# frequency



## james2011 (Nov 9, 2011)

what do ou find best for building muscle training the muscle once or twice a week?i know everyone is differnt but just as a rough guide


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## Marrsy86 (Dec 13, 2011)

From what I have read it seems that there are too many factors to consider to give a streight answer here. What muscle are you refering to ? What kind of workout program you got going ? how much sleep and protein you getting ?


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

It very much depends on how much volume you do in each session - sometimes I'll perform a full body workout every other day which results in bodyparts being hit four times one week and three the next... but am only doing 3 working sets per exercise per session.

On the other end of the scale, when I do a four way bodypart split with 8-16 sets per bodypart per session, once every seven-eight days is about as frequent as I can cope with.


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## wee-chris (Oct 29, 2011)

Dtlv74 said:


> It very much depends on how much volume you do in each session - sometimes I'll perform a full body workout every other day which results in bodyparts being hit four times one week and three the next... but am only doing 3 working sets per exercise per session.
> 
> On the other end of the scale, when I do a four way bodypart split with 8-16 sets per bodypart per session, once every seven-eight days is about as frequent as I can cope with.


What differences do you experience doing full body workouts compared to full body split?

When doing the full body is it mainly compound moves? Ive been toying with the ideas of doing full body workouts for a month or 2


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

wee-chris said:


> What differences do you experience doing full body workouts compared to full body split?
> 
> When doing the full body is it mainly compound moves? Ive been toying with the ideas of doing full body workouts for a month or 2


For pure bodybuilding, whole body routines are great for the large muscles but can sometimes cause the smaller muscles which usually always get trained at the end of the session (arms, delts, calves , forearms etc) to not quite get as much of your best intensity as the bigger muscles trained earlier in the session, and this can lead to them lagging over time. The main advantage of fullbody workouts though IMO is superior strength and fitness, they definitely beat split training for those IMO.

Main advantage of split training is definitely that you can priorisitse and specialise in lagging bodyparts and bring them up, making split training the way to go if you feel you need to bring up an imbalance. Also, if you find your body responds best to volume then split training is the only practical way to do it... full body routines only work well when training is fairly abbreviated IMO.


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## Marrsy86 (Dec 13, 2011)

Is split training usually around 10 reps with 3 sets and the full body one 5 reps of 5 sets or does the sets and reps not matter ?


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Marrsy86 said:


> Is split training usually around 10 reps with 3 sets and the full body one 5 reps of 5 sets or does the sets and reps not matter ?


No set rule really, people do lots of different things. Personally, whether doing a split or full body, I tend to periodise my training anyway and alter the reps and sets every month or two... for full body I will do anything from 3x12 to 10x3 for an exercise.


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

I do legs/back/bis.

Chest/delts/tris.

Monday/wed/fri.

So each bodypart gets trained every five or six days,though if i feel i need it i have an extra days rest.

I also have to keep my routine very abbreviated which i dont mind as i like training that way.


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## Marrsy86 (Dec 13, 2011)

Dtlv74 said:


> No set rule really, people do lots of different things. Personally, whether doing a split or full body, I tend to periodise my training anyway and alter the reps and sets every month or two... for full body I will do anything from 3x12 to 10x3 for an exercise.


Ah right, thanks for clearing that up, going to stick with Stronglifts for now but might be something for me to consider in the future.


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## james2011 (Nov 9, 2011)

maxie-is that the split which is recommended in flex if so ive been tempted to try it what sort of results have u got from it


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

james2011 said:


> maxie-is that the split which is recommended in flex if so ive been tempted to try it what sort of results have u got from it


Its a bit like that hardgainer kind of training in flex,which is a great way to train natural if you ask me,just a pity it took me so long to realise it!


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## james2011 (Nov 9, 2011)

to be honest ive found that way best (training the muscle more often) out of the various ways ive trained what exercises you doing for that split i assume its mainly compound and what sort of reps and sets u doing on it?(i know that varys fgrom person to person but just curious)


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## maxie (Jan 31, 2011)

I have two different routines but i do some exercises every workout.

Day 1.Squats 2x8 slow reps.Calfs 1x12.Rack chins x as many as i can do 2 sets.Rack deads 2 x 8.Ez curl 1x10.hammer curl 1 xmax reps.

Day off.

Day 3.Bench x 2 sets x max reps.Shoulder press to front 1x max reps.Dumbell tr ext 1x 20.

Day 4 off.

Day 5 Squats 2x8 slow reps.Calfs 1x12.Rack chins 3x5.Dumbell rows 1 x max reps.Ez curl 1x10.hammer curl 1 xmax reps.

Day6 and 7 off.

Day 8.Incline bench 2 x max reps.Lateral raise 3x5.CGBP 1 or 2 sets max reps.

Thats it i always write my top weights down and try to keep them moving up.I often change my sets and do a 3x6 2x5 or whatever but i keep my top weights on the up hopefully.I always do a slow negative as well.


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