Thread: Is training 1 body part a day best

I do full body three days a week, upper body/lower body split so hit each bodypart two days a week, or each bodypart one day a week like you. These are the normal splits

Im kinda with you bro.I believe in totally smashing one body part a say, I do do calfs 3-4 times a week tho but im not counting that. If i hav enough energy to do another body part i didnt work hard enough. One thing i do tho is, I will work bis and tris the same day (every few weeks, for a few weeks) and do them twice a week

I used to train a bodypart two times a week with great results

Murf, I have also pretty much done the one body part a day for 12-13 years give or take some "magazine programs" every once in a while. I will say that the 5/3/1 program I have started on is pretty freaking awesome. I've been on it for over a month doing the "bodybuilder style" and I would say that it is working great.

I've really come to like upper/lower splits performed 2 times per week. That's been my standard for a long time now. However, it seems to me like split is less important than volume/intensity assuming frequency guidelines are reasonable.

I personally prefer full body routines done 2 or 3 times a week. 3 is my favorite.

Things like:
Squat, bench, dead.
Squat, bench, row.
Squat, bench, clean & jerk.

But when I was doing Max OT doing one body part to exhaustion each day for 5 days a week I got good results too.

But again, when I was 18 and doing a full body routine consisting of 1 set of 10-12 reps using nautilus machines...all of them... 7 days a week, that worked too.

Even OLAD (one lift a day) worked for me until my CNS couldn't handle it any more and crashed.

Experiment, try different things, and see what works best for you. Give each thing a full 8 weeks and take before and after pics to verify what you think is or isn't happening. Review each thing very objectively by tracking your measurements. Then go with what works best until it doesn't work any more... then try something new.

I train Upper/Lower. Ive used everything from full-body to one bodypart per day and I think this provides the best results.

My all time favorite is Push/Pull/Legs split, training every other day for full recovery.

I mainly run old school body part splits, b/c they are the most effective for me. Although, I love to break it up by doing 4-6 weeks straight of compound lifts 3x/wk like we did for football strength training.

I don't think there's one "best" way - there's a purpose for everything and the variety (lolz .. the "Weider Confusion Principle") helps. The body tends to respond best in cycles - if its just changing up completely how you're doing things, going from heavy to active recovery, or deloading phases or whatever. The primary goal I think is to allow CNS recovery. As long as you've got that and you're fueling for your goals, changing up is good.

One comment I will say from my own experience - I've done nearly 30 yrs of 'per muscle group' training, usually 2 muscle groups per day (e.g. back / bis, chest/tris, etc.) which is what I'm used to and what I tend towards, but its also not 'functionally correct' and eventually will tend to aggravate whatever natural push/pull imbalances you have. If you're over 40 you can expect to start seeing shoulder, wrist / elbow, knee / ankle issues, or more core stuff like your hip alignment / tightness of IT band, - and any of these can propagate over time to forcing the secondary muscles to do the heavy lifting that the primaries should be doing.

To that end, I wish to God I would've found a good PL trainer 20 yrs ago and nailed my squat / push / pull. I think at least occasionally mixing in your core stuff / full body lifts as your base will go a long way in the long run. After 40 shit just starts to fall apart and then the whole effort of bodybuilding can become a chore. which sucks moose balls if you really love to lift.

I've been at it for 17+ years now, and I've done a lot of different routines from high school ball, college ball, and routines out of magazines. I've seen my body react to all the different styles and they best routine for my body is 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, then 2 days off. Chest, shoulders, and triceps are Monday and thursday. Legs, back, and biceps are Tuesday and Friday. I've been doing the 1 muscle a day routine for the past 4 years and thats only because I was limited to what I had in my garage with free weights. I tend to over train a bit because the once a week was killing me. A 3 day a week split I just couldn't take it mentally to be honest. I needed to be in the gym, moving weights, and sweating my ass off. Now that I'm in a real gym I will be falling back onto what I know works for me.
I ran into this thread a while ago and it's based off a 3 day split for mass. Hope that helps out...
3-day split workout - World Class Bodybuilding Forum

I do them all on separate days because it works best in my schedule right now. In the past I have done a 3 day split- Legs, Back/bi, Chest/tri/delt, and a 4 day- Legs, Back/bi, Delt, Chest/tri. I prefer the 4 day split.

Actually there is no best split.It all goes down to what is the most comfortable for you.

I alternate between push/pull/legs and one body part a day, every couple months or so, and depending on time.