Thread: each muscle once or twice a week?

dont limit yourself to a 7 day schedule.

so train each 1x a week

i like 4 or 6 day splits, like:

back day
chest day
leg day
rest

or

back day
chest day
leg day
rest
arms/delts day
rest

I would reccomend 1x a week.

Depends on what you are doin In all reality you can do full body every other day and take 2 days off after the thrid work out day.


Unless you are on the juice(not saying it is bad) you realy should work out every muscle group every 48 hours. With steroids or atrifical testostorone your growth window is much much larger so you should go 7 days between muscle groups but for more natural aproachs you only have enough natural juice to go about 48 hours before your muscles go on vacation. Unless you have some sort of injury that needs special attention

I think training each body 1x / week is enough. However, if you have a weakness muscle (and lets face it, every muvafuka has one) then hit that 2x / week.

Either way works, as long as you properly adjust your volume and intensity. I am currently enjoying full body workouts 2-3 times per week.

at the moment i only do one set for each body part but i drop set it twice and I train

day 1 bench/shoulder press
day 2 squat/row
day 3&4 rest
day 5 repeat.

i vote for once a week. Although i have done a muscle group twice in one week on occasions. Just my personal preference.

once every 6-10 days

Originally Posted by CowPimp

Either way works, as long as you properly adjust your volume and intensity. I am currently enjoying full body workouts 2-3 times per week.

so you all say once a week but a couple of you do this? You like shrug it off when you say it but its the exact opposite of the 1x a week routine everyone stresses. So which should I be doing?

the proof is in the pudding dog. look at people who look like you want to look, and ask them what they do or did. or if your a strength athlete, find people accomplishing the things you want and see if you can found out how they got there.
thats what i did a few years ago, and 50+ pounds later i still do it.

It really depends on the intensity level, your goals, and how advanced of an athlete you are. For a beginner, I might recommend a full body workout twice or thrice weekly just so the person can become familiar with the movements and start growing. The higher the intensity of your workouts, the less frequent they should be (for the same body part that is). A more advanced athlete can handle a more intense workout and so may need more time off; on the contrary, s/he may be more used to the stress and can handle workouts more frequently. That's when it depends on the person and his/her individual body and goals.

Also, I agree 100% with TheCurse's advice of looking at those who have accomplished their goals. You don't have to follow their exact routines, but I would certainly model mine around theirs. I love powerlifting and so my routine is a mimic of Westside: I do main lifts followed by auxiliary lifts that support the auxiliary and main muscles of the main lifts. However, I don't do dynamic and max effort days, and that's where my routine differs. This has worked beautifully for me so far and I'm very happy with my results. I probably won't even need to change my routine for quite a long time (why fix something if it's not broken?).

I workout each part once a week. I have three days off a week, and workout (obviously) four times a week.

find out what works best for you, I know some people have better gains on 2 times a week, but a lot do better on once a week. I prefer once a week and think most people respond better to once a week by my experience.

Originally Posted by BlackDogStrut

so you all say once a week but a couple of you do this? You like shrug it off when you say it but its the exact opposite of the 1x a week routine everyone stresses. So which should I be doing?

What I'm saying is that both methods work. You just have to organize each routine properly. Obviously if you work a muscle 3 times per week, you don't have to do as much each workout.

It all comes down to preference, although I think science is more supportive of working a muscle 2-3 times per week to maintain the increased level of protein synthesis and help generate increased work capacity.

Originally Posted by kenwood

should i train each muscle 1 or 2 times a week? also after i workout is it okay to go for about a mile jog? or should i do it some other time?

Hey kenwood;

I just started training a specific body part twice per day, once per week. Also, I use lighter weights like 60-70% of what I normally would use and use higher reps (12-15). Since I’m lacking a little more in the Shoulder, Chest, and Bi areas. I’m trying this particular routine to try and bring these areas more in line with the rest of me. Each workout is between 35-45 mins.

I’ve set it up like this:

MON. Morning: Shoulders/Traps. Eight hours later the same routine, but in reverse.

TUES. Rest.

WED. Morning: Back and Tri’s. Only one workout.

THURS. Rest.

FRI. Morning: Chest and Bi’s. Eight hours later same routine but, in reverse.

The following week, I’ll repeat the same routine except. On WED., I’ll do Legs and Tri’s. I’ll be doing this for about 6 weeks only, taking my supps, including protein shakes, lean protein meals with proper amount of carbs. Also, maybe at one point I’ll reverse the Bi’s and Tri’s, I’ll wait and see.

My original plan was to do Shoulder/Bi’s (2X)on MON. with Chest &Tri’s (2X) on WED., then do Shoulder/Bi’s (2X) again on FRI.

The following MON. Chest/Tri’s(2X) with Shoulders/Bi’s on WED.(2X) and Chest/Tri’s(2X) on FRI. rotating this procedure for the six weeks but, I thought that would be too taxing and maybe result in overtraining for me.

This should be a shocker for me. After the six weeks I’ll return to a normal routine. If the six week routine works well, I’ll do it again in a few months.



Peace

I have done both, I think if you don't go 100% to failure with high sets 2x a week you will make better gains on a 2x a week per muscle plan..Right now I have switched to a 100%of sets and a 50%of sets + higher reps approach.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

I have done both, I think if you don't go 100% to failure with high sets 2x a week you will make better gains on a 2x a week per muscle plan..Right now I have switched to a 100%of sets and a 50%of sets + higher reps approach.

Hey FR;
Are you doing both 100% sets and 50% sets with the same weight or are you using lighter weights at 50% with higher reps.

Peace

Originally Posted by jram

Hey FR;
Are you doing both 100% sets and 50% sets with the same weight or are you using lighter weights at 50% with higher reps.

Peace

Here is an example on a chest workout I have done.

Monday: BENCH PRESS warmup ...then 315 for 8,8,8,5
Incline DB press: 110 for 10,10,10,8
Lying tricep ext: 125 for 10, 10, 10, 7
On the 100% Monday workout I do only the last 2 set2 to failure per exercise....the others are a rep or two short of failure.



Friday....60% day
Bench press: 255 for 12, 12
Incline DB press: 85 for 12,12
Tricep rope ext 2x12
Friday....NO sets to failure, but very close......

Originally Posted by CowPimp

What I'm saying is that both methods work. You just have to organize each routine properly. Obviously if you work a muscle 3 times per week, you don't have to do as much each workout.

It all comes down to preference, although I think science is more supportive of working a muscle 2-3 times per week to maintain the increased level of protein synthesis and help generate increased work capacity.

ahhh, good ole HST. I thought you ditched that CP, and were doing Max-OT now?

2-3 a week.

Originally Posted by kenwood

should i train each muscle 1 or 2 times a week? also after i workout is it okay to go for about a mile jog? or should i do it some other time?

As a newbie, you can train 3 times a week on your muscle groups.
Generally, newbie's lack much muscular development and they need more stimulation.

After 3 to 6 months, depending on how you progress, you could probably
cut back to twice a week per muscle group.

The big guys who are really well developed only train once a week, but they have so much muscle that they are really hammering their workouts each time.

Go ahead and do your jog so you get it in, but make sure you feed your body after your workout (within 1 hour). Get a good meal replacement shake or some good quality protein and carbs.

go get em buddy.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

Here is an example on a chest workout I have done.

FR;

So it's a Heavy/Light split. Thanks.

Originally Posted by ChrisROCK

ahhh, good ole HST. I thought you ditched that CP, and were doing Max-OT now?

I did ditch HST. I'm currently doing some Dinosaur training. This is basically HIT style workouts with virtually all compound exercises and full body workouts.