opinions on frequency of training chest

[gidemon]

I was just wanting to know everyones opinin on how often gets trained or needs to be trained for optimal results while avoiding atrophy issues.i know alot of people train chest once a week and some twice a week and so on.im about to start a new split to focus on shoulders seperately for instance and im wondering can chest growth still be made by only being hit one time a week?

[bezoe]

absolutely.. depending on your recovery time, once a week may be all you need. I personally train chest 2x a week

[edwitt]

Once a week for mass,

Twice a week for power lifting

Light and explosive followed 3 days later by heavy and low rep

[ItsHectic]

Once a week for mass,

Twice a week for power lifting

Twice a week is for mass too, I cant see why powerlifting would have more frequency when its more intense than BBing.
Typically the lower the reps the higher the intensity the more CNS strain and the more time you need for strength and joints to recover.

[gidemon]

a higher volume chest workout once a week would be ideal for mass then.

[franklin32]

I think that what gidemon said will really be a good choice to do.....

[bezoe]

Twice a week is for mass too, I cant see why powerlifting would have more frequency when its more intense than BBing.
Typically the lower the reps the higher the intensity the more CNS strain and the more time you need for strength and joints to recover.

x2

powerlifting would have less frequency than a bodybuilding routine for a given individual

[warrior2493]

agree

[Type O Hero]

If you find your sweet spot you can train twice per week. Just make sure you have some days intbetween. It's all about total volume. For example, I get better results doing 6-7 total reps twice per week than I would if I just did 12 total reps on one day.

[dropshot001]

if you go with lower volume, then twice a week, higher volume, then once a week

[gamer2be08]

Once a week.. At least have 5 days in-between chest lift. IMO, my chest has responded nicely in the size and strength dpt..

[DB21]

I do chest twice a week.

Once on Monday, and again on Thursday.

I do sets of ten for both days not counting some variation.
I've seen great size and strength gains from this.

[Kronic]

Lets just say doing chest twice a week gives better results than once a week.

Wouldnt this make your chest grow faster than your back and legs, and even make your shoulders day harder to perform?

[Sweekaters]

The more times you train a muscle weekly the more you'll be growing it. A lifter training chest once a week will be growing his chest 52 times a year, a lifter training chest twice a week will be growing his chest 104 times a year.

[bezoe]

The more times you train a muscle weekly the more you'll be growing it. A lifter training chest once a week will be growing his chest 52 times a year, a lifter training chest twice a week will be growing his chest 104 times a year.

that depends bro..

if a person is able to recover in 2 or 3 days then yes, twice a week would benefit them more but if that same person needs 4 or 5 days to recover and is still training with the 2 days a week freqency, theyre gonna be overtraining and it will only be counterproductive= small and weak pecs

[Sweekaters]

that depends bro..

if a person is able to recover in 2 or 3 days then yes, twice a week would benefit them more but if that same person needs 4 or 5 days to recover and is still training with the 2 days a week freqency, theyre gonna be overtraining and it will only be counterproductive= small and weak pecs

Obviously it's limited by your recovery, that's why any program that has you training 2x a weeks usually has you doing very low volume. High frequency low volume is the basis of DC training and a lot of other BB routines. Trying to train high volume 2x a week and you will definitely be killing yourself.

[laserbluess]

i personally train once a week per body part. chest/back/legs/off/shoulders/arms/off usually in that order so that by the time i get to arm day my bi's and tri's are fresh again. and my shoulders are fresh after 2 days of rest from the chest and back earlier in the week.

this is just what works for me though, and i have seen great improvements in the way my chest has developed

truth be told i used to work my chest 3 times a week cause i had no idea what i was doing (when i was 17)

[bezoe]

Obviously it's limited by your recovery, that's why any program that has you training 2x a weeks usually has you doing very low volume. High frequency low volume is the basis of DC training and a lot of other BB routines. Trying to train high volume 2x a week and you will definitely be killing yourself.

i guess it depends on what you consider "low" and "high" volume.. i wonder what the marginal difference is between tearing your fibers down maximally and let them rebuild once a week and tearing them down minimally and let them rebuild twice a week.. interesting argument. Can you post some of the rationale behind this concept?

nevertheless, i train chest 2x a week at what i consider moderate to high volume both days.. i try to fry my pecs each session with about 8 sets to failure, but then again, my recovery time is impeccable- like 2.5 days

[Sweekaters]

i guess it depends on what you consider "low" and "high" volume.. i wonder what the marginal difference is between tearing your fibers down maximally and let them rebuild once a week and tearing them down minimally and let them rebuild twice a week.. interesting argument. Can you post some of the rationale behind this concept?

nevertheless, i train chest 2x a week at what i consider moderate to high volume both days.. i try to fry my pecs each session with about 8 sets to failure, but then again, my recovery time is impeccable- like 2.5 days

Really you should be aiming to fatigue your muscles maximally even if you are training 2x a week. The idea that a muscle needs a full week to recover is absurd in my opinion, only bodybuilders on anabolics can make it work well. The rationale behind low volume is to save your central nervous system from overtraining, not your muscle. Muscle can be rebuilt quickly, so the higher the frequency your body allows you to train with, the more often you will be forcing the muscle to grow.

[UGHQTempus]

Its a matter of intensity and seeing what is failing at failure. Or even if you are going to failure.

I can train chest 3x/week and still get growth as long as its relatively high reps (10-12 range) and not to failure - stopping a rep or two early. Even with the rest between sets fairly low, I can hit this through the week without overtraining.

Conversely, if I do something really intense - maybe a 5x5 or 8x8 followed by 3-4 sets of eccentric focused training or forced negative, then I can't training chest for 5-7 days. I'm just too busted up and I can't handle the poundage.

There is also something to be said about watching you total systemic load for the week. Doing a heavy chest workout and then a 8x8 of deads the next day and a 20x20 of squats later in the week won't leave much for recovery.

Sleep and eating is a bigger factor. If you are getting 8-10+ hrs a night then training 2x a week might work. Under 6 - probably not. Everyone varies but that seems to be how its working for me. Diet wise - as long as I'm on non-processed whole foods, my recovery time seems much better. It essentially shaves one day of recovery off my heavy workouts.