Frequency of split workout muscle training

[ironspyder]

I have been trying to gain more significant mass for several years now and recently began encorporates split workouts into my schedule and niow noticing better gains. My question is whether or not I can train everyday if I split the muscle groups into two a day; i.e. chest/tris on Monday legs/shoulders on Tuesday etc. the next part of my question is that if the splits are a good idea, what is the best number of times a week to train each muscle group.

 

[Rosie Chee]

I have been trying to gain more significant mass for several years now and recently began encorporates split workouts into my schedule and niow noticing better gains. My question is whether or not I can train everyday if I split the muscle groups into two a day; i.e. chest/tris on Monday legs/shoulders on Tuesday etc. the next part of my question is that if the splits are a good idea, what is the best number of times a week to train each muscle group.

Only YOU can say whether or not you can train every day, since YOU know your body best and what it is like re recovery and all other personal factors that are going to affect growth - remember that training alone is not going to determine it, but PREDOMINANTLY your NUTRITION. The same goes for how many times a week you train each body-part, since while there are "general" rules like having at least 24-48 hours between training the same muscle group, etc., they ARE just GUIDELINES, and you really need to experiment to see what works best for YOUR body!

~Rosie~

 

[Doss]

As Rosie said, it's mainly up to you personally, but I wouldn't recommend training every day. With a split your muscles might have enough time to recover and feel good when your next workout rolls around, but your central nervous system needs a rest as well. CNS fatigue feels like slow death haha And you grow outside of the gym, so a few days off each week aren't going to hurt you if you're keeping the intensity high while you're in the gym.

My 2¢

 

[kingk0ng]

Resistance training back to back days for an extended period would be hard on your endocrine system. I like training 4 days per week personally.

 

[broda]

I only go 4 days a week too (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) and it seems to work out well for me. Also, when you're making your splits make sure you're not using the same muscles two days in a row. In your example you have Chest/Triceps on Monday and Shoulders/Legs on Tuesday wouldn't be a great split. Chest exercises will also use your shoulders along with shoulder exercises using triceps so you'd end up hitting your shoulders and triceps on back-to-back days. You have to think of the auxiliary muscles used in compound movements when you take a split into account so you don't overwork muscle groups.

 

[boogyman]

Please give legs their own day if your going to do a split. They are the largest muscles and a full workout should be dedicated to them. I prefer to not do splits, but legs, chest/tris, back/bis, and shoulders/abs is probably the best way to do a 4 day split.

 

[howwedo107]

I do
Chest/bis A
Back/tris A
Legs
Shoulders/abs (very light day)
Chest/bis B
Back/tris B
Off
Then start the next week off with legs

I also throw in some extra ab exercises as I see fit and do 15 mins of moderate cardio post workout except shoulder/abs day then I do 25 mins

 

[ironspyder]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to post and help me out. Just one more question to clear up; by following what most of you said, I would only be working each muscle group once a week. So with 15 or so total sets per muscle group with a bunch of rest, that's still enough for serious gains?