Upper body strength success after switching to the split routine...

[David_G]

So i've been doing SS obviously at first, then followed TM for about 25 weeks and hoped to keep on breaking PRs non stop, but reality was a bitch, and my bench press was stuck at 235 for volume and 285 for singles, the heavist RM3 was 265 and I failed on the third half the time, the OHP's situation was much worse as you'll read on, and it seemed that I am not getting enough rest/food/NDTP/whatever in order to keep progressing, being a busy student I couldn't afford more than 2 long lifting days.

At the time I was doing 360 squats for 4X5 and 430 for singles, RM 3 was somewhere around 400, deadlift was at 435 for 5 for a long time, and singles were around 490.

Considering the OHP, I sucked big time since I tried advancing for over 2 months during recovery day, which personally failed badly, I had a 150 as my volume and only 163 as my RM3, the heaviest single was shamefully, 180

Since then i've switched to a split, spread the workouts across 4 days so volume days were less hectic, not 2:30 hours, almost half the time spread over 2 days, and I even managed to add a better chin/pull-up/dip programming, oh the luxuries of having more time to train.

dropped 15 lbs since TM and my BW is now 223, weights went up during that time, i've been on the different program for 10 weeks, starting week 11(reset everything and started light to adjust to the new template)

Current weights:
Bench press(volume)- 250 and rising, RM3(today's fresh PR)- 285, singles- going for 315 once I reach 295-300 for an RM3
OHP- volume is at 162.5 and came to a halt, RM 3 is 180, and I managed a single for 200, but I couldn't hold the weight overhead and almost fell backwards, will work on it.
Chins(before) 7-8 reps for 5 sets, now: 10-13 across for 6 sets(3 sets each)
Dips(before) 12-16 across, now: doing weighted dips with 45 lbs for 8's

Lower body: squats- doing 340 as my volume(5X5), only doing RM 5's currently and am at 370, but I know for a fact I lost some strength along side the 15 lbs of excess body fluids, this is the only lift that is not stronger than what it was during TM.
Deadlifts- only RM5's 455 atm.

A couple of things worth mentioning:
- I am getting 8 hours of sleep instead of the 6.5-7(this 1 hour is that much critical!)
- I've started eating more red meat and less cheese/milk products

Just wanted to share my success, if you find yourself stuck as an intermediate, don't be too afraid to change a program, it did wonders for me

[Kregna]

Great post David

I've been wondering myself recently whether splits are worthwhile or not, seeing as you're only increasing weights by 1-2.5kg every week/two weeks on TM anyway, something a proper split could surely accomplish?

I'm also not on the TM and doing my own thing now, hoping my progress can at least slightly resemble yours!

Again, great job. So true about workouts taking more and more time to get just a few exercises done

[snyderman3000]

Mind briefly outlining your template?

[Les Hahn]

It is great to here that you found a routine that is really working well. I have been doing split routines since I started lifting, and I really enjoy them too.

As my kin asked earlier, could you tell us a little about your template?

[David_G]

Hi guys, sorry for not replying yet, it's quite easy, I do a SQ day, press day, bench day and a PR day
sunday-monday are the main stressors, since the session take 75-90 minutes, it seems a lot easier for me to recover from them than a single TM workout, even though the overall volume is higher
The volume weights have gone up as well, as mentioned before, except for the squat(that's because I lost some BW IMO)

Sunday night: squats 5X5, powerclean-15 timed singles
Monday night: Bench press 5X5, Rows 3X8, JM press 3X8
Tuesday: rest, foam rolling, aka DOMS day
Wed night(aka super pumper): Light squat 2X5, 5X5 Press, chin-ups/pull-ups(3 sets/3sets, BW)
Thurs: rest
Friday morning(PR day): Squat, Bench, Deadlift only one set of 5 or 3, once i'm done doing 5 sets of dips, 3 with weight
Saturday: rest

Notes:
I usually alternate the OHP every week, one week would be 5X5, the next would be for PR, followed with back off sets for added volume(never higher than 10 reps though), can't do weekly progress no more
PR day is easy to recover from, the BW dips actually serve as a great blood pumper/relieve for the upper body since I do them with relative low intensity(min. 8 reps), and recovering from a RM5 DL is no longer difficult, thanks to a few months of TM
This program seems to work, upper body strength is drastically improved because the pressing movements are literally not effected by the squat.
Every now and then i'll go for a 1RM, just to see what's going on