Looking for thoughts on my current lifting routine

I'm not guru either but if I was doing 3 day I'd go with push/pull/legs. Yours seems a bit light on chest and shoulders but maybe you're cool with that.

I'm of the belief that pretty much any split will work if you put the effort in so look for something you enjoy and doesn't make you not want to go.

Thanks for the tips, I’m looking into some of those programs.

I wouldn't bother doing any direct forearm training at all. Farmer Carries are great though, do that kind of stuff, because carries will work your grip plenty while also being great for conditioning and strengthening your trunk so you can brace correctly. Carries just hit lots of muscles so I love em, they are a great usage of time.

Overall, it looks like you do too much in any one session, so try to find ways to be more efficient (kill 2 birds with 1 stone) just like I mentioned with the farmers carries example. You could do direct biceps work or you could do chin-ups, but chin-ups do more than just biceps, they also hit your back and shoulders, so it's a better use of time.

To me this is better because now you don't have to do separate biceps exercises, triceps exercises, etc. Hit the big lifts (BP, Press, Squat, Deadlift) and do it with intensity and consistency and you won't need to do so much auxiliary lifting on any single day. Unless you really like that stuff, in which case you'll do it anyway, whether it works or not. But if you like doing those things because you think it's worth your time, just accept that in the end it will take you longer to complete sessions and it'll be more difficult to recover from these sessions(unless you're not going hard enough, in which case you don't have to worry about recovery as much, but you do have to worry about getting frustrated with yourself with a lack of progress from not going hard enough, but I don't think that is you just based off what you're already doing). However, I just think the ROI on stuff like dumbbell curls, lateral raises, cable machine work for triceps, etc, is worth it, so I keep it to a minimum. But you gotta do you.

I'd suggest you just see how focusing on the big, slow 4 lifts, and 2(maybe 3) other exercises a session, see how that will work out for you first before adding more exercises.

If you crave variety, that's fine, just rotate exercises more frequently as opposed to less frequently, this may slow your progress on any given lift at any given time, but that's what you give away by frequently rotating out exercises. You can decide what you care more about, is it variety so you don't get bored, or consistency so you can make the most progress, but I think trying to do it all together in any given week is too much. Make a compromise.

To get stronger and grow you need rest/recovery, if you engage in really dense and long workout sessions the rest/recovery demand goes from being relatively high to "totally impossible for any real person who isn't a dedicated professional working along with the assistance of exogenous anabolic compounds" so perhaps try doing less and make sure you're acing the rest/recovery part of the equation. That will get you results, and I think it will happen relatively quickly, (but you REALLY have to do it). I can't stress how important the rest/recovery is, you can bust your arse really hard for a really long time and feel like you're getting nothing (and maybe that's true) all because you either aren't giving yourself adequate time to recover from sessions, you don't sleep well and for long enough, or your nutrition is deficient somehow (too little food intake, or maybe you eat enough, or more than enough but the food isn't the best quality for building muscle/strength so it's just wasted empty calories).

Keep at it, you've made a great start and your asking questions to learn more so if you stick with it only good things will happen over the long term. Now excuse me I have to go "Earn my pizza" by making a deposit of burpees and farmers carries and front squats and other bull-sneeze at the First NastyNal Pain Bank .

I like the GZCL programs, which are basically variations on 531. You do a T1 lift, which is heavy compound, a T2 lift, which is a different compound but balanced between volume and intensity, and 3-4 T3 lifts, which are accessories focused on volume.

So if you were doing a P/P/L of GZCLP your leg day might look like this:

T1-Squat 85% of training max 5x3

T2-Deadlift 65% off training max 3x10

T3-Leg Ext light 3x15

T3-Leg Curls light 3x15

T3-Calf Raises light 3x15

quote:

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Happy with the progress

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I don't know man, sometimes this is all you need.