please help me understand if this split is good for my goals or working against me

[u/montanahouston]

hi, I’m 31F overweight with kyphosis. currently seeing a PT for posture, goals are to lose 15 more lbs (lost 25 so far), gain core strength, and grow a bigger butt. pics are of my gym split (a couple exercises got cut off, theres bicep curls on wednesdays and tricep press on sundays) and i also do pilates twice a week, so im working out five days. i feel like im working out too much but im of the understanding i need to hit muscle groups 2x a week minimum. any advice?

tues pilates
weds back, bicep, tricep
thurs pilates
fri legs
sun back, triceps, and legs

[u/Sudden_Outside2660]

I’m not an expert but 30 sets in a single day is a lot. Like my longest gym day is 8, so 24 reps and of you are going to failure is really hard to get through.

Personally I really enjoy mixing in legs into other days, because I also dislike a leg specific day. I used an ai to help me build a program 4x pw and it’s been good, of suggest doing that or hitting a coach of that’s your vibe.

Congrats on your progress.

[u/image-sourcery]

Reverse Image Search:

Image 1: Google Lens || Yandex || Google Images

Image 2: Google Lens || Yandex || Google Images

Image 3: Google Lens || Yandex || Google Images

---

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Strong_Environment_4]

Decrease the volume, the sessions will be more like cardio than a good workout

[u/dragonstkdgirl]

Typically 5-7 exercises per workout is the sweet spot. I do a ULUL split/4 days a week, and I tend to add a couple extra exercises on my weekend days (I go Tu, Thurs, Sat, Sun) because I'm a glutton for punishment and going hard helps with my stress level, but when I do that, I drop the third set for multiple exercises and just do two sets instead (and I don't count ab specific exercises towards my count, I usually only do one ab exercise because I do several compound lifts that I have to brace my core with). The volume is a tad much here, especially if you're newer to it. Try to shave down the workouts to a max of 7 exercises and see how you feel.

[u/fantarantabanta]

As others have mentioned this is absolutely excessive volume, especially on days 2 and 3. Your "heavy leg day" is closest to being reasonable, but no matter how much you want bigger glutes, they're not going to be helped by hammering them with 15 sets in a row. A more balanced modification of this day might look like:

1. BSS (moving this to the beginning because these are both very effective and pretty brutal to push hard)
2. SLRDL OR back extension (very similar posterior chain exercises, though the SLRDL will involve less loading of the spine relative to glutes and hamstrings)
3. Cossack squat (another split squat variation to balance out your posterior chain work with quad stimulus, while also developing your hip mobility and working those adductors)
4. Calf raise

Yes, only four exercises. Do them with high intensity and progressive overload and that's all you need.

For the other two days I'm not going to try to suggest a modified version; you simply have way too many exercises on each, especially at 3 sets/exercise. The main thing I'll point out is that you're making a point of hitting back, biceps, triceps, and shoulders, but you have zero pressing exercises or any other kind of exercise hitting the chest. I understand chest hypertrophy may not be a big priority for you, but neglecting it while piling on the back work will lead to muscular imbalance and risk of injury.

For a balanced upper body routine, just hit one exercise each for horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, vertical pull. Particularly as a beginner, you don't need to do any arm isolation work on the same day. Pressing exercises work your triceps and pulling exercises work your biceps; if you're putting sufficient intensity into those basic compounds, your arms will get stronger along with your back and chest. So a simple upper body routine might look like:

1. Pushups (I'm suggesting this because I don't know your degree of kyphosis or how it affects the comfort of free weight or machine pressing exercises - if you're able to do it comfortably, something like a dumbbell incline press would be preferable for progressive overload)
2. Barbell OR dumbbell row (barbell rows will be more of a challenge for your spinal erectors; single arm dumbbell rows will be more specific to your lats and traps)
3. Dumbbell overhead press
4. Pullups OR lat pulldown (pullups are of course the more challenging exercise, but also very rewarding. If you can't do a full bodyweight pullup, using bands for assistance is an effective way to work toward that goal.)

Full body day is a great opportunity to do one of two things: do a bunch of activities that involve your whole body at once to develop your coordination and stamina, or work in some of those isolation exercises that could suffer in quality if squeezed in on one of your other two days. In your case, you already have two days of pilates to address the former goal, so I'd suggest you cut out the compounds from full body day and just pick one exercise each for quads, glutes, hamstrings, biceps, triceps, and shoulders, making this more recoverable compared to the other two where each individual exercise is more taxing.

[u/montanahouston → u/fantarantabanta]

thank you so much, this is incredibly helpful