Michael

Hey guys, don't know if all of you know, but I've had some back problems recently and my doc told me not to train legs or deadlifts for a year. So, since I can only train my upperbody, I want to split it in 3 days. I want to train each body part twice a week. Do you think this split would work well?

Mon: Chest
Wed: Back
Fri: Shoulder/Compound arms (dips/chinups)

Help will be appreciated, as always

P.S. I will still train my legs while biking!

Critical Mass

The best split I have ever used is what Arnold used many years ago. I've never seen better for my body. Chest & Arms, Back & Shoulders, Legs, off, Repeat. On Leg day, you might just train leg extentions. No strain on your back.

Good luck brother.

Striker

I'm thinking of moving to a Push Pull Leg routine soon, maybe you should try that if you haven't already.

Michael

What do you think about this guys?

Monday (Chest/triceps):
Barbell bench press
Weighted dips
Close grip bench press
Incline barbell press

Tuesday:
Cardio – high intensity

Wednesday (Back/biceps):
Pullups
Hammer curls
Seated row
Barbell curl

Thursday:
Cardio – low intensity

Saturday (Legs/shoulders):
Bulgarian squat
Military press
Hypers
Cable lateral raises
Standing calf raises

Prime

I'd maybe scratch the close grip bench press for some sort of isolation tricep movement and put that at the end of your push day. that's only because you'd have 3 variations of the bench in one workout.

as for the pull day, drop one of the curls and add maybe another row, such as DB rows, or even supines (if they don't bother your back).

Saturday is looking good, just make sure you're not stressing your back out too much especially on those hypers, they are a ham/glute movement but your lower back is definitely always added in for support on the hypers.

Michael

Thanks! Do you think tricep pushdowns would be good as the "isolation movement" for triceps?

Prime

yeah man, anything of the sort. pushdowns would definitely fry your tris after a workout like that.

what sort of set/rep scheme are you planning on doing? and what sort of periodization are you doing over the long run?

Michael

Week 1-2: 3 x 12
Week 3-4: 4 x 10
Week 5-6: 5 x 8

I'm concentrating on hypertrophy and high rep ranges as you can see

Striker

I think you might want to add another for back.

Michael

Monday (Chest/triceps):
Barbell bench press
Weighted dips
Incline barbell press
Rope pushdowns

Wednesday (Back/biceps):
Pullups
Seated row
Hammer curls
Pulldowns
Dumbbell row

This better?

Prime

that looks good dude.

you could even scratch the pulldowns on Wednesday, but that's just me. or keep it if you want to! but it's looking good

Pfabrizi1

I'm assuming this plus the legs/shoulders workout is what you are doing. If so, it looks good except like prime said I would probably scratch the pulldowns and add in a few sets of barbell curls, but this depends. Try this, do that workout, switching hammer curls for barbell curls and if at the end of your workout you're biceps aren't that pumped or don't feel like they have been worked enough, add in 3 or so sets of hammer curls.

For shoulders, I would add in a few sets of rear delt work either bent rear raises or whatever you feel works. I would strongly suggest you do military presses either seated or with a belt because it can put a good amount of strain on your lower back too, so just be careful about that. One more thing, there is no hamstring work on your leg workouts. You can easily do seated leg curls or lying leg curls without any work from your back, and as said before you can do leg extensions for quads too.

Patrick W.

what is wrong with your back?

simply not doing anything for your back or lower extremity is sometimes worse. Doctors typically don't understand rehabiliation (which is why the refer out) and don't know much about sports injuries. You need to seek out someone who is in-tune with this stuff that can help you rehabilitate.

Michael

Hey guys, I though of trying something new and training my muscles twice a week. I also think this is a great opportunity, because I can't train legs sufficiently now, so I just cratched them and I'm planning on doing only upper body work. My legs will still get worked to some extend with cardio and biking. (so please don't flame) What do you think about this split?

Monday (Chest/shoulders/triceps):
Barbell bench press
Incline dumbbell press
Seated shoulder press
Tricep pushdowns

Tuesday:
Cardio – high intensity

Wednesday (Back/biceps):
WG pull ups
Chest supported row
Dumbbell shrugs
Dumbbell curl

Thursday:
Cardio – low intensity

Friday (Shoulders/triceps/chest)
Military press
Weighted dips
CGBP
Dumbbell press

Saturday (Biceps/back):
Barbell curl
Hammer curl
Pulldowns
Dumbbell row