PPLers: Which day is the most difficult for you?

@786man So you're doing 5 sets of squats and then 5 more supersetted with calf raises?!? I suggest you reduce your sets by quite a bit. You're just doing way too much. Increase the intensity and make each workout 8-15 sets. You'll probably be able to progress a lot more on the big lifts.
 
@533th3r Initially, I was doing only the calf raises without the extra squats, though I wasn't noticing any significant quads hypertrophy nor was I able to increase the weight on my squats, thus I decided to put some more heavier squats into the mix so as to increase the volume and get stronger. Optimally, I would go for Leg Extensions as an extra quad exercise, but since I only have access to free weights, this is not possible.

EDIT: Do you mean 8-15 sets of squats, or 8-15 sets of exercises in total for the whole day?
 
@786man When you can't increase the weight on squats, or any movement, the answer is pretty much never do more volume. Looking at your numbers you should be able to increase weight every single week. You're simply doing way too much. And I mean WAYYYYY too much. All your sets combined is 160(!!) Per week. The program I'm running at the moment has 86 sets per week(6 days per week). I added in calves and abs, so it's about 100 sets per week, as an intermediate- advanced lifter. I strongly recommend getting on a prewritten program. There are also a lot of barbell or garage gym programs out there. Doing 28 sets of hip hinges is just straight up insane.
 
@786man Do you do your tricep kickbacks with a dumbbell or cables?

If you use dumbbells you may wanna consider switching it out for a better tricep lift. Dumbbell kickbacks are probably the least effective thing for triceps
 
@carolus I do them with a dumbbell. The thing is, I only have access to a barbell and dumbbells. What other tricep exercise would you recommend?
 
@786man Yeah man tricep kickbacks are trash. Switch them out to an overhead dumbbell extension instead, or perhaps consider close grip bench. Both of those are much better than tricep kickbacks. Pretty much anything is better than a tricep kickback actually
 
@carolus Interesting, I've heard they were pretty good for isolating the lateral head if you actually do the eccentric movement properly. Which of course no one does(in my gym at least), they just fling it back and let gravity do the rest.
 
@786man Wow that's a lot of volume!

On push or pull day, I only do 7 to 10 sets.

For legs, I only ever do 5 sets.

Seem to be building muscle and getting stronger all the time. All my numbers are going up.

You and everyone else in this sub already know this, but make sure you're getting 0.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight every day.

And make sure you're getting enough sleep 👍
 
@dawn16
For legs, I only ever do 5 sets.

You mean 5 sets in total for the whole day? How do you fit the entire leg training routine in just 5 sets? Could you share your leg day here?

As for the protein and sleep, I try to get plenty of them both :)
 
@786man Yup for one leg session, I only do 5 sets.

I only do one exercise in my leg training session.

My training split is push legs pull. Train 6 days a week.

Day 2 it's barbell squats. Day 6 is Romanian deadlift.

I carefully track all sets and reps in my log book so I can track progression.

After 3 months, my numbers will start to plateau. At this point, I replace the exercise with another.

But in short, fewer exercises but higher training frequency.

It takes 10 to 20 sets per muscle per week to stimulate hypertrophy. Anything more could be junk volume.

Fewer exercises lead to better mind muscle connection for that exercise.

To learn about periodization, exercise selection and more, I recommend looking up Renaissance Periodization, Alexander Bromley or Geoffrey Verity Schofield.
 
Back
Top