Today was day one of my new PPL split. I’ll see how things go but the intent is for a 6-day PPLPPL with rest on day 7, so Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, Legs, Rest.
In addition, I’m probably going to try alternating the main lifts between Heavy and Light days to help aid recovery. “Heavy” in this case means 3 sets of 4-7 reps, “Light” means 3 sets of 8-12 reps, while still maintaining a focus on progressive overload. So today was Push Heavy, tomorrow will be Pull Light, then Legs Heavy, then Push Light, etc.
“Push” contains variations of the following:
- Flat/Incline press
- Overhead Press
- Triceps focus accessory
- Anterior/Lateral shoulders focus accessory
This allows for flexibility and variation in which particular exercises are performed, though still with a focus on progressive overload.
Today that meant three sets of each:
- Flat barbell bench press
- Standing barbell overhead press
- Triceps dips/Lateral raises superset
- Halo/Plate-8 superset
- Standard pushups
- Crunches (actually only two sets here)
I’ve been having tendon problems where the various ab muscles attach to the pubic bone lately so I’d like to pull back from more frequent ab work for now and instead do sets of abs on Mon, Wed and Fri. Because my shoulders were exhausted today the ab-wheel was out of the question so I did sets of standard crunches instead. Next time I’ll focus on oblique abs and from then on try to maintain a balance between rectus abdominus and oblique abs exercises.
The split felt really good today! Very productive, the accessory work really got me pumped and I had a nice feeling of “energized fatigue” at the end. As a bonus, the entire workout (not including the pre-lifting warmup) took about 1:15 hours. Since it was a shorter duration than my previous full-body workouts I had a better overall energy level throughout the session even while “feeling the burn”.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s “Pull Light” session.