how many days per week

[darren m]

i,m confused , just how many days per week should i train 3 , 4 , 5 , or 6 .
i,m trying to build lean muscle , but not add too much uneccersary bulk as i already weigh in at 18+ stone .
i,ve been back training for 7 months , but used to train a few years back.
thing is i dont think i,ve made any gains , maybe a little muscle and a little stronger .
i,m not sure if i,m training too much , too little , or its my diet .

At the moment i,m doing a 4 day split per week but sometimes do 5 days , i try and lift as heavy as possible on the last couple of sets of every excercise i do and then i through in a bit of cardio , punch bag , stepper ,rowing etc at the end .
by now i thought my body fat would have dropped if nothing else, but it has,nt .
i need direction please -- what shall i do next .
thanks all .
Darren .
ps . i,m training naturaly , taking whey shakes x 3 , vit B complex , and 3 1000mg amino tabs with every meal .

 

[Triple Threat]

You should workout as many days as it takes to accomplish your goals and have it fit in with your life style. It's a very individual thing.

Some people find Mon, Wed and Fri enough. I believe the 5x5 program is a 3-day a week program.
People doing Westside have 4 workouts a week.

Personally, I try to go 4 times a week, but life's activities sometimes limits me to 3. I've tried 5 and found it too difficult mentally as well as physically. You need time to recover.

You'll be getting many different opinions on this one, so experiment and see what works for you.

 

[gixxer0.6g]

I have the same question. I've usually work out after work during the week so MTWR and sometimes friday. I've always wondered if this is too often. I usually only work one muscle group a week.

 

[Gazhole]

I've always gone 3 and its been ample. I've made good results going twice a week.

It all depends on the program we're talking about.

 

[darren m]

ok heres my current routine:- its either 4 or 5 days per week

mon - legs and biceps
tues - chest
weds - back
thurs - off ( late finnish at work )
fri - shoulders and triceps

sat - only if i feel like it - start again with legs and bi's etc .
and so on
sunday - off

as you can see it only works out to the whole body once a week , unless i do saturdays as well .
i do min 4 excercises of 4 sets for between 8 - 12 reps per part , usually going for max weight on last sets.

am i doing enough , is training the body once aweek enough

 

[Gazhole]

ok heres my current routine:- its either 4 or 5 days per week

mon - legs and biceps
tues - chest
weds - back
thurs - off ( late finnish at work )
fri - shoulders and triceps

sat - only if i feel like it - start again with legs and bi's etc .
and so on
sunday - off

as you can see it only works out to the whole body once a week , unless i do saturdays as well .
i do min 4 excercises of 4 sets for between 8 - 12 reps per part , usually going for max weight on last sets.

am i doing enough , is training the body once aweek enough

Enough? Man, you're doing TOO MUCH.

You can put some of those sessions together:

Monday - Legs
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - Back + Biceps (aka, "Pulling Movements")
Thursday - Off
Friday - Shoulders, Triceps, Chest (aka "Pushing Movements")
Sat + Sun - Off

Repeat.

Stick to about 5-6 movements per session, keep at least 4-5 of them as compound movements rather than isolation movements, and you WILL cover all the bases.


Legs - Squats, Deadlifts, Lunges, Good Mornings, Calve Raises.

Pulling - Barbell Rows, Pullups, Dumbell Rows, Pulldowns, Curls.

Pushing - Bench, Dips, Pushups, Single Arm Overhead Press, Skullcrushers.


Simple as that. And you have more rest in order to recover and actually BUILD muscle.

 

[TwiloMike]

I'm a fan of the Push/Pull/Legs or Upper/Lower twice a week splits. Depending on your genetics this may or may not be sufficient but I find that those two splits, done heavily, work for most people. Do your upper work heavily enough that you won't have the strength to do arm exercises afterward and you'll know you've done your job.

 

[Protheus]

I'm giving serious thought to trying an HST or max-stim whole body routine 2 or 3 times a week:

http://www.hypertrophy-research.com/
Hypertrophy-Specific Training : : Official Home of HST

I think I am leaning in favour of max-stim - the fatigue management aspect sounds interesting.

 

[darren m]

Gaz -- you say i could be training too much , i never even thought of that .
whats the fine line between too little and too much ?

Anyone else think i could be doing too much .

thanks all

 

[Gazhole]

Gaz -- you say i could be training too much , i never even thought of that .
whats the fine line between too little and too much ?

Anyone else think i could be doing too much .

thanks all

Well the line in your case is that you're doing an extra day of working out where you dont really need to, lol.

You dont need to isolate muscle groups on separate days, better to hit them all on one day then kick back and rest a little more, yknow?

Other "lines" would be feelings of overtraining, sub-par results, or just no results at all.

I have done 4 day splits before, but i found them too frequent to keep up the level of intensity i like. No doubt i COULD set up a good 4 day split, but theres still no reason to have a bodypart a day, yknow?

Try it out, what have you got to lose?

 

[Travis Bell]

ok heres my current routine:- its either 4 or 5 days per week

mon - legs and biceps
tues - chest
weds - back
thurs - off ( late finnish at work )
fri - shoulders and triceps

sat - only if i feel like it - start again with legs and bi's etc .
and so on
sunday - off

as you can see it only works out to the whole body once a week , unless i do saturdays as well .
i do min 4 excercises of 4 sets for between 8 - 12 reps per part , usually going for max weight on last sets.

am i doing enough , is training the body once aweek enough

Are you trying to get stronger i.e powerlifting, or are you bodybuilding?

 

[CowPimp]

I think for the vast majority of natural trainees, 3-4 days per week is ideal.

In terms of losing body fat, you probably just need to get your diet in order. Don't just say, "I eat good." Write down what you eat and post it in the diet section. Also, check out the stickies they have posted in there.

 

[nadirmg]

i agree with gaz. time for rest is essential for the body to recover from previous workouts. otherwise your just beating your body down before it has a chance to get back up.