For quite a while now I've settled into an upper/lower body training split with extra cardio added in. I went to this split because I wanted to train upper body 3 times a week and legs just twice because I was taking longer to recover after leg days than upper body stuff and all the best advice says that frequency should depend on your recovery times. This is what works for me.
I'm also really enjoying it because 90-minute workouts 7 days a week means I can eat more! Plus, the cardio time gives me time for watching stuff or getting through audiobooks, which helps pass the time but also makes me feel like I'm achieving other things as well as a physical workout.
My goals are to maintain muscle and good fitness, maybe build more muscle if I can, whilst keeping low body fat (currently around 15%). I'm feeling lean, fit, strong and enjoying bouldering so being strong and light helps with that too. I'm happy to gain weight but ideally muscle rather than fat. This plan seems to be working well for my goals at the moment. I'm sticking to the workouts and finding it easy these days to be up at 4.30am for the time to myself at the gym before the busy day kicks off! This does mean I go to bed anywhere between 8.30 and 10pm latest but that's good for me too and seems to be sustainable.
My food (maybe I'll post another time about this in more detail) is:
- Hitting 200g protein daily
- Eating around 2500 calories (eating better whole food carbs now, cake only once a week and feeling great!)
- Average daily deficit -500 calories (based on maintenance of 2390)
For the lifting part of my workouts, I've been using a HIIT timer to try and not waste any time having longer rests than I need. I set the app as follows:
- 40 seconds work - for a set (usually 12-15 reps depending on exercise and weight)
- 45 seconds rest
- For 4 sets then 60 seconds rest between exercises
- 5 exercises like this gives me 28m45s, so just under 30 minutes
If I'm working out for an hour I'll hit GO again on this and do another 5 exercises.
For the cardio I'm doing 1-1 intervals for fitness.
So here's my split:
Mondays - 60 minutes Upper Body, 30 minutes cardio
Exercises:
1. Chest press (usually machine)
2. Chest flies (machine)
3. Shrugs (cables)
4. Shoulder press (usually machine)
5. Lateral raises (cables/dumbbells)
6. Lat pulldowns (machine)
7. Seated rows (machine)
8. Bicep curls (dumbbells/cables)
9. Tricep extensions (cables usually)
10. Decline situps/leg raises
Then 30 minutes intervals on the bike usually
Tuesdays - 30 minutes Legs, 60 minutes cardio
Exercises:
1. Seated squats, wide stance and super deep (machine)
2. Seated squats, narrower stance, heavier, hit quads (machine)
3. Calf raises (on seated squat machine too)
4. Leg extension machine
5. Leg curl machine for hamstrings
Then 60 minutes cardio - mix of machines
Wednesdays - 60 minutes Upper Body, 30 minutes cardio
Same as Monday
Thursdays - 90 minutes cardio
A mix of machines but often it's:
15 minutes on stairs
30 mninutes variable depth cross-trainer
30 minutes bike
15 minutes standard cross-trainer
Always 1-1 intervals to push myself
Fridays - 60 minutes Upper Body, 30 minutes cardio
Same as Monday
Saturdays - 30 minutes Legs, 60 minutes cardio
Same as Tuesday
Sundays - 90 minutes cardio
Same as Thursday
