Hey Veeky Forums, please rate this PPL routine.
pull:
4x5 deadlift / rack pull (alternating each pull day)
4x8-10 lat pulldowns
4x8-10 barbell row
4x8-10 seated cable row
4x10-12 ez bar preacher curls
push:
4x4-6 Bench
4x8-10 Incline DB bench
4x8-10 cable flies
4x8-10 The Press™
4x10-12 lateral raises
4x8-10 straight bar pushdown
legs:
4x4-6 squat
4x6-8 romanian DL
4x8-10 leg press
3x8-10 leg extension
3x8-10 leg curl
4x12-15 calf raises
run as : pplpplx
it's push-pull-legs, not pull-push-legs
It doesn't matter which way it's done.
What about rear delts and traps? Some isolation for that?
Apart from that pretty good.
That's a lot of volume man, if you're natty you're gonna have a rough time. One change I'd make, purely out of different priorities, would be to move the shoulder work first on push day. Aesthetically shoulders are more important to me, so that's where I want to have max energy in my workouts.
Would adding in 4 sets of face pulls before the curls on pull day be enough for that?
Yeah I'm natty. I know it's a lot of volume, but it's not undoable in my opinion. If I did 3 sets of all the accessory things instead of 4, do you think that would be better? As for shoulders, I feel I have pretty good shoulder genetics so I don't need to focus on them super hard. Maybe I could move The Press to my 2nd movement, after bench, how does that sound?
>4x5 deadlift
HOW user?!
You can't be doing enough weight if you can do 4 sets, either that or you have excellent recovery
take out deadlift/rack pull from pull day, and add somewhere face pulls for 3 sets somewhere. alternate incline curls with preacher and only do 3 sets for curls. change cable row to 3 sets and put bb rows first before lat pull downs.
put deadlift in legs and alternate it with a variation, which in yours is rdl, so you will be dling heavy one day and doing a varuation on your other leg day. take out leg extensions, and alterate leg press with hip thrusts. also make everything other then your squats and dls+varuation to 3 sets.
do ohp after bench. take out incline db for low cable cross over, take out cable flies, lateral raise to 3 sets, take out pushdown for skullcrushers and alternate it with cgbp.
Oops, it's meant to be 3x5 for deadlifts and 4x5 for rack pulls.
gimme one good reason why I cant do
lat pull downs and dumbell shoulder press EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY.
inb4 muscle imbalances. I'm trying to get aesthetic AF
unless ur on gear ur gonna be overtraining retard
Looks very similar to reddit PPL, why do you bother to change it insignificantly?
has a point, there's no point hating on the reddit PPL because it is, to this day, a decent routine.
>alternate incline curls with preacher and only do 3 sets for curls
>alterate leg press with hip thrusts
When you talk about alternating here, you mean to do them every other day right? So first leg day do leg press, second one do hip thrusts correct?
> take out incline db for low cable cross over, take out cable flies,
Why should I remove the incline db's? From what I've learned and from performing it, it's a great exercise to really hit my chest well, so why should I not do it? Also, I haven't done low cable flies before, what's the reason you prioritize them over regular ones? Lastly, I don't like skullcrushers, are they really worth it or would straight pushdowns still be okay?
Also, on leg days, how will the regular (not romanian) deadlifts work in? I've never done deadlifts on leg day before, and I'm thinking that I will be really fatigued after my squats. Should I do lighter deadlifts then for 4 sets? I'd like to progress my deadlift but I don't see it being possible that way.
If roids then great.
If natty then garbage.
Firstly, most PPL routines are similar, as in starting with a compound movement lower reps higher weight, and then moving on to accessories. Secondly, I've been doing the reddit PPL for 8 months but as it is a beginner routine I feel like it's time to move on to a more intermediate one, and this one seems good while still being similar (which is good as I like the structure of the old one and PPL in general).
What's bad about it from a natty standpoint?
how was your progress on the reddit PPL? just started it myself, and it's a very comfortable routine
yes
incline dbs are much more tiring and you already have a whole lot going on that day. also you will be working your frontal delt a whole lot with your bench and ohp already, incline db imo would be too much..
skull crushers are worth it if you do them right, that is if you go down as far as you can, farther then your head, and get a nice strech on your triceps. they will work your triceps much better then pushdowns.
you should be fine dling after. if you really need to, cool off for a couple of minutes? and just go heavy on them like you usually do. and honestly you dont even need to dl, yoy can make progress on it by just squatting. just dl heavy on one leg day and do a variation on the other.
oh and alternate the hip thrust on the day you dl heavy and leg press on variation day.
It's been pretty good. For the first 4 months I ate at about my TDEE, so no cutting or bulking. I improved a lot in each of the compound movements, though less in bench than the other ones (I think it's a mix between bench being one of my worse lifts combined with me not nailing the form down perfectly the first months). One mistake I did was not increasing my deadlift weight enough, combined with only doing 1x5+ deadlifts as the program says. IN MY OPINION, that is really not enough, and ever since I switched to 3x5 for the deadlifts it's been going a lot better. Though, for the past 2 and a half months I've been cutting, so I haven't made much progress in each of the compound lifts, I've only been able to improve my bench and barbell row by a couple of kilos, and my deadlift about 10. My squat has been the same ever since I started cutting. Here's my starting lifts, my lifts when I started my cut, and my lifts right now at 5x5 (3x5 for deadlifts). (Kilograms)
DL (double overhand grip only) : (40? not sure) / 110 / 120 (yeah I know my deadlift may be pretty bad for 7 months of working out by Veeky Forums standards, but keep in mind the cut I've been on and the mistake of only doing 1 set along with barely increasing the weight for the first 2/3 months).
Squat: (40?), / 100 / 100
Barbell Row: 35 / 65 / 75
Bench: 40 / 65 / 75
The Press: 35 / 55 / 55
Oops, I guess my bench/bb row has increased about 10kgs aswell. Ignore that sentence.
Alright. I'll take your advice on this stuff, thanks. Another thing: Since bb rows will now be my first, and I guess ''main'' exercise on pull days, should I lower the reps on it to 4-6 and try to focus on progressive overload for that like I am for my bench/squat ? Also still curious why you think I should do low cable crossovers over high ones.
low cable cross overs are just a replacement for your upper chest. if you higher the angle of the cables you wont be targeting upper chest
6-10 should be fine. if you want to do something with progressive overload, pendlay rows would work better
actually pull-push-legs lets you train with more volume since you use your biceps a lot less on push days than your triceps on pull days which means that to optimize your training you would first train biceps and then triceps.
those are some really good numbers considering you didn't bulk for longer than 6 months (which is what most consider a 'cycle').
cheers for the idea on where I'll be after 7 months, cannot wait to do this routine properly for a few months and see where I end up.
Huh, I thought higher angle worked upper chest a lot aswell, good to know. Alright, I prefer regular bent over barbell rows to pendlay so I'll keep it to 8-10 I guess.
Good luck, also I've been a bit inconsistent, and I guess about half of the weeks I've only been to the gym 4 times instead of 6, added with maybe two or three week-long hiatuses since I started. If you follow the program truly and go 6 days a week throughout the months, you'll probably end up with better results than me.
20+ sets? kind of high volume for 6 days a week don't you think?
I also do PPLPPLX, here's mine:
Push 1
3x5 BB Bench
3x5 BB Press
3x8 DB Incline
3x10 DB Front Raise
3x12 Tricep Bar Tri Ext
Pull 1
3x5 BB Pendlay Row
3x5 BB Upright Row
3x8 DB Row
3x10 DB Lateral Raise
3x12 EZ Bar Curl
Legs 1
3x5 Low Bar Squat
3x8 SLDL
3x12 Split Squat
3x?? Crunches
3x?? Side Planks
Push 2
3x5 BB Incline Bench
3x5 Dips
3x8 DB Press
3x10 DB Fly
3x12 DB Tri Ext
Pull 2
3x5 BB Yates Row
3x5 Pull Ups
3x8 DB Upright Row
3x10 DB BO Fly
3x12 DB P-Curl
Legs 2
3x5 Deadlift
3x8 Front Squat
3x12 Calf Raise
3x?? L Raise
3x?? Plank
whats your guys's opinion on coolcicadas ppl?
Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3x5
Seated (or Standing) Barbell Shoulder/Overhead Press: 3x5
Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3x5
Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise: 3x10-12
Rope Pushdowns (circuit machine): 3x10-12
Overhead Dumbbell Extension or similar triceps exercise: 3x10-12
Shrugs(circuit machine or dumbbells): 3x10-12
Pull (Back/Biceps):
Barbell Rows: 3x5
Lat Pulldowns with (Long Bar or V-bar) (circuit machine): 3x8-10
Seated Rows (circuit machine) - optional if already doing barbell rows: 3x8-10
Face-pulls: 3x-10-12
Barbell Bicep Curls (Alternate between close and normal grip): 4x-10-12
Choice of one other bicep exercise (typically Hammer Curls): 3x10-12
Legs (Quad/Ham/Calves):
Barbell Squats: 4x5-6
Leg Press (optional if already doing above squats): 3x8-10
Leg Extensions (circuit machine): 3x10-12
Hamstring Curls (circuit machine): 3x10-12
Standing Calf Raises (circuit machine): 5x10-12
1 more thing, about the lat pulldowns. Would it be wise to alternate between wide grip and close grip lat pulldowns every other session? Or better to stay with like wide grip or something every time?
Most people on Veeky Forums who have tried it were pretty pleased.
just do a normal grip (shoulder width), wide grip reduces rom. and make sure to get a nice strech on your lats and go all the way up