can work around that and do smth like this, that way each muscle group gets worked at least 2x a week:

M: push

T: pull

W: legs (and a bit of abs)

T: rest/active recovery

F: upper body

S: lower body and abs

S: rest

Compound lifts will train your abs a lot already, but you can def add a day or two in there where you can add some exercises to hit them hard. Although if you want to see them diet is important too.

 

[licious]

@destls For sure! Diet has been a big focus. Thanks for the info. So what you are saying is, do an intense, 3 day split as is standard, and on the other two days, just do a mix of the key upper body compound exercises, as well as legs? This can definitely work.

I can focus on doing more variety on one time of the week, and sticking to the big growth exercises for the shorter days.

Would you say I have a lot more to gain if I were to just do the 6 day split? I am contemplating that now that I think about it. I don’t have the time I used to but, maybe I can just be efficient and keep my workouts to 45 minutes. I just don’t want to lose optimal growth just because of one day.

 

[destls]

@licious *not a personal trainer, just from experience

If you’re a beginner I’d not recommend 6 days purely because you’d be too tired and burn out way too quickly.

And the best workouts don’t have to be long! Just pick 2-3 compound lifts, a couple isolation exercises (1-2 per muscle group) and you’re good to go. That’s as a general rule of thumb but if you want to be even more efficient just do 4 compound exercises and that’s all you need. You can still make lots of muscle growth using just compound lifts. It doesn’t have to be 1.5 hours to be a good workout, nor does sweat amounts dictate that.

There is no one real “optimal” way to workout, it’s whatever works for you and is enjoyable. Sure, there are certain tips and general things/basics you’ll want to follow like most others do (like rest time, compound lifts, training to failure, etc) but as long as it works for you, is enjoyable and you’re training hard enough you’re good! If you’d like you can check out r/StrongerbyScience which you might find helpful.

 

[licious]

@destls Not gonna lie, you’ve really motivated me to stop trying so hard to push the limits. I felt great going back to the gym today and doing my 3 day split. Maybe I am trying too hard and am in the search of optimal gains, but I don’t really need that stuff. My 3 day split is doing great for me. Maybe I’m just obsessing over something that works good for me.

I’m going to stick to 3, solid days with plenty of diversity in my exercises, and try to do more trails and stuff during the weekend instead. Thank you for sharing! I should enjoy my current path instead of trying to optimize it so much.

 

[destls]

@licious Of course! Happy to help

 

[grace911]

@licious This might be a slightly controversial opinion, depending on the audience, but I think FAR too much emphasis is paid to muscle isolation in most fitness routines.

Think about how our bodies were made to move. How we evolved to function in the real world, and how every other animal in the animal kingdom moves their bodies. Muscle isolation is NOT where it's at. It's all about compound exercises and multimodal muscle engagement across multiple planes of movement. EVERY workout is a full body workout for a huge percentage of animals in the animal kingdom. It may not be the most swole path, but it's arguably the healthiest and most sustainable one.

It's worth at least considering what value you may be able to glean by focusing on routines based around movement patterns instead of strict muscle isolation. Push, pull, hinge, squat vs. chest, back, hammies, quads.

We've personally found a lot of benefit in focusing the strength portion of our workouts on 1-2 of these movement patterns, and then focusing our HIIT session finisher on the remainder. This allows you to turn in a full body workout every day, while switching up which groups of muscles are seeing the heaviest workload from one day to the next.

I hope this proves to be helpful food for thought. Happy to assist with any questions. Best of luck!

 

[licious]

@grace911 That’s a great point you got. So what would you say about a routine focus 3 days specifically on compounds, and maybe 1 to 2 targeting exercises, (PPL) and if I’m short on days, just maybe do a full compound day that mixes perhaps a mix of all 3? Maybe I should also look into HIIT as one of my days. Funny enough I am leaning back to 3-4 now. 5 seems unnecessary.

 

[grace911]

@licious You could definitely do all of those things. I've always kind of looked at the small muscle group targeting exercises (bicep curls) as a sort of "dessert" that I occasionally engage in after a compound movement strength set.

So - other than our yoga sessions - we very intentionally structure all our workouts as strength training, followed by a HIIT session. You obviously don't have to do it that way, and any number of different approaches can work, but this offers a great mix: low-rep, moderate to heavy-weight strength sessions with a lot of focus on form, followed by lighter weight and/or bodyweight-only HIIT sessions where you can really go full steam ahead.

It's definitely worth experimenting and seeing what feels like the right mix for you. I would agree that three to four days a week of really hard work is usually good enough. A little light yoga or a nice long walk on your off days can be a perfect recovery day option as well.

 

[licious]

@grace911 That’s exactly what I had in mind. I am also being more efficient with my workouts and making sure that I am taking short rest breaks of up to a minute, and maybe 3 minutes when switching between exercises. I am having the most efficient hours ever, and I am also going the “low and slow” route until I naturally feel more comfortable increasing the weight. I want to take care of my joints.

Here is my new routine:

Monday: mountain biking, spinning, walking

Tuesday: legs, abs

Wednesday: chest, triceps, shoulders

Thursday: back, biceps, abs

Friday: rest

Saturday: pull & push compound hybrid workout. Finish off with a big leg heavy compound, like doing deadlifts and squats on the same day, for example.

Sunday: rest

Thank you a lot for your feedback! You made a big difference on my workout journey.

 

[grace911]

@licious Happy to help!