Changing From Once To Twice Per Week

Training Bodybuilding
1

OK after reading up on some articles/threads etc & reading advice from knowledgeable people on the forum, they all suggest that training a bodypart once per week is not as good as twice per week. The reason for this being that if your diet is good then a muscle “should” recover within 2-3 days. If you only train a bodypart once per week then it recovers within a few days & it’s just sitting there doing nothing for the next 4 days or so, until you train it again.

Therefore, if you’re not on steroids you lose the anabolic response in that muscle & like I said above, it’s just doing nothing for days (whereas if you are on AAS, the steroids keep the anabolic response going whether or not you are training the muscle so twice per week isn’t necessary). Obviously not the best way to grow.

If you train twice per week, then the muscle recovers within 2-3 days and by the time it’s recovered you are training it again, so that you keep the muscle working & the anabolic response present. I’m not sure if training a major bodypart such as Chest/Back/Legs requires twice per week training but smaller bodyparts such as Biceps/Triceps/Shoulders etc may do.

Because of this, I was wondering whether you guys think changing from this routine:

[quote] - Chest/Triceps

  • Off
  • Back/Biceps
  • Off
  • Legs/Shoulders[/quote]

To this one, will yield better results:

[quote] - Chest/Biceps

  • Off
  • Back/Triceps
  • Off
  • Legs/Shoulders[/quote]

This way, Biceps/Triceps/Shoulders get hit more than once per week, therefore keeping them active & the anabolism present. Chest/Back/Legs still only get hit once per week, but I feel seeing as they’re big muscles, they need more time to recover than the smaller ones, therefore once per week should be sufficient.

I also have another question. As I strictly train 3x a week to allow for recovery etc, I’m a little concerned that IF I was to train like this, my triceps would effectively be getting hit 3x a week as opposed to twice like in the first routine. The reason for this being that they get hit indirectly on monday with Chest, directly on Wednesday & indirectly again on Friday with shoulders (military press). This would mean that my shoulders are also getting hit 3x a week. Do you think I have any reason for concern or should I be fine providing my diet/sleep etc is intact?

Thanks guys, and I’ll await your responses.

2

One of the T-Authors (I can’t recall which) has stated that in his experience, most of the successful bodybuilders hit each bodypart once per week.

Sorry to toss a monkeywrench into the works.
:sheepish grin:

3

haha, no worries, there’s just so much contradicting advice out there I’m not sure which to go with. 1x or 2x per week :confused:

The successful bodybuilders may be on AAS though, which would mean training a bodypart once per week is perfectly fine because even when they’re not using it, there’s still going to be muscle growth occuring.

4

The most successful bodybuilders only hit a muscle group once per week?

Are you including dorian yates, ronnie coleman, phil hernon, and arnold shcwarzzahardspelling in your idea of “successful bodybuilders”?

Honestly, to the OP, i think you are OVERCOMPLICATING THINGS.

In my opinion it is a mistake to try and look at the body on a week-to-week basis. It simply doesn’t run that way… so eliminate that way of thinking.

You can train your body with a 2 or 3 day split, and simply keep on cycling that rotation as the days go by depending on your own training and recovery levels.

For instance maybe you train monday, tuesday, wednesday… push, pull, legs. You take one day off, then start with push again on friday. That way each muscle group is stimulated once every 5 days (which is about right for most peoples recovery). But the question is, will this really force your muscles to grow stronger than if they were hit once every 7 days as you were doing?

Look at it this way… you set a bodybuilding goal for yourself, for instance lets say a year from now you want to be 50lbs heavier and add 100lbs to all your key lifts.

You can train each bodypart once each week on a push/pull/legs split like you’ve been doing, gaining weight each month and gaining strength on your key lifts, and if a year from now you’re up 50lbs in bodyweight and you’ve added 100lbs to your squat, bench press, (maybe 50-75lbs to the barbell curl haha)… then you will be significantly bigger.

Or you can do some setup that allows each bodypart to be hit twice per week, but a year from now you’re up 50lbs and still only up 100lbs on those lifts.
Does it make logical sense that you would be bigger? no, it doesn’t.

On the other hand, if you can increase the frequency more efficiently, and come one year you are +50lbs of bodyweight, and +150lbs to your main lifts, will you be bigger (leaner at that new bodyweight than the other two scenarios)? Very probably.

My point is that you shouldn’t change your training just because someone said so IF it is working for you. Honestly, if you can gain 3-5lbs of bodyweight a month and 10lbs a month on the major lifts you use, you are pretty much golden if you stay CONSISTENT.

But if you can find a way to train that allows you to do more than that, and stay consistent with it (and without injuring yourself or burning out), then i say give it a go.

I’m sorry this post ended up being way too long. haha

5

lol no worries, the longer the better IMO, it explains things better :wink:

Thanks a lot for that.

6

Oh and by the way, regarding your assumption about muscle groups and recovery rates.

You are correct that larger muscle groups need more time to recover from an intense workout, but again don’t think of it on a week-to-week basis.

Large muscle groups like back and thighs will probably take at least 4 days to fully recover in most people from a typical workout. (10 sets or whatever …)
Smaller muscle groups take less…

But treating shoulder work as indrect tricep workout and all that stuff, you are just going to find that this isn’t a productive way of training. It’s just too vague a concept and too indirect a stimulus.

My advice, if you’re really looking to increase frequency – which is great i try to hit each muscle group twice every 6-8 days – is to take the exercises you like now and form a two way split around that, and do that three times a week.

such like:
week 1 - A, B, A
week 2 - B, A, A

Hit each muscle group with the same frequency (meaning don’t do arms more often just because you can, because honestly this is always a red flag haha)