Rest Days When?

[Pdavis]

I've been lifting with my friend going about 6 days a week on average. Should i be resting more? I've been trying to gain weight and i just seem to be losing it =[

Any advice welcome

 

[Jim Mills]

I've been lifting with my friend going about 6 days a week on average. Should i be resting more? I've been trying to gain weight and i just seem to be losing it =[

Any advice welcome

Myself.... I do a 4 day split

M- Chest
T- shoulders
W- off
Th- Back
Friday- off
Sat- Arms and legs.
Sun- off

I'll do this for 8 weeks then take a week off... Then I'll switch it up... but I alway stick to 4 days, each body part once a week.

Eat like a horse all winter long, then drop the fat in the spring.

 

[Pdavis]

once a week doesnt feel like enough. how many exercisies should i be doing per a body part. I want to be sore after a workout =]

 

[dlew308]

I don't feel sore til about 24hrs after I workout. I do 2-4 exercises per bodypart, depending on which part it is. If I feel I'm overtraining a part, I'll lower the # of exercises for it.

 

[meb019]

once a week doesnt feel like enough. how many exercisies should i be doing per a body part. I want to be sore after a workout =]

depends on how thoroughly you wanna work that particular body part. it also depends on your lifestyle, your diet and your goals. myself, i lift intensely on a five day consecutive split.

Mon- chest, calves, abs
Tues - Biceps, triceps, forearms
Wed - shoulders, traps, abs
Thurs - lower back, upper back
Fri - Legs, abs
Sat, Sun - off... but morning cardio

I hit each muscle grp hard with about 9 total sets per grp, for the smaller muscles. for the bigger ones, aka chest, back and legs, i do around 12 or so. generally i do 3-4 total exercises, but 3 or so sets per exercise.

if you arent sore tho the day after a workout, dont confuse that for being a negative thing. generally muscle soreness can indicate that you trained too hard. if youre not sore then youre recovering and you worked your muscle at just the right intensity. even so, its still ok to be moderately sore

 

[DaveGabe24]

Are most people better off stimulating growth and not necessarily completely burning out a muscle group? This way muscle will still build, but the recovery inroad is much less?

 

[DragonRider]

I think the consensus is that 6 days a week is too often and I would agree that is overtraining, but if you aren't gaining weight, look at your diet.
I'm training a guy who has gained 55 pounds in the last 13 months. It's 100% all about ingesting enough calories.

 

[dsw222]

a typical back day for me would be:

bent BB row
wide grip lat pulldown
low row
close grip lat pulldown
one arm DB row
deadlifts or good-mornings
row machine burnouts (after 3 sets)

usually go with 3 sets... 10, 8, 6 reps

seems like i've been overtraining when i compare to your workouts... guess i should cut back a bit and see how that goes

i try to minimize time between sets and usually keep it around a minute... it doesnt seem like id be in the gym very long if i cut down to only 3-4 exercises

and btw, my split has been:
shoulders, traps
legs
chest
upper/lower back
bi's, tri's, forearms
off

how long do you guys usually spend in the gym? and does it really still give as good of results? its just hard to get through my head that training less will give good results
off

 

[DragonRider]

i try to minimize time between sets and usually keep it around a minute... it doesnt seem like id be in the gym very long if i cut down to only 3-4 exercises

If you can do another set 1 minute after your last set, Your intensity is lacking. You need at least 2 minutes between heavy sets for your CNS to recover enough to put enough intensity into the next set.

 

[DaveGabe24]

a typical back day for me would be:

bent BB row
wide grip lat pulldown
low row
close grip lat pulldown
one arm DB row
deadlifts or good-mornings
row machine burnouts (after 3 sets)

usually go with 3 sets... 10, 8, 6 reps

seems like i've been overtraining when i compare to your workouts... guess i should cut back a bit and see how that goes

i try to minimize time between sets and usually keep it around a minute... it doesnt seem like id be in the gym very long if i cut down to only 3-4 exercises

and btw, my split has been:
shoulders, traps
legs
chest
upper/lower back
bi's, tri's, forearms
off

how long do you guys usually spend in the gym? and does it really still give as good of results? its just hard to get through my head that training less will give good results
off

I would definitely switch up your back workouts. No way deadlifts should be towards the end of a workout. I'd say DL, BB rows, then some of the other isolation stuff. I would never sacrifice hitting compound movements for isolation work.

 

[JZ7757]

I've been lifting with my friend going about 6 days a week on average. Should i be resting more? I've been trying to gain weight and i just seem to be losing it =[

Any advice welcome

6 days a week?!? Wow, i would say yes, rest more. Allot more. Lol. Time off, sleep, general rest time and calories are very important for recovery. This is even more important if your trying to build muscle. Your body needs time time off to recoop, heal and repair muscle fiber tentents that are ripped during workout.

Your losing weight cause your overtraining. Your burning more cals than you are putting into your body. Overtraining can result in injury as well if your not careful.

I would perssonally suggest 3 days of complete rest (at minimum!) with an ideal 8hrs + of sleep on those days.

 

[DragonRider]

I would definitely switch up your back workouts. No way deadlifts should be towards the end of a workout. I'd say DL, BB rows, then some of the other isolation stuff. I would never sacrifice hitting compound movements for isolation work.

All of his back exercises are compound movements. All rows and pullups or pulldowns use multiple joints and muscle groups.

It would depend on what you want to focus on as to what exercises you would put first. I need more back width, so I would always put upper back before lower back.