splitting workout into two parts (same day)

[NightFallTech]

Any thoughts on the pluses and minuses of splitting a workout into two parts on the same day. my plan is to still only do Mon-Wed-Fri sessions

I'm finding i can't fit the volume i want including accessory exercises in at the gym during my lunchbreaks together with getting there and back, warmup, shower, etc.. (which for various reasons is when i need to go), and i don't currently have space for a power rack at home.

I'm thinking of splitting my workout between a barbell based workout at the gym and an accessory workout at home the same evening using dumbbells (I wouldn't always get the evening workout in due to committments)


for example..

Workout A

Gym - 1pm

Warmup
Squats
Bench
Deads


Home - 8pm

30 min cardio (bike)
Dumbbell incline bench
Cross bench pullovers
Skull crushers

Workout B

Gym - 1pm

Warmup
Squats
Press
Pendalay Rows

home - 8pm

30 min cardio (bike)
DB Rows
seated DB shoulder press
Lat Raises
DB Curls

Off Days

On off days, (Tuesday, thursday, sat, Sun), intent is just cardio incl kettlebells, exercise bike, outdoor activities etc...

 

[The Hamburgler]

One way to find out

The guys at Westside train anywhere up to 14 sessions a week and many will do their ME/DE work in the morning then GPP/restoration that evening and also the following day

 

[0ni]

I've been splitting my workouts into two recently. I have 3 main workouts: squat, bench, squat - deadlift, bench, deadlift - bench, squat, bench. I will do the first exercise in the morning before work and the last two in the evening after work. I do this mon/wed/fri and assistance is classed as GPP and done on "off" (light?) days.

This has worked wonders for my squat and I think my bench also. My training only goes well if my squat is going up and if my other training isn't going well and my squat is then I generally do not care lol. High frequency squatting has proven time after time to be the best method for me and I really like the current set-up. IIRC I think sheiko workouts are also supposed to be split into am/pm sessions in the three training days a week (6 sessions). AM and PM sessions are a good way to increase your training volume by ~50% without having an impact on recovery. If you are going to do AM/PM I would recommend either a light session in the morning followed by a heavy session in the evening or practising an exercise in the morning and repeating it (or a variation of it) in the evening along with your assistance. This is what has worked for me

 

[dave]

No issues splitting them up as long as you are not just adding extra volume. I do it a lot due to time, but since i am in a gym it is convenient for me. So really it comes down to you fitting it into your life.

 

[Danimal]

One way to find out

The guys at Westside train anywhere up to 14 sessions a week and many will do their ME/DE work in the morning then GPP/restoration that evening and also the following day

The Westside guys are all most likely on "assistance" as well.

 

[The Hamburgler]

Lol probably

The extra workouts aren't to add volume though so imo natural guys would still be able to do them, and even benefit from them for aided recovery

 

[dave]

If no extra volume is added you will find the overall stress will be the same. He may even find it helps him recover better due to less stress in a single session and extra recovery time inbetween.

Personally i would split the movements up. Ie bench and squat am then rows etc PM. But as you stated you may miss the night sessions so missing the assistance is a better option in that regard.

 

[Bazza20]

Its funny, on the net as soon as someone mentions training more than 3 times a week it takes about 5 minutes for someone to mention steroids.

 

[Danimal]

I was simply stating that some athletes are able to train more with more volume because they have a helping hand. You can't deny that. If you split your training and maintain the same volume that would be ok Id say.

Everyone is different, try it and see how it works for you. Some natural athletes are capable of doing a lot more volume due to fantastic genetics, a diet thats spot on and lots of good rest.

Everyones different.

I know myself I need to eat and sleep properly if I up my volume, even then Im hurting.

 

[0ni]

lol @ implying you need to be on roids to do westside or extra workouts
lol @ even mentioning genetics

 

[Brick]

Of course you can train with more intensity if you split your workout in two AM/PM session rater than one long session. You would be coming back for the second workout feeling fresh as.

The volume is only for juicers thing is bunk too the human body is no different to a machine keep it fuelled and rested and it will perform. The harder you work it the better it will respond.

Time is the killer, wish I could get into my gym twice a day but I have this thing called a life that gets in the way.

 

[NightFallTech]

If no extra volume is added you will find the overall stress will be the same. He may even find it helps him recover better due to less stress in a single session and extra recovery time inbetween.

Personally i would split the movements up. Ie bench and squat am then rows etc PM. But as you stated you may miss the night sessions so missing the assistance is a better option in that regard.

I also don't have the barbell at home, only DB's

 

[Darkoz]

Of course you can train with more intensity if you split your workout in two AM/PM session rater than one long session. You would be coming back for the second workout feeling fresh as.

The volume is only for juicers thing is bunk too the human body is no different to a machine keep it fuelled and rested and it will perform. The harder you work it the better it will respond.

Time is the killer, wish I could get into my gym twice a day but I have this thing called a life that gets in the way.

On the flip side brick, the higher the intensity, the more recovery time needed.
And why on earth you'd want to be in the gym twice a day is beyond me.

 

[Brick]

On the flip side brick, the higher the intensity, the more recovery time needed.
And why on earth you'd want to be in the gym twice a day is beyond me.

I love working out my dream job would be PT and train between clients but I'm a money hungry fucker and couldn't live on that shit. Could easily do a 5 day split broken into AM/PM sessions a muscle each session if your goal was to be huge that would be the best way to do it. I'm not a big advocate of it because with busy life career and all the other shit I gotta train smart with my time but hell yeah would love to just live in the gym all the time like I did when I was younger before wife/career etc etc.

The reality for the op though will end up been two half arsed rushed sessions.

 

[Darkoz]

I love working out my dream job would be PT and train between clients but I'm a money hungry fucker and couldn't live on that shit. Could easily do a 5 day split broken into AM/PM sessions a muscle each session if your goal was to be huge that would be the best way to do it. I'm not a big advocate of it because with busy life career and all the other shit I gotta train smart with my time but hell yeah would love to just live in the gym all the time like I did when I was younger before wife/career etc etc.

The reality for the op though will end up been two half arsed rushed sessions.

Fair enough brick, we all do it for whatever reason
I love the results and physical and mental benefits you get from working out, not so much the actual time in the gym itself.

 

[Goosey]

Loved this:

“Weight lifting is fifty per cent mental and thirty per cent technique,” Tommy Kono, among the greatest of all American lifters and a spectator in the crowd that day, told me during a break.

“Power is only twenty per cent, but everybody has it reversed.” Kono was a prime example of the miraculous change that weight lifting can effect.

A Japanese-American from Sacramento, he was a spindly twelve-year-old in 1942, when his family was relocated to an internment camp at Tule Lake, in Northern California.

“The name is a misnomer, really,” Kono said.

“It was the bottom of a dried-up lake.

When the wind blew, it really kicked up a sandstorm, but the dry air helped my asthmatic condition.” It was there, in another boy’s house, that Kono discovered weight lifting and began to train in secret. (His parents didn’t think his body could handle it.)
By the time his family was released, in 1945, he had put on ten or fifteen pounds of muscle. By 1952, he was the Olympic gold medalist as a lightweight. He went on to win another gold as a light heavyweight, and a silver as a middleweight.

Kono blamed the decline in American lifting on an influx of foreign coaches. “They brought in the European idea of training five or six days a week, twice a day,” he said. “Instead of being athletes, they became like workers. Rather than improving, they started getting injuries and overtraining. Even the South American countries started passing us up.”



That sums it up quite nicely.

Training should, actually, improve the quality of your life. Not be some sort of physical and emotional albatross hanging from your neck.

 

[Darkoz]

Well pointed out Andy

 

[Brick]

Kono blamed the decline in American lifting on an influx of foreign coaches. “They brought in the European idea of training five or six days a week, twice a day,” he said. “Instead of being athletes, they became like workers. Rather than improving, they started getting injuries and overtraining. Even the South American countries started passing us up.”

Take drugs out of the equation I think culture had alot to do with America losing it's ability to dominate weightlifting. The commies had pools of genetically talented youngsters to brainwash into lifting machines and the kids if they weren't performing in the sports arena were going to go hungry and they knew it. It's more about the motivation that drives them then the physical ability to handle the workouts.

 

[Bazza20]

I would love to see a Oly weightlifter win gold on 3-4 times a week lifting these days.

America struggling in Olympic lifting. The blokes that have the drive and the genetics to be top O lifters are all taken up by the NFL. Why would anyone give up multi million dollar contacts in NFL for O lifting where they would most likely have to pay their own way to get by in the sport.

 

[Goosey]

I would love to see a Oly weightlifter win gold on 3-4 times a week lifting these days.

America struggling in Olympic lifting. The blokes that have the drive and the genetics to be top O lifters are all taken up by the NFL. Why would anyone give up multi million dollar contacts in NFL for O lifting where they would most likely have to pay their own way to get by in the sport.

Oh yes, that's it.

I'll tell Tommy.