3.5 to 4hrs a week done in two sessions.
(here come the flamers “what no legs?”)
Tuesday, 1st session:
ME bench
BB Row
JM Press
Planks / band crunch / 45deg. back raise
Rotators (L-fly)
Friday, 2nd session:
Tricep lock out
DB Press
Chins or Pulldowns
Hammer Curls
Planks / band crunch / 45deg. back raise
Rotator cuff (face pulls)
As others have said, rest times make a big difference in the length of the work out.
For example 10 sets of BB row using 3 mins rest (when at the heavy sets) can take an extra 6-10 minutes compared to 10sets using 2mins rest periods, even longer when really going for heavy weight.
[quote]RSGZ wrote:
Professor X wrote:
The specifics matter little because of genetic differences, but I can guarantee you the bigger lifters here (those who people would look at and think “bodybuilder or football player”) are the ones who spend more overall time in the gym (ie. upwards of 4 hours a week).
I’ve seen this, the 2 biggest guys at the gym are there 4-6x a week, for up to 2 hours at a time. That’s why I think the whole “don’t lift for longer than an hour” thing is bull.
I’m currently doing 5-6 hours a week of lifting.[/quote]
I kinda agree here. Alot of bodybuilders have claimed to train up to 6 hours a day and they look great. Its something you need to work towards though. I wouldn’t go as far to say its bullshit, but the way some people carry on if you go over an hour isn’t necessary.
I stopped timing myself recently. Sometimes workouts go for 2 hours, sometimes 45mins, like legs. I would think I’m doing a little over 10hrs a week currently.
[quote]Mutu wrote:
For those doing around or over 2 hours per body part-
How many sets/exercises do you get in?[/quote]
I’m currently doing 2 body parts per session, 3-4x a week. This will take between 1-1.5 hours.
On a day when I do back and traps (entire back), it since I have to wrap my right knee due to a minor nagging injury, on exercises like deadlifts and/or rackpulls, it can take me 30+ minutes to complete the 2-3 warmup sets and 4-6 working.
Deads/Rack Pulls, Rows, Cable Pulldowns, Seated Rows, Smith Shrugs & DB Shrugs are the main exercises I do on a back day, with 1-2 warmup sets and 4-6 working ones.
30 balls to the wall minutes in the gym trumps what most people do in 1-2 hours.
It’s more about what all you get done than how long you’re there.
Most of my workouts are currently around 2-3 hours, but I’m on essentially a push/pull, so I get lots of off days.
It also depends where I am in a training cycle. If I’m doing a high volume (for me) 5x6 workout with dead lifts, it can take me over an hour to do just the deads, not including supplemental work.
[quote]jimmi wrote:
In my opinion, if your going to do it. Do it right. 2-2.5 hrs a day is a decent workout. 20- 30 minutes on 1 muscle group isnt a full pump.[/quote]
You’re kidding, right? If it takes you 2.5 hours to work a single muscle group, you either are not working hard enough, are eating an elephant a day (and/or taking a potent cocktail of AAS), have insane genetics, or all of the above. I cannot even think of a workout that would last 2.5 hours for most bodyparts and would be effective. For fun, I decided to make a chest workout that would last 2.5 hours:
5x4-6 Bench Press
4x6-8 Incline BB Press
4x6-8 Decline BB Press
3x8-10 Flat DB Press
3x8-10 Incline DB Press
3x10-12 Flat DB Flyes
3x10-12 Incline DB Flyes
3x12-15 cable crossovers
1x push ups to failure
If I attempted a workout like this, I would probably be in the hospital by the ending or using pink DBs on all of the exercises. I’m not even sure if this could last 2.5 hours.
[quote]Josh Rider wrote:
jimmi wrote:
In my opinion, if your going to do it. Do it right. 2-2.5 hrs a day is a decent workout. 20- 30 minutes on 1 muscle group isnt a full pump.
You’re kidding, right? If it takes you 2.5 hours to work a single muscle group, you either are not working hard enough, are eating an elephant a day (and/or taking a potent cocktail of AAS), have insane genetics, or all of the above. I cannot even think of a workout that would last 2.5 hours for most bodyparts and would be effective. For fun, I decided to make a chest workout that would last 2.5 hours:
5x4-6 Bench Press
4x6-8 Incline BB Press
4x6-8 Decline BB Press
3x8-10 Flat DB Press
3x8-10 Incline DB Press
3x10-12 Flat DB Flyes
3x10-12 Incline DB Flyes
3x12-15 cable crossovers
1x push ups to failure
If I attempted a workout like this, I would probably be in the hospital by the ending or using pink DBs on all of the exercises. I’m not even sure if this could last 2.5 hours.
[/quote]
Well said. If training one single muscle group takes you two hours, you are either doing something wrong or taking 15min rest breaks in between sets. That one muscle group should be on life support after a good 45 min and it should be taking all of your energy to move forward. If you still have a full tank of gas after an hour, you are clearly not working hard enough if you are only training one muscle group that day.
Legs now take me about an hour…and I can barely walk to the car after that. I would need an ambulance if I doubled that.
Are the people that take 2-2.5hours counting like a full dynamic warmup/post training stretching/pre-hab work as their gym time? That’s the only way I could see it approaching that time on a bodypart split. You’re talking about lengths of time approaching elite athlete practice sessions, spent on 1 muscle group.
I generally take “longer” than average because I take some decent rest period(2-3 minutes) between sets and it pushes my sessions to about 75-90 minutes(legs). It’s a habit I’ve had from being an athlete, and I don’t really see myself changing it except maybe if I ever have to cut.
Damn I really need to rethink my time at the gym. I spend roughly 8 hours a week split up between 4 training sessions. I think 1-2 hours could be shed off from the total time if I were training alone each day, but I still don’t think I could get in the 30-45 min range for each workout. There’s just no way I feel I could get the same results.
I suppose it follows what Bill Roberts said - “one may prefer, either generally or at that time, the resulting longer rest periods for the sake of more performance in the sets”. Regardless, I am completely dead after each workout, especially after legs or back, and my progress has been huge. That’s all that matters to me in the end at least.
About 6-7 hours a week with a 4-day split. 7-8 exercises per workout… 3-5 sets per exercise, 4 being the most common. Deadlifts take 6 sets though when I go low rep.
It would take about 90 minutes on squat day and upwards of 150 minutes on deadlift days. The program was brutal, so i had to split it up and did half of my session in the morning and half my session at night.
Next week: 8-10 Hours on a 5 day split including cardio…
It usually takes me an hour to totally destroy a body part, i usually train 2 body parts a day. I also do low intensity cardio on days i only hit one (legs,back).
My nutrition is very good and so is my recovery (teenager FTW), so i don’t see this changing.
i work at a gym 2-4 hour shifts
ill lift for an hour, rest an hour, lift for an hour, on ambitious days rest again then lift again. stay after my shift ends
occasionally i will take an off day, like once a month.
but for me lifting keeps me sane. the second two workouts arent at full intensity either
I train 3 days a week on 4 day split but, I have made my best gains lifting only 30-45 mins at max per session not muscle but whole session and usually train 2 muscle groups a session.
Surely the hours of training depend on whether you are using gear or not. There may be some natural trainers who can spend 8 hours in the gym per week - but I for one am not one of them. Otherwise it’s like taking twice a day a routine from muscle and fitness.
