Q&A - 3-Way Split Training, How to Get Big QUICK, Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat at the Same Time

Q: Hey, Sloan.  In your last essay on “the rule of 3,” you showed the current 3-way split that you are using.  Why do you train chest, back, and shoulders on one of the days and biceps and triceps alone on another?  Why not use a push/pull/legs split or chest/back on one day and shoulders/bis/tris on another?  It just seems like an odd choice, but I guess you have your reasons?

A: Yes, I do have my reasons.  For one, and this would only apply to anyone else in my “predicament,” I have a well-developed chest, a large back, and good shoulders but my arms have always been my biggest weak area.  I have long, ape-like arms with a very wide and broad back.  I could stop training entirely and my back would still be big.  So, for me, it makes sense.  My lats will even grow from training my chest.  For instance, when I was a kid and was training in martial arts before I ever picked up a barbell, we would do a lot of push-ups to begin class—regular push-ups, knuckle push-ups, diamond push-ups, knuckle push-ups on shingles.  Anyway, the next day my lats would always be sore but little else.  I used to wonder back then what in the world was going on, but now I know that it was simple physiology.

     If I was to enter an over-50 bodybuilding competition, I would have to stop training my back entirely in order to bring up all of my other bodyparts and have a well-balanced physique.  In that case, I would probably use either a 2-way split where I trained lower body on one day and my upper body on the next, but omit back training from it, or I would utilize a 3-way split where day one is legs, day two is chest and shoulders, and day three is arms

     Having written the above, however, let it be noted that I also like the split for other reasons.  One of those is the fact that having an “arm only” day just doesn’t take much out of you from a CNS (central nervous system) perspective.  No matter how hard, voluminous, or frequently you train your arms, they recover faster than heavy presses (bench or overhead), pulls, and squats.  Another one of my favorite splits—which I outline in detail in my Power/Mass Variation Program—is to do legs and back on one day, chest and shoulders on another, and arms on the 3rd.  For more info on that one, read the program.

     Many lifters, let’s be honest, do too much direct arm training.  Guys want big arms, so they tend to overtrain them.  Although it does depend upon one’s body type, most lifters would be better off not training their arms or just training them less.  Many trainees will get more-than-adequate arm work by just focusing on the “big” lifts.  Train your squats, bench presses, overhead presses, chins, and various pulls (deadlifts, cleans, snatches) hard and heavy—preferably on a full-body workout 3 days a week—and your arms will grow fine without much else.  Throw in a barbell curl on occasion and you’re good to go.

Q: How can I get big really quick?  I think I’ve read every one of your programs on your blog more than once, but I’m still unsure of what workout would bring about the fastest mass gains.

A: Well, even if you’ve read all of my posts, there are two that I would re-read and use the advice there.  The first is my article, aptly titled for your particular goal, Get Big Quick.  The other is The High-Protein, High-Set Program, based on John McCallum’s workout routine of the same name from his Complete Keys to Progress.  The sub-title of that one is “How to gain 40 pounds of bulk in 8 weeks,” so both of ‘em sound right up your alley.

     A few short thoughts, however, for anyone looking to get big as quickly as possible.  You need to be completely devoted to gaining mass and nothing else.  You can’t be active in other things outside of the gym and expect to gain a lot of muscle in a short time.  It just won’t happen.  In the previous question, I mentioned my martial arts training.  I could never gain a lot of muscle as a teenager because I was so invested in martial arts.  I would train at the dojo 5 to 6 times per week, and then wondered why in the world I didn’t have muscles like all of my idols in Ironman magazine or MuscleMag International.  I was naive, of course, because I finally did gain muscle, and a lot of it, once I took a hiatus from martial arts and devoted myself entirely to the barbell and bulk-building.

     Here’s the gist of my advice for you or anyone else in the same boat:  Train on a high-frequency training program that focuses on squats, heavy pulls, and presses.  Use quite a bit of volume—8 sets of 5 reps done 2 to 3 times per week is my standard “go to” advice.  In addition, eat as much food as you possibly can during this time.  4 to 5,000 calories daily is a must.  Also, get at least 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight on a daily basis.  That’s right, you need to be as much (or more) regimented with your diet as you are with your training.  This advice is basically the outline of McCallum’s high-protein, high-set routine.  Follow that kind of training/nutritional regimen and lounge around as much as possible the rest of the week and you’ll be on your way to BIG in no time flat!

Q: After reading some of your articles and other advice on the internet, I’ve discovered that most trainers don’t believe you can really gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.  Apparently, I need to either work on getting big or getting lean but not both.  Is this really true?  Or is there a way to actually achieve simultaneous muscle growth and fat loss?

A: What you’ve read is largely accurate.  It is very hard to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously.  Most lifers are better off if they focus on one thing at a time.  The standard old-school advice to focus on bulking for a certain period of time and then focus on losing bodyfat later on, while hopefully preserving your hard-earned muscle, will work best for most lifters.  However, and this is a very tentative however, I don’t think it’s impossible to do both.

     I’m pretty sure that only one time in my life did I actually build muscle and lose fat simultaneously.  In my early 20s, I trained on a high-volume bodybuilding-style workout and I followed the advice of Dr. Mauro DiPasquale’s “anabolic diet.”  Originally DiPasquale, in an article for Ironman, called it the “Pork Chop Diet.”  I guess that didn’t really catch on, so he re-branded it the Anabolic Diet.  With the AD, you started by eating nothing but high-fat and high-protein for a couple of weeks until your body entered ketosis and learned to use fat for fuel (as opposed to carbs).  At that point, you ate high-fat, high-protein Monday through Friday, and then consumed a high-carb diet on the weekends.  My workout partner at the time, Dusty, and I both tried it and it worked wonders for both of us.  Heck, on Saturdays, we would often have a dozen donuts for breakfast, a large pizza (or two) for dinner, along with whatever other “bad-for-you” carb-heavy meals we wanted.  Oh, and we drank beer on the weekends.  A lot of beer.  On Monday mornings, I would often look super-lean but also incredibly full—all those weekend carbs really filled out my muscles with a much-needed glycogen refill from all of the weekday pump workouts.  By the way, I also hated it.  By Fridays, I was craving carbs and had a difficult time during the week consuming enough calories.  We always tried to consume somewhere between 4-5K calories during the week, but it’s hard when you are satiated from all that fat!  I quickly discovered that all the bacon, cheeseburgers sans buns, and steaks I could eat wasn’t as good as it sounded at the start.

     So, yes, you could possibly do both if you train voluminously with the big lifts and eat a high-calorie, high-fat, high-protein diet, but it won’t be easy, and for your sanity you might want to go the more “traditional” route of focusing on one aspect at a time.

     Although I didn’t really want to mention it when I began this reply, there is another route that works.  It’s not healthy, and I do NOT advise doing it, but guys who take anabolic steroids often end up gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.  That’s one of the reasons steroids are so popular.  Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the old-school bodybuilders who did use steroids (there were plenty of natural guys around back then, too) would get leaner and bigger during their pre-contest phase.  Why?  Because they didn’t take anabolics during the off-season.  They waited until they began their contest preparation to use the drugs.  And it definitely worked.  They gained muscle, dropped bodyfat, and showed up at the contest looking phenomenal.

     For natural lifters, there is one other possible option.  It will certainly drop bodyfat and it might produce hypertrophy, too, though the muscle gains will be slow (unless you’re an “easy gainer”).  Basically, you fast for an extended period, train, do some intense cardio, and then eat; in that order.  For more on the exact protocol I recommend, read my article from a couple years ago entitled Fast, Lift, Run, Eat.

     If you have some of your own questions, then feel free to send me an email.  If you have any questions, or just some comments, about the questions in this post, then send me an email or leave them in the “comments” section below.

     At the moment, I’m finishing up my soon-to-be-published book on the programs of various old-school, classical bodybuilders.  It is taking me a little longer than expected because I have decided to write some additional chapters for it.  I hope to have it to the publisher, however, before the end of the month.  I also have a couple of articles that I am working on.  In my queue at the moment is my “Mass Construction 2” article and another on the “fighter’s physique.”  Look for one of those in the next several days.  Until then, stay strong and stay at it!