Found a study on pubmed last night. Full body 3x a week outgained push pull legs by 12% in just 8 weeks. I had been doing chest and triceps every Monday for years. Felt like an idiot. All those extra arm days did less for me than just squatting more. Anyone else ditch their old split after seeing real numbers?
Hit a 315 lb deadlift on leg day and felt something pop in my lower back. Now I can't do squats or rows for at least two weeks, messing up my whole rotation. Anyone else have a split that completely breaks down after one injury?
I was on my third set of barbell rows during my pull day at Planet Fitness on Elm Street. Right after my second rep, my left grip just gave out and the bar tipped sideways. Landed on the safety bars, thank god. Turns out my grip was toast from doing deadlifts first. I always did them at the end of pull day but I switched the order around to get it over with. Ended up having to cut my rows short and just do lat pulldowns instead. Should I just go back to an upper lower split where I can put deadlifts on their own day, or is there a smarter way to sequence a PPL without wrecking your grip? Has anyone else had this happen?
I ran PPL six days a week from March 2022 to January 2024. Volume was fine but my shoulders started feeling wrecked from pressing every other session. I switched to Upper Lower four days a week last month and after 8 weeks my deadlift jumped 25 pounds. Recovery is just better when you have 48 hours between upper sessions. Anyone else find PPL works until you hit a certain age or is it just me?
I switched from a standard push pull legs split to full body because I wanted more frequency. First two weeks felt great, like I was finally doing something right. By week 4 my bench was stuck at 185 for all 4 sessions and my lower back felt like it was taking a beating every single day. Anyone else run into this where more frequency just burned them out instead of building strength?
I'm at the YMCA in Austin yesterday doing my upper lower split when this dude walks in, sets up by the squat rack, and starts doing bicep curls with 50 pound dumbbells. He's in the middle of his set and I notice he's wearing a shirt that says 'Don't skip leg day' which is ironic because he literally skipped leg day. He finishes his curls, walks over to the leg press, and loads up 400 pounds for one rep before walking away. I asked him what split he follows and he said 'I just do whatever feels right' which is the exact opposite of what this community stands for. Has anyone else seen people at your gym who just make up their own random routine without any plan at all?
My buddy Dave who swears by push pull legs said leg extensions are a waste and I should just do heavy squats for quads. I followed his advice for 6 months, squatted twice a week, added 80 pounds to my max. But now my knees ache going up stairs and my vastus medialis is visibly smaller than before. Physical therapist said I lost stability from skipping isolation work. Dave still says I'm wrong and need to squat deeper. Anyone else have a specialist tell them their split advice was making things worse?