Working out Three Days a Week

Hey,

 I am new to Dr. Joe's idea about linear periodization. I am going to post what I understand about his two week split and if you guys could comment on what I am missing, got wrong, or got right.

Here is what I think his program looks like for the two week split. Keep in mind i am bulking so comment on what you think is best for this.

Week 1

You can do the same training over a four or five day split - three is just better in the offseason when you're handling more weight and need more recovery.

Gaining or losing fat has nothing to do with training.

I'd leave at least one cardio in, two max, for the offseason.  If you're precontest do as much as you need to lose body fat combined with your diet and do the training the same.  You'll likely peak in strength within 16 weeks, maybe sooner, and need to change the whole format to something else less strength-focused. 

I appreciate the 3 day split for it's brevity and compactness (is that a word?). I'm doing it right now since I'm away from home and I don't want to be training all the time. However, I do run into a little problem. Leg day is always great. But on the two upper body days, I do notice that the smaller muscle groups get very neglected. On chest/shoulder/tri I always start with a pressing movement. This gets my chest and delts pretty tired. My logic from that point is: "I'd rather put in more work for chest, and I will be hitting my delts indirectly anyway". So I proceed to do more chest work until my chest is dead. So by the time my chest is dead, my shoulders are 90% gone and any time I devote to them is just pathetic. By the time I get to my triceps, they are a weak, throbbing mess from all the chest/shoulder work. So I know I'm not working them as effectively as possible. 4  sets and I'm spent.

I find a similar problem with back/biceps. On the heavy days, I'm so dead from DL or Rack pulls that I can't even fathom focusing on biceps. On the more intense days, my biceps are already so pumped from the back work that I'm only lifting a fraction of what I could. No matter how you cut it, not effective.

The main issue is, I don't want to superset little muscles with the big muscles at the expense of the larger muscle groups. The solution would be to perhaps but arms on their own day. But I rarely have the willingness to come in just for arms. I rationalize it by saying that they are getting worked on the compound days. Yet, it's no suprise that my arms aren't growing!

I agree with sleeplifter. I feel that this might not give enough attention to bi's tri's and shoulders. I believe the idea that more rest is better for growth, but what is the best way to get your arms and shoulders growing with your back, legs, and chest?

What supersets on the hypertrophy weeks do you reccommend or even on the power weeks to up the weight and get guns and bowling ball shoulders?

Also, Dr. Joe. Are you saying that I really shouldn't worry about fat loss in regards to training? Your saying that fat loss or gain has to do with your caloric intake? What then would you reccomend on days you aren't expending calories the days other than the three lifting days?

I havent done bis or tris with a larger bodypart in ages and they have improved dramatically...nothing beats going into the gym and super setting bis and tris...your arms get 2 -3 inches bigger and the pump is intense!!! I do arms on saturday after quads and calves on friday. I tried so many times with so many variations and I just cant come into the gym 3 x a week unless you do something like this

mon-back

wed-chest and delts

fri-legs

mon-arms

wed- start over....thats the only way i think a 3 way split will work and your arms will still get an effective workout

"Also, Dr. Joe. Are you saying that I really shouldn't worry about fat loss in regards to training? Your saying that fat loss or gain has to do with your caloric intake? What then would you reccomend on days you aren't expending calories the days other than the three lifting days?"

Correct - you shouldn't worry about fat loss in regard to training - that's what you set up your nutrition and cardio for. When I'm training in the offseason or precontest I have the same goal: big.  On off days when you're not expending as many calories:

offseason - you're growing

precontest - you're recovering and thanking God you have a rest 

I personally love training 3 days a week.  More time for recovery and my strength is insane, even when dieting for a show.   My biceps measure a natural and cold 17 1/2 inches.  18 inches in the off season and 18.5' pumped at the height of 5,7'.  No frills no gimmicks. Dr. Joe is a pro and would never lead you astray, nor will I.  I train an upperbody split as follows:

Mon: Upperbody, Tues: Cardio 16 min. intervals, Wed: Lowerbody, Thurs: Interval Cardio, Fri: Upperbody, Sat: Cardio.  The following week is reversed where I do lowerbody on Mon and Friday.  In the off season, I drop cardio.  I straight barbell curl 120 lbs with good form and do DB hammer curls on upperbody days for 2 sets, 5-8 reps tops and heavy!  Triceps include weighted PB dips, french press and or pushdowns for 2 sets of 10 (due to tendons I go higher reps with tri's)  Only two biceps and 2 triceps exercises on upperbody day after my compound freeweight movements.  Your arms will grow.  Trust the process and always lift heavy to failure with good form.  Failure meaning where you can't do another rep without sacrificing form. This is my preference.

Hey Lucas,

I personally always lift for power.  Every week is a power week.  The highest I allow my reps to go is 8.  If I can do 8 with good form, I increase the weight.  I am a fan of the pump, which is crazy at 10-12 reps, but when it comes to putting on raw size, the 5-8 rep range is my preference.