Classic Arnold 6 day Work Out Question

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

Classic Arnold 6 day Work Out Question - Advice Please

My question is would you start with Arnold's Level I or II for those of you that have the encyclopedia of bodybuilding by Arnold. I have been weight lifting for about a year consistently but haven't hit a plateau or hitting the weights intensely, I've made consistent small gain over the pass year. For instance I went from doing 5 dead hang pull-ups to 12. My bench went from starting out warm up 12 reps at 95 to 12 reps at 135 as examples. I want to turn up the intensity and start tommorrow. What do you guys recommend. If you want I can repost all those exercises, but wanted to save a little typing.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

A Level I is working out 6 days a week where Mon/Thur = Workout 1 = Chest and back; Tues/Fri = Workout 2 = Shoulders, Upper Arms, Forearms; Wed/Sat = Workout 3 = Thighs, Calves, Lower Back. Abs are worked every day. All exercises are done for 3 sets of 10 unless otherwise noted

Workout 1 - Bench Press, Incline Press, Pullovers, Chin-ups (until reaching 50), Bent-over rows, Deadlifts (3 sets of 10, 6, 4 reps to failure), Crunches (5 sets of 25 reps)

Workout 2 - Barbel Clean and Press, Dumbell Lat Raises, Upright Rows (Same as Deadlift sets), Push Presses (3 Sets of 6, 4, 2 Reps to failure), Standing barbell curls, seated dumbell Curls, Close-Grip Press, Standing Triceps Extensions with Barbell, Wrist Culs, Reverse Wrist Curls, Reverse Crunches (Same set as above for abs)

Workout 3 - Squats, Lunges, Leg Curls, Standing Calf Raises (5 sets of 15), Straight leg deadlifts (same as deadlift), Good Mornings (same as deadlift), Crunches (same as ab)

Level II just incorporates the thighs and calfs into workout 1 and the lower back into workout 2. You would do 2 workouts 1 and 2 three times a week.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

For a tweak I wanted to do incline dumbell curls instead of just seated. Any thoughts from anyone

 

[tsarleon]

Seems extreme. maybe if you didnt go to failure at all, stayed at about 70% weight wise. Just seems like a shitload to do without much rest. If you did above, might be possible with TOTAL dedication. Sleep 10 hours a day. Have all nutrients calculated to a "T" and followed it 110% then I can see one advancing with this. Me personally, this would probably do more harm than good in the long run. Some might call it overtraining, but if your sleeping and eating healthy and doing EVERYTHING correctly, all should be good. But hell, these guys know more. listen to them.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

Advice

Bump for advice

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

Advice?

 

[louden_swain]

Good routine for overtraining even for those who trained in the 1970's. It is better to attack the muscle with extreme intensity only once per week. Get into the gym and take care of business. If you are working each muscle 2 to 3 times per week, you obviously aren't taking care of business when you are in the gym. Training each muscle too frequently, will result in stagnate gains in strength and size. Information over the science of recovery has improved tremendously over the years. You are better off designing a routine that requires training 4 days per week. Your enthusiasm may be high, but your body will turn against you if you overtrain. Here is a possible routine:

Day 1 - Off
Day 2 - Delts and Biceps
Day 3 - Legs and Abs
Day 4 - Off
Day 5 - Chest and Triceps
Day 6 - Back
Day 7 - Off

You see. . .plenty of rest time between each muscle group. Each session should last no more than 1 hour. Rest 30 sec. to 1 minute between sets.

If your diet is lacking in calories. . . do not expect to make appreciable gains especially when on an intense routine. The key is to eat, eat, and eat.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

Would this be good then to do for 2-3 weeks then switch to a good 4 day workout.

 

[jeremys]

Good routine for overtraining even for those who trained in the 1970's. It is better to attack the muscle with extreme intensity only once per week. Get into the gym and take care of business. If you are working each muscle 2 to 3 times per week, you obviously aren't taking care of business when you are in the gym. Training each muscle too frequently, will result in stagnate gains in strength and size. Information over the science of recovery has improved tremendously over the years. You are better off designing a routine that requires training 4 days per week. Your enthusiasm may be high, but your body will turn against you if you overtrain. Here is a possible routine:

i'm sure you know a lot more about things than me, but what if you trained each muscle 3x per week while not going to failure? what do you think of this?

HST is based on this principle and people are reporting great results. maybe check it out when you have time and tell me what you think? the results are in the training forum here:

www.hypertrophy-specific.com

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

So0 would it be a good concensus then to do it for just 2 weeks intenesely. My workout will start tommorrow after work, so I want to try and square this away before then. Thanks all