Training chest 2x a week?

[someguy1984]

Hi, I'm new here and just wanted some help critiquing my workout routine to get the most out of it. Currently I'm 5'6-5'7 about 151lbs. I've joined the Navy to be a Seal. I don't leave until June, so i have sometime to get into better shape. Seal training is very demanding, so it's important for me to have a very good stamina building workout routine. I'm in decent shape now. I can do 60 push ups at any given time, but want to increase this number to 100. (Same as sit ups) I can do about 15 pull ups and would like to increase that number as well.

So, i guess my goal here is to get lean and do high reps. Currently, I'm eating a little less than i normally do, because I'm trying to cut body fat. I do cardio 3 times a week, but i train with HIIT. I don't do more than 15mins on the treadmill. My theory is to make cardio short and intense so i don't burn any muscle i may gain, although still lose body fat.

Currently, my routine is:

Monday-Chest/Back/HIIT
Tuesday-Legs/Biceps (Squats, deads, hypers, leg machines, etc)
Wednesday-Shoulders/lats (Pull ups, lat pulldowns, dumbbell press, military press) Abs
Thursday-HIIT cardio. No more than 20mins.
Friday-Chest/triceps/Abs
Saturday-HIIT cardio. No more than 20mins. Abs

Now, i used to do squats and deadlifts again on Friday, but i find that I'm still tired from Tuesday. My chest never gets sore, so it seems effective for me to train it 2x a week? Does this make sense? Also, is it ok to train chest 2x a week, but only train back one time a week? I figure it's good to train Chest and back about the same each week, maybe I'm wrong?

Also, i lift heavier on Mondays chest day. Maybe 10 reps with heavy weight. On Fridays i do chest, but light weight very high reps for endurance. I'll do 3 sets of 105lbs until failure. The two other chest exercise i perform are done the same way. (Lightweight, high reps) When i say high reps, I get up to about 30. So, 3 sets of 25-30 reps.

What do you guys think about 3 sets to failure for chest? I figure it's good, because I'm trying to balance it out by lifting heavier for chest on Mondays. This way i can keep strength and possibly gain some and at the same time gain endurance.

Basically, i do high reps on bench to increase my push ups. This way my body is used to going for a longer period of time. Some of you might say just do push ups, but i feel benching works different muscles that are necessary for growth. Like i said, i want lower body fat and good endurance. Gaining strength would be nice, but i doubt it will happen with eating below maintenance.

Thanks and i appreciate it! I hope this forum can help with some good advice!

 

[samadamsboyee]

you're lucky your chest never gets sore, after my chest workout I am sore for a couple of days. Looks like you got a pretty solid routine to me and you're mixin' it up to keep the body from adapting and able to make gains.

I am 5'10 and was about 162 a year ago. Now I am 192 and I think what matter most is that I didn't over train, kept up a good diet, stuck to the essential meat of body building exercises (not cable flys and crap like that) and changed up my routine regularly to keep my body off balance

Looks like you're on the right track

 

[someguy1984]

Well, thanks.

Any other thoughts?

I'm concerned that doing high reps may be pointless, since the point of working out is tearing the muscle fibers and letting them rebuild bigger. (in a nut shell) With this being said, the only way to actually do that would be lifting heavy...

Although, how can i increase my endurance for push ups, while still trying gain strength on the bench?

Or, is the high rep idea good? Personally, i do think heavy lifting is good eating on a calorie deficit, so you can at least maintain your muscle instead of losing it...This just gets complicated...

 

[Merkaba]

Well, thanks.

Any other thoughts?

I'm concerned that doing high reps may be pointless, since the point of working out is tearing the muscle fibers and letting them rebuild bigger. (in a nut shell) With this being said, the only way to actually do that would be lifting heavy...

Although, how can i increase my endurance for push ups, while still trying gain strength on the bench?

Or, is the high rep idea good? Personally, i do think heavy lifting is good eating on a calorie deficit, so you can at least maintain your muscle instead of losing it...This just gets complicated...

If youre running a deficit and lifting heavy you need to be careful. To build muscle you need to run a surplus. It's not all about tearing muscle fibers and all that crap from the magazines.

If youre training for some specific task or goal then I would train in the manner of the goal. You don't swing a bat in the pool to work on your jump shot.

With that being said, if you need to be able to do 100 pushups, for whatever reason, You should be doing high rep work. I would use some resistance such as a backpack.

Personally if youre not trying to do a show or something I would keep intense training on a deficit to a minimum. The average "un supported" human will reach a point of diminishing returns, and higher injury risk. How much of a deficit are you running? Are you tracking your intake in grams and calories and your weight?

 

[cm1989]

I would stick with the theory of training each muscle group once a week that includes your chest... Your muscles grow when your resting not when your training. You need to make sure your allowing your muscles enough time to recover before you start training them again.

 

[Ben dur]

i train every muscle group 2 times a week
and im all natural

im never sore
im the heaviest ive ever been
im still close to as lean as ive ever been

and i literally set a personal record on any given body part almost once a week

i think the idea of overtraining is overused

alot of guys on this website will tell you 30-45 minute workouts 3-4 times a week

but for instance the arnold schwarzengger bodybulding encyclopedia recomends that a mesomorph train 6 days a week, and he even suggest 2 workouts a day in many cases

that, to me, (all natural) is unquestionably too much

but lifting 4 days a week is not to much

IF
you are resting enough outside of the gym
and
Consuming a proper diet

 

[Ben dur]

i do

mon legs/chest/tris
tues legs/back/bis
wed hiit/abs
thur legs/chest/shoulders/tris
fri legs/back/bis
sat weekend activities (usually lots of HIIT)
sun rest

the reason for legs 4 days a week, is that i only do half my leg exercises one day, half the other

so in actuality im only doing 8 sets of leg exercises a week

12 sets of chest
12 sets of back

4 sets of tri(isolated)
4 sets of bi (isolated)

totaling 40 sets a week
and around 5 hours in the gym a week