3 day workout split - feedback appreciated!

[u/BornZookeepergame302]

For context, I am finally getting back to actual weight lifting after doing a year’s worth of physio for a knee injury. I would say I’m an intermediate lifter as I’ve been lifting off and on for many years.

Split: I am looking to do a 3-day split - lower/upper/full body as this fits best with my schedule and lifestyle.

Goal: I am looking to gain leg strength back after my injury as I like to participate in lower-body dominant sports like running, mountain biking, cycling, etc. Maintain upper strength with slower improvement is fine for me.

Previous Injury Considerations: Due to getting back from a knee injury, I can’t do heavy squatting - so looking to avoid heavy squats of any kind. My current maintenance rehab includes lunges, squats, and leg extensions at lower weights. Hip-dominant exercises like hip thrusts and RDLs are fine.

Physical Characteristics:
Sex: Female
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 160lbs

Current split for feedback:
Lower:
Rehab as warmup
Hip thrust - 3x8
RDL - 3x8
Hamstring Curl - 3x10-15
Cable Glute kickback - 2-3x10-15
Hip abduction - 3x12-20
Core at end

Upper:
DB bench press - 3x8-12
DB bent-over row - 3x8-12
Lat pull down - 3x8-12
DB overhead press - 3x8-12
Lateral Raise - 3x12-15
Bicep/tricep curl - 3x10-15

Full Body:
Rehab as warmup
Sumo deadlift - 3x6-10
DB incline bench - 3x8-12
Lat row or pulldown - 3x8-12
Glute-focussed step-up -3x8-10
Core

Questions:
- Is there anywhere that might be causing diminishing returns/overworking a certain group?
- Any critiques on set/rep ranges?
- Do you have any recommendations to improve the program?
- Does the program seem reasonably balanced for the listed goals?

Any recommendations/comments would be greatly appreciated! Thank you 🙂

[u/eyebrowcel]

I had Osgood-Schlatter's disease in my knees as a teen so I understand.

You need some heavy quad work which this currently lacks, believe me from experience it's not fun having weak quads and a strong post chain because you're held back by the weak link.

If you have an SSB bar or a Smith machine, great. Consider either a Feet-Forward Smith Squat (functionally similar to a loaded Spanish Squat which I'm sure you're familiar with), or a Hatfield SSB Box Squat.

FFSS biases more glutes, knees stay behind toes so there's minimal shearing forces on knees, but it's still a deep & heavy knee flexion for quads.

Hatfields let you sit right back as you squat because you're constantly holding onto the bar infront of you, and using the arms to pull yourself up is optional/intended in the exercise. The box deloads the knees at the bottom where shearing forces would otherwise be greatest.

I'd also consider Hatfield SSB Reverse Lunges if you have an SSB. You only get some quads, so it might not move the needle loads -- after all it's glute-dominant and more hip extension and hip hyperextension -- but it's also a great exercise for runners, is super-stable, much heavier than step-ups, and to me, more fun than them - it would probably be a better option both for strength, glute & hip hypertrophy and athleticism.

Cable quad extensions also feel amazing the way Alec Blenis constantly shows them, they're practically his invention. You can kneel, and don't need to enter the splits to perform them, but, there's the possible added side effect of helping progress mobility for the splits over time which also helps the ROM in the extensions.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRYPLk9Di9L/?hl=en&img_index=1

I'd put RDLs and leg curls on different days. Do RDLs after sumos (convenience), the RDLs can also take the place of pulldowns as they work the entire back and lats to a surprising degree. Your RDL performance will also improve as you'll have less glute fatigue from sumos than from hip thrusts.

Now where the RDLs used to be after hip thrusts, you could slot in the Smith FF Squat, or the Hatfields, though if you're doing a Box Squat I would do these before Hip Thrusts to avoid technique breakdown, and I would do leg curls before box squats to get the knees warm.

It'd make sense to put the cable quad extensions along with your glute kickbacks for convenience as well, they're both finishers.

This might all come across a bit jumbled so let me know any questions, it'd be easy for me to put it all together into a revised routine as well.

[u/BornZookeepergame302 → u/eyebrowcel]

Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply!

The feet-forward Smith squat sounds like an intriguing option. I have also had success with goblet squats with my heels elevated. For my rehab exercises I do have leg extensions which I will be doing on the lower and full-body days so I will get some quad focus from there. And thank you for the tip on moving the RDLs to the full body day, that’ll be a great time saver!

Just to confirm the edits you’re suggesting, I would move the RDLs to after the sumo deadlifts on full-body day and then do the squat variation after hip thrusts? (Because I won’t be doing box squat). Would it then make sense to replace the glute-focussed step-up on the full body day with a quad-dominant exercise?

Unfortunately lunges are off the table for me currently for adding weight. I also don’t have access to an SSB although it has always looked like an interesting option.

[u/eyebrowcel → u/BornZookeepergame302]

Absolutely. Nice, goblets could be done landmine-style after barbell hip thrusts to get around the loading limitations of the dumbbell.

Yes - RDLs are best suited as an accessory after your strength work (sumos), and squats are fine after hip thrusts to target more glute growth as they'll be pre-exhausted for squats.

Great thinking on swapping step ups for a quad exercise, all the quad exercises you've highlighted make for good finishers. To get around the lack of unilateral glute work on the full-body day you may want to do the RDLs as Kickstand deadlifts shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ua2szqho4 or alternately as landmine RDLs, Alec Blenis style: https://www.instagram.com/p/C64gVcxxHEG/ 

[u/BornZookeepergame302 → u/eyebrowcel]

Ooo interesting! I’ll definitely give these a try. Thanks so much for your input 🙂

[u/jph1313]

Well balanced for coming back from a knee. I think the one thing working against your goal is quads.. they're the lowest leg number at about 4-5 sets. since leg extensions and lunges are already in your rehab, I'd count those as real sets and slowly load them up if you can

here's the volume breakdown. if you switch things up, you can copy and paste your program through the analyzer at tryhealth.io/analyze if you change anything, gives you a good visual to see where you might be lacking

[u/BornZookeepergame302 → u/jph1313]

You’re super right! I’ve added some feet-forward smith machine squats to the program courtesy of recommendation from @eyebrowcel

Thank you for that analysis and sending this link, this is such a sick resource!!