Splitting up workouts....

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Due to the 3 exercises per workout now taking more time than I have to train (doing M/W/F squat-bench/press-deadlift/chins) now that I’ve gained strength and am needing to rest 5 minutes in between sets, would splitting the workouts up across 6 days be frequency overkill, or doable for a middle-aged novice lifter? Volume would remain the same on squat and DL (initially) except I would press and bench more (doing both each workout). Those lifts have stalled on the 3x a week alternating schedule. I’m currently 44 yo, 180 lbs, 5’11".

M: squat/deadlift
T: bench/press
W: squat/chins
T: bench/press
F: squat/deadlift
S: bench/press

Thanks in advance.

2

What program are you doing?

3

I feel busted. :wink: I’ve been doing 5x5 on all lifts (1x5 on deadlifts Friday and 3x5 lighter deadlifts on Mondays). Chins are 5xAMRAP. Too much for an old f*ck like me? I’m making progress, it’s just the workouts are too long. I bought your hypertrophy template a while back, but have not run that yet as I wanted to get my strength up first. I’m in a slight surplus and have gained 5 lbs since January 1. I had the flu over the holidays and it was so bad that I lost a bunch of weight and a bunch of strength and so started the new year with just 135 lbs and have been adding 5 a workout 5x5 to get to where I’m at now, which is 265 lb squat, 305 dl, 135 OHP and 180 bench (the latter two lifts have been stuck). What template would you recommend for a 44-yr old in this situation? My main goal is just to get and stay strong as I age. I’d like to get a 300 lb squat, 400 DL, bodyweight (so 185 lb or so) OHP and 225 bench if you think that’s realistic. Thanks for any advice and for forgiving a fan for doing what is essentially SS/stronglifts. cringe

4

Roman,

Thanks for this. A few thoughts here.

In general, I don’t recommend that anyone follows a program that has very little exercise variety, focuses on a single rep range to the exclusion of others, has no auto-regulation, and does not include some dedicated conditioning work. If this style of program gets someone into training or improves adherence for a particular individual, that’s great, but I’d aim towards fixing these shortcomings.

Let’s break this down a bit further:

Reduced exercise variation hampers motor learning and tends to increase injury risk. This is the opposite of what one may “logically” conclude if they’re unfamiliar with the current evidence on both topics, but the data on increased exercise variation being better for these outcomes is substantial.

Reducing rep range variation limits muscular adaptations to a specific task rather than developing a broad range of capacity, which requires exposure to different rep ranges.

Without any auto-regulation it is very difficult to control the training load imposed upon the individual, which increases risk of injury and tends to result in worse performance outcomes.

We would recommend that everyone meet the current guidelines for physical activity, which includes dedicated aerobic exercise. Increasing cardiorespiratory fitness reduces the risk of developing a number of diseases and premature mortality.

Finally, there is overwhelming evidence suggesting that training-induced adaptations occur independently of age, sex, or race. Therefore, we wouldn’t tell you that you are “old” or that there are any age-specific training recommendations. You are not old and you’re not fragile.

As far as what you should do, I’d probably just run our free Beginner Prescription (or template) until it stops working and then move on to one of our templates based on your preferences. There is no reason to continue to run the program you are right now given the shortcomings noted above.

-Jordan

1 Like
5

Jordan, this is really helpful. Truly appreciated. I will adhere to all of this advice and put it into practice starting now. You all have really been putting out some great information (YouTube, podcast, forums, etc etc), and whenever my bullshit/broscience senses begin to tingle, I can count on you, Dr. A.B. and the BBM Team to help cut through all the nutrition/fitness nonsense that’s so easily found all over the Interwebs. Thanks again.

6

Happy to help. Let us know how it goes!