Weight Training Blog

So everyone is always looking for a good new workout schedule to follow because they’re either board with their own, or don’t know what to do, so they figure they’ll ask someone else. I figured I would share some splits that I have either used myself, or have seen other people use in the past with some success. Keep in mind that not everyone can follow these for different reasons – so go ahead and test them out, but remember to listen to what your body is trying to tell you.

The first example below is a pretty classic example of what many guys do in the gym, though the twist here is that most have a dedicated day for just arms – which is alright I suppose if you’re trying to be a body builder. Some may argue that your triceps will be cheated out of a good workout after using them for chest, and your biceps maybe cheated out of a good workout after doing back. Use trial and error to see how you progress while using this sample routine and adjust where and when needed:

Monday – chest and triceps
Tuesday – back and Biceps
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – legs and abs
Friday –  shoulders

This next routine is based on the premise that your work week begins on Monday, and you always want to get the worst of the days out of the way in the gym first, so you decide to do legs – the most dreaded muscle group – first. I recommend putting a day of rest in between legs and abs simply because your core can be quite weak after doing both of those muscle groups in one day. By giving your body a day of rest, you lessen the chances of over-training and injuring yourself. Here’s the breakdown:

Monday – legs and abs
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – chest and triceps
Thursday – back and biceps
Friday – shoulders

Here’s a classic power lifting routine that promotes lots of rest in between heavy training days. Accessory work can be worked in on pretty much any off day. Obviously you’re not going to be doing triceps the day before benching, or doing hamstring work on the night before squatting:

Monday – Off
Tuesday – Off
Wednesday – legs (squat)
Thursday – off
Friday – back (dead lift)
Saturday – off
Sunday – chest (bench)

Finally, here’s an example of a five day split that you may see in a magazine designed for people with full time 9 to 5 jobs who still want to get into the gym everyday:

Monday – chest and abs
Tuesday – biceps and triceps
Wednesday – legs and abs
Thursday – upper and lower back
Friday – shoulders and abs

Normally I don’t really encourage this type of thing. It’s important for the gym-goer to be able to monitor their progress and listen to what their bodies are trying to tell them in order for them to achieve the best results. I hope these sample splits will jump start some new ideas in some reader’s heads and allow them to create a program that will work for them.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not one to really try all of the new products that you see advertised in magazines, on TV and on various other web sites. I pretty much stick to the basics: whey protein, glutamine, creatine, and a multi vitamin to cover all of my bases. Though from time to time I do find myself trying some new things that I’ve either read about or hear good things about from close friends. I’ve tried Super Pump 250 about a year ago, and was eventually disappointed when I realized it was just like N.O. Xplode and you build up a tolerance to it over a few weeks, and I’ve also tried Anabolic Halo, which I’m convinced was simply cool aid laced with a little bit of creatine for water retention.

I purchased Gakic by Muscletek a little over a month ago and have been using it for just about that same time period now. Before letting you know my thoughts and experiences with Gakic, I should start by telling you what Gakic is and what it’s said to do for you. Gakic is a pre-workout supplement that is said to give you better focus and more energy in order to lift more weight for more repetitions – very similar to NO Xplode and Super Pump 250, but the only difference to the average consumer is that Gakic is not in a powder form, whereas the other two are. I suppose this could either be a good thing or a bad thing – depending on what you’re looking for.

Initially I didn’t want to take the maximum recommended dosage of 6 tablets at first because I wasn’t sure of how strong it was nor had I used a pre-workout supplement in a while, so my tolerance was probably low at that point, so I started with half of it and monitored how I felt / reacted. Initially I didn’t notice much. However, after several times of taking Gakic, I realized that it wasn’t something that would become fully active (at least to me) until about an hour to almost an hour and a half after taking it! I have the suspicion that if Gakic was in a powder form, it would be digested much more quickly, thus allowing your body to use it more quickly. So a word of caution: don’t plan on taking Gakic at 5:15 right after you get out of work, workout between 5:30 and 6:30, and plan to be in bed at 8 or 9. It won’t work out. As I’ve said before, I’ve found out that Gakic doesn’t truly kick in until about an hour and a half after taking it, and it can have lasting effects for hours. So time it out just right, and I think you’ll be pleased with the results rather than taking it right as you walk into the gym.

So the million dollar question: Was I able to put up more weight than ever before while taking Gakic? The answer is yes! I set a personal record (PR) when dead lifting one day, and was able to pull 20 pounds heavier than I ever have prior to that time. The focus that it gives you is amazing – Once I got the weight up off the ground and the entire load of the bar was transfered to my body, there was no way I was letting the bar back down to the ground without locking it out.

Was this a direct result of Gakic? It’s hard to say since I wasn’t involved in some fancy double-blind test, and there are a lot of other variables that come into play when lifting – what you ate, how much water you ingested, the amount you slept, etc. But I can safely say that my new dead lift PR was set when I took Gakic, so you decide.

Though it’s only been about a month of usage, it’s still too early to tell whether or not a tolerance will be established rendering Gakic ineffective. I try to avoid this from happening by only using it three days a week – squat, bench, and dead lift days, and also switch up the amount that I take. Some days I’ll take the full dosage, and others I’ll only take half.

So I’d like to bet that many people forget that what they eat / consume the day before will affect their workout on the next day. Your body doesn’t instantly break down what you have consumed and needs time to ingest all of the nutrients in what you just ate.

By making sure you eat properly the day prior to working out – especially a muscle group like legs – you will most likely see some performance gains during the following workout session because your body has had time to take in what you have just eaten.