Hi everyone! I'd like some thoughts about the following plan. I've recently started going to the gym after working out at home during the pandemic (body weight only).
Tuesday & Saturday:
Upper Body
Dumbbell Chest Press: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) (1,5 min rest)
Military Dumbbell Press: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) (1,5 min rest)
Lat Pulldowns: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) (1,5 min rest)
Bicep curls: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) with odd sets performed while standing and even ones while sitting on a 45° inclined bench (1 min rest)
Monday & Friday:
Lower Body
Squats: 9 sets - 5 reps each (same weight for all sets)
Sumo Deadlift: 9 sets - 5 reps each (same weight for all sets)
Cable Ab Crunches: 5 sets (6-15 reps each)
Hanging Leg Raises: 5 sets (each one to failure with body weight)
Wood Chopper: 5 sets (6-15 reps each)
A little bit of background: during the last 2 months I've followed a full body routine which was basically the same you see above but split in 6 sets for each exercise instead of nine (and 3 sets of each ab exercise instead of 5). It took me 3 hours to complete each workout: for a variety of reasons at the moment I can only workout for 1,75 hours 2x a week and for 2,5 hours 2x a week (with the days being those above).
The idea is to get 18 sets X week for each muscle (squats are quads focused while sumo are glutes/hamstrings focused).
The lower takes longer because I take longer rests, depending on the difficulty of the last one (usually 1,5 Min between 1 and 2, 3 mins between 2-7 and 5 between 7-9, but it varies).
I'm still a begginer: I weight 70 kg and lift 70 kg on the squat, 20 kg x Dumbbell on chest (10 reps on 1st set), 14 kg X Dumbbell on military (8 reps on 1st set) and 55 kg on lat machine (10 reps on 1st set).
I prefer going for strength for lower body and for hypertrophy on upper body because I prefer Dumbbells over barbell for chest and if I raise the weight in order to get to the 5 rep range I easily lose proper form and it gets heavy on the wirsts. On the other hand I like squatting in the 5 rep range way more than squatting in the 6-12 rep range.
My doubts are as follows:
1) Is it too much volume? The idea is to maintain the 18 sets per muscle. I know that glutes and hamstrings help during squats or that deadlifts involve quads, but is it enough to consider my routine as a, for example, "36 sets" for quads? I don't feel the glutes as involved in the squat as the quads, not even remotely, but maybe I got it all wrong. (I ask this because I know more than 20 weekly working sets for a given muscle becomes detrimental, and I truly fear to be hindering my progress).
2) Does it make sense to take 1,5 Min rests for hypertrophy compound movements? Or should I go for, let's say, 6 sets of dumbbell chest press with 3 Min rests like I would do for squats? Obviously I'd lose 1/3 of my weekly chest volume.
3) In a couple of months I might be able to switch back to my full body 3x a week (as described above): should I do it? If yes, what could I improve? Which one is better in the long run?
Thanks in advance for reading, I'm still a newbie and I'd love some feedback!
Tuesday & Saturday:
Upper Body
Dumbbell Chest Press: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) (1,5 min rest)
Military Dumbbell Press: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) (1,5 min rest)
Lat Pulldowns: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) (1,5 min rest)
Bicep curls: 9 sets (6-12 reps each) with odd sets performed while standing and even ones while sitting on a 45° inclined bench (1 min rest)
Monday & Friday:
Lower Body
Squats: 9 sets - 5 reps each (same weight for all sets)
Sumo Deadlift: 9 sets - 5 reps each (same weight for all sets)
Cable Ab Crunches: 5 sets (6-15 reps each)
Hanging Leg Raises: 5 sets (each one to failure with body weight)
Wood Chopper: 5 sets (6-15 reps each)
A little bit of background: during the last 2 months I've followed a full body routine which was basically the same you see above but split in 6 sets for each exercise instead of nine (and 3 sets of each ab exercise instead of 5). It took me 3 hours to complete each workout: for a variety of reasons at the moment I can only workout for 1,75 hours 2x a week and for 2,5 hours 2x a week (with the days being those above).
The idea is to get 18 sets X week for each muscle (squats are quads focused while sumo are glutes/hamstrings focused).
The lower takes longer because I take longer rests, depending on the difficulty of the last one (usually 1,5 Min between 1 and 2, 3 mins between 2-7 and 5 between 7-9, but it varies).
I'm still a begginer: I weight 70 kg and lift 70 kg on the squat, 20 kg x Dumbbell on chest (10 reps on 1st set), 14 kg X Dumbbell on military (8 reps on 1st set) and 55 kg on lat machine (10 reps on 1st set).
I prefer going for strength for lower body and for hypertrophy on upper body because I prefer Dumbbells over barbell for chest and if I raise the weight in order to get to the 5 rep range I easily lose proper form and it gets heavy on the wirsts. On the other hand I like squatting in the 5 rep range way more than squatting in the 6-12 rep range.
My doubts are as follows:
1) Is it too much volume? The idea is to maintain the 18 sets per muscle. I know that glutes and hamstrings help during squats or that deadlifts involve quads, but is it enough to consider my routine as a, for example, "36 sets" for quads? I don't feel the glutes as involved in the squat as the quads, not even remotely, but maybe I got it all wrong. (I ask this because I know more than 20 weekly working sets for a given muscle becomes detrimental, and I truly fear to be hindering my progress).
2) Does it make sense to take 1,5 Min rests for hypertrophy compound movements? Or should I go for, let's say, 6 sets of dumbbell chest press with 3 Min rests like I would do for squats? Obviously I'd lose 1/3 of my weekly chest volume.
3) In a couple of months I might be able to switch back to my full body 3x a week (as described above): should I do it? If yes, what could I improve? Which one is better in the long run?
Thanks in advance for reading, I'm still a newbie and I'd love some feedback!