childishkillah
Iron
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- Sep 25, 2024
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We start from the basis that the upper-lower is a vogue, just like the heavy duty or the arnold split, community fads, some better, some worse, but vogues at the end of the day.
Anyway, let's start with the explanation, there are 2 ways to do the Upper-Lower, in a conventional way following the days of the week and where we have the days of the week: Upper-Lower-Rest-Upper-Lower-Rest-Rest. In the case that you can train 5 days a week I would completely discard this option and do other splits that are better options, always with a rest in between. Now in the case of being able to train every day the other way to do this split would be a microcycle: Upper-Lower-Rest-Upper-Lower-Rest and repeat the cycle. The advantage is that we will have an increase in the weekly frequency compared to a conventional frequency of 2, specifically a frequency of 2.14 numerically speaking, a minimal increase in the training frequency and that does have several disadvantages compared to a conventional frequency of 2:
The first problem is the great reduction in volume that we will have to carry out in the muscles that tend to muscle damage such as the pectoral and the hamstrings since between each of the sessions we will only have 72 hours to recover, while in a conventional frequency of 2 such as for example: Upper-Lower-Rest-Push-Pull-Legs-Rest. Only one of the sessions would have 72 hours of recovery but the other session would have 96 hours to be able to recover, in this session we could put more training volume into these muscles that tend to muscle damage more easily. The second big problem with Upper-Lower is that having to stimulate so many muscles and with such high demands will cause the quality of the training volume to be drastically reduced in the vast majority of the series of the session, even so it is possible to do different rotations to give more attention to different muscles but I don’t see the point in doing that when you could do a conventional frequency 2 and make all the series of all the sessions be of quality since you don’t have to stimulate the entire torso or almost the entire torso. The third drawback is the high fatigue of the central nervous system that we accumulate between sessions, having to stimulate so many muscles and with such high demands will cause the fatigue of the central nervous system to be quite large, and it will accumulate over time, and of course this can be delayed or reduced with a correct volume and exercise programming but fatigue is still inevitable, and not all people are going to be able to deal with such an amount of fatigue either due to tight sleep schedules, high amounts of stress, or simply genetics, they simply are not going to be able to handle such an amount of fatigue. This would also happen with people who are more advanced and who lift heavier weights, as they could not do this routine for more than a month. This can even be seen with Jordan Peters, one of the greatest proponents of the Upper-Lower, but he can't even do the Upper-Lower for a long time and has to constantly switch back to a PPl because he can't handle such a large amount of fatigue.
This little thread is not hate towards the Upper-Lower, it's a split that I like, I find it fun, and that I did in my post-cutting period and the truth is that I progressed but it doesn't seem like the best option to me, and if they want to sell you that the best split is the Upper-Lower and the rest is rubbish, it's not like that, the best will always be a split adapted to your needs, to the material you have available, to your training availability, to the quality of your rest and to so many other variables.
Linked to this, if anyone is interested in a personal top of my favorite splits, or the one I'm doing now, I might make a thread about that.
Anyway, let's start with the explanation, there are 2 ways to do the Upper-Lower, in a conventional way following the days of the week and where we have the days of the week: Upper-Lower-Rest-Upper-Lower-Rest-Rest. In the case that you can train 5 days a week I would completely discard this option and do other splits that are better options, always with a rest in between. Now in the case of being able to train every day the other way to do this split would be a microcycle: Upper-Lower-Rest-Upper-Lower-Rest and repeat the cycle. The advantage is that we will have an increase in the weekly frequency compared to a conventional frequency of 2, specifically a frequency of 2.14 numerically speaking, a minimal increase in the training frequency and that does have several disadvantages compared to a conventional frequency of 2:
The first problem is the great reduction in volume that we will have to carry out in the muscles that tend to muscle damage such as the pectoral and the hamstrings since between each of the sessions we will only have 72 hours to recover, while in a conventional frequency of 2 such as for example: Upper-Lower-Rest-Push-Pull-Legs-Rest. Only one of the sessions would have 72 hours of recovery but the other session would have 96 hours to be able to recover, in this session we could put more training volume into these muscles that tend to muscle damage more easily. The second big problem with Upper-Lower is that having to stimulate so many muscles and with such high demands will cause the quality of the training volume to be drastically reduced in the vast majority of the series of the session, even so it is possible to do different rotations to give more attention to different muscles but I don’t see the point in doing that when you could do a conventional frequency 2 and make all the series of all the sessions be of quality since you don’t have to stimulate the entire torso or almost the entire torso. The third drawback is the high fatigue of the central nervous system that we accumulate between sessions, having to stimulate so many muscles and with such high demands will cause the fatigue of the central nervous system to be quite large, and it will accumulate over time, and of course this can be delayed or reduced with a correct volume and exercise programming but fatigue is still inevitable, and not all people are going to be able to deal with such an amount of fatigue either due to tight sleep schedules, high amounts of stress, or simply genetics, they simply are not going to be able to handle such an amount of fatigue. This would also happen with people who are more advanced and who lift heavier weights, as they could not do this routine for more than a month. This can even be seen with Jordan Peters, one of the greatest proponents of the Upper-Lower, but he can't even do the Upper-Lower for a long time and has to constantly switch back to a PPl because he can't handle such a large amount of fatigue.
This little thread is not hate towards the Upper-Lower, it's a split that I like, I find it fun, and that I did in my post-cutting period and the truth is that I progressed but it doesn't seem like the best option to me, and if they want to sell you that the best split is the Upper-Lower and the rest is rubbish, it's not like that, the best will always be a split adapted to your needs, to the material you have available, to your training availability, to the quality of your rest and to so many other variables.
Linked to this, if anyone is interested in a personal top of my favorite splits, or the one I'm doing now, I might make a thread about that.
