Anybody here actually train or is it just drugs?

[Type-IIx]

I logged my training on ugbodybuilding.com for about 3.5 years. We have at times had a very active journal section over there, and I feel like we do talk more about training than gear. We have gone from just a few people logging workouts to at times like 20 people, it has varied a lot.

I recently started using the Hevy app though because it's just really easy to use and I like it. Also my goals have changed a lot due to health reasons, so I don't have as much motivation for a goal oriented progress log.

Anyway, I do a very simple 5 day, progressive overload split for hypertrophy. Each day is a main compound lift followed by accessory work.

With rest days, I usually lift 5 out of every 8 days. The split looks like this:

Legs
Chest
Back
Shoulders
Arms

Usually taking a rest day after 2 days of lifting.

I do 15 mins walking on the treadmill 3.5mph x 7%incline pre-workout, and ride the bike 10 mins post workout, keeping my heart rate around 130 or so.

This routine has helped me make good progress. I started 4 years ago, and I've had some major setbacks along the way (i.e. atrial flutter and heart failure, which I have recovered from completely).

Here's my latest progress pic compared to where I started.

Don't see 5-way splits too often on an 8-day schedule, a bit unwieldy not sticking to a 7-day one.

I like what you've done with your frequencies for the back/shoulders/arms.

TBH this looks like a recipe for underdeveloped legs (and pecs) relative to the rest of the upper body.

You look pretty good, with results that you could probably have got natty right? I hope the heart is healthy now bro.

 

[Deleted member 123722]

I'm currently doing a low-volume, high-intensity, high frequency, PPLPPL Off.

I start off with minimum volume, with no intensifiers. I make sure each muscle group is hit from every angle. I warm up as much as I see fit, then hit two working sets to positive failure (where form breaks); reps range from 6-12.

As I progress in my meso, I do what I call "heavy drop-sets"—my final set will be like to 6-10, then I drop and do another 6, and another 5-6 if I do a double drop-set.

Push Day 1

Barbell Bench Press
Incline Machine Flies

Barbell Military Press
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Cable Rear Delts Raises

Ez-Bar Skull crushers
Overhead Dumbbell Extension

Pull Day 1

Cable pulldown
Barbell Rows
Pullover Machine

Machine Shrugs

Barbell Curls
Hammer Curls

Leg Day 1

Pendulum Squats
SLDL
One-legged Leg Press (to emulate lunges)

Calf Raises (Leg Press)
Seated Calf Raises

Adductor Machine

Push Day 2

Incline Bench Press
Cable Flies

Dumbbell Front Raises
Arsenal Machine Lateral Raises
Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises

Wide-grip Press-downs
One-armed Cable extensions

Pull Day 2

Machine Hi Row
Chest supported T-bar Rows
Rope Pullovers

Barbell Shrugs

Machine Preacher Curl
One-arm Standing Cable Curls

Leg Day 2

Hack Squats
Leg Curls
Leg Extensions

Standing Calf Raise Machine
Donkey Calf Raises

Adductor Machine

 

[Cohiba]

Don't see 5-way splits too often on an 8-day schedule, a bit unwieldy not sticking to a 7-day one.

Thanks for the feedback. And sometimes I do my split in 7 days but it depends on how my recovery is going and my schedule. I find I progress better on 5 out of 8 days lately. The 3 days in a row can be a bit tough esp if one of those days is leg day.

I like what you've done with your frequencies for the back/shoulders/arms.

TBH this looks like a recipe for underdeveloped legs (and pecs) relative to the rest of the upper body.

Yes, Maybe so, I feel underdeveloped in all areas though.

My arms are very thin genetically
I have the thinnest wrists out of just about any male I've ever met, ankles are similar. Chest lags more than anything strength-wise, but aesthetically I feel like my arms and calves are the smallest, even though they are relatively stronger body parts for me (strength-wise).

You look pretty good, with results that you could probably have got natty right? I hope the heart is healthy now bro.

Thank you, and I'll never know if I could have gotten these results natty, because I got on trt and started experimenting with ped's after my first year or so. My genetics are pretty awful I never had success with any athleticism in my life until now- if you consider this success. For me it is a huge success, but I know I'm tiny compared to a lot of people in this hobby/sport. I'm 6'1" 195 currently.

Heart is healthy now. I closely monitor blood pressure and occasionally use a kardia app/sensor to check my rhythm. I also see a heart doctor. I recovered from something like 20% ejection fraction to 60 if my memory serves me... rhythm is good after 2 ablations.

 

[Deleted member 123722]

I'm currently doing a low-volume, high-intensity, high frequency, PPLPPL Off.

I start off with minimum volume, with no intensifiers. I make sure each muscle group is hit from every angle. I warm up as much as I see fit, then hit two working sets to positive failure (where form breaks); reps range from 6-12.

As I progress in my meso, I do what I call "heavy drop-sets"—my final set will be like to 6-10, then I drop and do another 6, and another 5-6 if I do a double drop-set.

Push Day 1

Barbell Bench Press
Incline Machine Flies

Barbell Military Press
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Cable Rear Delts Raises

Ez-Bar Skull crushers
Overhead Dumbbell Extension

Pull Day 1

Cable pulldown
Barbell Rows
Pullover Machine

Machine Shrugs

Barbell Curls
Hammer Curls

Leg Day 1

Pendulum Squats
SLDL
One-legged Leg Press (to emulate lunges)

Calf Raises (Leg Press)
Seated Calf Raises

Adductor Machine

Push Day 2

Incline Bench Press
Cable Flies

Dumbbell Front Raises
Arsenal Machine Lateral Raises
Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises

Wide-grip Press-downs
One-armed Cable extensions

Pull Day 2

Machine Hi Row
Chest supported T-bar Rows
Rope Pullovers

Barbell Shrugs

Machine Preacher Curl
One-arm Standing Cable Curls

Leg Day 2

Hack Squats
Leg Curls
Leg Extensions

Standing Calf Raise Machine
Donkey Calf Raises

Adductor Machine

@Mac11wildcat @BigTomJ

Thoughts on this? I've seen great progress on this, but I did notice one thing: I've been reading lately that PPL isn't a good split for those who have small arms. My arms are about 18 now, but they certainly do not "match" my body. If there is anything advice you'd want to give on this split, or that maybe I should ditch it to rectify the arm issue, let me know!

 

[laclark89]

I have the same problem with my arms, (long wingspan) I've heard john meddows say the same about ppl that it can make ur arms lack an mabe it's a good idea to do ppl arms,

 

[Fattyone]

I did PPLA (arms) for a bit (my arms are behind every thing else as well) and for *me* it was too much. My tendons just stayed beat up.

Currently doing PPLPP with two consecutive rest days after that, it’s new so can’t say yet how it works.. BUT I’ve made it a point to make sure the direct arm work I am doing is solid. I’ve chosen exercises that not only make sense on paper, but ones that I can execute well, ones where when I start to fail and reeeeaaalllly have to push through, all that force and effort is going to that muscle, with minimal help from everything around it.
I’ve also taken an extremely hard look at my technique and surprisingly, have found issues and fixed those. I think a lot of people take for granted how easy a “curl” or “push down” is, it’s like the first thing people learn. Fucking Toddlers naturally curl things, but it can easily be done poorly and done poorly unnoticed at that.

Really hoping all this translates to some fucking arm gains!!!!!! If not, maybe knitting.

 

[BigTomJ]

@Mac11wildcat @BigTomJ

Thoughts on this? I've seen great progress on this, but I did notice one thing: I've been reading lately that PPL isn't a good split for those who have small arms. My arms are about 18 now, but they certainly do not "match" my body. If there is anything advice you'd want to give on this split, or that maybe I should ditch it to rectify the arm issue, let me know!

What's your height and weight?
Going off your Avi I don't see an arm size issue.

Going off the plan I don't see arms lacking stimulus.

The old "ppl lacks arms" is for the standard 3 day ppl split. What you're doing I think you're getting plenty of stimulus to your arms.

Pplx2 is a tough split to swing from a recovery aspect, but if you can manage the recovery of it, it can be very powerful split, and I don't think it is lacking in for arm work by any metric. If you really want to add some more secondary arm stimulus, you can swap some of your pull movements for supinated movements. But I think what you have is fine.

I used to run a rotating PPL 6 day split.
Week 1 would be legs push pull
Week 2 would be push pull legs
Week 3 would be pull legs push
Ect ect to make up for the shortened recovery intervals, I did this as a natural for years, and through my first cycle and it put the most mass on me than anything else, but it was very very hard to manage the rotating schedule and the super short recovery periods, i found myself consistently needing a deload every 4-6 weeks.


18" is still pretty damn big arms, some muscle groups are gonna respond different to stimulus than others, at an individual level.
Legs for me for example, I'm pushing the absolute most recoverable single session volume I can with the absolute most frequency I can and they still grow slower than my shoulders which are not a focus at all of this training block.




Tldr; I don't see an issue with your split if you can consistently recover and perform with it.

 

[Deleted member 123722]

I have the same problem with my arms, (long wingspan) I've heard john meddows say the same about ppl that it can make ur arms lack an mabe it's a good idea to do ppl arms,

So PPLA, are you still doing arms on Push and Pull, or just chest/shouldes, and back/traps on those days.

 

[DECLAN]

Wtf happened? why did OP get banned lol ?

 

[Deleted member 123722]

What's your height and weight?
Going off your Avi I don't see an arm size issue.

Going off the plan I don't see arms lacking stimulus.

The old "ppl lacks arms" is for the standard 3 day ppl split. What you're doing I think you're getting plenty of stimulus to your arms.

Pplx2 is a tough split to swing from a recovery aspect, but if you can manage the recovery of it, it can be very powerful split, and I don't think it is lacking in for arm work by any metric.

18" is still pretty damn big arms, some muscle groups are gonna respond different to stimulus than others, at an individual level.
Legs for me for example, I'm pushing the absolute most recoverable single session volume I can with the absolute most frequency I can and they still grow slower than my shoulders which are not a focus at all of this training block.




Tldr; I don't see an issue with your split if you can consistently recover and perform with it.

Avi I was pumped and in gym mirrors, probably on var as well.

Just had the wife take these, with no pump lol.

I'm 5'11

234lbs

I think my arms suck ass.

 

[Fattyone]

Wtf happened? why did OP get banned lol ?

Been wondering this too

 

[BigTomJ]

Avi I was pumped and in gym mirrors, probably on var as well.

Just had the wife take these, with no pump lol.

I'm 5'11

234lbs

I think my arms suck ass. View attachment 262507View attachment 262508View attachment 262509

Off you feel they are lagging, and you have room to work them and still recover you can add another tricep movement to your push days, and another bicep to your pull days, or swap a pull movement for a supinated variant, and a push movement for a close grip variant.

I think there's size there that you're not really appreciating because BF is a bit high.

It's been a long time since I measured arms, but I believe they are like 17.5" or some shit, but aestheticly they look larger because of BF. I don't have big arms at 6' 230, but some level of leanness goes a long way to make things look bigger

This was from this mornings check in pictures, flat, fasted, on a maintenance phase before we push the food and start back up on cycle end of August.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

PPL is infinitely flexible.

If you want more arms and are recovering, add more weekly volume to arms.

I'm hitting triceps on both push days and one pull day. There's nothing a PPL can't handle.

Mine is: pull + ham, push, off, legs, pull + 1 tri, push

 

[Deleted member 123722]

Off you feel they are lagging, and you have room to work them and still recover you can add another tricep movement to your push days, and another bicep to your pull days, or swap a pull movement for a supinated variant, and a push movement for a close grip variant.

I think there's size there that you're not really appreciating because BF is a bit high.

It's been a long time since I measured arms, but I believe they are like 17.5" or some shit, but aestheticly they look larger because of BF. I don't have big arms at 6' 230, but some level of leanness goes a long way to make things look bigger

This was from this mornings check in pictures, flat, fasted, on a maintenance phase before we push the food and start back up on cycle end of August.


View attachment 262513View attachment 262514View attachment 262515

Yea.

If I were shredded, I'd prob look much better. I"m just taking a "diet break" for the next week and then I"m going to hit it back again. Thing is, if I'm dieting, I won't be growing anyway, so I guess I shouldn't be worried about size anyway.

I once did this pretty cool split, which was

Week 1: Chest/Back; Arms; Shoulders; Legs; Chest/back; Arms OFF SUN.
Week 2: Shoulders; Legs; Chest/back; Arms; Shoulders; Legs; OFF Sun

Then it repeats week one.

 

[Deleted member 123722]

PPL is infinitely flexible.

If you want more arms and are recovering, add more weekly volume to arms.

I'm hitting triceps on both push days and one pull day. There's nothing a PPL can't handle.

Mine is: pull + ham, push, off, legs, push, pull + 1 tri

See, I love being in the gym six days in a row; me taking a break on a Weds, and having to workout Sunday, shifting the workouts over would drive me nuts with the OCD mind lol. I like each workout to fall on a certain day.

I wonder if that is also a problem; although I recover just fine by the time I come back. Granted, I've been pushing this damn cut for 5 months, and just taking a break now. I'm still not as lean as I want, so I shouldn't even be bitching about any size. I'm gonna have to hit cardio again next week after this break ends.

 

[laclark89]

So PPLA, are you still doing arms on Push and Pull, or just chest/shouldes, and back/traps on those days.

I've done both, I feel like the chest shoulders way I dont get enough volume in my arm. So on a ppla I've changed it up like on a push day some times I would go heavy on tris then when arm day comes just focus on pumping the shit out of them or vice versa pump the shit out of em on push day and go heavy on arm day. I love ppl beats up my elbows but i also really like working arms on there own day also.

What do you guys think about feeder workouts for arms?

 

[Mac11wildcat]

See, I love being in the gym six days in a row; me taking a break on a Weds, and having to workout Sunday, shifting the workouts over would drive me nuts with the OCD mind lol. I like each workout to fall on a certain day.

I wonder if that is also a problem; although I recover just fine by the time I come back. Granted, I've been pushing this damn cut for 5 months, and just taking a break now. I'm still not as lean as I want, so I shouldn't even be bitching about any size. I'm gonna have to hit cardio again next week after this break ends.

6 days a week is a lot. Especially if you're actually training intensely which tbh and not a dig at you, I'm skeptical of anyone who says they train 6 days at high intensity.

I bet you'd find better results with 2 off 5 on total or 3 on 1 off . I've yet to find people who do better on more than less training days.

 

[Deleted member 123722]

6 days a week is a lot.

I bet you'd find better results with 2 off 5 on total. I've yet to find people who do better on more than less training days.

I do recover just fine and I have been doing it for 5 months straight, so you can see I'm holding back just enough so make it happen; and since I'm not in a growth phase, probably why I can pull it off. I'm thinking the more time in the gym, the more calories I'm burning for the week, since I'm cutting, I won't grow, anyway.

But I did notice I felt so much better after a week off for my vacay, from training and dieting.

If I switch to 5-day, I guess the only way to do that is an upper, lower; off, P,P, L, off?

 

[laclark89]

6 days a week is a lot.

I bet you'd find better results with 2 off 5 on total. I've yet to find people who do better on more than less training days.

Do you find it best in most cases take 2 consecutive days off or 3 on 1 off?

 

[Mac11wildcat]

I do recover just fine and I have been doing it for 5 months straight, so you can see I'm holding back just enough so make it happen; and since I'm not in a growth phase, probably why I can pull it off. I'm thinking the more time in the gym, the more calories I'm burning for the week, since I'm cutting, I won't grow, anyway.

But I did notice I felt so much better after a week off for my vacay, from training and dieting.

If I switch to 5-day, I guess the only way to do that is an upper, lower; off, P,P, L, off?

You could set it up anyway you wanted.

P/P/O/P/P/L/O for upper focus, Push/Legs/Off/Push/Legs/Pull for leg focus, add arm or ham/quad volume on other days. Figure out where you need work and select a split and movements to match.

Do you find it best in most cases take 2 consecutive days off or 3 on 1 off?

I do 2/1/3/1. Never two days off or more 3 days training in a row in normal circumstances.