Thread: Workout frequency?

Originally Posted by BenchBoss

How do you guys split your week up? Do you work out every other weekday, and rest the weekend? Or everyday, alternating, upper and lower body? Maybe the same thing but giving Wednesday and weekends off?

My goal is to as strong, and big as I can without betting slow and loosing stamina. I'll be working out until next football season (I'm a lineman).

Thanks for any help.

I lift weights 4 days a week currently and increase to 4-5 days a week when I am on a PH.

-Sundays are always chest/back day
-Tuesdays are always squat and leg day (with some shrugs)
-Wednesday or Thursday is deadlift day along with some lighter chest and back work
-Friday is always shoulder day

I try to swim at least 4 days a week at least I'll swim after weightlifting

when on a PH, I will add in a day for dedicated arm work if I feel it will benefit and I am recovering fast enough.

Workouts are based on a heavy 5x5 program always looking to move the weight up 5 lbs at a time on all the major lifts.

total volume is between 20-25 sets in about 60-75 minutes followed by swimming.

I always start with the benchmark lift and incorporate supersets for the remaining sets to get more done in a shorter period of time (resting periods on a 5x5 are longer than most, 3-5 minutes between sets versus 1-2)

Type REG PARK 5X5 PROGRAM into google and read that it's only a few minutes to read. I use that strategy and it works but I modify it to my ability e.g. I don't do back extensions every day like Reg. Reg is total old school bodybuilding strategy and he was Arnold's idol though I suspect 90% of guys in here already know that.

I lift 4 days a week and do cardio two or sometimes the other three days. A sample week is

Monday:

Shoulders and Triceps

Tuesday :

Off

Wednesday :

Back and Biceps

Thursday

1hr Run or Bike Ride

Friday:

Chest

Saturday :

Legs

Sunday:

Run or Bike

Sometimes I will alternate which day I lift on the weekend depending on how I feel, the weather outside or any other number of factors.

I usually do three days a week:

Mon: Chest/Tris
Wed: Back/Bis
Fri: Legs/Shoulders

or four days a week:

Mon/Thur: Upper Body
Tue/Fri: Lower Body

3-4 days per week of resistance training is pretty much the ideal in most circumstances.

4~5 per week and 2 days off

I lift every other day, Upper/Lower split. My job is 3 days on, 3 days off so trying to organise my workout schedule into a 7 day week doesn't work for me.

Mon,Tues,Wed,Fri - Lift days

Thurs, Sat, Sun - Rest days

Originally Posted by BenchBoss

How do you guys split your week up? Do you work out every other weekday, and rest the weekend? Or everyday, alternating, upper and lower body? Maybe the same thing but giving Wednesday and weekends off?

My goal is to as strong, and big as I can without betting slow and loosing stamina. I'll be working out until next football season (I'm a lineman).

Thanks for any help.

Here's the link to the pdf I was telling you about...awesome way to increase strength and mass quickly especially if you have not used a systematic training plan before:

www.trainingdimensions.net/tdArticles/Reg%20Park.pdf

Are there no supplements/hormones you can take to speed muscle recovery, and allowing you to work the same muscle group everyday?

Originally Posted by skinnyboi

Are there no supplements/hormones you can take to speed muscle recovery, and allowing you to work the same muscle group everyday?

Why the hell would you want to do that? Work the same muscle everyday? Even on juice your muscles need time to recover, and working the same muscle out everyday is the wrong answer when trying to BUILD.

To the OP, I lift EOD and divide my workouts into movements instead of upper/lower. The idea being that you work the same muscles with similar movements IE: Press, Pull, Lift, Squat repeat.

I clearly understand your muscles need time to recover, that was the whole point of my question. Surely it would be a good thing if there was a substance that allowed your muscles to recover within 24hrs as well as they usually would in a 48hr period. That way you could get back to work on building the same muscle the next day.

Maybe there is no possible way of doing this, but it isn't a stupid question. Surely lots of people would want to do this.

Originally Posted by skinnyboi

I clearly understand your muscles need time to recover, that was the whole point of my question. Surely it would be a good thing if there was a substance that allowed your muscles to recover within 24hrs as well as they usually would in a 48hr period. That way you could get back to work on building the same muscle the next day.

Maybe there is no possible way of doing this, but it isn't a stupid question. Surely lots of people would want to do this.

It's dependent on many different factors. Protein synthesis isn't a very simple process as it's commonly understood to be. For a muscle to FULLY recover it can take anywhere from 48-72 hours. Steroids, Pro-steroids, PHs and other hormones simply speed this process up, but they are only a piece of the larger equation.

You can hire all the workers and contractors you want to build your dream home as quickly as possible, but if you don't have the money to pay them, and you don't give them the materials to build your house you will be left with nothing.

Day 1: Back & Abs
Day 2: Chest
Day 3: Quads & Calves
Day 4: Shoulders & Traps
Day 5: Arms & Abs
Day 6: Hams & Calves
Day 7: Rest

Occasionally I'll do arms & hams on day 5 so that I get 2 days off in a row. (I tell myself that I'll do abs at home but that rarely actually happens, haha.)

If I wanted to do deadlifts (I don't, but my brother is trying to get me to do 'em), I'd add them on ham days.

BTW, on upper body days, I'll alternate my primary bodypart exercises with super-light exercises for other bodyparts. (But I only do this for the first 6 sets or so of my workout.)

Originally Posted by skinnyboi

I clearly understand your muscles need time to recover, that was the whole point of my question. Surely it would be a good thing if there was a substance that allowed your muscles to recover within 24hrs as well as they usually would in a 48hr period. That way you could get back to work on building the same muscle the next day.

Maybe there is no possible way of doing this, but it isn't a stupid question. Surely lots of people would want to do this.

The reason no one should want to do this is because your muscles grow when they aren't training, not when they are. The only reason anyone would want to do this is if they made the erroneous assumption that they can actually grow in the gym.

Lots of people new to weight training think that's the way it works because they see big guys lifting weights and they reason that the weight lifting is actually growing muscle. Anyone who has been lifting seriously and learning about this sport for any length of time knows that training is the stimulus for growth but you need generous windows of rest to actually grow. AAS or PH can shorten the window to recover muscle but if you are lifting truly as heavy as necessary to induce growth, your CNS will wear out and you will eventually get sick.

So no your question was not stupid but it demonstrated ignorance of the actual mechanism of training and growth. Just because a substance makes it so you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should.

So in addition to a good diet, can anything like HGH or GBL speed muscle recovery? Is there anything you (great White truth) or anyone else can recommend?

I don't think my question was ignorant in slightest. I asked it because I 100% understood that muscle only grows whilst it is resting (repairing) and not whilst in the gym. You said AAS or PH can shorten the window, can you suggest specifics?

Originally Posted by skinnyboi

I don't think my question was ignorant in slightest. I asked it because I 100% understood that muscle only grows whilst it is resting (repairing) and not whilst in the gym. You said AAS or PH can shorten the window, can you suggest specifics?

If you want to see an extreme example of what one can accomplish hormonally assisted versus natty take a look at Arnold's advanced training program. 6 days a week, 2 times a day; he actually did work some muscle groups every single day (calves, abs, and forearms specifically).

I won't attribute this entirely to AAS as Arnold's genetics certainly had something to do with it, because I can't even do one half of the volume of his workouts PH or not (haven't used AAS but I still doubt I would be able to increase my volume 100%). I do wonder if Arnold would work out in the same manner were he to be in his prime in this era however.

If you want specifics just look at Arnold's encyclopedia of bodybuilding or google arnold schwarzennegger advanced weightlifting program:

www.trulyhuge.com/news/tips63jb.htm

this website shows his workouts for each day but he would actually split it up half in the morninig and half in the evening. Try to do half of one of these on any given morning and I doubt you'll want to be back in the gym later.

p.s. I do believe Arnold changed up his routine alot more than he let on and he was known for giving out bad advice sometimes to screw up other potential competitors but I am sure he did this workout sometimes at least when he was fully juiced.

Originally Posted by skinnyboi

So in addition to a good diet, can anything like HGH or GBL speed muscle recovery? Is there anything you (great White truth) or anyone else can recommend?

Of course. That's what we said. But your one-dimensional way of looking at this topic is preventing you from seeing that "speeding up muscle recovery" is not the fix nor is it the issue. It's not that simple. Many other things need to be taken into consideration. Especially nutrition...

Remember what I said:

You can hire all the workers and contractors you want to build your dream home as quickly as possible, but if you don't have the money to pay them, and you don't give them the materials to build your house you will be left with nothing.

You can run 1.5G of test every week for 12 weeks but if you aren't giving your body the materials it needs to build and repair itself (to recover from workouts) you will not gain a pound of muscle. You will just gain a bunch of water-weight.

Originally Posted by skinnyboi

Is there anything you (great White truth) or anyone else can recommend?

Like I said before. ANY steroid, PH/PS will shorten the window to full recovery. The effectiveness of steroids are gauged by an androgenic to anabolic ratio so you need to study those if this is what you are trying to get at.

You have a lot of reading to do and you are in the right place.