Anyone see decent gains training only 3 days a week?

[R1187]

Let's say you hit all the muscle groups on a 3 day split, training every other day.

So there are as many rest days as training days. Each muscle group is hit every 6 days.

I really feel like this is the type of program I need to use. I'm not lazy; I just feel like it will be more effective for gaining mass as long as the workouts are relatively intense.

I'll save higher frequency programs for when on cycle or cutting.

Any thoughts on this appreciated.

 

[TKC432]

I'm a firm believer that muscles need more frequent stimulus for growth ..... hitting each muscle group 2x per week seems to work better for me. Currently I am doing a 4 day split .... upper/lower. Mon/Tue and Thu/Fri. If I were to incorporate things into a 3day split I would suggest 3 full body workouts per week with each workout focusing more volume on a specific muscle group. For example .... full body/Back focus - full body/chest & delts focus - full body/legs focus. You hit ea muscle group with every workout but on the specific muscle focus for that day you do more volume for that muscle group than the others. Make sense? Its worked well for me in the past .... ea muscle is getting hit 3x a week but only high volume one of those days per week

 

[hvactech]

I'm a firm believer that muscles need more frequent stimulus for growth ..... hitting each muscle group 2x per week seems to work better for me. Currently I am doing a 4 day split .... upper/lower. Mon/Tue and Thu/Fri. If I were to incorporate things into a 3day split I would suggest 3 full body workouts per week with each workout focusing more volume on a specific muscle group. For example .... full body/Back focus - full body/chest & delts focus - full body/legs focus. You hit ea muscle group with every workout but on the specific muscle focus for that day you do more volume for that muscle group than the others. Make sense? Its worked well for me in the past .... ea muscle is getting hit 3x a week but only high volume one of those days per week

This is what I do... with work, kids, life, etc... I dont want to spend excess time in the gym

 

[LeanEngineer]

See i do a five day split and sometimes i even hit that sixth day. I go by feel and listen to my body if it needs rest or if it doesnt need rest.

 

[Rocket3015]

I would say 3 day a week training could work very well, provided you train "Balls To The Walls" those three day! Just my opinion.

 

[fuseven]

Let's say you hit all the muscle groups on a 3 day split, training every other day. So there are as many rest days as training days. Each muscle group is hit every 6 days. I really feel like this is the type of program I need to use. I'm not lazy; I just feel like it will be more effective for gaining mass as long as the workouts are relatively intense. I'll save higher frequency programs for when on cycle or cutting. Any thoughts on this appreciated.

Sure does. You could do 3 full body...or something along the lines of a four day split, but hit the weights MWF and just rotate the four

Since reaching the mid thirties ive had my best progress in a while going this route.

 

[keithgeiling]

I'm a firm believer that muscles need more frequent stimulus for growth ..... hitting each muscle group 2x per week seems to work better for me. Currently I am doing a 4 day split .... upper/lower. Mon/Tue and Thu/Fri. If I were to incorporate things into a 3day split I would suggest 3 full body workouts per week with each workout focusing more volume on a specific muscle group. For example .... full body/Back focus - full body/chest & delts focus - full body/legs focus. You hit ea muscle group with every workout but on the specific muscle focus for that day you do more volume for that muscle group than the others. Make sense? Its worked well for me in the past .... ea muscle is getting hit 3x a week but only high volume one of those days per week

^^^^^^^ This is a good template for 3 days a week. Imo

 

[kisaj]

I'm a firm believer that muscles need more frequent stimulus for growth ..... hitting each muscle group 2x per week seems to work better for me. Currently I am doing a 4 day split .... upper/lower. Mon/Tue and Thu/Fri. If I were to incorporate things into a 3day split I would suggest 3 full body workouts per week with each workout focusing more volume on a specific muscle group. For example .... full body/Back focus - full body/chest & delts focus - full body/legs focus. You hit ea muscle group with every workout but on the specific muscle focus for that day you do more volume for that muscle group than the others. Make sense? Its worked well for me in the past .... ea muscle is getting hit 3x a week but only high volume one of those days per week

This is good stuff here. I go 4 days and run a similar set up, but the difference is that I add in a second leg day per week.

 

[asooneyeonig]

Nothing wrong with 3 days a week. Being 41, single father, having a career, doing home projects, gardening, and other hobbies I sometimes only get 2 workouts in a week. I added nearly 100lbs to my power lifting total last year on 3 days a week.

With a change in my current work schedule I am doing 5 days a week. My total volume in the week has not changed though. I think that is a major issue people have with programming. They have no idea how to adjust volume and intensity if their frequency changes.

 

[Mr.Sinister]

I do MWF on Wendlers 10 day split. Works great.

 

[MyKH3LL]

I'm a firm believer that muscles need more frequent stimulus for growth ..... hitting each muscle group 2x per week seems to work better for me. Currently I am doing a 4 day split .... upper/lower. Mon/Tue and Thu/Fri. If I were to incorporate things into a 3day split I would suggest 3 full body workouts per week with each workout focusing more volume on a specific muscle group. For example .... full body/Back focus - full body/chest & delts focus - full body/legs focus. You hit ea muscle group with every workout but on the specific muscle focus for that day you do more volume for that muscle group than the others. Make sense? Its worked well for me in the past .... ea muscle is getting hit 3x a week but only high volume one of those days per week

This sounds like a great approach and could really work for me and my schedule.

Can you elaborate on this a bit more please?

Would you do one exercise per muslce group at 3 sets and do multiple exercises for the muscle group in focus? E.g. On back day, do DB incline press, lateral raises, BB squats, and say, rack pulls, lat pulldowns and mid rows?

 

[TKC432]

The program is fairly open to modification. But you have the general idea down. For the focus muscle group that day I would do 3 exercises while likely doing one for each of the other muscle groups that day. Depending on your desired volume level you can go with 4-5 sets per exercise or stay with 3 ....whatever works best for your goals. You could also expand it a little more and borrow from the PHAT program and go heavy/low reps one week and light/high reps the next week ..... thus focusing on all three muscle fiber types over a 2 week period. Just get in there and work with it and modify the program for how your body responds and based on recovery, etc ....

 

[TKC432]

Or to even further modify it using a semi PHAT protocol ..... on the specific muscle focus for that day do Heavy/low reps .... then the other 2 times you hit that muscle group that week go with light/high reps - moderate weight/moderate reps .. you get the idea .... just work with it and make it your own

 

[MyKH3LL]

The program is fairly open to modification. But you have the general idea down. For the focus muscle group that day I would do 3 exercises while likely doing one for each of the other muscle groups that day. Depending on your desired volume level you can go with 4-5 sets per exercise or stay with 3 ....whatever works best for your goals. You could also expand it a little more and borrow from the PHAT program and go heavy/low reps one week and light/high reps the next week ..... thus focusing on all three muscle fiber types over a 2 week period. Just get in there and work with it and modify the program for how your body responds and based on recovery, etc ....

Cheers mate. That's a good idea too, with hitting the different muscle fibre types each alternating week.

So low reps you're talking around the 5 - 6 rep range correct? And higher reps in the 12-15 or even higher, say 20 - 25?

I guess when doing heavy, do more sets (5x5 for example) with larger rest periods (2-3 mins) and lighter weights calls for more intensity (45-60 sec rests).

If I have some lagging body parts, can/should I throw in an extra set for them? For example, my lats and lateral delts and calves need more work so even on days where they aren't the primary muscle group, do an extra set or would I be pushing it a bit too far and risking overtraining?

 

[TKC432]

Low reps in the PHAT program protocol are generally in the 3-5 range.
Moderate rep range for me would be 8-10
High would be 12-15

Now theres always an exception to the rule .... some muscle groups seem to respond better to higher reps than that .... for example quads and calves ....

Lagging body parts ..... go ahead and toss in another set if you feel that will help.

Be sure you incorporate compound lifts into each workout as the bread-n-butter of your program ..... Deadlifts, Bench Press, Squats, etc.....

Best advice is to listen to your body and work the program for a while and modify it based on how you feel and respond.

Personally I don't really believe too much in overtraining ..... I have found it to be more of a case of under eating and under sleeping to be honest But everyone's body responds to stimulus differently .... hence why I can't stress enough that you take the basic ideas of this 'Program' and modify it to your goals and your body .... make it yours.

Cheers

 

[sinewave3]

The strong lifts 5x5 is a pretty solid 3 day program. Not a lot of assistance work but you could always add some more upper body volume if you want. The Jim Wendler 531 3 day variation looks good, too.

 

[JSNeves]

Another option: full body/upper/lower

I'm busy like a lot of people and this is my standard plan

Full body focuses on DL and ohp-verticle pull

Upper day- bench and row

Lower day- squat

If I get real busy squat and bench day get combined... if I have more time I split the full body day into 2 days

In all scenerios all muscle groups are worked to some extent twice a week

 

[MyKH3LL]

Another option: full body/upper/lower

I'm busy like a lot of people and this is my standard plan

Full body focuses on DL and ohp-verticle pull

Upper day- bench and row

Lower day- squat

If I get real busy squat and bench day get combined... if I have more time I split the full body day into 2 days

In all scenerios all muscle groups are worked to some extent twice a week

That could be a good approach too! I could even rotate between these approaches/programs every few months.

I just workout from home, so I would probably do something like;

Landmine squats into press / DB one arm rows or pull ups / DB presses w/ neutral grip or Alternating DB Incline press / Reverse DB Lunges / Face pulls on Full Body day at around 3 sets of 10 - 12 reps. Throw in one bicep and tricep supersets such as incline curls and tricep extensions, for example, depending on how the body feels. If I did DB presses neutral, I'd keep my elbows tucked in and not bother with the additional tricep exercise and just smash the biceps.

Lower body could be Stiff leg deads / DB lateral squats / calf raises / BB hip thrusts / BW Split squat jumps to failure as a finish for same reps - except calf raises which I'd do higher volume of say, 20-25 reps.

Upper body could be Alternating DB Arnold presses (standing) / lateral raises / Straight arm DB pullovers / reverse grip bent over rows for same sets/reps with skull crushers or overhead tricep extensions and finish off with external rotations. I suppose if I didn't do reverse grip rows, I could do a superset here of preachers and skull crushers maybe.

 

[sinewave3]

Another option: full body/upper/lower I'm busy like a lot of people and this is my standard plan Full body focuses on DL and ohp-verticle pull Upper day- bench and row Lower day- squat If I get real busy squat and bench day get combined... if I have more time I split the full body day into 2 days In all scenerios all muscle groups are worked to some extent twice a week

I forgot about this! I did a similar routine for a while and liked it.

 

[TheKing7]

I used a 3x/week program because of having classes and work and I always had great gains. For two years straight I have lifted 3x/week and have gained a substantial amount of mass and strength compared to where I was prior to starting lifting again. Recently I have upped it to 4x/week because some of the workouts were getting lengthy and I have more time to get done what I need to get done. It is definitely possible to make great gains by working out 3x as long as you bust your ass while you are there and don't cheat yourself.

 

[GreenMachineX]

Another option: full body/upper/lower

I'm busy like a lot of people and this is my standard plan

Full body focuses on DL and ohp-verticle pull

Upper day- bench and row

Lower day- squat

If I get real busy squat and bench day get combined... if I have more time I split the full body day into 2 days

In all scenerios all muscle groups are worked to some extent twice a week

My workout layout is about the same, except I only do 2 days a week.

Day 1: Deadlift, OHP, Pull ups
Day 2: Bench, Row, Squat
With some accessory lifts as well of course.

 

[Chrisehyoung]

My workout layout is about the same, except I only do 2 days a week.

Day 1: Deadlift, OHP, Pull ups
Day 2: Bench, Row, Squat
With some accessory lifts as well of course.

This is very similar to the 3 day routine I used to do. Lots of full body heavy work will get you results. Of course what you do on the off days will make a huge difference too.

 

[Battossi]

Let's say you hit all the muscle groups on a 3 day split, training every other day.

So there are as many rest days as training days. Each muscle group is hit every 6 days.

I really feel like this is the type of program I need to use. I'm not lazy; I just feel like it will be more effective for gaining mass as long as the workouts are relatively intense.

I'll save higher frequency programs for when on cycle or cutting.

Any thoughts on this appreciated.

If you're natural you can get a hell of a physique training 3x or 4 a week.

If you're on cycle the recovery will catch up and it's more bang for your buck to train 4 to 5x a week.

Any more days than that I feel people aren't pushing hard enough in the gym to ilicit the kind of damage needed for bodybuilding. I suggest more intensity at that point.

You should run into a CNS wall at 6 days a week of intense work and start to feel it shortly and not looking forward to the gym. Even people on cycle need recovery. (For bodybuilding anyway )