are you a believer of......

[joshcore]

a) doing each muscle group only once per week (absolutely hammering it)

or

b) doing each muscle group twice (or more) per week?

reason I ask is because I'm in the process of writing up a new program and I'm stuck between both worlds. I've asked a few people and most tend to believe that once a week is enough, but there is still a portion that believe twice a week is recommended.

what are your thoughts, and why (please provide explanation)

 

[Kyle Aaron]

I think you should try it and see.

 

[Fadi]

Hi Josh,

are you a believer of......

I'm a believer of change since everything, yes everything works but nothing works all of the time. So choose once a week body part training for (say) six weeks, then go to twice in 8 days like this for example:

Mon: Chest/Shoulders"Tris
Tues: Legs
Wed: Back/Bis
Thurs:.........
Fri: What you did on Monday with different exercises though
Sat: What you did on Tuesday with diffe.....
Sun: ...........

Mon: What you did on Wed and so on

I trained like that for at least a year with no problem. You don't have to do it for a year but maybe six weeks or 3 months or until you feel a need for a change.


You can even stick with no more than 5 or so exercise for one whole year done 3x aweek alternating between some of them. For example you can do legs and back together one day (say Mondays), then the rest on Wed, then back to workout "A" on Friday, then continue with workout "B" on Monday etc.

1. Squats (alternate with front squats)
2. benck press (incline/decline and d/bells for a change)
3. Dead lifts
4. B/neck press (or military press or d/bell for a change)
5. One arm d/bell rows (or b/bell for a change)
6. Leg curls (to balance the strength in your glutes and quads) and prevent injury.

You can train day on day off if you like

As you can see, I could write til tomorrow and I would not scratch the surface of variety Josh, so...

By whichever way you decide to go, if your aim is to pack on the beef, then recovery and eating should be your priorities since gym work is only a catalyst where your muscles get the stimulus that would force them to adapt. You help them by feeding them then resting them.


Fadi.

 

[dave]

I am personally for twice a week if you do a split, it usually takes your body 72 hours to adapt so training once every 3 days works into this well. It also depends on how new you are to training. A beginner will adapt much quicker whilst an advanced lifter may take even longer than 72 hours to adapt to a workout. So make sure you know exactly where you are at and train accordingly.

 

[PTC]

Since you said muscle group and not exercise, I think twice a week, even three times a week, and as Fadi said, keep changing.

If you actually meant exercise, it would depend on the volume and if your training a weak lift or a strong one.

 

[joshcore]

Personally, I've tried both methods a few times. I found that training each muscle group once a week was good, but I felt like I could be doing more. Alas, when I train each muscle group twice, I find myself burning out.

What I'm looking for is a mixture of both

 

[dave]

Mix it up then. What was your workout when you were burning out easily?

 

[Goosey]

Personally, I've tried both methods a few times. I found that training each muscle group once a week was good, but I felt like I could be doing more. Alas, when I train each muscle group twice, I find myself burning out.

What I'm looking for is a mixture of both

Keep in mind that it is impossible to isolate your "muscle groups" split whatever youd like to call it.
Think of it more an emphasis on an area, you also need to aknowledge that recovery still just comes from one source.

Your focus might be on your lower extremeties one workout but other muscle groups are still working.

You might not be suited to a split.

 

[Fadi]

Alas, when I train each muscle group twice, I find myself burning out.

Josh, whenever you hear yourself mentioning the words: burning out, please begin to automatically think of these two words: food & rest!


Fadi.