rossj987

ChairohKey I like that idea. I'm wondering if you specifically put back on pull days and abs on push days. In my novice mind, I'm thinking that abs should go on pull day because I always feel a little bit of (natural) stiffness/soreness in my lower back after doing the upper back exercises and I don't know if this would compromise the lower back exercises from either injury-risk or fatigue. But this is just a simple assumption. Thanks for the reply.

I agree with what you said at the end. I saw an orthopedist and he didn't rule out an SI joint sprain. But basically I'm completely fine and comfortable with my workouts the way they are, and have already experienced noticeable gains in both strength and balance. And most likely I'll keep my upper body workouts and splits the exact same. I just need guidance on how to organize/incorporate ab exercises and leg weights in a way that one workout won't take anything away from the other. I generally workout 5 days a week give or take a day. I guess my overall goal is to get lean, or pack on as much muscle while showing a minimal amount of fat. And I want proper posture because I am 99 percent sure that posture was the main factor in my series of back sprains. For that I do my "core" day which is a bunch of pelvic tilt oriented body weight exercises I've been doing since physical therapy. For all intensive purposes of this post my back is fine now and that's part of the reason I've started to and have had difficult figuring out how to incorporate the ab exercises I couldn't do while rehabbing like sit-ups and v-sits, and basically all the lower ab stuff. And I've always been a firm believer that your abs need to be as strong as they are tight. At least if you're gonna be lifting weights anyway. And I'm a relatively big person. 6'2, 210 lbs. I do appreciate the insight though and I agree with you on cardio. I've been using the elliptical maybe once a week and it's mainly just for heart and lung conditioning because I'm a dirty smoker and despite the obvious irony it does help my respiratory system. Other than that my cardio will either consist of sprint intervals on the bike or basketball/squash.

Greetings fellow nerds! I had been weightlifting 2-3 days a week until I badly sprained one of the myriad number of lower back muscles right above my sacrum while using horrible form during RDLs. Since then I discovered the beauty and importance of the core and my entire life has changed... I have reached another turning point in my exercise life as I have started to incorporate lower body weight lifting back into my routine. My current splits are push muscles/pull muscles/cardio/core training/leg muscles. However I am lacking consistency and structure in how to go about what. Additionally, my core day consists of mostly core tightening exercises like planks, v-sits and other holds. My core "strengthening" exercises like sit-ups, leg lifts, back extensions have been scattered throughout the ends of the various other split days, without much organization. I don't really have an end goal in fitness. When people ask me I simply tell them I want to maximize and reach my complete physical potential. I've come to understand that my body is geared more towards fast twitch muscles and explosive movements rather than endurance based workouts/exercises. I would like to lose body fat only as far as it will assist and improve my physical function. My question to you other nerds is how do I set up my splits to maximize the gains from each respective workout? I try to stuff my cardio and core days in between lifting days to minimize the continuous stress on my core and muscles in general. I can post my workouts if that info would be essential to any suggestion. I guess an overall theme of this post is how do I properly incorporate core training into an existing weight regimen? I've heard different things from different trainers about being able to tear your abs up every day due to their resiliency but I definitely notice soreness and weakness after certain ab workouts. Additionally, I'm also concerned about spacing the core workouts/exercises away from the leg lifting days, as I can't imagine how you can perform exercises like squats and weighted lunges with compromised core energy. I am also confused as to how endurance and non-endurance based cardio training affects the leg muscles and their performance in relation to anaerobic training. ***As a final note, every opinion I've put in here is my pure speculation/experience and I am open to trying anything. Thanks!