7 day 1 body part a day

[Bigglepal]

Hey, I've been working out 5-6 days a week lately but am going to start working out 7 days and I wanted a few opinions.

I'm at 5'11'' 205 pounds and I think close to but upwards of 20%BF

Heavy Day (sat)
Deadlifts 4 sets 5-8 reps
Squats 4 sets 5-8 reps
Shrugs 4 sets 5-8 reps
Decline Bench 4 sets 5-8 reps

Legs (Sun)
Leg Press 4 sets 5-8 reps
Hamstring Curls 4 sets 5-8 reps
Calf raises 4 sets 5-8 reps

Chest (Mon)
Incline DB Press 3 sets 5-8 reps
Incline Bench press 3 sets 5-8 reps
Flat DB Press 3 sets 5-8 reps
PecDeck 4 sets 5-8 reps
Incline flys 4 sets 5-8 reps

Back (Tues)
Lat pulldowns 5 sets 5-8 reps
Bent over rows 4 sets 5-8 reps
t-bar rows 4 sets 5-8 reps

Shoulders (Weds)

Tris (Thurs)
Dips 4 sets 5-8 reps
Cable tri extensions 4 sets 5-8 reps
French overhead extensions 4 sets 5-8 reps
skullcrushers 3 sets 5-8 reps

Bis (Friday)


I didn't bother putting in Bis/Shoulders I feel like my workouts here are good. I think most are good but I'm not sure about the legs day in particular.

Anyway feel free to have a look and leave some criticism even if you think i shouldn't be working out 7 days.
I'm cutting now and will be for a while given my BF so I don't expect to really go up in weights rapidly.

 

[sassy69]

What is your original driver for going to 7 days?

Just stepping back, I don't get the reasoning for this lay out. Almost all the days have the same sets & reps but you only call Saturday "heavy". If I'm doing reps in the 5-8 range, I'm lifting like a mutherfucker for weight / hypertrophy. But you're cutting. Not knowing what your diet looks like, I assume you're not eating for growth, so equivalently you're not going to be fueling for a lot of continued heavy lifting. I'd be looking for more aerobic value out of higher reps and fewer sets - more sets usually means longer intervals between, which also kills any aerobic value. I also don't get why you do sort of a back-to-basics / squat-push-pull schedule on Saturday, and then revert back to per-muscle group on all the other days, mostly w/ less-than-core exercises. For your time & effort I think its not enough on the other days, but you're still not giving your body adequate recovery time anywhere in there. I just see a continuous run of 'beat the shit out of your body' on Sat, then keep burning your legs out before they're recovered on Sunday. Then a break for your lower body on Monday, but then 5 straight days of upper body, w/ bis on your last, and then going back into core exercises on Sat again when your bis aren't recovered yet from Friday. And then repeat. Also note your'e saying "bodypart per day" - each upper body muscle group gets it's own day w/ somewhere around 4 x 4 x5-8 reps, some even more than that where they are necessary subsets of other muscle groups (e.g. biceps as part of back on "pull" exercises), but Hamstrings only get 4 sets for the week, as do Quads and calves. These are some of the largest muscles in your body and relative to everything else, they look like they are getting under-trained while everything else just looks tendonitis-waiting-to-happen.

I kinda just think you're going hurt something. Again if you're not eating for growth, you're putting your body in some sort of state of depletion, but not really letting it recover. Unless you're running a well-thought out cycle to support this, I think you're going to find your joints hurting and eventually you'll start just feeling tired all the time. I think you'd get a lot better result if you either went to completely to a 5x5 type program (a la Saturday), or stuck w/ the per-muscle group schedule, but combine complementary muscle groups - e.g. back / bis, chest / tris with at least 1 non-training day in there. You can still get the workouts done in 45 min or so. Doing only bis or only tris for me would be proibably taking more time to drive to and from the gym than actually spending time there lifting.

Also you don't have any cardio in there. If you are trying to cut, I'd probably recommend at least 20 min x 3/week to help you unload some of that bodyfat. If you really want to be in the gym 7 days/week. insert 2 non-lifting days and put in some cardio or something. Also a good opportunity to maybe throw in some cardiovascular training, e.g. some agility training or crossfit type stuff to help you increase your endurance /stamina while further dumping some fat.

JMHO. I just don't really see any consistent logic in your proposed schedule. Having done the 7 days / week while cutting for competition, I can guarantee you will hit some sort of a wall at some point. It is very hard to maintain this type of schedule, simply because your body needs the time off. People constantly underestimate the value of recovery time. And for myself, I just find going to the gym to do small muscle groups in a quick workout just really doesn't get me anything, and if that muscle group hasn't had a chance to recover yet, it is sort even setting you back a bit for the effort.

 

[Bigglepal]

Ok,
I go with a mate before work in the morning we like to do one muscle group a day on weekdays as we're pressed for time.
I'm going to be starting a new job soon that opens up more time for the gym so I'll definitely look at doing groups together when that happens in a few weeks. I was given the idea of including a 'heavy lift' day just to boost hormones.

So besides grouping muscle groups push/pull splits etc you think I should change the set/rep structure of my workouts? Doing say a 4x5-8 or 5x5 compound move then the rest being a 4x10 or 3x12? Having less sets more reps or just more reps? Also splitting up the heavy day and leg day?

 

[SFW]

Youre pressed for time yet you can do 17 sets on chest?

Why not do 8 sets Of chest and 8 sets of triceps, too?

If this program works for you, then go for it. I constantly change my routine from month to month and you may benefit from mixed training styles/variations as well. There is no clear cut answer as to which routine is best for you. Trial and error will determine this, so you must experiment for yourself.

You can implement several styles into your training routine. Example: You can do high volume @ your 65% 1rm and then the next day, do a 5 3 1 or 5x5. Then switch to bodyweight Calisthenics. Experiment!

 

[CaptainNapalm]

I would have a problem doing leg press Sunday after doing squats and deadlifts on Saturday. Similarly, if you destroy your biceps Friday your deadlifts will suffer on Saturday. Some of your lifts will likely suffer on this split. In addition, it's good to throw in at least a couple of days a week for resting your CNS. Or if you do end up training 7 days a week, do so for up to 10 weeks and then take a full week off at least for recovery. That's what I would do.

 

[iSteroids]

seems like overtraining to me, stick to 3 days/week training

 

[sassy69]

Ok,
I go with a mate before work in the morning we like to do one muscle group a day on weekdays as we're pressed for time.
I'm going to be starting a new job soon that opens up more time for the gym so I'll definitely look at doing groups together when that happens in a few weeks. I was given the idea of including a 'heavy lift' day just to boost hormones.

So besides grouping muscle groups push/pull splits etc you think I should change the set/rep structure of my workouts? Doing say a 4x5-8 or 5x5 compound move then the rest being a 4x10 or 3x12? Having less sets more reps or just more reps? Also splitting up the heavy day and leg day?

If you want to go w/ the "heavy day" approach, just like marrying your diet & training together, keep everything you do focused on the same result - run w/ a 5x5 approach. If you like the body part training, couple complementary muscle groups on the same day and take at least 1 day off/ week to recover. With that, to keep the time efficient, you can do an active recovery schedule where you are doing 2 muscle groups per day but heavy/focused on one, light and fast on the other. Then the next time they come up in the rotation, reverse them - previously heavy one, do light (as your "active recovery") and the previously light one, heavy. W/ your original plan you've got a couple different themes and they all collide because there's no recovery time between them, so they will both produce mediocre results,

 

[Bigglepal]

OK,
I'll keep doing it the way I am for a few weeks till I sort a new one out.
I like the big day. I thought maybe.

Saturday as a big day, should it be 5x5 or is 4x5-8 fine?
We do 4x5-8 as we thought that was best for hypertrophy.
Sunday rest
Monday chest/tri
Tuesday Back/bis
Wednesday Legs
Thursday Shoulders
Friday Rest

Throw abs on legs/shoulder day.

OR I liked the idea also of doing groups twice once heavy once light.

Cheers,

Jack

 

[Thunderchild]

You should look into OLAD. One Lift A Day, if you are going to lift that way. 5 days a week, one body part, one lift. You seem to be doing a lot of volume there.

 

[240PLUS]

I always enjoyed doing one body part a day. You can concentrate on "that" one body part! I do 6 times a week and off on sundays. I still do this for the most part. I never really enjoy doing 2 to 3 different body parts per day. You have to cram those calories to do 2 or 3 body parts per workout. Keep up the good work and dont listen to the clowns above.

 

[240PLUS]

I like this idea also

If you want to go w/ the "heavy day" approach, just like marrying your diet & training together, keep everything you do focused on the same result - run w/ a 5x5 approach. If you like the body part training, couple complementary muscle groups on the same day and take at least 1 day off/ week to recover. With that, to keep the time efficient, you can do an active recovery schedule where you are doing 2 muscle groups per day but heavy/focused on one, light and fast on the other. Then the next time they come up in the rotation, reverse them - previously heavy one, do light (as your "active recovery") and the previously light one, heavy. W/ your original plan you've got a couple different themes and they all collide because there's no recovery time between them, so they will both produce mediocre results,

 

[bjg]

you are killing your legs saturday then sunday also no need to do chest on saturday .
You are killing your triceps wednesday shoulders then thursday triceps unless you don't do military press.
deadlifts can be done with back day but don't overdo it , heavy deadlifts = chances for injury 3 sets are enough.
here is what i suggest if you like a 5 days routine:
monday: chest 12 sets triceps 9 sets
tuesday: legs 12 sets/abs
wednesday: back 12 sets with rear deltoids and traps
thursday:shoulders 12 sets
Friday: rest/abs
Saturday biceps 12 sets
Sunday: rest