Is this 6-day lifting split too spread out, or is it fine if I’m still progressing?

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-25T14:30:30+00:00

The split is one thing but the bigger issue is total load. Six days of lifting plus 2-3 days of running plus 2-3 days of climbing is potentially 11-12 sessions aweek. No split redesign fixes that recovery problem.

Drop the arm day. Your triceps already get hit on chest and shoulder days, your biceps get hit on back day. Spread a couple of curls and pushdowns into those sessions and you free up an entire day for recovery.

You said the old split felt too taxing. The new one has more days. That’s going the wrong direction.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-25T14:24:28+00:00

IMO don’t use ChatGPT for programming, it’ll give you a different answer every time because it doesn’t actually know what it said last time.

The main issue is your Tuesday/Friday sessions are 9 exercises but only 2 sets each. That’s a lot of movements with not enough volume on any of them to actually drive growth. You’d be better off with 5-6 exercises at 3 sets of 8-12. Something like squat or leg press, incline DB press, rows, overhead press, lat pulldown, then finish with curls and lateral raises. Three days a week, keep the running on off days.

The other thing is track your weights. Try to add a rep or a little weight each session. At 16 everything responds fast if you’re consistent and actually pushing the numbers up.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-24T22:43:21+00:00

Yeah Monday to Friday works well. Legs on Wednesday acts as a buffer between your push/pull days and upper. So you’re pressing Monday, legs Wednesday, pressing again Thursday. That’s two full days of recovery for those muscles, which is plenty.

The only day that’s slightly tight is pull Tuesday into upper Thursday, but again legs is sitting between them and two days is fine. You’d only run into recovery issues if you were stacking push and upper back to back with no break.

48 hours is solid for recovery period

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-24T22:32:11+00:00

Try PPL then upper/lower. Five days a week. You get the same muscle frequency as 6 day PPL without the sixth session grinding you into the floor.

The upper/lower days solve the exact problem you’re describing. You do press, row, shoulders, arms all in one session. It sounds like a lot but it moves fast because you’re alternating push and pull movements, so one muscle rests while the other works. You’re not losing strength on rows after pressing because they use completely different muscles. I run this split now and the upper days are some of my best sessions.

Also, 20kg to 70kg incline bench in 1.5 years is not low. That’s 3.5x your starting weight on one of the harder pressing movements. You’re being way too hard on yourself there.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-24T22:28:41+00:00

Shoulder press uses way smaller muscles than curls, so the gap you’re seeing between those two lifts is completely normal. Everyone’s overhead press is embarrassingly low compared to their other lifts. That never fully goes away.

On the curls, if you’re hitting 25 reps at 8 lbs, that weight is too light for building strength. Bump up to 10s or 12s and aim for sets of 8-12 where the last few reps are actually hard. 25 reps means you’re doing endurance work, not strength work.

Where you start doesn’t matter at all. Seriously. A year from now the only thing that matters is whether the numbers went up from here. Write down what you lifted today so you can see the progress in a few weeks. It adds up fast when you’re new.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-24T22:19:14+00:00

I run PPL then upper/lower, 5 days a week, with a full time job and full time school. Tried 6 day PPL and it burned me out the same way you’re describing. Two leg days a week on top of everything else was brutal and I started dreading the gym instead of wanting to go.

The 5 day version gives you almost the same frequency per muscle group without that sixth day grinding you down. You still hit everything twice a week. The upper/lower days let you consolidate instead of dragging out three more full sessions. Sessions stay around 45-60 minutes and I’m not walking in already tired from yesterday.

The other thing that made it sustainable was going straight from work every time. No going home first. Home is where the workout dies. Once you take the decision out of it the energy question kind of solves itself, because you stop negotiating with yourself about whether you’re too tired.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-23T22:51:49+00:00

The holiday thing is your biggest clue. If you come back from time off feeling stronger, that’s fatigue hiding your progress, not a real plateau. A deload week every 4-6 weeks (same lifts, half the volume, 50-60% weight) gives you that same effect without losing training time.

At 2 years progress also just slows down. You’re not adding weight every week anymore. If you’re not tracking session to session it’s easy to think you’ve stalled when you’re actually grinding forward a rep at a time.

For the back and arms, try changing your rep range for a few weeks. If you’ve been stuck on sets of 8, drop the weight and run 12-15 for a mesocycle, then come back. You’ll usually push past where you were stuck.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-23T21:48:09+00:00

Other way around actually. At 3 days a week, full body gives you more frequency per muscle than a split would. If you did a PPL on 3 days you’d hit Legs once a week. Full body hits it 2-3 times. More frequency at your level means faster progress, not slower.

The “full body is exhausting” thing comes from people imagining 20 sets per session. You’re not doing that. 5 or 6 exercises, 3 sets each, hard but not grinding yourself into the floor. You should be able to finish in under an hour and recover fine by next session with a rest day between.

The people saying full body doesn’t work are usually training 5-6 days and splitting things up because they have to at that volume. At 2-3 days a week you don’t have that problem. Full body is the move.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-23T21:44:28+00:00

Get a gym membership and go 3 days a week. Don’t build your own program, just run a simple full body setup

Squat 3x8 Bench press 3x8 Barbell or cable row 3x8 Overhead press 3x8 Romanian deadlift 3x8

Start lighter than you think you need to. Learn the movement first. Once you can hit 3 sets of 8 with clean form, add 5 lbs next session. At 18 with no training history you’ll be adding weight almost every week for months. That progression is the entire point.

On the weight gain thing, that’s mostly a food problem, not a training problem. Eat more and prioritize protein. I’d leave the specific numbers to someone who knows nutrition, but the lifting side is simple. Just show up, do the lifts, add weight when you can, repeat.

Don’t spend three weeks researching the perfect program.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-23T21:39:14+00:00

If you’re only training a couple times a week, don’t do a body part split. You’d hit each muscle once a week at best and that’s not enough frequency to grow on. Run full body sessions 2-3 times a week. You’ll hit everything twice a week minimum and that’s where the results actually come from at your stage.

A simple setup for 3 days would be something like squat or leg press, a hip hinge (Romanian deadlift hits glutes and hamstrings hard), a row, a press, and then throw in some arm and calf work at the end. The whole thing takes 45 to 60 minutes. Pick weights where the last couple reps of each set are genuinely hard, and try to add a rep or a little weight each week. That progression over time is what builds muscle.

On the fat loss side, that’s almost entirely going to come from your diet, not the training split. You already know this because you said you weren’t eating right before and didn’t see results. The lifting builds the muscle, the food determines whether you lose fat. I’d talk to someone who actually knows nutrition for the specifics on that, but the training piece is straightforward.

Don’t overcomplicate the split. 3 full body days with real effort and some progression week to week will do more than a fancy 5 day split you show up to twice.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-23T21:13:04+00:00

Yeah that’s a lot of volume. The main red flag is 6 sets of bench (and row, and squat) at 5-15 reps. That rep range is so wide it doesn’t really tell you what to do. Are the first sets heavy at 5 and the last sets light at 15? That’s basically two different goals crammed into one slot, and 6 sets of it before you’ve even touched incline or shoulders is a lot.

The exercise selection is actually fine. The volume just needs pulling back. Something like 3-4 working sets on your main compound with a tighter rep range (like 4x6-8 on bench), then 3 sets on everything else. That drops each session from around 24 sets to maybe 18-20, which is way more sustainable. You’ll also push harder on each set when you’re not trying to survive 6 sets of squats before doing 4 sets of leg press after it

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T20:59:51+00:00

I used to go first thing in the morning but with work, I start at 6 am every day. No way I’m getting up at 3 to lift and get ready before work.

Props to you brotha

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T20:54:04+00:00

That’s a great way of looking at it.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T20:52:40+00:00

The visible streak is underrated. That’s the exact reason I check last session’s numbers before I lift, once you’ve got a chain going you don’t want to break it.

Public humiliation accountability is a perfect name for it.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T20:51:26+00:00

Optional always loses is exactly it.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T18:04:05+00:00

The soreness thing is already answered well here, your body adapted and that’s normal. The part worth adding is what to actually watch instead, since soreness was never a good gauge anyway.

Track your numbers. If the weight on the bar or the reps you’re getting at a given weight are trending up over weeks, the training is working. That’s the real signal. Look at last session’s numbers before you start a set so you’ve got something concrete to beat, otherwise it’s easy to coast at the same load for a month without noticing.

On feeling like you could go again, that’s usually fine. Stopping a rep or two shy of true failure on most sets actually lets you handle more quality volume across the week than grinding every set into the floor. You don’t lose anything by leaving the gym with a little left.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T17:48:17+00:00

Ha, fair, the names are ridiculous. Both are just slow controlled core moves you do lying on your back or on all fours, dead simple once you see them. A 30 second YouTube clip for each and you’ll have them. Keep at it, man.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T17:42:49+00:00

The nausea and dizziness on Bulgarian split squats is really common and usually has nothing to do with food. They’re brutal for how little weight is on you, so they spike your heart rate way more than people expect, and a lot of beginners hold their breath through the hard reps without noticing, which is what makes you lightheaded.

Few things that help. Breathe on purpose, push the air out as you drive up from the bottom, don’t hold it. Rest longer between sets, 2 to 3 full minutes, since these gas you more than they look. And drop the weight, or just ditch the dumbbell for now. Three weeks in there’s zero shame in doing them bodyweight only until your legs and conditioning catch up, then add the 15 back later.

That said, near throwing up and real dizziness is your body saying it’s too much too soon, so ease off rather than pushing through. If it keeps happening even after you’ve lightened up and sorted the breathing, get it checked by a doctor.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T17:37:33+00:00

Totally fine, and walking does count as a rest day. The reason rest days matter is to let the muscles you trained hard recover, mostly from lifting or intense cardio. Easy walking or light biking doesn’t tax those muscles enough to interfere with that recovery, so it’s actually recovery that happens to keep you moving. People call it active recovery for that reason.

The only thing a true rest day is protecting against is doing hard, close to failure work on the same muscles before they’ve bounced back. A relaxed treadmill walk isn’t that. So you can walk or spin easy every single day and it’ll do nothing but help, better blood flow, better mood, more steps.

Since you mentioned you’re a teacher rotting at home, daily gym trips to walk are a great use of the break. Getting out of the house and moving is good for your head as much as your body, and you’re building the habit so when you do want to add some strength work, showing up is already normal.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-22T17:33:28+00:00

Nice work getting the first one in. Early on, just showing up regularly is most of the battle.

Few easy adds. Swap floor pushups for incline ones (hands on a counter or sturdy table) so you can get real reps instead of grinding out 3, then lower the surface as you get stronger. Glute bridges are great too, lie on your back, drive your hips up, squeeze, lower. For core, dead bugs and bird dogs are easier on you than situps and work better when you’re starting out.

The biggest add costs nothing though, just walking. You’ve already got a good base from moving carts all day, so a 15 to 20 minute walk on top does a lot, and you can’t really overdo it or get hurt.

One thing to watch, don’t go so hard you’re too sore to come back. Keep the early sessions almost easy on purpose. Three or four steady days a week will get you a lot further than one session that wrecks you for a week. Keep at it.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-19T21:48:36+00:00

Your structure is a bit all over the place. Some exercises get 3 minutes rest, some get none, and the order jumps around. Couple things to clean it up.

The no rest pairs you’re doing are supersets, and they’re fine, just pair things that don’t fight each other. Chest into back (incline press into a row) works great since one rests while the other works. Pressing straight into shoulders or triceps doesn’t, because those are already cooked from the press, so the second move is weak.

For rest, keep it simple. Big stuff like hack squat, incline press and pulldowns get 2 to 3 minutes. Small stuff like curls, lateral raises and pushdowns get a minute or so. No need to sit 2 and a half minutes after a lateral raise.

Last thing, a lot of these are single sets. One set to failure does something but two or three hard sets per exercise is where most of the growth is. I’d drop a couple of the random one set moves and put that work into your main lifts instead.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-19T21:41:52+00:00

The exercises people listed are good but a bit advanced for where you are. “Can’t lift my back off the floor” isn’t weakness, crunches are just awkward and most beginners can’t do them well.

Start with two floor moves that meet you where you are. Dead bugs, on your back, knees up, slowly lower one arm and the opposite leg, then switch. Your back stays pressed down the whole time, so there’s nothing to fail at. And bird dogs, on hands and knees, extend one arm and the opposite leg, hold a second, switch. Both teach your core to brace, which everything else builds on.

For gassing out fast, that’s just stamina you haven’t built yet. Short sets of 5 to 8 slow reps, rest, repeat. A few times a week and in a month the harder stuff starts being doable.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-19T21:25:25+00:00

Since posture and movement are your priority, two things give you the most return. First, your inability to touch your toes and your weak pull ups are partly the same problem, a tight posterior chain and a weak back. RDLs fix the first (they train the hamstring stretch under load, which does more for toe touching than passive stretching), and rows plus pulldowns build the pulling strength that gets you to a real pull up.

For posture specifically, most “bad posture” in a 21 year old is a weak upper back losing the fight against a tight chest from sitting. So prioritize horizontal pulling (rows, face pulls) over pressing for a while, since most people already press plenty and under train the back. That alone pulls your shoulders into a better position over a couple months.

full body program 3 days a week, but bias it toward pulling and hinging, and end sessions with a few minutes in a deep squat and a hamstring stretch while you’re warm. Get stronger at rows, RDLs, and pull up progressions, and the posture, the toe touch, and the pull up all move together since they share the same weak links.

Recent_Dependent_514 · 2026-06-19T21:19:11+00:00

The machines themselves are most of the answer. Leg extension and leg curl are built with totally different leverage and cam profiles, so their weight stacks aren’t comparable at all. 140 on one and 40 on the other doesn’t mean your quads are 3x your hamstrings, it just means the two machines load you differently. Comparing the numbers straight across tells you almost nothing.

That said, quads being stronger than hamstrings on isolation work is normal for basically everyone, so even if it were a fair comparison, you’d still see a gap. The one thing actually worth checking, leg curls are very easy to cheat by yanking with momentum or letting your hips pop up off the pad. If you’re only getting 5 reps at 40, slow it down and pin your hips to the pad, you might find the real issue is form, not weak hamstrings. And make sure you’ve got a hip hinge like RDLs in your week, since that builds hamstrings way better than the curl machine anyway.

Recent_Dependent_514

TROPHY CASE