Push/Legs/Pull Once or Twice a Week?

[L.Millar]

Hi everyone,

I have switched to a Push/Leg/Pull routine (thanks to some great advice on these forums) but I am wondering...

For maximum growth in muscle, should I do this routine once or twice a week?

I have heard both is best and wanted to see if anyone can adivise me as to which is better (work muscle groups really hard once or twice a week) and why so I can understand.

I have done lots of reading here and on other sites, articles, posts etc...and the info is very conflicting as to how many times a week to work your muscle groups. I know there are many trains of thought, but wanted to hear what you all think based on my personal situation. Most people don't have a physical job like mine, which kind of changes things a bit I would think?

I have an active job 6 - 8 hours a day with horses (stable work which is non stop walking, shovelling, sweeping, pushing heavy wheelbarrows etc...) but want to muscle up a lot more. I have been at my job for over a year and a half so I'm used to the work, as are my muscles, hence, weight lifting to acheive my higher, more musclular goals.

So, once or twice a week per muscle group? What would you do? How many days rest in between?

Thanks everyone for any advice.

L.Millar

 

[mike456]

IMO once a week is good otherwise youll be training six days in a row- and you will be in a high risk of overtraining
Push
Off
Legs
Off
Pull
Off
Off

 

[kenwood]

i have been doing a push-pull-legs for about a year now and love it haha. well anyways you can do something like this:

monday: upperbody-push
tuesday: off
wednesday: legs
thursday: off
friday: upperbody-pull......note: you can switch wed. and fri. if u want

or you can do what i am doing now and do it 2x's a week like this:

monday: upperbody-push
tuesday: upperbody-pull
wed: off
thursday: legs
friday: upperbody-push and pull

(foreman helped me set that up )

note: on monday and tuesday i do 70-75% of 1rm and on friday i do 90-95% of 1rm

 

[maxpro2]

You don't always have to limit it to seven days. For example, I do this in an 8 day cycle and it is working very well for me

Push
Pull
Legs
off
Push
Pull
off
off

My legs are doing fine and I like to do cardio and such so that is why I only work them once every 8 days like that. With that, I am hitting each upper body every 3 days. I find this is enough time for my body to recover and have not experienced symptoms of overtraining.

 

[DeadBolt]

I do a m-w-f split...I do prrs thought but thats not important.

I have trained so many different splits and days and have founds 3x week is fine for me training everything once a week. I also do a circuit training composed of body weight exercises focusing mainly on my core and stabilizer muscles for some cardio/bosy conditioning.

Just try it out. Start with on try it for a few weeks and if you dont feel you are getting gains switch it up a bit and keep testing it out until you figure out what split works best for your body! And dont neglect legs like many people do!

 

[CowPimp]

Once a week should be sufficient, especially consider the added physiological stress of your job. You could also try something like hitting each session once every 5 days. Example:

Pull
Push
Off
Legs
Off

The split doesn't necessarily have to follow the calendar week if you don't want it to. You could also alternate which workout you perform twice each week. Example:

Pull
Off
Push
Off
Legs
Off
Pull

Next week...

Push
Off
Legs
Off
Pull
Off
Push

Etc.


Nonetheless, each session once per week should be sufficient. Those are just ideas for you to throw around if you feel like you can handle more beyond that and your gains aren't to your liking. I say start at once each week and go beyond that if you feel you are capable.

 

[L.Millar]

Thank you so much, you have all answered my question extremely well, with plenty of added info to consider.

Once a week per group it is to start.

I will feel more comfortable working HARDER that one time as well, knowing I will have more time to recover, therefore, grow.

This is the best site! Thank you everyone for all your help.

L.Millar