Recommendations for upper body routine

[Kratos]

Hey, if you choose to do a routine where you muscles can't be used to their full potential, then that's your loss.

What do I know, I've only been lifting for years, done research and listened to guys that have been doing it all their life.

[Hudd]

Funny...same here. Add to that that I've trained with elite athletes (IFBB cardholder, pro-athlete trainers...acquaintances/friends).

Look, clearly there's a disconnect here. I'm not disagreeing with your point. It's a very good one and it's the default method. That being said, it is also not the exclusive way.

Only training one way leads to stagnation as you body builds its natural resistance to that stimulus.

It sounds like this works for you, and that's great! I'm very happy for you
Not everyone is you, nor do we have your exact genetics. Thus, it is beneficial to "Switch it up."

@Lampshadeburg you would need another day between chest and tris (Monday Thursday, for example).

[Griz]

I would not squat 3x a week.

[ns20004]

It keeps test high, I feel noticably different when I do. I was skeptical first

[FromJewToDust]

The 20 rep program is especially brutal. The 1st workout is kind of hard but the 18th one is murder.

[ArtiIntel]

X6million

I like to go by measurements instead of weight tho because there are some guys who will never be capable of squatting 4 plates.

If your quads arent at least 1.25-1.5 times the size of your arms (reasonably lean) you need to get the legs up before even thinking about arms. Best part is your arms will grow a little bit as your legs grow without even working arms.

I squat 3-4 times a week and fuk around with arm isolation once a week. Lately the squats have been only three days because they are getting heavy. Since i started squatting a lot my arms are growing faster than they ever have, even in my 20's doing dat der bro split, all about the pump, skip leg day phase.

Your body wants to be uniform (natural). Once a persons upper body gets to a certain point they will just not grow untill the rest of the body does. This is why you see the same guys in the gym year after year that look exactly the same as they did 4 years ago.

[ArtiIntel]

I would not squat 3x a week.

I know, right, 4 days is the minimum!

[ArtiIntel]

You should try the Smolov squat program. Brutal doesnt even come close to describing it. I bet youd put 100 pounds more on your back after 13 weeks though!

[Remover]

Im fairly new to lifting. I've mostly just been doing hex bar deadlifts, sometimes with a farmers carry then holding the bar until I absolutely have to put it down , all while trying to consciously flex every muscle I can be aware of. My legs have definitely seen the most growth but my upperbody is growing too and my whole body is usually sore the day after a work out. I've heard deadlifts and squats boost your T levels better than anything. As of right now I don't feel like I really need to mess with curls, but sometimes I'll do push ups and pull ups with a 50lb sandbag in my back pack.

[Griz]

Go ahead and fry your knees, you'll feel noticebly different.
Especially when your fifty.

[cmartel]

I don't think there's much benefit to doing more than one set of the same exercise consecutively unless you're on steroids.

When I did that Starting Strength program that most people do 3x5 or 5x5, I just did 1x5 and did it more often.

Once you hit your set of 5 on the bench, you're not doing anything by pacing yourself to crank out 2-4 more sets except eating into your recovery and holding yourself back.

So, instead of doing 5 sets of 4-8 rep bench once or twice a week, you did 1 set of 4-8 rep bench 5 days a week, increasing one rep each time, then going up in weight once you hit 8...you'd be onto something.

In short..."the pump" is mostly for steroid users. If you are natural, it's mostly irrelevant.

But you'll find that stretching a muscle for 60 seconds reasonably soon after your set is finished will increase growth and strength quite a bit.

This will stretch the fascia around the muscle and give the muscle room to grow.

[cmartel]

You'll find that bodybuilding and powerlifting (strength vs size) the training is not that much different.

Starting Strength says sets of 5 but if you don't own micro plates you'll find yourself going 4-8 reps and moving up in weight once you can do eight.

So 3x5 becomes 3x4-8 and as I said, I do just one set of 4-8 for fast twitch fibers. Then I'll throw in a set that hits slower twitch muscle fibers in the 8-12 rep range. Then a final exercise for purely slow twitch in the 12-16 range.

That's a great way to build a program and gives you room for those tricep pressdowns and flies everyone loves so much while still building strength all over and not over training.

So....a bicep workout would be...

Biceps
Standing Barbell Curl 1x4-8
Incline Hammer Curl 1x8-12
Machine Preacher Curl 1x12-16

Heavy compound in the beginning for 4-8, a good mass exercise in the middle for 8-12, and a foo foo shaping exercise at the end for 12-16.

[CatoCensored]

Interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!

[punchymcgregor]

Add pull ups to pull day and dips to push day.

[MikeBell]

Need some back workouts, brah. Dumbell rows, pullups, chinups, etc.

[JuiceTown]

Only bodybuilders should do an arm day. My arm day is my rest day, when i get so bored from not lifting i go out to the garage and do a bunch of curls. Arm isolation exercises are largely a waste time and effort. I arms get plenty of work from bench pressing, pushups, chin ups and dips.

Everything you need for your arms you should be getting from chest workouts and back workouts. Everything you need for triceps, you should be getting from pushups and dips.

I might curl once a week, if that and my arms are shredded and vascular. Here a very quick overview of what are effective splits.

Beginner Split:

Legs
Rest
Chest
Rest/Cardio
Back
Rest

Intermediate Split

Legs
Chest
Back
Shoulders
Core & Arms
Rest

In terms of doing an upper body routine:

If you're in the beginner category, you should do mostly chest exercises and one shoulder exercise. Example: flat bench press, incline bench press, dips, pushups (varying hand positions), and for shoulders so a standing military press. Work your chest first and your shoulders last since your chest is much stronger than your shoulders.

If your'e in the intermediate category, you should do a separate day for shoulders because you likely have developed front delts and triceps and your rear delts are being neglected. Also because you're lifting heavier weights, your rotator-cuff will be taking too much stress for you to do chest and shoulders on the same day.

My shoulder day is comprised of maybe eight different shoulder exercises. Once you have developed shoulders, you'll want to target specific delts to keep them balanced. The front delt tends to develop much faster than the others. You'l need to spend most your time strengthening the rear and middle delt, cause the front will get plenty of work from all your chest workouts.
Example: Standing Military Press, Arnold press, Standing Lateral Raises, DB vertical rows, Rear Delt Fly

You're going to get more from these exersices if you doing standing variations rather than sitting. Always choose to stand rather than sit. This builds core strength, stabilizers, balance, symmetry and gives you the best view of any ladies

Proof I have arms