Twice a week

[dmax79]

If I work chest and tri Monday back and bi Tuesday and legs on wednesday is it to soon to do chest and tri Thursday and back and bis Friday. Not sure if I'm allowing enough rest time

[Sean1332]

It's not ideal. If your not training high volume, diet is up to par, you're getting enough sleep, and it personally works for you, then who is to say it's too much or too little. If, however, it is hindering your gains then maybe it's time to step back, re-access your program, and take a day off. Your body needs time to rest.

[Rodja]

Given proper volume per session, you can train each muscle 2x/week. IMO, increased frequency is much better than the fatigue tolerance training that is prevalent within the 1x/week crowd.

[Sean1332]

I guess I assumed he was doing high volume like most people are that ask this question, including myself a while back

[Sean1332]

I guess I assumed he was doing high volume like most people are that ask this question, including myself a while back

[Sean1332]

I guess I assumed he was doing high volume workouts like most other people are that ask this question, including myself a while back.

[Sean1332]

I guess I assumed he was doing high volume workouts like most other people are that ask this question, including myself a while back.

[Sean1332]

holy repeat..

[dmax79]

I have been lifting heavy for all my workouts but my gains haven't been that great lately, do you guys think that's a bad routine to follow?

[Rodja]

I have been lifting heavy for all my workouts but my gains haven't been that great lately, do you guys think that's a bad routine to follow?

What routine? You haven't listed a routine; stating your split is not listing a routine.

[dmax79]

I guess what I'm asking is if I should or should not lift heavy twice a week.

[Rodja]

I guess what I'm asking is if I should or should not lift heavy twice a week.

There are too many factors in this equation to give you a simple yes or no. What is heavy for you, how many reps per set, overall volume, nutrition, rest, etc. Without having anything laid out, there's no way to give an answer.

[Aggie2012]

If your natty keep it simple! Bigger muscle groups need 3-4days rest to recuperate. Doing too much too soon will hinder your progress for further gains. Don't train like the pros and unless your rocking gear hardcore. I tried 2x and even 3x a week for muscle groups it puts too much stress on your CNS. Your body will shut down. I've been there.

[Rodja]

If your natty keep it simple! Bigger muscle groups need 3-4days rest to recuperate. Doing too much too soon will hinder your progress for further gains. Don't train like the pros and unless your rocking gear hardcore. I tried 2x and even 3x a week for muscle groups it puts too much stress on your CNS. Your body will shut down. I've been there.

Muscular stress and CNS stress are two different things. Muscularly, recovery only takes 48-72 hours, but the CNS can take over a week to recover depending on the percentages used. However, BB'ers seldom train anywhere near 100% and the fear of overtraining is highly overrated. Even if overall volume is the same, splitting into two sessions per week will usually result in increased hypertrophy from higher frequency.

[hossjob]

This is so dependent on multiple variables. As a drug free bodybuilder, it's probably too much, unless you are limiting volume, sleeping 8+ hours per day, have great genetic recovery ability, and have your diet spot on. Now, it can be a beneifical tactic to use for short periods of time. I tend to like to choose 1 body part to focus on for 4-6 week periods and hit that body part only twice per week and the others 1 time per week. It's really an individualistic thing though. For many years I saw great results going 4 days per week. Recently I switched to training 5-6 days per week and have again seen an increase in gains. The added variability and shock are good things, but doing it too long could lead to diminishing returns.

[Luke_PNI]

This is so dependent on multiple variables. As a drug free bodybuilder, it's probably too much, unless you are limiting volume, sleeping 8+ hours per day, have great genetic recovery ability, and have your diet spot on. Now, it can be a beneifical tactic to use for short periods of time. I tend to like to choose 1 body part to focus on for 4-6 week periods and hit that body part only twice per week and the others 1 time per week. It's really an individualistic thing though. For many years I saw great results going 4 days per week. Recently I switched to training 5-6 days per week and have again seen an increase in gains. The added variability and shock are good things, but doing it too long could lead to diminishing returns.

Well said !

[TexasGuy]

I've had success hitting muscles 2x weekly with a heavy day followed by a light day.

[Luke_PNI]

I've had success hitting muscles 2x weekly with a heavy day followed by a light day.

I have had success doing it this way as well, where i would hit the muscle group again later in the week but only would do a few exercises

[TexasGuy]

I have had success doing it this way as well, where i would hit the muscle group again later in the week but only would do a few exercises

Yeah. I would usually do a heavy day made up primarily of compound lifts followed by a light day with primarily isolation work.


I've also found full body push/pull routines 4x weekly and upper push/upper pull/legs with a day off every three training days to be pretty awesome.